p. 13 | News and Notes

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Sep 23, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 37.

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News and Notes

FOREIGN.

—Eleven persons were killed by the explosion of a boiler at Honstaedt, Austria, on September 10.

—By the recent floods in Japan, between thirty and forty lives were lost, and nearly 2,000 dwellings destroyed.

—It is announced that peace has been declared between the president of Uruguay and the Uruguayan insurgents.

—The pope has appealed to France to oppose the plans of the Jews for the purchase and colonization of Palestine.

—A large house-boat on the Yang-tse-kiang River was capsized recently, drowning thirty Chinese girls with their servants and the boat's crew.

—The British steamer Polyphemus collided with another vessel in the Red Sea on September 11, and twenty-seven of her crew were drowned.

—It is stated that not more than 5,000 of the women of Constantinople are able to read and write. The population of the city is nearly a million.

—A disastrous explosion of dynamite took place in a Johannesburg, South Africa, gold mine on September 10, killing five white men and twenty-five Kaffirs.

—The German Jewish rabbis have declared against Zionism, that is, the purchasing and colonizing of Palestine, believing it to be contrary to the prophecies of Judaism.

—Officials of the Greater Republic of Central America have now expressed their wish to receive Capt. W. L. Merry, the recently accredited minister to the Central American States.

—The presidential election of Venezuela was concluded on Sunday night, September 12, and, as a result, General Ignacio Andrade, the Liberal leader, has been elected to the presidency.

—Many of the miners killed or injured by deputies at Latimer, Penn., are Austro-Hungarian subjects, and it is reported that the Austrian Government will demand full satisfaction and the punishment of those implicated.

—Labor unions of Great Britain are now arranging for a federation of all labor organizations, in order that the co-operation of all laborers in the United Kingdom may be enlisted in the fight against corporate capital.

—A revolt, said to be assuming serious proportions, has broken out in the western part of Guatemala. The government has asked the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to transport troops to the seat of the disturbance.

—The rebellious natives of India now number 47,000, and are besieging various British posts with varying success. The English have 59,000 troops mobilized on the frontier, and everything is reported ready for the advance from Shabkadr.

—The town of Consolacion del Sur was captured by the Cubans on September 9, and the entire garrison slain. This garrison, consisting of 200 men, had been marked for death, as it was composed mostly of deserters from the Cuban army.

—The United States minister to China announced recently that the Chinese Government is about to accede to America's demands in regard to adequate protection for American missionaries in whatever part of China they may choose to locate for work.

—Despatches from Constantinople state that all the "peace" ambassadors of the powers are in receipt of instructions from their respective governments, which will enable them to come to a speedy settlement of the terms of peace between Greece and Turkey.

—From reports received from London, it seems that the Bank of England has decided to hold one-fifth of its reserve in silver. This is considered a concession to bimetalism, and is arousing considerable opposition on the part of many eminent English journalists.

—Señor Sagasta, the Spanish Liberal leader, in an interview on the Cuban question, has admitted that the Cuban rebellion is spreading. He also states that the trouble in the Philippines is very serious, and that the Carlist movement at home demands serious consideration.

—It is reported that negotiations are in progress for the purchase of the Panama Canal by the British Government, which will complete and control this commercial waterway. Investigations by the United States Government are in progress to determine whether the report is authentic.

—Carlotta, ex-empress of Mexico, widow of Maximilian and sister of the king of Belgium, is said to be so dangerously ill that her death is feared at any moment. It was her ambition that brought about the death of Maximilian, and his execution threw her into insanity. She is now fifty-seven years old.

—A peculiar and disastrous explosion took place at the Panuelas quarry on the Vera Cruz Railway, Mexico, on September 11. An unusually large blast was set off by the workmen, and then workmen and spectators rushed forward to witness the result, when gases in the air exploded, killing twenty-four persons.

—The rebellious natives of India are reported to be flying before the British relief forces, which have reinforced a number of besieged forts, and recaptured some that had been taken by the rebels.

—General Weyler is now engaged in destroying large numbers of Cuban towns, which he has not troops enough to garrison, leaving the inhabitants without food or shelter. It would seem that it is the purpose of the Spanish officials to make the island a desolate waste, before abandoning it to the Cubans.

—According to reports from Honolulu, it seems that the Japanese Government has only agreed to arbitrate certain minor questions in dispute between the two countries. The Hawaiian minister of foreign affairs has requested the Japanese minister to define more clearly the points which Japan will agree to submit to arbitration.

—A Presbyterian missionary in China states that "there is a movement toward Christianity throughout Manchuria. The people in large numbers are casting out their idols, and taxing the powers of missionaries to provide native teachers, who, in their turn, are overwhelmed with the great numbers with whom they have to deal."

—Lieutenant-General von Shack, a Russian army officer and member of the Lutheran Church, was commanded to join the Russian State Church or resign his commission. He chose to join the Russian Church, and then committed suicide in remorse for his act. Thus is repeated the wicked farce of a union of Church and State.

—A despatch from Constantinople states that the sultan has appointed a commission consisting of two Mussulmans, three Armenians, and one Greek to visit the Armenian villages which have been the chief sufferers from the recent massacres, and raise funds to rebuild the Armenian schools, churches, and monasteries, and build orphanages. The commission is to start immediately.

—General Prospero Morales is leading the rebellion in Guatemala, which is said to be supported by men of great wealth. Severe fighting is reported from the western part of the State. The State Department at Washington has asked the Navy Department to send a war ship to Guatemala to watch over American interests, and the Alert has been ordered to the scene of trouble.

—At Los Palacios, Cuba, thirty persons died of hunger on September 11, and this is declared to be but a sample of other days. The majority of the inhabitants of other towns in Pinar del Rio province are said to be crowding the streets begging for relief, and the same awful consequences of misrule that are reported from Los Palacios are seen even in the capital of the province.

—Great excitement was caused in Madrid on September 10, by the report that the city of Victoria de las Tunas, Cuba, had been captured by the insurgents. It is one of the most important fortified towns on the island, and the report of its capture was for a time denied; but it seems now that it was authentic, tho the loss of the Cubans in the attack is reported to be about 200.

—There now seems to be an indication that the English and French expedition in Africa may meet on the upper Nile, if the British advance beyond Berber the present year. It is rumored that the French expedition is heading for Khartoum, to forestall the English in its occupation. If the report proves true, there is likely to be serious trouble between these two nations.

—The bishops of the Russian State Church have agreed to demand of the czar that Tolstoi and his followers be prosecuted; that all the sectarian schools be closed; that dissenters from the State Church be sent to Siberia; and that the publication of Lutheran books in the Russian language be prohibited. The more violent of the bishops further propose that the property of the sectarians be confiscated.

—A report comes from Argentina to the effect that locusts are destroying the crops in that country. The large wheat yield of Argentina was looked to by the poor of Europe and Asia as a retarding influence on the continued upward rise in the price of wheat. If this report proves true, and Russia continues to refuse to export wheat, there will be much suffering during the coming year among the poor of the eastern countries.

—A report from fourteen of the thirty-two counties of Ireland shows a most distressing prospect for the coming autumn and winter. Long-continued rains have rotted the potatoes, and prevented the harvesting of hay and oats; and the landlords, knowing that the little which the peasants have in the banks will be gone before spring, are pressing for their rents, and thus making more sure the famine which now seems inevitable.