TOPICS OF THE TIME.

Evening Post, Volume LII, Issue 93, 10 September 1896, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE TIME.

It is characteristic of the atrocious ways of the Turkish Government that in appearing to inflict punishment upon the supposed authors of the recent Constantinople massacres it should, as was hinted by cable a few days ago, have arrested large numbers of the Young Turkey Party, whose agitations for the reform of the present corrupt methods of government are the source of so much discomfort to the Porte. This patriotic party has long had to remove its headquarters to Paris, and to perform all its work in Constantinople with the utmost stealth, for any overt movement in the direction of constitutional reform is apt to jeopardise the head of the person making it. The Pall Mall Gazette lately published an account of an interview with Ahmed Riza, one of the heads of the Party, who has made his home Paris for the sufficient reason that there is a deathsentence awaiting execution upon him in case of his return to his own country. To show that the aims and objects of his party were such as in any other land than Turkey would be deemed perfectly legitimate, Ahmed Riza said:— " I would wish it to be thoroughly understood that we are not revolutionaries ; that we respect all laws and religious creeds; that we have no animosity towards any one Power; that we are united in demanding the integrity of the empirS, the maintenance of the dynasty of Othman, the strict and loyal execution of the Hatti Gulhane and the Hatti Humayoun ; the observance of all treaties, conventions, firmans, and concessions, as well as, above all things, the re-establishment of the Constitution." As to what would happen in the event of the death, deposition, or abdication of the present Sultan, Ahmed Riza said : — " Our first care would be to exert our influence to maintain order, to prevent a reckless outburst of popular fury. We would endeavour that everything should take place peaceably. Then we would demand of the Sultan's probable successor and younger brother, Rechid Effendi, the reestablishment, or rather the convocation, of the Turkish Parliament, which was wrongfully suppressed by the present Sultan. Rechid Effendi, I may say, is already gained over to our cause, and has promised that our just claims shall be granted on his accession to the throne." And for these mild and reasonable claims the Young Turks are called Upon to face the risks of being dropped overboard in the Bosphorus, with weights to their feet, or of being saddled with the responsibility for the unspeakable horrors in Constantinople that have made the world shudder for the last fortnight] It was understood when the Banking Committee of Enquiry was set up by the House of Representatives that its proceedings were to be open to, and all evidence given thereat was to be available for use by the represen-

tatives of, the press. The Chairman of the Committee, however, has taken upon himself to set aside that deoision of the House, and to decline to allow the press access to certain information laid hefore memhers of the Committee. Throughout its proceedings, Mr. Graham has refused to the press exhibits handed in by witnesses under examination. Why, it is diffioult to understand, as they must eventually be made publio property. But yesterday this gentleman, briefly clothed in authority, went even further, and refused to allow the reporters to take a copy of a statement read before the Committee by Mr. Watson, and which it was impossible for the pressmen to report with accuracy without obtaining a copy of the document read from. By what right the Chairman of the Committee refuses this information it is difficult to understand, more especially as the only result attained is to render more difficult the already arduous duties of the press reporters. Perhaps some independent representative of the people will enquire why the Committee is permitted to defy the House and make an important part of its proceedings secret. The cable told us that one of the chief reasons why the intrepid Arctic explorer Dr. Nansen was unable to push further North was because he had not enough dogs, which, as every reader knows, play an important and indispensable part in every expedition of this character. There are three great races of Arctic dogs— the Eskimo or New World breed, the Samoyad or West Siberian breed, and the Lena or East Siberian breed. The last-named is recognised as the best, but is the most difficult to obtain, and the least tractable to employ. Nansen used the Samoyad dog, which is de r cribed as having a strong resemblance to the Eskimo dog of Greenland, but as being in several points his superior. The most striking characteristics which they have in common are their thick woolly coat, whioh enables them to stand such a rigorous climate, and the wild and savage temper they display towards each Other. If you chained a number of these dogs together and left them to their own devices it is pretty certain that they would speedily develop a feeling so grimly fraternal that one half (the weaker half) would be absorbed with the least possible delay into the bosom of the other half of the family. These dogs are also difficult to obtain, those used by Mr. P. G. Jackson in Franz Josef Land occupying a man ten months to collect, during which time he travelled over nearly 4000 milos of country. Eoughly speaking, any Polar dog will pull a sledge with a load of about 1001b, and will take it twice as far in a day as a man can. A team has been known to draw a full sledge load over 100 miles in a single day— a really remarkable performance. He will do the work on a .ration of about lib in weight of what is called pemmican, which consists of dried and pourtded beef enveloped in a greasy coat of fat and suet, which is slowly heated and poured in a molten condition into a can or skin. The mortality among the dogs on long and tedious Arctic journeys is very high. Peary, we are told, started on the first of his explorations with 20. dogs and returned with five. Next time he took 90, and only 20 survived. The number which Dr. Nansen employed has not been stated, but no doubt he would be guided by previous experience and take a considerable number— yet he had not enough. . " The primary object of Li Hung Chang's visit to Europe was understood to be to represent the Emperor' of China at the coronation of the Tsar, but it is not a matter for surprise that he should have taken advantage of the trip to extend his tour to the West of Europe, to do a little business, and to acquire some insight into those developments of the civil and military arts, the adoption of which by Japan has led to the supremacy of that country in the Far East. Consequently, he has visited several of the leading European capitals, where he has been received with the distinction due to his exalted rank. The Home papers lately to hand are full of his doings. We learn that he lunched with the French Foreign Minister on the ( Eiffel Tower, and with the directors of the Credit L3'onnais in the Board-room. We confess to curiosity as to the bill of fare at these banquets. The Chinese chopsticks may be a good match for rice or soupe aux grenouilles, but we should imagine would prove an indifferent weapon against a joint of English beef or a French horse-steak. When a distinguished foreigner visits the capitals of Western Europe, a loan in favour of the distinguished one's country may be looked upon a« within measurable distance, and Li Hung Chang's visit is .no exception to the rule. He visited the Credit Lyonnais, where he fell to talking about a load, but he showed, by wishing to keep a bond of the Chinese-Russian loan as a souvenir of his visit, that he had not mastered all the intricacies of finance. Perhaps the same might be said of other statesmen nearer home, some of whom profess to be profoundly versed in this particular science. When interviewed, he was emphatic in praise of the system of administration of theEngHsh colonies in China, and by his observations generally proved himself to be a man of some sense, and, iin spite of his half-closed eyes, very wide awake to all that comes under his notice. If the real object of Li Hung Chang's .journey to Europe has been to raise a loan, it is to be sincerely hoped he may sKicceed in doing so, and on the most favourable terms. The inhabitants of the vast empire over which he rules, currently reported to number a third of the human race, have, by its exclusive system of government, hitherto been deprived of- much of the reward to which their untiring labour and energy entitled them. China has a fertile soil, untold mineral wealth, an • industrious people, proficient in many arts and manufactures to which the Western nations are still strangers. But in the great art of developing these natural resources the nations of the West are infinitely superior. The task of exploiting them by the aid of European capital is one worthy the highest statesmanship that China can boast. The opening up of the most distant provinces by a network of railwai's, the covering of her rivers by an efficient steam service, with the object of bringing . all parts of, the Empire. into rapid communication with each other and with foreign markets, the provision of a stable government and an efficient police, are essential to the preservation of the Chinese Empire and the well-being of its people. Li Hung Chang is now in the autumn of his age, but if -be makes good use of his opportunities, his services to his country in the future may eclipse those he has rendered in the past.