BRITISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 150, 25 June 1904, Page 9

BRITISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

SPECTATOR SUM M A R Y. LONDON, 7th Alay. CHINA ASH THE WAR. Tics Times of Saturday last reproduces iho Aubsluncis of an interesting i>tatoment made by the Chinese Minister in Pans to ;i reprcfcinlalive of the Figaro on tiie Buljjfcl <>f Chinese- neutrality. While admitting that the Government' at Pckin would not' wekomo the indefinite occupation of Alanchuri.i by tho Russians, h.> declares th.it they consider it cf»>enlinl to maintain good relations with Russia, on tho grounds that they do not desire v/cr, that they are not icady far it, and, above all, that Japanese iu.^istaii"*: could not bo of much who to China. He significantly add« : "Tiiero is no desire nt Court to introduce the 'Japanese Army into Chiim, even for its defence. Do not the defenders of a country frequently aspire to become its <mn»tcrs?" While, therefore, disbelieving in armed Chinese, intervention, ha fraukly-ffdmiUthat the Chinese musses warmly symr/athUo with tho Japanese, who httvcvfor oeveral years done everything in their power -to make themciclvea popular in lha , North of the Empire., Hence, in .spite . of . strict , orders given to Viceroys and Governors to check riaiogs-; he< uppvQhejid.9.l that lit.may- prove difficult to restrain; the. populace if Japan sJiould gain a victpry over the Russiun Army, tho communication gains in signilicance from tho fact, that it was publishftd before news- reached Europe of tho fighting on tho Yalu.- , TIIE KAISER UOAIE AGAIN. The Gorman Emperor signalised hLs return to Germany by delivering a hpcech at Karlsruhe on. 'Thursday week. Replying to an address of welcome at the Town Hall, tho Kaiser said ho held it to be his duty on his return to call on his dear re-, lation (the Grand i Duke of Baden) and to givo a proof of his complete restoration to health. The ' Chief* Burgomaster had rightly observed thrtt'tho ta&k of the German people was a- difficult one. "Tho memory of the groat timo which tho Uer* man people had lived through, of tho battles of Worth, Wcissenbuig, and 'Scdrm, and of tho shout of exultation with which tho Grand Duko greeted the first Emperor, would strengthen tho conviction that God would help them even overcome- a party quarrel. The event* which were moving the wirfld would lend to internal discord being forgotten." In conclusion, the Kaiser hoped that peace would not.be disturbed, nnd that. the events which worcf being enacted before their ey;->s>Mi r quld inako their sight clear nnd fiteel Uieir courage, and wbuld find Germans united if it becamc'neceM-ary for Germany "to intervene in Weltpolitik." The tone of the- Eiaperoi** specen, especially the somewhat gratuitous references to Worth, Wei&wnbuig, and Sedan, has excited a good deal of comment, but tho Berlin correspondent; of The Times endeavours to discount its inflammatory tone by tho pnrnllol case of the famous Wilhohnehnven speech in f July, 1900, which Mibfccqucnt events reduced to the level of rhctoiical hyperbole. The German lCm-pc-ror followed up thp Karlsruhe speech with another at Mainz of un even moremenacing character. THE PAPAL PROTEST. A summary of the Papal protest against M. Loubet's visit ijs>' given by the Paris ruiTCMpondent of The Time's in Thursday's i&Mic The Pope, in recording his dis&pprovni of the action of the hend of a Roman Catholic Stn'tft in recognising tho Pqwer wljich robb.Ml.him of his temporal dominions, recalls the fact thnt,oven members of the houso of Savoy — i.e., the King of Portugal — havo nbstaincd from such action.. He particularly regret* that this exception should Jiavq been inndo by -the representative. o£ Franco, co long favoured by tho Church, and points out,ibnt th,e visits of the heads of Protestant States' ! to tho Quirinnl have not the same significAiico. No mention is made in the protest of a denunciation of the Concordat, but it i« apprehended thut thp advanced Republicans in Frn-nce will exploit it ns a fresh argument for spmrntimj Church nnd State. On the other hn.ud. tlu-. Pninl protect may very well bo intended as a warning to tho chiefs of all Roman Catholic States that a visit to tho Quiriiuil would bo condemned in advance by tho Pop?. ~< THE WORLD'S FAIR. The great World's .Fair at St. Louis, hold to commemorate, tho centenary of tho purchase of Louisiana, wps formally opened last Saturday afternoon. That it would eclipse tho Chicago Exhibition in mammoth dimensions was, of course, a foregone conclusion, and it is naturalenough thot Americans should dwell on. the various features which combine to establish a new record — the oxteiit^of the grounds, tho artificial waterfall, the gigantic .organ, and tho Olympic arena. Much more, /significant, however, than -theso spectacular attractions, remnrkAble arid beautiful though they seem to be, is the unprecedented extent to which foreign Governments have associated themselves in promoting' the, sucqeisX pf the Exposition. No fewer tha.ll fifty are- elaborately represented. ., Tho, Times correspondent notes that while the,, .national exhibit of Japan was more nearly complete on tho opening day than that of any other foreign country, there is no exhibit by Russia, that Government having withdrawn' after the war in the East pegan. The English-v^peakiiu; ' people throughout , the world will wif>n success to the Kxhibitioii. "'" ' _ ' UNITED STATES FINANCE. The Times of Saturday last contains the figures of the United States expenditure for the- past year. InMound numbers it reached a total of £160,000,000, out of which appropriations' 'J I 'amounted to £140,000,000, and the 'balance was devoted to permanent ehmges. The estimates for next year are. revon'ud £140,800,000) and expenditure £i£6,306,000, leaving a deficit of 'over £15,000;000, which 'tho Secretary of the Treasury hope's to meet partly by increased, revenue, and partly by deferred payments. The chief items in the increased expenditure^nro. for. military and naval development, and the administration of tho now countries which the United States has. taken in hand. s Unfriondly critics of tho Roosevelt Government aro perfectly right in attributing the growth of expenditure t lo the new ambition of the United States to play tho part of a world-Power. Npswork can be done without money, and the United States, having put her hand t«> the task, must be content to p.iy it. Tiie country, as we believe, is entirely at one with the Prosid&nt on this mutter, and can well afford tho cost. 1 Tllh KING IN IRELAND. Tho .King and Queen left Dublin last Saturday, nnd paid visits to' Kilkenny and Waterfowl— where the King opened an agricultural show and bestowed a knighthood on the Mayor — spending the last couple of days of their sojourn in h-elnud at Jjismore and exploring the picturesque scenery in that neighbourhood. Of tho *peecho£( delivered by the King, tho mosP important Was that in reply to tho various addresses presented at Waterford, in which, while welcoming the signs of an industrial revival, he laid strj/s on the need for Irishmen to cultivate that "spirit of lolerntiou, concord, and self-reliance which is the surest guarantee of national prosperity." Speaking ut Kilkenny, the

King happily observed thut if his visits to various parth of the country should I ni.iko him bettor acquainted wilh thewants of his people, andgivo them i-Lrong-ct a."--.sunii!c?.s of his kindly feeling for and his .sympathy v/ilFi lli"iii, ho would be amply repaid. Leaving Ireland on Wednesday «»ght, their- MoJMstke returned to Buckingham J'ultice on Tliui^divy evening after a thoroughly puccc&sful vuiit, the nioH impressive feature in which nppt-ara to have beni llu* extremely cordial and characteristically unconventional frieudlinosi of the Iri&li crou da. AIR. LYTTELTON AND IMPERIALISM. Afr. Lytflelton presided at' the ailnual dinner of tho Royal Colonial Institute on Friday week, and made, an intere.sthiK speech. Alluding to the situation in South Africa, h^ happily observed that ( we might let hope (stimulate patience when v.v r» fiVcted on the strilting ;itfitiHies between the English nnd JJutc.li racos in the past-pin regard to jurisprudence, naval adventure, and 'statesmanship. • Dealing with Imperial expansion, Mr. Lytte'.tou called attention to tho antagonism of two of tho givst opposing forces of the day — tha centnfngal' movement of the dwellers in congested areas; and tho excluiivc racial-oentiinont which sought to deny admittance oven 'into' vacant territories of compcHwto- of a lower civilisation and a ■ lowerMndustrial Mnndurd, We might not live t9:«ce*ihese forces, reconciled, but the attempt ■ to- promote the reconciliation should bo sinc<(K'ly and dourageou.My faced, "l'lieve^/wap Iq liiff mind," he continued. »"a certain bollowness, a certain spirit of formula, in speaking of ihe unity and homogeneity of the Empire when the people of one ])ortioii of it — and ho did not say for a moment that they were wrong 1 — refused free way and leave to other wubjects of the King to move freely in their midst." No fault can bo found with this gentle reproof to Australia. But the reminder — by way of a sidelight on the labour difficulty in South Africa — that there were at this moment "a. million and a quarter of Chinese living and work- • ing under tho flag of tho King, rc-prefjent-ing a capital sum of property of about four iriimonp, 'ama.ssed chiefly within tho King's dominions and under the security of his peace," argued a curious confusion 'between the status of the Chinese merchant at. Singapore and tho . Chinese indentured labourer on tho Rand. DISESTABLISHMENT AND HOAIE RULE. On Wednesday the House of Commonsheard abstract declarations on Disestablishment and on Home Rule from two of its leading members, in regard to both of which it is safe to say that no effect whatever will be produced on political action. When the Southwark and Birmingham Bishoprics Bill was before the House — a Bill which, we regret to say, wun opposed on the very wrong-headed, nnd oven absurd, ground that, ac the Btahops did not put down ritualism with sufllcieht rigour, there ought to lie no addition to their numbei-6 — Air. Chamberlain declared that he was not only a Nonconformist, bub was, nnd always 'had bst-n, in fnvour of ,the policy of dLsestablMuneut. ill will lie curious to soe whether, after this declaration, Protectionist Churchmen will refuse to give any support to Air. Chamberlain and Ids schemes. In all probability they will not be moved in the least by the announcement, for they will know that tho Church is perfectly safe, and thtvt the support thus given by Air. Chamberlain to the policy of disestablishment will bo entirely inoperative. The other declaration was" from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerruan, who later ;u the evening, when discussing tho Crimes .Act, declared that "self-govern-ment" was the remedy ho Mould apply to Ireland.' If, as we presume is the cafe, this was meant as a declaration in favour of Home Rule, and the establishment' of -an - triah Parliament, it is ju*>t about as important as Mr. Chamberlain's declaration in fnvour of the policy of disestablishment. • THE NATIVES IN THE AIINI3S. In the House of Commons on Thursday Major Seely moved the adjournment of the llou<to in order 'to draw attention to tho cruel treatment of the natives jn the Witwatcrarand mines, and quoted largely from ft Blue Book which had just been issued to tho Capo Parliament, containing tho report of Air. Brownlc-e,;who was commissioned last August to. investigate the ■ subject. AKsaults by the E&ropean overseers and tho native police were, declared 51ajor Seely, on the evidence in tho Gap's Blue- Book, of frequent occurrence, eve»n though the- general treatment of the -natives wns good. Major Seely also referred to" the very high mortality in the mines, and stated that, according- to Iho chiefs, the native labourers were given insuflicient sleeping accommodation, and -were flogged when they were ill nnd so dwiuclined to work. If these statements wero true, the .terriblo mortality was in a measure accounted for. In view of the sordid tale disclosed- by the Blue Book, Alajor Seely thought the Government should reconsider their decision as to tho importation of Chinese labour. Mr. Winston Churchill supported Major Seely in the, contention that. in tho better treatment of tho natives would be found the solution of tluslabpur problem. Air. Lyttelton in reply declared that only the things 'in the Blue Book Avhich told against his cbuntrymen in South Africa wero read out by Major Seely,, while tho passages which told in their favour were omitted. As to' the high mortality, he quoted statements .by Lord Milner that in time the etforts which were being mado to check the mortality would be successful. He concluded by appealing to members not to condemn their fellowcountrymen in South Africa upon incomplete information. That is an appeal in which wo entirely concur, but we • extremely dislike tho attempt' to accuse those, who, like Mujor Seely, demand investigation as guilty of a want of patriotism. When the division was taken the Government majority was 63 (213 votes to 150). THE LICENSING BILL. • ' On behalf of the Executive Committee of the Central Publichouse Trust Associatioiij.Lord Grey has addressed a circular to the press on thq Licensing Bill, wilh which we heartily concur. Ho justifies a strenuous opposition to tho adoption of any legislative proposals which may prevent the application of Trust •principles to the- management of new licenses, and. in pnrticular to those provisions of tho new Bill empowering tho sale of a- new license to the highest bidder. His Committee do not object to the compensation, out of a fund supplied by tho trade, of the holders of existing licenses, which may be extinguished us being unnecessary. But they regard tho proposal to empower licensing authorities to create a vested interest in licenses' not yet granted a« open t<> the strongest objection, and they express the hopo that tho Government may accept amendments preventing the realisation of the evils .threatened ,by tho pussago of section 2, clauso 4, in its present form — i.e.. the gratuitous creation of enormously valuablo vested interests in new license.*, which will be made into "tied 5 ' houses; tho providing of a direct inducement to owners to push tho sale of alcoholic liquors; and the bestowal of surplus profits obtained by a pushing management or privileged individuals instead of the public.

Coughing — sneezing — Handkerchief ; Foot-bath — mus-tard— No relief. Doctors— parton — Heaven sure — Ileareo not wanted — "Peppermint Curo."— Advfc.