NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9990, 29 November 1895, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Reference lias frequently been made of late in our cable messages to the Venezuelan boundary question, and it was reported tho other day that the colony of British Guiana had voted a war credit on the strength of private assurances given by the British Colonial Secretary. Following this came the announcement) that' the Venezuelan Goneral had protested against) the colony placing Maxim guns on the frontier, ...j »i.i »u„ nrnfinh nntWitiM had re-

request or, settlement, of British terri by L British case rests wholly upon thj 3..1- •' "Wf If ** ■.hti could bo conclusively shown tot* " fined within limits more retrioted ttfn, C .°" to which .successive British Gov/n« ments have urged a claim, there .«6uld I ground for argument on the W> of J,-' Monroe doctrine, and tho/queain dispute might take fclio newaspecb '! . discussion as to the vaW foreign 01 tiona re bound to attach to /political doctrine which, however may bo n tho American continent, /as not yet up rt! tbo sanction of intentional reRation. A present this grofld does nob c °?" until the boundary m claimed by clh , it gptain as the boundary >f the Dutch 2, conquered in 1795 ha been proved C ° be wrongly claimed, t J discussion between Great Britain and Venezuela is one simply of historic fact, at: of the comroa)i,o which it may be fmd desirable l ' either side to make, in 0 ler to dispose once (or all ol a tedious at I unprofitable source of irritation. |

In 1850 an agreement \V( entered into between the Governments of 3-reat Britain sni i Venezuela to regard thn disputed srWS! neutral territory, in Much, ponding the decision of their mutjal claims, no encroachment should be jado on either f ide. lireachos of this agbemont on tho part of Venezuela have, froc time to time, taken place, and Vonoauahn settlements have bojn effected on gidfields in the n-iutral area. British and Venezuelan outposts have mot upon th? opposite banks of tho Cuyuni River, which forms a portion of tho Schombuk line, and encouraged by impunity, a Venezuelan post hss at la-t rushed across tie river and the line, into territory proclimed in 1886 as definitely British. In tbojarly part of this year a small force of Britsh police having been instructed to removdthe Venezuelan flu, the British police officrs were arrested bv tho Venezuelan authorijes, and carried into Venezuelan territory. After an explation tho British polica officers woro liberated, and sent back. The act of the Venezuelan authorities is, bpwever, one for which tho British Government naturally expects that reparation shal bo made, and the fact that such aggrossicp wis possible upon British soil is in itself pnffoienb indication of the urgent necessty for a speedy settlement of tho boundary <jue±ion,

Dr. Joseph Parker, of t$ City Temple, London, has addressed a somewhat remarkable epistle to the Popo, in which he says : "lil could be satisfied to pay personal bomago to illustrious leaning, and still more illustrious piety, ami to prostrate myself before incomparible historical splendour, I know not tc whom I could more unreservedly offer my humble tribute than to your Holiness. Bit when I seek to satisfy an infinitely lar#jr responsibility and to express an infinitely deeper faith, I tarn to the living Lord a the Church who permits me, by the tinspmkablo condescension of His grace, to coirmnne with Him in penitence and lowliness of heart. I know no Head ot the Churcl but) the crucified and ascended Christ. [ know no real and lasting union but the indwelling of tlia Holy Olios 1) equal in pover and glory with the Father and tho Son. I obey no t lthority but the Wordand Rule of Him qui est imago Dei invisililis, primogenitus oxnia creature—ipse est ante omnes, et omnia in ipso constant. Holy Father, if this were a merely parsonil matter, I could hardly forgivemyself for seeking to approach i presence so august and S3 venerable, but, inasmuch as yuu hive appealed to all sections of tho English people upon questions which affect the ve.*y standing of tho soul before God, I have emboldened myself to bear witness to the Headship of tho B'eised Christ and to decline communion with any man or any Church that would officially or prescriptivoly come between me and my Savour, nor can I charge myself with presumption in assuring your Holiness that this is substantially the position of all Protestant English Christians."

The present made io the Czar by the German Emperor of an allegorical picture painted by himself, representing the civilized States of Europe oppressed by the yellowed race, has attracted a good deal of attention in Vienna (says tho correspondent of the Times), and is generally regarded as an incident of no ordinary significance. Tho newspaper Die Prease asks whether it was an indirect means of suggesting' a course of common action on the pare of tho European Powers against the semi-barba-rous Chinese Empiro, to which Russia was also invited in this exceptional manner, which did not bind either Germany or her ruler. ft gees on to say that the motive of Germany in joining Russia and Franco in opposition to Japan is not made ony clearer by the Emperor's gift to the Czar. Arguing from the isolated and independent policy adopted by the Powers concorned with respect to this recent massacres in China, tho Presse concludes that the danger to Europe from the yellow race in a distant future will scarcely become so threatening as to lead to any permanent common system of defence. The Neue Freie Presao, in an article treating of the same matter, says that Germany still maintains the policy towards Russia laid down by Prince Bismarck, and endeavours to direct Russian activity away from Europe and towards Asia and the East. In that quarter Germany is ready to ronder Russia every assistance. It is clear that the German support of Russian interests in East Asia is pointed against England, and, according to the Neue Froio Presse, there can be no question that this ie recognised in London. It is impossible, ib says, that the English should entertain any doubt as to Germany's roadiness to support Russia's aspirations in Asia, and also to a certain extent in the East, without any regard to British interests. Tho reestablishment of Russian confidence is considered in Berlin to be of far greater importance than the doubtful friendship of England, which every change of Ministry at Westminster may put in question.

The Sultan lias consented to additional gunboats of Foreign Powers being sent to the Bosphorous. A force of 60,000 Turkish troops was mobilised in Syria and Palestine, and the green flag of the prophot was raised, but owing to Russian intrigues the movement wa3 crushed. The recont battle in Cuba between the insurgents and the Spanish troops is saidjto havo been the severest engagomont fought during the campaign. The rebels claim a victory. Considering the strength of the military forces in Cuba, it is, however, difficult to !eo how tho Cubans can hope to successfully cope with them. Operations have been delayed owing to the rainy season, but now that the weather permit's of the movements of the Spanish troops, something decisive may be looked for. The opening of direct trade'between Manchester and Australia by the ship canal was celebrated on the arrival" of the ship Timaru with a cargo of ■ frozen meat by a banquet, at which the leading membors of Cottonopolis attended. The usual speeches were delivered, and hopes indulged in— which we trust will be realisedthat the port of Manchester might become in the future a great centre of colonial trade. Tho British surplus is expected amount to six millions. A- disastrous storm has been expei ieaced iu the Black Sea. Many liroa wore

/lost. l?! 110 death of Jules Barthelemy SaintHilaire lias been followed within a few days by that of Alexandre Dumas. Thus France loses in one week two of her most illustrious, men of letters. Dumas was a clever son of a clover father. '' Their distinctive rOles, however, were the opposite of one another, The father was all action, all passion, all imagination, all life. Tho son was a teaoher, a reformer, whose uitn was through his talent to awaken the public mind in France to the strongest possible sense of tho evils of modern French manners and civilisation. Dumas fits was a cynical roflector of tho morals and ways of his age in his own country, and a master of dramatic technique. His novels are of little importance, but his plays, essentially French and dealing with characteristic phases of French life as he saw it, will always hold a high place until they cease to be typical of the manners and oustoms of the ago.