The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-01-01

cation of knowing that she stands better to-
day than at any time since she was struck
down at Sedan.
Spnin.
The year brought back the old dynasty to
Spain. In January Alfonso XII, son of the
dsthroned Isabella, was called to the seat which
his Bourbon ancestors had rendered scarcely
worth the occupying, by conspiracy of the
generals. He has found his ooronet crown of
thorns. His cousin, the Carlist pretender, is
strongly entrenched in the old marches of Ma
varre, and sends out troops of marauders to
harass the country and plumber the people. In
Cuba Spanish blood and treasure have been
layishly but vainly expended to suppress the
insurrection of the planters, and the early in
Jeryention Of other powers in the conflict is not
improbable. The treasury is exhausted, the
finances in deplorable condition One good
thing, however, has been done. A liberal con-
stitution has been adopted. This instrument
provides for the election of the Certes by the
popular vote, for the establishment of Sen.
ate, partly hereditary, partly appointive, and
partly elective, for the enforcement of the writ
of habeas corpus, and for religious liberation.
There are indications that the King, who is as
weak and wicked as all the men and wo
men of his bad race, does not heartily sympa-
thize with these liberal measures, and that he
is disposed to throw himself into the arms of
the reactionists.
The Eastern Question.
The most notable event in European politics
during the year, and one which promises to be
productive Of the largest results, is the rebel
lion which broke out in the last month of the
summer in the little Turkish province of Her
zegovina. The province) which lies between
the Adriatic Sea and the Balkan mountains,
is in area 1000 square miles, and has popula-
tion of 100000. The revolt, which at first was
but the rising of few Christian herdsmen
and farmers against the Turkish tax gatherers,
promises now to be the Swelling prelude to an
imperial theme AT first the movement was
only protest against the exactions the pet
ty officials into whose hands the Sultan had
placed the collection Of tthes, but it has now
assumed the dimensions of a great national
Slavonic uprising which has already involved
Bosnia and Montenegro and threatens soon to
extend to Servia and Wallachi a. The Turk
ish treasury is bankrupt, and the Turkish army
il-fed, ill-disciplined, and ill-paid. The Sultan
forms which he cannot carry out. The great
powers have interviewed With no success, and
the Instruction, stimulated by the memory of
centuries of oppression, and by the religious
hatred of the Christian towards the Mussu.-
Juan, is spreading every day. 1t is among the
possibilities that peace may be restored on the
basis of an autonomy of the revolted provinces
similar to that granted to the Roumelian
principalities but the probabilities point to the
early dissolution of the Ottoman empire, and
to the retreat of the Turk over the Bosporus
after an encampment in Europe of four humid
red years.
England and Her Fortunes.
England has been in great concern during most
Of the year in regard to her domestic economy.
Her iron and coal industries have langu ished
ecause Of the depression of her manufacturing
interests A vague fear that she may cease to
be the workshop of the world has possessed her
soul, and haunted her dreams. Her only re-
creation has been the mimic war of pamphlets
between Gladstone and Cardinal Manning in
regard to the purposes of the Catholic church.
Her people have been uneasy and discontinued,
and there was every prospect of a Liberal re-
action in the control of her administration,
, when, in the last month of the year, the Con-
j sentative cabinet firmly entrenched itself by
the most brilliant stroke in foreign politics
ever attempted by an English minister since
the days of the younger Pitt. The genius of
De Lesseps and the money of France built the
Suez Canal and opened that old route to India
which had been in disuse since the Portuguese
circumnavigated the cape. The troubles of the
Turkish empire threatened to throw this great
thoroughfare into the hands of any nation
which chose to seize it. The audacous gen.
ius of Disraeli, who clearly saw that the safety
of England's road to her immense possessions
in India was thre atened, Inspired him to seize
flying opportunity which Offered, ard taking
advantage Of the financial distress OF Egypt to
purchase controlling interest in the canal
The purchase involved more than a monetary
consideration. 1t was the REIMBURSEMENT of
the protection of Constautinople, the strength
ening of the British possessions in India, and
the assumption of the protectorate of Egypt.
In the event Of the dissolution of the Ottoman
dominion she may take possession of the Sacred
Nile as she has of the Sacred Ganges before;
and it is not improbable that century which
has seen Englands Queen succeed to the en-
pire of the Aurungzebe and the title of Zeno-
bia, may see her occupying the seat of the
Pharaohs, the Hellenic Ptolemies, and the Fa-
FINITE Caliphs.
Other Lands.
In other lands little of general interest has
happened. Russia has been Strengthening
her armies, and patiently awaiting the moment
when she may enthrone the Greek Patriarch
in tho ,,ooslan,- do tod haS;l;oo oe Tho olj
Byzantine city. Meanwhile her troops are
keeping themselves in practice by subduing
the Asiatic Khanate of Khokand. The
Austro-H Hungarian kingdom is thriving under
the new constitutional regime. Italy is occu-
plying herself with chickering's with the Holy
See, and with plans for the improvement of
the navigation of the Tiber In Liberia dis
sensons have arisen between the negroes and
mulattoes, which seriously threaten the per-
manence of the little republic In far away
China an Emperor has died, and a child of
four years has succeeded to the dragon throne.
There and in Japan both a revival of the cid
prejudice against the foreigner has manifested
itself in murder and riot. On this side of the
water, Mexico has been in a condition of semi.
anarchy, and her border states are still subject
to the sway of the bandit In South America
all the states, with the exception of the pros
porous empire of Brazil, are suffering from in-
ternal discussions, and a majority of them are
bankrupt A happier era promises to open in
Central America by the proposed adoption of
articles of confederation brought by Guatemala
to the attention of her sister republics.
LITERATURE.
The Principal P Indications of the Year.
Hard times have made themselves felt in
book-publishing as elsewhere, but the making