The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1879-08-07
The Record of the Half Year.

course, bringing with it many striking
changes. Afghanistan, eonvulsed by
war six months ago, is quiet again for
the present, and the weak ruler whose
vacillations precipitated the conflict has
been removed by death. His brother
Ameer of Bokhara had preceded him to
the grave. The French Prince Imperial,
more fortunate than his father, has met
the soldiers death which fate denied to
the latter nine years ago, and the hopes
of the Imperialists are now concentrated
upon Prince Jerome Bonaparte. France
has acquired new President, Germany
a new tariff, Russia . new system of
local administration. A friendlier feel
ing is beginning to replace Italy's for
mer evaporation against Austria, the
advocates of a crusade for the recon
quest of the Tyrol and Trentino being
now limited to a few enthusiasts of the
Garibaldi school. Turkey has passed
through the usual Ministerial crisis, wit b
the usual absence of any result what
ever, while the lavish and incapable
ruler Of Egypt has been forced to yield to
his SON the control of the State which
his extravaganza has impoverished.
y But although the civilized world has
happily been almost free from war dur
ing the current year, every other form
of:calamity has descended upon it in
succession. Formidable inundations
have devastated Hungary and Northern
Italy; Sicily has been ravaged by a
| frightful volcanic eruption; famine and
pestilence have made themselves terri
bly, felt in Russia, Egypt, and Northern
India; England has been visited by an
other season of commercial depression,
aggravated by several enormous failures
and more than one extensive strike.
The struggle in South Africa, though
now apparently nearing its close, has
already cost many valuable lives, while
the conflict between the Chilian and Pc
ruvian Republics is being still waged
with a barbarity and q disregard of civ
ilized usages which has called forth the
indignant protest of several European
powers. A revolutionary organization,
small in numbers, but formidable from
its ruthless energy and the ghostly
mystery which envelops an its proceed
ings, has boldly defied the Russian Gov
ernment, taking the life of more than
tempting that of the Gear himself.
| A similar influence for the Moslem
world, too, has Nihilism Of its own
Is manifest in the fanatioA outbreaks
which have recently convulsed Tunis,
Algeria, and Morocco. These tumults
are generally, and no doubt justly, as
cribed to the intrigues Of the deposed
Khedive, acting through the famous
"secret societies - which are the main
strength Of modern Islam, and whose
organization, so far as it is yet known,
appears to rival that of their best Euro
pean counterparts. In Central Asia,
again, an experiment is being tried
which, if successful, will form a. mo-
mentous chapter in the future history of
the East. The Oxus, diverted six cen.
turies ago from the Caspian into the
Aral Lake, is now being restored to its
ancient channel, and its course being
navigable to some distance beyond
.Balkh, a direct water communication
will thus be established between Afghan
istan and European Russia.
But of all the phenomena of the pres.
ent year, the most striking is the curious
fashion in which Absolutism and Re.
publicanism have suddenly exchanged
places, each asserting itself most mark.
edly in the very spot which was once the
center of the other. To find hot-head.
ed, impulsive France arresting without
bloodshed, and almost without disturb
ance, the advance of arbitrary power
by effecting an important change ol
government, is new thing indeed; bu
not less amazing is the spectacle o
steady, self-contained, Unconditional Ger
many quietly lending herself to acts O
Idespotism as high-handed as those O
Louis XIV. Seventy-three years ago
the first Napoleon, by establishing mar
tial law in Prussia, and shooting Ber
lin bookseller at his own door, aroused
the patriotic spirit which eliminated il
Leipsic and Waterloo; whereas now tn,
former liberators Of Europe are pro
claiming martial law in their turn, Will
the former champions Of oppression ar
figuring as the boldest apostles Of free
dom. But this unparalleled contras
must necessarily be short-lived.-Nea
York Times. szltI Biift-E5iiaa ~
| IT is announced that Cleopatra
| Needle. noy standing in Alexandria
| and the nate to that one which wa