Omaha daily bee., 1889-08-10

disregard Austria on his flank and German
remonstrances, Is generally believed, and
thcre have been many evidences that the
Russian emperor declines to continue with
Germany the tonfidential and most amiable
relations thaa prevailed between his father
and the grand3nthe Of the present German
emperor. He3never liked the German su
premacy at th& court Of his fnther, and IL
was remarked1p Europe, when the son OF
the car visite4 Stuttgart few weeks ago 70
take part In tue festivities In that city, the
royal family Of wurtemberg being his near
relatives, that the imperial youth did not
make any staylp Berlin. Upon this the air
was full of rumors OF friction between the
German and Russian officers at Stuttgart
II Is matter OF course that IL Russia draws
the sword for the purpose Of carrying out
her ancient policy Of capturing CONSTANT
! nople and further aggrandiziug herself In
Asia, and the result should be war with
Austria and Germany, Franco will spring
upon Germany and take the chances of ami
hilation. A war between Russia and Ger
many would necessarily mean war between
France and Germany also; and 1t is just now
regarded as of evil significance that there
are immense orders in France for the most
improved arms of precsion-the latest and
best of magazine rifies-for the equipment
| Of the Russian army.
~.
The dispatch Of battalion from the Mas
sowah garrison to occupy Asmara is the first
stem in the renewal of IJaly's attempt to an
mex the northern portion Of Abyssinia. It's
| possible that what she was unable to conquer
| from King John she will find practically
| given to her by KING Menelek Still, 1t can
not be wholly certain that the latter will
| stand by any promises he may have made to
this effect. While he ruled only over Shoa,
the southernmost province Of Abyssinia, 1t
mattered little to him what was gong on in
Tigre, the northernmost; and since he was
in chronic rebellion against the Negus he
looked upon Italy really as his ally. But
| whether now as king he will suffer, or his
| people will allow him to suffer foreign inva-
| sion, can not be known. Asmara Is on the
high plateau, about forty eight miles back
from the coast, and was the camping place
of the principal army Of King John. pre-
| liminary station on the march to it is Saati,
at the foot Of the highlands. Keren is on
| the road to the Bogos country at the north,
| which Italy covets, and presumably, If the
| present project is carried out by arrange
ment with King Menelek, the Italians will
| turn to Keren from Asmara. Without such
| an understanding they could not reach
Asmara except after battle, as it is too i'm
| portant position to give up, and it would
| take an army corps instead Of q battalion to
| forcibly occupy it..
| ~.
The trouble in Crete, which has a constitu.
| tion and government of its own, is due to
the desire of a-tninority in the Cretan legis-
lature to control affairs and grab the spoils
Of office. Tho late, election in the island gave
the liberals largS majority, and the gov
ernor acceded I'd their demands that they
should have ssare Of the offices. To this
the conservatives objected, and petltioned
the sultan to remove the governor. Upon
the porte's refusal they introduced motion
! into the legislature to unite with Greece, and
this also having been rejected, open violence
was resorted to- Il il noteworthy that in
this quarrel neither race nor religious differ
ences have enteaed into the question, and
that Greeks and Turks. Christians and Mo-
hammedans may be found IN each Of the
| warning factions. While Greece is doubtless
| anxious to annex the island, she is deferred
| from taking steps looking to that end by the
hostile attitude Of Italy, which fears that in
| such an event transfer Of the island would
soon be made either to Russia or France.
Italy herself would like to secure Crete as
| a naval station and fortress, and 80 she has
been urging the porte to settle the difficulty
| peaceably, evidently believing that each
| days delay Is making the situation more Sc
rious, and that when conference shall come
she may get hold upon the island. AS
things now stand, however, all the great
| powers will feel constrained to take hand
| in the dispute. The irresolution of the Turk
| lsh government has already borne fri -.
| Even if a war shall be averted, there will
probably be European congress to discuss
the difficulty-and, as everybody knows a
congress is often as much to be dreaded as a
war.
Canada has debt of nearly three hundred
million dollars. This enormous debt for a
i population OF less than 5000, 900 has been in
Cured, in chief part, for the improvement
and extension Of the facilities of transporta-
tion in the Dominion, with special reference
to the encouragement of immigration. Yet
between 1861 and 1881 the population in
creased by only about one-quarter, and since
| 1881 the gain cannot be more than one-tenth,
If it is as much as that. The purpose for
which the debt was contracted has therefore
4
railways have been built and the canals i'm
proved, but the number of settlers who have
come in consequence is small. During the
twenty years between 1861 and 1881 the
foreign population of Canada actually de
creased by nearly 100000 or hard on one
sixth, though meantime over 100000 immi
grants had been imported. Allowing for the
death rate, 1t yet appears that at least three
fourths of the immigrants, drawn to Canada
at vast expense to the government, passed
over to US, making Canada q mere place o1
transit. The same is true OF the immigrants
since 1881. Nor are they alone in crossing
the border. Natives Of Canada are also eni
grating hither, 80 that at least one million OF
our population have come thence. We are
gaining from Canada more than Canada is
gaining for itself. Canada, therefore, IL
more like an old and exhausted country thar
new and yet undeyeloped one. The
provinces OF longer settlement. Ontario for
instance, are standing still, not keeping theil
natural increase. Even Manitoba, to which
immigration has been specially directed, ID
not increasing as our neighboring regions
are, though It has much to invite settlers