Omaha daily bee., 1889-12-07

provide better homes for the poor, to miti-
gate the woes Of the c%rofters, TO discstablish
the church in Scotland and Wales. lie even
gave cautious mention to the growing feel
ing against the house Of lords. He spoke OF
his increasing weight Of years and doubted
whether he would personally have q share
in many future reforms, and closed by pre-
dieting a liberal victory at the next general
lection. Mr.. Gladstone's speech has es.
pecicf interest because OF the almost GER
tainty OF such a liberal victory. II will not
be long now before the party OF England's
future will have another opportunity to i'm
press its ideas and convictions upon legls-
lation. Evidently when that time comes
Britain will see startling changes.
-
Nothing could show more clearly the little
hope Lord Salisbury has of checking the
liberal tide of success than the revival Of the
old and threadbare threat that the peers will
throw out the home rule bill even IL IL does
go through the 1t Is clear from
his recent speeches that the tory leader secs
ar enough into the future to realize that his
party rule is doomed. But so ridiculous a
threat is of no earthly use in the campaign,
as it will not only fail to attract a single vote,
but it is not backed by any authority except
Salisbury's own which is not likely to pre-
vail in the matter. That the house of lords
would take great pleasure in killing a home
rule bill can be taken for granted, but this
august body has frequently voted for meas.
ures against its will. The house of common
represents the popular will and the peers are
becoming more and more chary of opposing
this. Given the alternative of its own aboli.
ton the house of lords would no doubt gladly
vote for home rule or anything else. Sails.
bury's threat will not worry the home rulers.
With Gladstone again in command of the
government they will be perfectly willing to
take their chances for home rule.
-.
One result of the German Kaiser's visit to
Constantinople has been a disclosure Of the
real state of things in the Ottoman empire.
Every effort, indeed, compatible with
national bankruptcy was made to throw
dust in the eyes of the Sultan's guests. The
oid-fashioned ironclads were patched up,
the troops selected for review were freshly
uniformed, the front walls of houses were
whItewashcd, the streets were cleaned, and
some of them were carpeted. Nevertheless,
the truth could not be hidden that Turkey
has never been more helpless against foreign
aggression or more exposed to internal revo-
utiOu tudu BIG 10 IUuuy. Dun ltW WOTuS
need be wasted on the notorious inefficiency
of the Turkish fleet. The ships are con-
structed on an old and now discarded
system, and they proved almost useless
in the last war against Russia. The army,
which still exhibited traces of its old
energy at Plevna, is now disorganized and
disaffected. In the provinces the pay Of
both officers and soldiers has been in arrears
for anna txvp wanna Evan fha nav of thu
privileged garrison of the capital is SIX
months overdue. The whole body of civil
| officials has a similar grievance, and is fur
Their exasperated because the machinery of
| government is necessarily thrown out of
gear by the ~sultan's capricious interference,
due partly to the clandestine influence of
palace favorites and partly to unmistakable
symptoms of Inherited insanity. The out
RACES perpetrated on Christians in Crete and
Armenia are indisputable, but, what is less
generally known, the Turks themselves have
quite as much to suffer at the hands of their
despot. Thousands of upright and Jealous
Moslems have been condemned to exile.
Hundreds have shared the fate of Midhat
Pasha, the one resolute and almost tri-
umphant Turkish reformer of our time.
~.
The stake which Portugal is playing for in
Africa is unquestionably a great one, and she
is putting forth supreme efforts to win it. 1t
includes, in the first place, the practical con-
troll Of the entire valley of the Zambesl, one
of the great rivers eff the continent, the very
greatest that empties on the east coast, and
a valuable highway for a commerce yet to be
developed. Next, P%ortugals aim is to con-
meet her colonies around Benguela on the
west coast and Quilimane and Sofala on the
east coast by a broad transcontinental zone,
through which in future years she may run
railroads, and thus find a double outlet for
the products of the interior. In this attempt
she hopes to Obtain the support Of France
and also that Of Germany, both of
which countries have looked upon
her claim not unfavorably, while
a judicious withdrawal from terri
torial conflicts with the latter on the west
coast will help her. 1t is obvious that the
case has now come TO a direct issue. Gust
ing Portugal from her claims over the basin
Of the Congo has not disposed Great Britain
to allow her to indemnify herself by any ex-
elusive jurisdiction on the Zambesi This
was clearly shown by her decided refusal to
submit to Portugal's practically prohlbItive
customs duties on that river and her efforts
to confine the trade to steamers flying her
nag. III Is also very likely unat the NyaSSa
expedition, under Serpa Pinto, will be &C
cused Of encroaching on British rights. But
the immediate question raised is as to the
right to Mashonaland; and Portugal will be
fortunate IL she IS able to secure out of the
resulting DISPUTE a conceded right to even
a narrow territorial strip connecting Mozam-
bique and Angola.
~.
An event of no small interest in the Euro
psan situation was the weakening of Austria
IN its relation to the agreement made with
Germany last month concerning Bulgaria.
When Count Kalnoky visited Bismarck at
Friedrichsruhe he agreed, rs the car had
done, to give the German chancellor a free
hand in the settlement of the Bulgarian diff
Guilty. But tie count, it seems, has not been
able to keep his word. His great dual em-
pire is, automatically considered, an intri-
cate if not a rickety machine. Kalnoky is
minister of foreign affairs for the whole en-
pire. Taafe is minister OF the interior for
Austria proper, while Premier Tisza is presi-
dent Of the Hungarian council. The Fried
richsruhe compact was indignantly resented
in Hungary, and threatened TO overthrow