Omaha daily bee., 1890-01-18

TO use, aud has made no end eavor TO occupy
until they had actually been occupied by n
British company. The Portuguese claim 10
them, whatever its validity may originally
have been, has lapsed by nonuser, for assur-
edly to claim a country for four centuries
and make no use OF IL must work q forfeiture
of the claim as against anybody who Is thus
able and willing, and Portugal is not, and in
resisting the British occupation, after hav-
ing for all these centuries neglected every
opportunity Of occupying the country her.
self, Portugal takes the attitude of a national
dog in a colonial mauger. Portugal is under no
need OF expansion" while Great Britain
is under q vital and continuous necessity to
expand. 1t is almost, il not quite, n require
ment Of national self preservation that she
shall find new markets for British products,
and the finding of such markets in Africa
means the growth there of industries the
products of which can be exchanged for the
products of British industry. This is an
other way of saying that it means the civil
izatiou of the country, which, under the pro-
lection of Portugal, has remained as unciv-
ilized as it was when Vasco da Cana doub-
led the Cape of Good Hope. The British
instinct for expansion sometimes takes
strange and questionable forms; but in this
case the cases of Great Britain against Por-
tugel is one that ought to command the sym,
pathy of impartial friends of civilization all
the world over.
The Canadian parliament, which opened
last Wednesday, promises a session of un-
usual interest. Whether much useful legis-
lation will be passed is questionable. but
issues of the greatest Importance will come
IN nfTpntipu ~ p,oV ha tha ut,ltlit, 81 fha
confederation and the peace and harmony of
the two peoples who it is useless denying
are striving to outgeneral one another. At
the last session of parliament what are now
known as the "noble thirteen,' who voted
for the disallowance of the Jesuit estate
acts, carried with them only q very measre
following throughout the Dominion, whereas
today the agitation of the equal right
ers has given them q status in the
country and in the house which only
the blindest of partisans would dare
to deny. In fact, the Jesuit question, the
question of church and state, of French
Canadian domination in Quebec and Mani
toba and the northwest, and of English as
the language of instruction in French Cana
dian separate schools in Ontario, will be the
burning issues during the session. Never,
even during the Riel agitation, have the di-
viding lines between the English and French
been so marked as today, and never have the
English-speaking Canadians been 80 deter
mined that the aggression of the French
must be met. Even French Canadians them
selves appear to realize that the Jesuits nave
carried their iutrlgues too far, and that what
they gain in Quebec is more IMAM counter
balanced by what they may lose in the other
provinces.
The African slave trade could easily be
wiped out If the sultan of Turkey, Abdul
Hamid, himself u slave owner, would con-
sent to 1t. But he is not Likely to take such
a step for various reasons, not the least of
who was deposed on account of i'll health,
has so far improved as to be serviceable as a
figurehead to conspirators in case q revo-
lutionary movement were considered advisa-
BILE. Aut the only good result to be seen in
Russia's foreign policy is the incidental one
of a perpetual enmity toward a system so at
variance with Christian civilization. The
harem and the slave block should have no
place in the European system. But owing to
rules of the international comfy, not only do
the powers remain silent ON this point, but
they treat Turkey with marked %considera-
ton. The sultan's representative sits ut the
board of the Brussels anti-slavery confer
ence and discusses the slave trade in Africa
with the rest. 1t is an anomalous situation,
and Will not be bettered until the eastern
question is settled and the Ottoman power Is
retired from Europe.