Omaha daily bee., 1890-11-15
OTHER LANDS THAN OURS.

elections held two weeks ago the net liberal
gain was large enough to be noteworthy. In
liberal cities the Gladstonians. increase their
representatives on the offices over last year,
and in tory communities they also make net
gains. While ii is true that these city cleo
tions were contested largely on local issues,
yet the home-rule question had considerable
influence, and these elections seem to be ac-
cepted by unionists and Gladstonians as in
dlcitive of the drift Of public opinion. If we
apply this standard to the Scotch elections,
u shows something OF reaction I'm favor of
the conservatives across the border. Iu Ed
lnDurg, Baillie Walcott, who proposed and
carried the resolution giving MIR. Parnell the
freedom of the city, has been refused re-elec-
uon, with two OF his colleagues, on this
issue. Elsewhere in Scotland the home
rulers have held their own, and have made
net gain of at least forty In the United King
DOM In the meantime Mr.. Balfour con-
tinued his journey through Ireland, appar-
entity, at least giving careful attention to the
study OF the situation. His purpose seems to
be to satisfy himself as to the real amount Of
restitution in the country and the best means
to relieve it. So far as indicated his plans
only contemplate the expenditure of govern
ment money on railroads, bridges and high
ways His aim evidently is TO win the good
Will OF the people by promising them imme-
diate relief, and future prosperity. If he can
quiet their discomfort in this way he will de-
prive the Parnellites of one of their most
effective weapons. He has, as yet, shown no
signs that he sees reason to modify his gen.
eral policy of coercion, or materially amend
his land purchase bill. On the contrary, his
speech at Glenties means that he intends to
press the bill in its present form to passage
at the coming session of parliament without
delay. He should have added if the minor
ity will permit for his experience of last
winter ought to have taught him that pass
ing this bill against the minority is by no
means simple undertaking.
~
There is proposition to tax titles of nobil-
ity in France. Under the provisions of the
Moreau bill the tariff of titles is nicely grad
uated. If the rich tradesman or stock
| gambler who has invested part of his
profits in a country seat will content himself
with the simple territorial particle dc, this
indulgence of vanity will cost him only SlOO a
| year. So, too, the relatively modest title of
! chevalier, the lowest recognized under the
ancient regime, will only impose upon the
next steps are more serious. He that calls
himself baron must pay every twelvemonth
| $1,000; vicomte will be mulcted in $1,000, a
| comte in $4,000, and marquis in s., 900.
| When we recall how common the title of
marquis is in France and how narrow are
the incomes of many of its possessors, we can
see that yearly tax of 10000 francs would
not only seem grievous burden, but would
ha -,NI,- Ill, Al.
| Moreau proposes to levy on a duke $40, 900
and on a prince $4,000 year, but
here he reveals an ignorance of a
| popularity of the old French peerage
which is creditable to a radical In
the France OF the old monarchy the title of
| duke was, as rule, more highly esteemed
than that of prince, the latter being often
| borne by the elder sons of dukes, but dropped
| on their accession to a dukedom. Thus the
| eldest son of tho Duke de la Rochefoucauld
was called Prince de Marsillac; the eldest
| son OF the Duke de Rohan- Chabot is the
Prince de Leon, and the eldest son of the
Duke de la Tremoille is the Prince dc Tar
ente. Under the Moreau tariff either of the
two last mentioned dukes would have to pay
| twice as much for his eldest son as for him
self. This was not intended by the author Of
"to hiCdouiC, VIII provided
that where the wives and children of a noble
desire to bear titles, rs they always do in
France, they need only pay fees ranging from
20 TO oo per cent OF those eXacted from til 9
head of the family. The money accruing
| from the licenses to use inherited titles will,
with what to radicals must seem delicious
irony, go to the fund for the relief of aged
| workmen.
The Greek church, in its warfare with the
porte, has just borrowed from the west and
put into pernicious activity an ecclesiastical
! weapon which has been obsolete sine
medieval times. 1t has declared a general
interdict upon the Ottoman empire. An in
terdct may be defined as a general ecc,esi-
astical strike While it lasts the churches
are shut, the altars stripped, the bells silent
no Offices are said, no sacrements are cele.
brated save baptism, the dead are not buried,
and the whole country $50 far as it is sensi-
tive to ecclesiastical censures) is made to feel
that it lies under the wrath of God. 1t was
a terrible weapon in it's day, as Robert found
it to be in France and Stephen and John in
England; and if Henry VIII. and Elizabeth
found little terror in it, it was because its day
was past even in their time. But, besides
the grave fault of anarchronism, the HOLY
Orthodox synod has, it would seem, fatally
mscalculated its chances in another way
Turkey, from the religious point of view,
resembles os little as possible the uniformly
Catholic France Of the middle age The
Giaours of the Ottomon empire con
stitute, all told, not more than third o
its population; and of this number only
third-that is, one-ninth of the whole popula
tion-are faithful orthodox. One can imagine
how the caliph, the vicar of Mohammed, the
commander Of the. true believers looks upon
this infdel minority, and with what consider
alton he is likely to treat it. Another danger
to the Greeks lies in the existence beside
them in Turkey of other Christian churches
not orthodox, to be sure, but almost identi
cal with them in dogma and ritual and gen
eral appearance. These churches and theii
clergy will keep on in. full activity, and
doubtless will make many converts among
the orthodox whose own ecclesiastlcs are OIL
strike. They furnish curious parallel tc
the class called "blacklegs" in England, IL
whom our liberal walking delegates give
grosser name. Nevertheless, absurd as thu
whole business seems, there are aspects of i
which are serious Not only the orthodo,
subjects of the sultan will be stirred up, bu
4. II