New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-02-02


The Emperors only sister and her husband, the
Duke of Edinburgh, are expected here neXt "eei>
for prolonged stay and will take up their resi-
dence in the Winter Palace. Their vislt is due
10 the statutes OF the. Imperial family winch
constrain the members Of the latter 10 spend
three months of every year in Russia under pen
atty OF FORGETTING their annual allowance ana
civil list This. in the case of the Grand Duchess
Marie would mean a loss Of some $1,000 per
annum for although her actual allowance Is
relatively small, yet the whole OF the capltai
of her large personal fortune has remained IN the
hands of Alexander III, who merely pays her IN
half-yearly amounts the interest at . per cent on
the sum- The Princess Of Wales is likewise due
here next month.
With reference to the Duke of Edinburgh
curious story is current concerning his strange
absence from the King Of Portugal's funeral to
attend which he had specially travelled TO Lisbon.
II appears that he reached the Portuguese capital
in perfect and even boisterous health on the day
before the one appointed for the royal obsequies.
He was received at the railway terminus by the
Duke of Oporto, the members of the British and
Russian Legations and the officers of the English
cruiser Active which lay at anchor in the Tagus
After exchanging hearty greetings with all pres
ent he drove off to the Palace of the Necessl-
dades, whence he subsequently proceeded in full
uniform, with the order of the Golden Fleece
around his neck and the sash Of the Portuguese
order of the Tower and the Sword across his
breast, to visit King Carlos at Belem. The Duke
had Just taken his leave of the King and was
crossing the grand vestibule of the palace to his
carriage, when he fell to the ground in fit OF
epilepsy and began to dash his head against the
marble floor. So startled and terrified were the
Portuguese chamberlains and dignitaries In at
tendance by the shocking contortions of his feat
ures and limbs that IL was not until sharply re-
buked by the Dukes equerry that they recovered
their presence of mind sufficiently to lend help
ing hand In the meantime, however, the pros
trate man had been permitted TO bruise his face
in such a manner as to render any appearance III
public for several days absolutely out Of the ques
ton. AS soon as the fit had passed of, he re-
turned to the Necessidades, and on the following
morning, while the entire population was gazing
at the funeral procession and wondering at his
inexplicable absence he drove down to the Arsenal
and quietly went on board the Active, where he
spent the remainder of the day in the congenial
society Of his old messmates. To such an eX-
tent were his features disfigured and dlscolored
from the effects of his fall that he was forced 70
remain a full week at Lisbon before being able
to start on his return Journey
An extraordinary state of affairs prevails in the
Baltic Provinces Not only the entire local Gov
eminent, but also the administration or justice
has been brought TO complete standstlli by t1ie
same causes which led to the abandonment OF the
Tower of Babel. Some time ago the Gar issued
ukase ordering that the Russian language should
be exclusively used in all official matters, ana that
German should he strictly tabOoed This has led
to chaos. In Riga, out of seventy-two town
councillors only five can speak Russian the re-
mainder can neither read, understand nor write
il. The new justices of the peace, police magis-
trates, judges and members of the Court Of APP
peals are nearly all ignorant Of German, ana the
few who understand il are not allowed to speak
il. In Livonia alone there are some 10000 law
suits pending; the documents in connection there
with are in German. and therefore Incompetent
sible to the new judges. And in order to make
matters worse no translator has yet been APP
pointed to the various law courts. Last week a
number of peasants appeared in the Court OF APP
peas at Riga. Nobody present was able to under,
stand them and they, on their side, understood
had been removed and those appointed TO take
their places not only do not know the language
in which the documents Of the cases penang are
written, but are even ignorant Of the law that
obtains in the Baltic provinces 1t is only after
entering upon their new offices that they learn
that the Baltic civil law is as different from the
Russian code as day is from night. They nave
scarcely realized the fact before they are called
upon to administer this unknown system of juris-
prudence. As they cannot read German, they
seek for a Russian exposition Of the Baltic code
Only few old books are available 1hey are
therefore forced TO pass sentence out OF code
which they neither possess nor know. ceNera! OF
them, in view Of the abnormal ana imposslnle
nature of their position have rendered their resG'
nations but have been notified that unless they
withdraw them they will never be employed by
the Government again
Two handsome volumes Of poems have Just
made their appearance simultaneously in this city
and at Moscow and attracting much atten.
ton The initials X. r., which figure in lieu OF
the authors name, stand for Konstantlne Roman
off the second son Of the Grand Duke Konst9nlne
Nicolaewitch. The young Grand Duke is The
most talented member Of the Cars family, ana
pointed president of the Imperial Academy OF
Science. While many of his poems now published
contain depth of poetic sentiment and pathoS
rare even among the emotional Slavs, others,
especially those which deal with military sub
jects and with incidents of soldiers life, are
marked by strong touches of humor
The Persians have been singularly unfortunate
in this country since the British Minister, Sir
Drummond Wolf, obtained the upper hand at
Teheran, and drove Russian influence in the back
around. cousin of the Shah, Prince Keykubah
Dechman Mira. who until a few months ago
held high rank In the Cars bodyguard and who
was n prominent figure Of all court functions and
social entertainments here has Just been con on
mines of Siberia for distributing counterfeit
money-a charge which is ndiculed by all who
were in a position to know him well. AT the
same time news has been received from the South
to the effect that the Persian Consul-General at
| Odessa n NJ Jowanowitch, has just beer thrown
into prison and accused of obtaining by false
| pretenccs the sum of 100000 rouoes from the
local branch of the Danilewsli Banl in this city.
an an Invasion Of cholera from Persia,
q strict quarantine has been estab-
! lished on the Russian shores Of the Caspian and
along the frontier. all communications between
the two countries being temporarily interrupted.
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