St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-12-11
FOREIGN NOTES.

It is related of Joseph Thomson, the
explorer. that he was recently steaming
| along the Shiri river when a Portuguese
| gunboat, whose commander disputed
ThomsOn's right to make a highway of
| the stream poured n volley of shot into
his boat. The young man merely lifted
his hat, bowed very gracefully, told the
engineer to put on a little more steam,
and went on his way without showing
any belligerency.
The students in several of the leading
universities in Great Britain, reports a
| Boston paper, have formed a foreign
missionary union. whose object is to urge
the claims of the foreign field upon Chris
tan students. Its members-and there
are now 165-take a pledge similar to
| the one which thousands of American
young men and women have signed 1t
reads: 1T is my earnest hope, if God
permit, to engage in foreign mission
| work.
| The steamer Peace. of the British Bap-
| fist Mission on the Congo, has been
| seized for official use by the Congo Free
State This is the boat in which Mr..
Grenlell made most of his discoveries and
it the first to travel on most of the
Congo tributaries. Mr.. Grenfell pro-
tested against the seizure but the author
tiles claimed that they needed the steamer
for the suppression of slave trade on the
kassi river Mr.. Grenfell has returned
to England to urge his protest.
At their friendly meeting in Narva
some time ago the Gar of Russia pre-
scented the Emperor William of Germany
troika which has been much admired
in Berlin. stalwart and handsome
Slav accompanied the gift as driver.
Emperor William speaks to the driver in
Russian. When the Berliners see their
monarch in the Russian vehicle they say:
That's the right kind of turnout for the
man who holds the reins of the triple
alliance" But they forget, says a Rus
sian paper, that the reins of that turnout
are in the hands of a stalwart Slav.
Lord Wolseley declares that the aver
age white trader in Africa does not care
whether the vile alcohol he sells claims
more victims than war or pestilence, or
whether the arms he barriers for oil and
ivory, cause large districts to be laid
waste by the slave dealer. If he only
grows rich he cares nothing for all the
suffering he may inflict, though Lord
Wolseley adds that the mouth of this
same trader is often filled with moral
platitudes when he speaks in Europe on
African topics. Lord Wolseey thinks
African questions should be settled by the
European powers, without any regard
to the wishes or opinions of African
traders
The work of building a modern town
on the sight of the Eternal City is bring
ing to light new treasures of antiquity.
The other day, while laying some water
pipe in Rome. the workmen unearthed
fine bust in Carrara marble of the En-
press Faustina. The bust is quite unin-
jured. In a vineyard belonging to the
Capuchins Il statue has been resurrected
which is recognized as q statue of the
Goddess of Fortune. Ten feet below the
surface, i'll the Via Polia, has been found
an ancient Roman road, which is I'M
doubtedly the road that in early Roman
times led. from the city to the Flaminan
Gate Thirty feet below the surface in
another part of the city have just been
found the remains of an old Roman
house, parts of which are in a tolerable |
state of preservation.