The Portland daily press., 1893-05-25

BRUSSELS, May PA most extraordi.
nary scene occurred during yesterdays
session of the International Miners Con,
gress, which is now sitting in the Peoples
Palace. A letter was read from M. Basly
one of the French delegates, in which he
asked the Congress not to be surprised
at the absence of either of himself or his
confrere, M. Lamendin, as they had beer
summoned to meet the chief of police
The question of state intervention and
the regulation of the hours of labor ther
came up for discussion, and the debate
proceeded briskly for time, when, on a
sudden, intelligence reached the hall and
quickly spread among the delegates that
MN. Basly and Lamendin had been sum.
moned by the chief of police in order that
they might be notified that decree OF
expulsion from Belgian territory had
been signed against them.
On the receipt of this news the debate
was forthwith suspended, and shortly
after both M. Basly and M. Lamendin en-
tered the hall, where they were given a
most enthusiastic reception by the dele
gates, and where they confirmed the re-
port that had been circulated, and said
that they had been ordered out of Bel
gium, in consequence of their attitude at
the time OF the struggle in the Pas de
Calais, and that they had been peremp-
toriiy told that t=they must leave the
country before midday.
The announcement of the decision of
the ont no fn1d Nv hoe \ L.
gates, was the signal for an outburst of
violent anger, and the sitting was sus-
pended, while the English and French
delegates threatened to retire from the
Congress. In the afternoon, however,
the sitting was resumed, but the feeling
had by no means quieted down, and it
was apparent that the members were
still under the influence of the great ex-
element of the morning, and resolu-
tion was proposed that a delegation
should wait upon the Prime Minister
and endeavor to persuade him to post
pone the application for the expulsion of
MN. Basly and Lamendin
1t having trapspired that the expul-
sion of thess members was instigated by
the newspaper LIE Patriot, the Congress
decided to expel the reporter of that pa
per from the sittings. The French dele
gates then reti red to an adjoining room
10 consider what attitude they should
adopt in the matter, because the Con-
gress had not, as a body, expressed SYM
pathy with MN. Basly aad Lamendin.
and during their absence it was an
nounced that the decision of the Belgian
government was absolutely irrevocable.
Opon this notification, suggestion was
at once made that the further sittings of
the Congress be transferred to Valen-
ciennes in the French territory, but this
proposal was not received with favor,
some of the delegates even going so far
as to declare that they had no more CON
fidence in the French than they had in
the Belgian government. The resolu-
tion was, however, passed, and the Bel
gian, English and French delegates
urged on the representatives of the
French miners the necessity of their re-
naming till the end of the Congress, to
complete the work they had begun, in
order to defeat the intrigues of the Bel
gian government to upset the Laborers'
Congress. A resolution was then pro-
posed, expressing the sympathy of the
meeting with the two members who had
been expelled from Belgian territory,
and this was, of course. carried.