Evening star., 1896-12-31

that liberal ministry has been returned to
power. Led by Sir John A. Macdonald. the
Canadian conservatives won five Of the six
His successors also retained power. but
with weaker hold. The general elections
were held June %. and resulted In an en-
phatfc liberal victory. That party, led by
Wtlford Laurier, secured a majority of 30
over the conservatives. led by Sir Charles
Upper. While the question of the restosa-
tion of separate Catholic schools in Mani
toba excited the greatest amount of feel
ing, it Is admitted that the main issue was
not the Manitoba question. but the tariff.
Sir Charles Tupper distinctly championed
protective tariff. and. while it was held
to be the patriotic duty of the government
to adhere to the policy they have adopted
in relation to the Manitoba school uues-
ton, no stress was laid upon that matter.
Laurier. on the other hand, declared for
1.-The reduction Of the tariff as far as the
necessities of the revenue Will permit, with
the complete elimination of every feature
of the tariff having distinctively protective
character" No hostility to the Manitoba
Catholics claims was enunciated. On the
contrary, he declared for the strict OBJ
servance of the terms of the federal COM
pact A document was issued by the
bishops of the province of Quebec urging
all Catholics to vote for candidates who
would do justice to Manitoba and restore
the separate schools. These instructions
were read in all the Catholic churches in
the province of Quebec. 1t is claimed that
the leaning of the document was to the
side of the conservatives, but the document
itself in plain terms disayowed any attempt
to influence votes for either political party.
At any rate, the liberal victory in the prov
ince was decisive. The liberal members
from the province were increased from "a
to 4S. Outside of Quebec the conservatives
led slightly feature of the election was
the gaining by the liberals of representa-
tives from many Of the cities, such as
Montreal. Toronto, Hamilton. Quebec, Hall
Co. md n
The Laurier ministry having formulated
plan of settling the Manitoba question.
which has been accepted by the Manitoba
government. the only task that awaits him
Is the revision of the tariff. Although an
ardent free trader, he will go 10 work con-
servatively. and whatever will be done will
be done slowly. The necessity of raising
revenue by custom dues Will prevent any
radical reductions in the tariff for some
time to come.
THE SOUDAN CAMPAIGN.
Early in the spring began the Anglo
Egyptian expedition into the country of
the Khalifa, the successor of the Mahdi.
Egypt claims sovereignty over the Soudan
and 1t was to establish this that the ex-
pediticn was formed. Troops were trans
ported up the Nile by light draft. stern
wheel steamers. Sir H. H. Kitchener. COM
manding the expedition, having decided
against a march across the desert extend
ing from Suakim to Berber. Numerous
small fights took place, in which the khal-
ifa's followers were worsted and the
Egyptian soldiers showed great steadiness.
The first engagement of any size occurred
at -Firkeh. The Arabs were badly beaten
and 1000 were killed. The Egyptian cav
airy then pushed on to Suardo, twenty
miles further south, and halfway between
Wady Halfa and New Dongola. 1t had
been the advance post of the dervishes.
The Egyptian force readily captured the
place. The continued defeats of the der
wishes have been ascribed by some to the
fact that there was lack of harmony
among them and constant quarreling among
pickering factions. The forward move
the expedition this year, began in August.
Fifteen thousand men marched by the
river side. while a fleet Of fifteen steam
boats, bearing cannon and ammunition.
barges filled with supplies, kept pace with
them. Thus proceeded the march to Dom
COLA. distant less than 100 miles. Some op-
position was made by the dervishes at
Hafir on the west bank of the Nile. The
expeditionary forces bombarded the der
wish position and the dervisheS kept up
heavy fire in reply. The one dervish
gunbcat was sunk. Thereupon three boats
belorging to the Egyptians ran through
the dervish fire and proceeded to Dongola
which was found to be undefended. The
treasury and records Of the dervishes were
captured. Some time later General kitch-
and occupied the town. The army will not
go further this year. The success of the
expedition thus far has been marked, and
1t Is cor f1dently believed that the subjuga-
tfon of the dervishes will follow
GREATER REPUBLIC OF CENTRAL
AMERICA.
The treaty of Amapala, upon which a
new confederation has been founded in
Central America, was finally ratified at
San Salvador September 15 by representa-
tives of Salvador, Honduras and Nicara-
qua The new federation is called the
Greater Republic of Central America 1t
was designed to include Costa Rica and
Guatemala, but both refused to join.
ST. LOUIS CYCLONE.
No disaster since the great Johnstown
flood of 1889 has equaled the cyclone that
swept through ST. Louis on the night of
May q. Two storms approached the city
from different directions, and meeting pro-
duced the cyclone. The full effect was not
felt at first, but was preceded by a violent
wind storm. which swept through the city
at the rate of eighty miles an hour. Then
followed a deuge of rain, and amid light
ming and thunder the cyclone swept across
the city. Crossing the river, the cyclone
laid waste a large part of East st. Louis
and wrecked a vast amount of shipping
and many warehouses. For distance of
five miles, through the heart Of the city,
beginning at the river and extending to
Compton HILL there was not a square in
which a house was not damaged. This
path was from five blocks to three-ouar-
ters of mile in width The loss and dam
age caused by the cyclone in St. Louis are
estimated at from twenty to fifty millions
and half as much in East St. Louis. The
deaths in st. Louis are estimated at 3ss,
and about 100 in the country districts ad-
jacent. The injured in St. Louis are esti-
mated at 1000; in East ST. Louis about
300. Congress authorized the Secretary of
War to loan tents and extend relief to the
sufferers, and numerous contributions were
made throughout the country.
DIR. JAMIESON'S RAID.
While the incursion of DIR. Jameson and
his followers into the territory of the South
African republic is generally regarded as an