The San Francisco call., 1896-08-24

with great plainness about the affair, and
there promises to be, when the Reichstag
meets, an open debate on the whole sub
-ject of the Emperor's unofficial ad-
visers.
There are reports this evening that the
latest Franco-German frontier incident is
likely to develop unpleasantly. A group
of young French soldiers who seem to
have been intoxicated crossed the frontier
and went half a mile into German terri
tory at Wurtzelstein. In the course of
their bolsterous frolic they stripped off
the coat of German soldier on furlough
and carried it back with them. Another
account says that the Frenchmen merely
found the coat in the house of peasant
to whose absent brother 1t belonged. and
that they cut off the buttons and brought
it away. The German Foreign Office of
course complained, and now there is a
rumor that the answer of the French
Government was unsatisfactory. 1t is i'm
possible to verify the report.
Vienna is decorating on an extravagant
scale and in wild haste for the Cars visit
next Thursday, and the special six horses
that have been assigned for the use OF the
imperial visitors are drilled daily not to
shy at crowds, flags or brass bands. ALI
the grooms spend an hour daily bawling
"Hoch" into the ears of these horses, so
as to accustom them to cheering. Nearly
90 900 troops are to line the way from the
station to the palace. This is more
soldiers than Vienna has ever seen thus
employed. Paris too is already repaving
the street in front of the Russian EN- bassy,
and will soon be in frantic throes of deco
ration on scale never dreamed of before.
The fears lest violence may be attempted
have created a veritable panic in the Paris
ian official mind, and it is announced that
foreigners who are In France during the
period of the Cars visit must have their
passports ready to show at any moment,
and must expect the most minute police
surveillance. These precautions far exceed
anything the late Gear ever thought
essential in foreign capitals, and make
one wonder whether personal terror is one
OF the Affections with which Nicholas II
is struggling.
Now that the upper Nile is at last in
condition to be traversed by steamers, a
lively dash forward to Dongola by the
few weeks there has been sharp censor
ship in the English camp over both
kilograms and mail letters, so the public
here is quite in the dark as to the amount
and character of the opposition which the
Sirdar expects. This, however. has dis
turbed no one, since it is taken for granted
that the dervishes are played out as q
serious fighting force. Such public inter-
est in the Soudan affair as exists is abb
sorbed in the pro- blem of what is to hap
pen after Dongola has been occupied and
the Caliph chased out of Omdurman, for
this is universally assumed to be included
in the plans of the campaign. When the
expedition was first announced last spring
these dispatches reflected Sir Charles
Dilke's position, that nothing less than
the conquest of Darfur and Equatorial
Africa was its ultimate object. At that
time the ministry Indignantly repudiated
the idea; but now We hear of a Congo
State force advancing forward to clear this
dark and little-known land, and If it hap
pens in the end that the whole Nile Val
ley and the road into Ueanda are rid of
dervish control, and that somehow it has
all come to be British territory, no wise
man will be surprised.
The French at least firmly believe that
this is what is intended, and it is likely
that the British or Belgian advance will
find French posts near the sources of the
Nile in unexpected places. This prospect
must be kept in mind as possible occa-
sion OF trouble, but no one here regards it
with apprehension.
The French occupation of Timbuctoo,
whatever its material results, has proved
to be of rem arkable service to the students
who are graphing with the archaeological
pro blems of Africa. Felix Dubois is now
in ILLUSTRATION as serial the
results of his explorations there. His text
is plentifully illustrated by photographs,
and to judge from the first cha piers it has
been long time since such q strikingly
original and valuable book has appeared.
The architectural and ethnographic re-
mains of early Egyptian colonies near
Timbuctoo are especially noteworthy.
The recent popular rage for books about
mountain clim bine is said to show, from
the publishers point of view, some signs
of abatement, but its effects on the public
will make this miserable year in the
Alps. Already the fatalities among the
climbers for the season exceed the total
which used to be considered bad for
space of ten years.
Until last year the Predigstuhl in the
TyroI had been considered inaccessible.
Then it was climbed for the first time,
and this year there have been FIVE ascents,
two of which resulted in fatal accidents,
and numerous adventurous persons are
now on the spot preparing for an attempt
TO reach this pulpit, As for the Alps
proper lives are thrown away weekly on
all sorts of foolhardy ventures by people
who. having read Whymper ana Conway,
decline to take the advice of guides or TO
conform to any OF the old rules governing
mountain work.
It is safe to predict that there will be an
attendance tomorrow at
the little German Catholic Church in
White chapel, where the nephew of the
King OF Saxony is to make his first ap-
pearance as priest and to preach at high
mass. There are four lives between Prince
Max and the throne, so there was no dy-
nastic objection to his following his voca-
tion and taking orders, which he did some
L. a.