Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-01-14
STORIES OF THE DAY.
Interesting Notes on Matters That Ar.
 Talked of In Rarope.

n FF people to learn that whereas all work has been stopped for 3 considerable lima past on the Nicaragua canal is is in full operation upon that of Panama According to the report read at the an nual general meeting Of the new Pana- ma Canal company, just held in Parts more than 2.000 workmen were em. ployed n pushing forward the exeava- tlon on the Emperado and the CuIebra In the year 1895, while during the prss. ent year the force has been almost don bled. The report states that the mora the directors advance in the accomplisb. ment of the task they undertook the more their confidence increases in the final result.
 Considerable excitement has been caused at Athens by the publication in the official gazette of a proclamation calling out the reserves and decreeing the immediate formation Of q oamn of exercise and instruction. The conviction Is generally entertained that the king, who has recently returned from Vienna. would not have done this had he not acquired there the knowledge that grave events are imminent in the southeast of Europe.
 4 sentence Of divorce has just beea pronoulcod at Munich against the em. press of Austria s niece, Countess George Larisch, who played SO prominent and so questionable a role in the scandal that culminatod in the tragic death of Crown Prince Rudolph at Meyerling The trial took place "in camera, but il is generally understood that the grounds upon which the count based his demand for dissolution of tho mar riage rested on the behavior of the countess fn connection with the affair, which, it may be remembered, resulted in her banisanent from Austria.
 The agitation which has recently taken place in France regarding ex-C Gap tain BFeyfas, condemned to imprison- ment for life for betrayal of military state secrets has had the effect of eaus- ing the government to institute addi- tienal measures for the prevention of any escape of the captive. According to q circular just issued by tho minister of the colonies at Paris, the governor of Guiana is ordered to change every three months the guards charged with the duty of keeping watch on Dreyfus on the Ilo da Diable, where he is seonfned.
 The report of the Russian prisons de- partment has just appeared in St. Pc. teTsburg and contains somo remarkable statistics. It appears that there are s70 prisons in Asiatie and European Rus sia, with the total number of 100. 9I3 prisoners. The maintenance of this vast army of criminals, many of whom ara merely political offenders. involves an enormous cost, for which adequate pro- ,f-Iy's. .-4arla hx the state. The consequence is that in the majority UT cases the inmates of the prison have to endure the worst conceivable sanitary conditions, and the official figures, which are invariably optimistic, show that no less than 30 per cent of the pris- on population suffer during the year from typhoid fever and kindred epidem- ies.
 4 statue of the late Count Ferdinand de Lesseps is about to be erected at Port Said, at a point overlooking the harbor and the entrance to the Suez canal.
 The commercial treaty between Aus tria and Bulgaria which was on the point of being negotiated at the time when Prince Ferdinand made his hum- ble submission to the ozar, and which has hung fire ever since, is finally about to receive signature and ratification. Bulgaria has only obtained this by means of sacrificing number of de- mands which Austria had formerly con- sented to eoncede, but which she now refuses to grant. Inasmuoh, however, as most other countries had declined to ratify their new treaties of commerce with Bulgaria until that with Austria had been arranged, there was practical ly no other course open to Prince Ferdi- nand. The treaty with Austria provides for q general Bulgarian duty of II per cent ad yaloTem, while 26 specified ar tioles are excepted. These include tim Der and agricultural machines, which pay 8 per cent; glassware, 12 per cent, and sugar, 18 per cent.
 It is reported at Brussels that Baron Dhanis, in command of the Kongo Free State troops in the Nile valley, has been killed by the Mahdists to the north of Lado.
 Ex-Cabinet Minister Baihaut, recent lv liberated at the conclusion of the term of imprisonment for which he was sentenced for fraud and corruption, of which he had while minister of public works rendered himself guilty in con- neotion with the defunct Panama con- pany, has, to the astonishment of every body, just been rearrested. It appears that he is still liable to the government to the extent of 891, 900 francs for fines, costs and legal expenses. The courts re-