Semi=weekly graphic., 1897-09-11

full operation upon that of Panan,s According to the report read at the m nual general meeting of the new pans ma Canal company, just held in Paris more than 2,000 workmen were em. ployed in pushing forward the exoava. tion on the Emperado and the Culeby. ill the year 1895, while during the nra. ent year the force has been almost dou. bled. The report states that the mora the directors advance in the accomplish. ment of the task they undertook tha more their confidence increases in tba final result
 Considerable excitement has bean caused at Athens by the publication in the official gazette of proclamation calling out the reserves and deoreeioo the immediate formation of oamn of exercise and instruction. The conyietion is generally entertained that the kino who has recently returned from Vienna would not have done this had he nos acquired there the knowledge that grave events are imminent in the southeast of Europe.
 A sentence of divorce has just been pronounced at Munich against the em. press of Austria $ niece, Countess George Larisch, who played so prominent and so questionable role in the scandal that culminated in the tragic death of Crown Prince Rudolph at Meyerling The trial took place ill camera, :" bus it is generally understood that ths grounds upon which the count based his demand for dissolution of the mar riage rested on the behavior of the countess in connection with the affair. which, it may be remembered, resulted in her banishment from Austria.
 The agitation which has recently taken place in Fra"et = r1 in9 ext Gan. tain Dreyfus, condemned to imprison- ment for life for betrayal of military state secrets has had the effect of caus, ing the government to institute addi- tienal measures for the prevention of any escape of the captive. According 10 a circular just issued by the 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 He du Diable, where he is confined
 The report of the Russian prisons de. partment has just appeared in St. Pc. tersburg and contains some remarkable statistics It appears that there are S70 prisons in Asiatic and European Rus. .s. ,st .4 n prisoners. The maintenance of this vast army of criminals, many of whom are merely political offenders, involves aa enormous cost, for which adequate pre-. vision is not made by the state. Tho consequence Is that in the majority of 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. ics.
 A statue of the late Count Ferdinand de Lesseps is about to be erected at Port Said, at point overlooking the harbOf and the entrance to the Suez canal. The commercial treaty between Aus. 1 tria and Bulgaria which was on the point of being negotiated at the time when Prince Ferdinand made his hum. ble submission to the czar, aud 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 concede, but which she now refuses to grant. Inasmuch, 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. 1 y no other course open to Prince Ferdi- nand. The treaty with Austria provides for general Bulgarian duty of IA per cent ad yalorem, while 26 specified ar. ticles are excepted. These include tim Der and agricultural machines. which pay per cent; glassware, 3 per cent. and sugar, IS 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 ] ly 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. nection with the defunct Panama com. 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- gently decided that the unfortunate man, who is completely ruined, should either pay this sum at once or be i'm. prisoned for another year. Naturally ha chose the latter. and has now the con- solation of knowing that every minute spent ln the penitentiary is wiping off, roughly speaking, about cents of his debt to the state.
 The English government has just es- taDhshed sanctuary for the African elephant Ill the coast area of Somaliland
 Within the reserve shooting of elephants IS strictly forbidden, and the observance I of this rule will be an assont;at onndi