Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-09-30
STORIES OF THE DAY.

STORIES OF THE DAY. Interesting Notes on Matters That Are
 Talked of h Europe.
 It will doubtless be news to many people to learn that whereas all work has been stopped for considerable time past on the Nicaragua canal it is in full operation upon that of Panama According 10 the report read at the an- nual general meeting of the new Pana. ma Canal company, just held in Paris, more than 2,000 Workmen were em- ployed in pushing forward the excava- ton on the Emperado and the Culebra In the year 1895, while during the pres. ent year the force has been almost dou. oJed. The report states that the more the directors advance in the accomplish. ment of the task they undertook the more their confidence increases ill 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 camp of exercise and instruction The conviction Is generally entertained that the king, who has recently returned from Vienna, would hot have done this had he not 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's niece, Countess George Loriseh, who played so prominent and so questionable role in the scandal that eulminated ill the tragic death of Grown Prince Rudolph at Meyerling. The trial took place in camera but 1t is generally understood that the grounds upon which the count based his demand for q dissolution of the mar riage rested on the behavior of tho countess in connection with the affair which, 1t may be remembered, resulted ill her banishment from Austria.
 The agitation which has recently taken place ill France regarding ex- Gap. tain Breyfns, condemned to impriscn. ment for life for betrayal of military state secrets, has had the effect of caus. ing the government to institute addi. tionaI measures for the prevention of any escape of the captive According 60 circular just issnsd 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 CD the He du Diable, where he is confined.
 The report of the Russian prisons de. partmeHt has just appeared in St. Pc. tefsbnrg and contains some remarkable statistics. It appears that there are 87o prisons in Asiatie and European Ru.i- sin, with the total number of 100, 018 prisoners The maintenance of this vast army of criminals, many of whom are merely political offenders. involves an enormous cost, for which adequate pro. vision IS not made by the state. Tho consequence is that ill 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 tho year from typhoid fever and kindred epidem. ies
 A statuc 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 beiug negotiated at the time when Prince Ferdinand made his hum. ble submission to the ozar, aud which has hung fire ever since, is finally about to receive signature and ratification, Bulgaria has only obtained this by means of sacrificing Il number of dc, mands which Austria had formerly con. scented 10 coneede, but which she now refuses to grant. Inasmueh, 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- naud. The treaty with Austria provides for general Bulgarian duty of II per eens ad yalorem. while 26 specified ar. ticles are excepted. These include tim Der and agricultural machines, which pay per cent; glassware, 12 per cent, and sugar. Is per cent.
 1t is reported at Brussels that Baron Dhanis, ill command of the Kongo Free State troops in the Nile valley, has heen killed by the Mahdists to the north of Latlo.
 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