Omaha daily bee., 1897-01-23
OTHER LANDS ruAN Guns.

This scheme which Is remarkable only Ne
q clear and precise statement OF the means
by which England has always for several
centuries defended herself In war, Is this:
THE maintenance OF sea supremacy is
assumed as the basis OF the system OF i'm
perial defense against attack by sea, The
admiralty accepts the responsibility OF pro
tectinE all British territory against organ
lied invasion from the sea- In other
words, there Is to be no reliance on coast
defensee or forts-eNccpt as against rowing
cruiscrs. The first reliance Is to be on the
fleet. 1t is to be strong enough to render
futile any effort to invade England or any
British possession where the sea forms part
OF the Invaders route. Forts can protect
only n limited area An enemy who com
mands the sea need not try to enter forti-
fed port. but can find plenty OF unfortifed
points where an army can be landed. To de-
fend a country's entire coast against such
an enemy requires vast number OF forts
and an almost infinite army. The British
policy is not to attempt defense by means
of an army and forts but to put to sea and
bottle up the would-be invader In his own
ports To do so the British fleet must be
able to beat any fleet that can so ont against
it. That is what 1t undertakes to do.
A good deal of significance Is attached to
the permission granted by the czar for the
opening of public subscription for the ben
eht OF the Armenian refugees in the Trans
Caucasus. Hitherto the constant denuncia-
tions of the Russian press Of all kinds OF
Armenian committees have made any move
ment of the kind hopeless. Opposition TO
everything designed for the good of the
Armenians was considered to be in harmony
with Prince LobanoT's policy against sus-
peCtcd Arglo Armenian intrigues. The
newspapers were even warned by the cen
sors not to sympathize with the ArmenianS.
Only one newspaper in St Petersburg, the
11.,y
etor Prince Oukhtomsky, is known to be a
personal acquaintance of the emperor ven-
tured to lament the fate of the ArmeniarS
and propose that half the collection for the
Indian famine fund should be given to them.
When, however, money was offered for the
purpose, II was refused. The imperial sane
tlon of the minister of the interiors pro-
posal to open public subscription Is there
fort regarded as an encouraging sign.
although the conditions imposed seem to in
dicate that the fear of Armenian plots has
not altogether disappeared. Any one may
| collect and forward money for the Hindus.
| but for the Armenans all donations must
| be RENTED exclusively to officials specially
| named for the purpose and forwarded
| through provincial governors to the governor
| general of the Caucasus.
The general result of the recent senatorial
elections in France is that the moderates
have eighty-six of the contested seats just
as they had before; that the radicals have
sixteen instead of ten, the socialists three
| instead Of one and the conservatives twelve
| instead of twenty The moderates lost six
| seats to the radicals, but made up for the
| loss at the expense of the conservatives, the
| latter losing two seats also the radicals and
socialists. The result has comparatively
small significance, because neither of the
| two parties competing for Office has decisive
success or defeat. The eight seats gained
! = l.ft 1A
not count for much, seeing that with two
| exceptions the successful candidates do not
| approve a revision of the constitution, an
| income tax or the abolition OF the senate,
| the three main points OF the sociallst-radl-
cal program. The extreme left suffers moral
| defeat for they expected to sweep the coun-
try, which they have utterly failed to do.
| ~
England has been pretty successful for
| O. long period in preventing Russia from en-
| joying the unrestricted use and possession
! OF ports open all the year around Doth III
Eastern Asia and in Europe, but the steady
efforts of the St. Petersburg government
| to reach the sea where no Ice blocks naVi-
CATION in the coolest winters are bound TO
ureyail in the end. In COrea the aim OF
' the Russian statesmen will be attained, as
far as Eastern Asia is concerned, and IN
due time the Muscovites are pretty sure 10
have Constantinople, or some other winter
port in Europe, where they VIII De uhder
no restrictions such as are now imposed on
| the use OF the Bcsphorus and the Darda-
| neles. If England can prevent the creation
| OF another ocean outlet for the trade OF the
| Russian empire. on the Persian gulf or the
] Arabian sea- she will do very we'll lne
Russian bear moves deliberately and with
cut excitement but in the end his purposes
are nearly all accomplished.
few years ago the government of switz-
| erland was asked to enact laws that would
do away with involuntary idleness, the ar
gument being that every man had right
to employment, and that If he could not Sc
cure work he ought TO be saved from loss.
| The scheme was submitted to a popular
vote, but 1t was rejected and then two OF
| the cantons tried the plan of insurance or
| temporary pensions for idle workmen. FER
| sons at work contributed small sum
| weekly, and the city paid n lump sum- the
! fund thus accumulated being distributed in
| small sums among men out of work for a
! certain number of days. The results have
| not, however, been satisfactory, and the sys-
| TEN is to be abolished in one of the can
! tors in question in June next. 1t was the
| workmen themselves who brought about
this action, it having been found that the
| system promoted laZines5 and voluntary ldle-
! ness, and that the unemployed from other
| parts of the country came to the canton to
| obtain support
| Abiding to the recent report OF the pro-
| posed establishment of a supreme council to
| relieve the c2ar of part of the executive
| burden. a st. Petersburg correspondent Of
London newspaper points out that there are
already nine different councils and similar
| institutions of the higher administration hav-
| ing direct dealings with the sovereign, who
| has to confirm the multifarious acts and de-
| cisions of at least seven of them, so 1t Is
| difficult to see what relief another institu-
| tion of the kind could afford him, so long
j as Capitalization remains the order of the
| day. The present delicate cZar has more
| councils and committees to attend to than
| his hercuear father an important addition
| having been made by the continuation under
| his presidency of the committee OF the 81
| beTian railway. Some idea may be formed
| of what he Las to go through by the fact
| that the ceremonies connected with his cor
onation eight months ago have not yet come
to an end Only the other day he had an
other reception in the Winter palace to re-
ceive the congratulations OF representatives
! Of his more distant subjects. Several hun
dred persons were presented, comprising 165
| different deputations, each one with bread
| and salt on costly gold and silver plates or
ether works Of art Long tables In the pal
ace were again loaded with these gifts as at
Moscow In May last, and the ceremony
! observed was exactly the same No wonder
| he exhibits symptoms of nervous collapse