Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-09-09
STORIES OF THE DAY.
Interesting Notes on Matters That Are
 Talked of In Europe.


 Talked of In Europe.
 1t 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 ir 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 Paris, more than 2.000 workmen were em- ployed in pushing forward the excaya- tion on the Emperado and the Culebra in the year 1895, while during the pres. ent year the force has been almost dou- bled The report states that the more the directors advance in the accomplish. ment of the task they undertook the more their confidence increases in tue final result
 Considerable excitement has been caused at Athens by the publication in the official gazette of proclamation calling out the reserves and decreeing the immediate formation of camp of exercise and instruction. The conviction IS generally entertained that the king, l NAO iesF is' t7ittJy HUH ' l6uu6t l would not 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 tue em. press of Austria 8 niece, Countess George Larisch, who played so prominent and so questionable role in the scandal that eulminated in the tragic death of Crown Prince Rudolph at Meyerling. The trial took place "in camera, but it is generally understood that the grounds upon which the count based his demand for dissolution of the mar riage rested on the behavior of tho countess ill connection with the affair, which, it may be remembered, resulted i'll her banishment from Austria.
 The agitation which has recently taken place in France regarding exGap- l tain Dreyfus, condemned to imprisen. ment for life for betrayal of military state secrets, has had the effect of caus, l ing the government to institute addi. tional measures for the prevention 0f any escape of the captive According 70 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. tersbnrg and contains some remarkable statistics. It appears that there are gro prisons in Asiatie and European Raa- l Gia, with the total number of 100,918 prisoners. The maintenance of this vast army of criminals, many of whom are merely political offenders, involves m enormous cost, for which adequate pro, vision is not made by the state. Tho l 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 80 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 harbor 1 and the entrance to the Suez canal.
 The commercial treaty between Aus i tria and Bulgaria which was on ths point of being 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 number of de- mands which Austria had formerly con, sented to concede, 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 general Bulgarian duty of IA per cent ad valorem, while 26 specified ar. ticles are excepted. These include tim
 
 Der and agricultural machines. which pay per cent; glassware, 1a 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. 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 ill con- nection 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,