The age-herald., 1898-10-05
THIS IS A
 WONDERFUL YEAR

| province, and seldom mas tnere come d
 year more. wonderful than this. It has seen every state in Europe, except peace | ful Scandinavia and the Dutch commit
 mites, face to face with either war or in- | ternal dissolution-some of them within | mea surable distance of both. Yet the | greatest effects have not been in Europe' | 1898 has seen the United States forced, not l by any greed of power, but by It's huhlah- l itarian ideals, to take it's part in European | relations Next in importance to this ac- | cession comes a falling off; China mas been thrown like a quarry to the armed | states of Europe, and the face of the Tar east must be strongly altered within the next few years. These two main facts 1 the rise in the international significance or America and the collagse of China-haVe brought host of quick-foloWing conse- ouences They have led directly to the 1 ruin of Spain, or it may be to her regeh- eration. but, if so, to a salVat- on as by ire. They haye accordidng to some politicians made Russia arbtress of the world s des- tinies, now that she has free right to eX- tend her dominion to the open waters Of the Pacific and enlist the .nnumerabie vel low race. They have certainly led to the establishment of Germany as naval power and they cannot be separated from the bodest attempt yet made to challenge England's naval supremacy-the Russian naval programme-a challenge so promptly answered by MT. Goschen's supplementary estimates This, too, has borne its fruit, | for who shall say how much this naked revelation of the war which is being | waged in time of peace a grands coups d'argent-by a desperate contest of expen- diture-infuenced the czar's unforeseen Re- scr pt urging disarmament upon Europe? Lastly. the events in America and the | events in China, taken together and seen 1 in all their bearings, show themselves | likely to be parents of power that may transform the world-a league of the Eng | lish-speaking races.
 It is for the sake of these far-reaching movements begun in it that we would claim | for 1898 so sounding a title as "the won | derful year." but in a smaller sense of the word 1t has also been mira bilIs-the year of sensations January opened with rumors | of trouble from China, and with all the sudden iealousies aroused by Germany's bounce upon a fragment of the prey. With | in the first week of the month Kiao-Chau
 
 were known to be stirring; and fortnight | later Sir Michael Hcks-Beac infiamed public feel ng in this country by discourse | in which he spoke of British interests that must be defended, eff necessary, at the cost of war; Early in the same month began the first act in the French drama which has been ever since progressing, and has not yet reached its last scene. M. lii. of upon the headquarters staff, whom he ac- cused of conspiracy to fix guilt upon an in- nocent man, Dreyfus. Europe listened in- ! tent for some revelation which might en- danger the peace between nations, but only saw a court resolute, in defiance or only saw a court resolute, in defiance or common just!ce to enforce the 1rreVoca- ble character of a single decision; and IL saw the driving force in French affairs re- vealed when whole posse of generals trooped into court-as we know now, at the suggestion of Colonel Henry-to denounce Dreyfus and declare that the honor of the army was bound up with the main- tenance of the chose jugee. Meanwhile, it was known to all interested in the matter | that France and England were playing dangerous game of bluff in West Africa, | yet it came with a surprise to the nation | when Mr. Chamberlain announced in the | house of commons that French troops had | endeavored to expel British from two sta | tons-Wa and Borea-in our hnterland, | and had ordered the Union Jack to be l hauled down. his was published in a Sat | urday's paper and the insult to the flag | instantly reused the fighting spirit.
 | On the following Monday, February 21, came further news that the French had crossed the Niger into the territories of Sokoto. War seemed inevitable and even when M HanotauX disavowed the proceed ing there was little assurance or peace The best pacificator was the Chinese i'm brogio which diverted mems minds from the West African business. Among all of these settlements an attempt to assassi- nate the king of Greece, which in any other year would have filled the papers for | week, was merely secondary item of in- telligence. March was even more perturb- ed than February; the Times correspond- ent at Pekin continued to fling bombs in l the shape of telegrams announcing the de- signs of Russia and the defeats of British | policy Russia's demand for Port Arthur | and Talenwan was published on March F, | the West African affair was no nearer set l clement, America was arming fast, though | the old world still doubted of her willing | ness to abandon the old policy, till the ex- | plOSiOn Wn1cn sank the hdlHe put dH eHu | to all hesitations. And, while all other na- | tions were preparing for a fight, this coun- | try was as usual actively engaged in war. | The sdar's army, moving up the right 1 bank of the Nile, was within striking dis | tance of the dervish advanced force, and
 | on Good Friday the battle of Atbara was | fought But the habit of success has bred
 | a kind of indifference here to one or more | victories over Orientals or Africans, and
 | this battle, though far more serious op-
 | eration than any undertaken this year, ex-
 l cept its successor at Omdurman, did not
 | rouse half the interest felt over the Amer | ican war.
 The rush for news in the first few days,
 | the wild placarding of triumphs because some tramp steamer had been ordered to | heave to, showed the tension of public cu- | riosity about modern naval war Admi- | ral Dewey's destruction of the Spanish
 | fleet at Manila gratified the desire for pic-
 | turesoue detail and foreshadowed the end.
 | It was a type of the unequal contest be-