Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-09

II England has really concluded an ar
! rangement with italy dividing territories
claimed by AbySsinia and binding her to
defend the settlement so made against ct
tack from any quarter, she has done re-
markably reckless thing in view Of the pres
ent circumstances. The Boer war is strain
ing the military resources of Great Brit
ain. The British government is talking now
Of sending 10000 men to South Africa.
That will absolutely strip the United King
dom OF regular soldiers and make serious
drafts on the reserves. Even the Guards,
the palace pets, who are supposed to be kept
for ornament rather than for use, have been
shipped to the Cape But Menelek would be
a more dangerous enemy than the Beers.
He can put 100000 men into the field and
still have reserves Of population left to
draw from. If he should be forced into war
he could destroy Kitchoner's army before it
could be reinforced. And where would the
relnforcements come from? With Kruger
and Menelek both on her hands at once,
England would have either to resort to a
conscrption or to rake the British Islands
so clean of troops having even rudiment-
ary military training that the islands would
lie open to any raid that a European power
might care to undertake.
The agitation in favor of a largely in
creased navy is being pushed vigorously in
Germany by the Navy league and kindred
associations. One of the most influential
and energetic advocates is the retired Vice
Admiral Werner, whom the emperor re-
Gently thanked, by telegraph, for one of his
public addresses. The admiral, however, is
not convinced that forty new battleshps are
needed. He thinks thirty-one would be suf
ficient, not only to meet the united fleets
of Russia and France but also to hold in
check that of England. 1t must be borne
in mind, he says that France has always
to keep ten or twelve battleships in the
Mediterranean and that England, because of
her possessions over the sea- and for poit
ical reasons, will always be under the neces-
sity of dividing her naval strength. More
over, the English are in an unfavorable po-
stion inasmuch as they would have to meet
a sudden German attack and might be taken
at disadvantage. I'VE could" says the
admiral, select our own time and attack
them with our whole sea power, with every
thing ready for action, with our crews fresh
our bunkers filled and with our machinery
perfect The English, on the other hand,
might have to face bad weather and might,
therefore, sustain damage to their machin-
cry, while want of coal would soon compel
them to send part of their ships home to
take in fresh supplies" According to the
admirals ideas, the Germans ought to have
three complete squadrons in readiness by
1910, with a number of coalng stations
and submarine cables to match.
a*s
The young queen Of Holland has been
provided by report with another husband
in prospective and this time the successful
suitor is said to be Prince William of Wied
who has the recommendation or the disad-
vantageas the case may e,of being the seq
ond cousin of his rumored bride. This
particular William is not well known to
fame He is the second son of the prince
of Wied and his mother was Wihelmina
Frederica-Anne- Elisabeth Marie, princess
OF tho house of Holland. BY profession the
young man is lieutenant in the Prus5an
regiment of body guards, now stationed at
and he has the further distinction
Of being a nephew on the paternal side of
that gifted, but eccentric woman Carmen
sylvia, the queen of Roumania. This is
less brilliant match than the newspaper
arranged for Queen Wilhel-
nina the other day. when they had her
to the crown prince OF Germany,
but it is one which would be more accept
able to- the people of Holland than would
havo been the moro distinguished, alliance.
Prince William OF Wied may be a compare
tive nonentity, but it is that very circum-
stance which constitutes his superior eligi-
bility. The people of Holland are proud of
The cir country, proud CT their history and
seneitively jealous of their independence.
They would much prefer that their sovereign
should be married to a prince of Wied, on
account of whom there will be no occasion
for apprehension, than that her husband
should bo tho heir to the throne of the
most powerful empire of continental Europe.
1t will be recalled that when the three
powers, Great Britain, France and Russia
and Italy acting for Crete, came to final
with the sultan of Turkey as to
how the affairs of the island were to be
it was agreed that Prince
George OF Greece should be appointed high
of the Cretan administration
until affairs should assume such a stable
character that the troops of the powers
might be withdrawn. Prince George was .
hen to become governor general, and the
of Crete was to be insured by
.hG powers concerned and yearly tribute
o the sultan guaranteed. Since Prince
George assumed tho office OF high commits
,ioner the affaiNu of the island have grad
tally assumed tranquil state. The local
yendarmerie has been entirely recognized
lnder the supervision of a staff of officers
lrawn from the Italian carabiniere and 1t
vas recently reported in a Paris paper that
It the beginning of 1900 the foreign tr, ops
would be withdrawn from the island and
he principality would be formally pro-
,laimed. A recent statement made by Ad
niral Skrydloff to St. Petersburg news
PAPER, while 1t gives an encouraging view
If tho affairs OF the island, would eeem to
Indicate that the period of the withdrawal
If the troops is still left to the indefinite
uturc. Il
Lord Kitcheners recent statement, made
n Cairo, that he would proclaim the Soudan
pen to all comers early in December has
,eep rendered practicable by the recent
cath of the khalifa and the utter annihi-
alton of the last remnant of the dervish
lcst by Sir Francis Wingate further
tatement OF tho sirdar was also cited in
hesc columns, in which he said that prepa
atione had already been made to organize
tourist service between Wady Halfa and
ihartoum, with dining and sleeping cars
nd that a small hotel would shortly be
pened in Khartoum. Recent advices also
how that tho railway is probably now
ompleted to Khartoum.
In tho light of all this, II is not perhaps,
uprising that a cable dispatch was re-
eiyed last week, announcing that the first
'cok tourist party for Khartoum will leave
,ai.a I,puory A 1QOO The gDDt WhpT9