Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-21
OTHER LANDS THAN oURs.

NANit VI u NtduSldNIOllS VI u SERIES Ol NlllNltS
written by a Russian in Egypt, which orig
inally appeared in the St Petersburgskiia
Niedomosto. 1t is admitted that II the state
ments Of the Russian be correct they disclose
a really serious state OF affairs in the
Soudan.
He declares that the celebration of the an
niversary Of the battle Uf Omdurman only
withdrew for the moment the attention OF
the population and of the troops from the
state Of famine which now prevails. Already
soldiers are complaining loudly OF the
scarcity OF provisions and they assert that
in tho bread supplied to them there is more
dust than -four
The harvest, in fact, he declares. has been
total failure. and all supplies come from
Egypt, whence the merchants have taken
care to send the worst stores which they
had in stock The condition Of the interior
is simply detestable, and it is generally felt
that all the instructions issued by the gov
eminent are powerless to relieve the suffer-
ings of the people,
Prosecutions for lese majestic seem to be
increasing in frequency in Germany One OF
the latest Of them has been begun against
Herr Edmund Klapper. the editor of the
Deutsche Agrar Korrespondenz and an Of
fetal Of the AErarian league. The ofrense
was contained in an article which declared
that 1t was the emperor, not his advisers
with whom the conservatives had to deal
The article further remarked that under the
present sovereign ministers are needed with
sufficient courage TO oppose the emperors
views and force him to adopt theirs. An
other case has resulted in the Imprisonment
of two socialists, one of whom is member
of the ReiChstag Herr Muller, the respon-
sible editor Of a Magdeburg newspaper was
sentenced recently to four years imprison-
ment on account of an article copied from
foreign journal, although he produced evil
dence to prove that the article in question
was inserted during his absence and with
out his knowledge. Herr Schmidt, a mem
Der OF the ReiChstaG, who was on the staff
OF the Nagdeburg newspaper, declared him
self responsible for the publication and vol
unfairly divested himself of the immunity he
enjoyed as member of the Reichstag so
that proceedings could be taken against
him. He has now been sentenced to three
years Imprisonment. but, at latest accounts
the government had shown no signs of re-
leasing Herr Muller from his Imprisonment.
During the last nine months there have
been 24b convictions for lCse maieste, and
the punishments inflicted amount to a total
of eighty three years Imprisonment in ai-
dition to various terms of confinement in a
fortress.
Slowly but surely the conviction OF the
absolute innocence of Captain Alfred Drey-
rus is spreading in France and appearing
in remote places In every French city,
oven at Rennes, where anti-Semiticism is
still rampant, there are many people open
minded enough to publicly declare their be-
lief in his innocence; but particularly in
the industrial centers of the northern prov
lnces and in the important commercial
towns OF the south, such as Lyons and Mar
selles, the Dreyfusard party is in the ma
jority.
The manufacturing town of Ledignan has
given peculiar emphasis to it's position in
the party of justice. Every member of the
city government is strong Dreyfusard and
with the mayor, DR.. Dumas, at their head
they have set about publishing the fact of
thelr bellef in an interesting way. The
principal streets of the town have been
named Rue Emile Zola, Place Picquart Rue
Alfred Dreyfus. while the most suggestive
of all the titles has been given lane in
the most dsreputable quarter of the town
Whlch is called lmpasse de lEtat Major
which may be freely translated as the NO
thoroughfare' Of the General Staff
Some time ago it was announced that
Eugene Wolff, British vice consul at WI
borg Finland, had been removed from his
post upon the complaint of the Russian gov
ernment for his participation in the agita-
ton which followed the imperial manifesto
aprogating many of the old constitutional
rights or the country. 1t appears that Mr.
Wolff, in answer to dispatch from the
British foreign office charging him with hay-
ing taken part in political agitation wrote
reply, in which he said: II beg humbIy
to state that there is no political agitation
going on in this country, and l. therefore
categorically deny having taken part in a
movement not existing. 1t is true that there
Is all over the country in every range OF
the people feeling of disquiet and sorrow
caused by the imperial manifesto of Febru-
airy 3 Q5) last depriving a people used
since centuries to partake in the making of
its laws OF this right But this feeling ia
not the result of any agitation. There is no
need for such an agitation, where everybody
is conscious OF his rights and freedom and
where every man, even the humblest, under
stands that the manifesto is equal to n
stroke drawn across the inherited constitu-
tion. But If these unanimous sentiments
of whole people and its earnest daily re-
peated protest against the violation of its
constitution, the very cornerstone of its
social structure mean political agitation
then every man and woman in this country
is an agiator, and will remain so until the
manifesto, which is the cause of the trouble,
is recalled He then went on to say that
he did not relinqush his rights and priyl-
leges as citizen in assuming the position
OF a British vice consul and that II the one
was Incompatible with the other he was
quite willing to resign. His personal part
in the agitation, he added, was confined to
his having been elected a member OF a depu,
tation to the car without his previous con
sent and during his absence. This honor he
had not declined.
Two of the largest shipbulding firms at
Bremen are now constructing eight steam
boats after the pattern of the Mississippi
river craft, to be operated on their own ac-
count on the Yangtse Kiang, between Han
kow, no miles from the mouth of the river
and Chung King, city OF 25O000 inhabitants.
1740 miles from the coast, The boats will
also carry the German mails Hitherto the
terminal for all river navigation was Han
kow and it was believed that by reason of
rapids and shoals that great waterway was
not naylgable above Hankow. Through the
recent exploration Of Father Chevaler the