New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-01-07
PARIS.
NO EXPECTATION OF MEDIATION IN
THE BOER WAR.
WORKING AGAINST THE RECIPROCITY
TREATY-NoTEs OF AMERICAN SOCIETY.

IBY TRIBUNE.l
Paris, Jan. 6.-The exile from France of such
stormy petrels of revolution as Derouede and
Buffet, notwithstanding the howls of Indignation
and Cassandra-like prophecies of the National
list and the anti-semitic press. is accepted by
the nation at large with a genuine sense of re-
lief.
In financial and Industrial circles great appre-
hensIon is caused by the increasing scarcity Of
coal. aggravated by the serious proportion of the
st. Etienne strikes. Leading manufacturers pre-
dict that COAL which to-day is selling at the ex~
traordinarily high price Of fifty francs thou
sand kilogrammes, will soon reach sixty francs.
thereby causing untold harm to French indus
trial interests. In spite of the aid given by the
Government and the great railway companies.
numerous factories of Northern and Central
France have been obliged to close down.
In political circles the Brussels appeal for
mediation in the Transvaal made to President
Mckinley is watched with the keenest interest
The true feeling prevailing here is expressed by
NJ. Valfrey, the foreign political editor of the
Figaro" who says:
Under existing circumstances 1t is simply
ridiculous to suppose that Germany, whose in
terest is confined to negotiations regarding the
Bundesrath seizure, or any other Power on the
Continent, Russia and France notably having
each far greater preoccupations would cream
of offering mediation. At every chancellery in
Europe it is clearly understood that England is
determined come what may to settle her af-
fairs with the South African republics without
any foreign intervention whatever. The Brus-
sells people know this. and, having knocked in
vain at all other doors. now fall back as last
resort upon President Mckinley in the hope of
persuading him to pull the chestnuts out of the
fire and become dupe by accepting mission
successfully to accomplish which. as is already
perfectly well known at the Quail d'Orsay and
at Wilhelm Strasse. there is no ghost OF
chance
This. coming from such outspoken Boer
sympathzer as M. Valfrey, is a strong state
ment.
Information has reached the DUAL d'Orsay to
the effect that Lord Salisbury's Cabinet has de-
cided to avoid making a test case OF the recent
American -four seizures at Delagoa Bay, which,
owing to the analogy of principle involved in the
seizure of rice cargoes in China, are eagerly
watched by the French Government. According
to the same information, Lord Salisbury is pre-
pared to anticipate any reasonable claims in re-
spect of these -four seizures by timely and
courteous concessions.
The Parliamentary recess for the holidays Is
utilized by NJ. Meline for still further organizing
the opposition to the Franco-American CONNER
cial reciprocity treaty. The Chambers of Com
merce of Lille and Cambria, representing vast
iron and ground nut oil industries, have petit
toned the Chamber of Deputies to reject the
treaty. The majority Of the Tariff Committee of
the Chamber, moreover, is stated on good au-
thority to be adverse to the treaty, which is of
considerable Importance, because by the French
Parliamentary practice the Tariff Committee
must make its report to the Chamber before the
treaty is voted upon. This would not neces-
sarily kill the treaty, but would make It
doubly difficult task for the Cabinet to secure
the adoption OF the treaty by the Chamber NJ.
nd Minister of Commerce nevertheless
continues to express confidence that it will be
ratified.
Musical matinees, which promise to become
more and more popular in the American colony.
were resumed to-day for the first time this sea-
son, with unusual success. One given this after
noon by Miss Fanny Reed. at her residence in
the Rue de la Pompe, attended by the lead
ing American residents, and furnished occasion
for Nine. Sybil Sanderson Terry to prove that
her voice has lost none Of its charm in the
higher notes. while in the lower register 1T
seems to have gained in ripeness and volume.
Excellent music was also heard this afternoon
at a reception given by Mr.. Sebastian B.
Schlesinger and his daughter, Baroness Reb-
nitz, at their residence in the Boulevard Male
sherbes. feature OF their weekly musicals is
to give hearing to the most talented among
the young American women who have COM
instance Miss Augusta Claus Doria. from Bos-
ton, sang arias from "Messaline," Isidore de
Lara's new opera, M. De Lara himself accom-
panying her on the panoforte. Miss Doria has
q superb mezzo-soprano voice. and her admirers
predict for her brilliant future. She also sang
La Mort dun Enfant," with violin accompani-
ment by M. Jacques Thebaut, young French
violinist only twenty years old. M. De Lara
played the pianoforte accomplishments to sew
eral songs of his own composition, delightfully."-
sung by Baroness De ReibnitZ.
With the exception of New Years recep-
ton given by General and Mrs. Porter which
was attended by more than three thousand per-
sons, there are social functions to record
beyond score or 80 of small dinner theatre
parties, among which may be mentioned those
given by Mrs. Griswoid Gray, Mrs. Ingraham,
Mrs Edward Bolt, Mrs. Robert Leroy, Mrs.
Washington, and Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Curtis.
A topic much discussed just now by Amer-
cans here is the suit which will soon be tried
at Carlsruhe, and for which testimony is being
taken in Paris and in Germany The litigation
is caused by the will Of Mrs Lockhill, OF Phfla-
delphia, who died from cancer at Baden Baden
in 1897, leaving the bulk of her property,
amounting to about 100000, to her physician
DR.. Somlich, who attended her during her last
illness, and whom the heirs at-law declare she
had never met until few months before her
death. The action is brought by the heirs-at-
law. who allege undue influence In legal circles
it is said that the trial is likely TO arouse as
great interest the famous Due de Gramont
and DR.. Declaa will case, to which 1t bears a
striking similarity and which was decided
against the physician some years ago by the
French courts.
The annual exhibition of works by young
painters and scuIptors of the American Art As
ISOLATION. competing for yearly prizes offered