The Washington times., 1901-09-11
FOREIGN TOPICS.


per, but being electro gilt it WILL of
course. look exactly dthe same as the
others The saving effected by this eco
nomical process is. however, infinitesimal.
! for the difference in price between a cop
per coronet and one made of silver (Which
is the metal that Is being usually en-
ployed) is very little indeed
Referring to the large number of wagons
which are reported as having been cap
tured from the Beers, a gentleman of
South African experience says that peo-
pie have very little idea of what a South
African wagon is. They are huge, lum-
berng vehicles. each drawn by sixteen
| oxen. wagon and its oxen extend for
about 100 feet. and fifty of them would
extend for a mile in a straight line. OF
these wagons there is abundant sup
ply, for every country Boer had one or
more. 1t Is doubtful as to whether oxen
have been taken with the wagons.
thousand wagons, for instance, would re-
quire 1900 oxen. Many of the wagons
| have been taken without their teams. In
any case, 1t seriously cripples the Boers
to deprive them of their wagons, ana SO
many have now been captured by the
British troops that there cannot be many
left.
A little pamphlet of statistics, just pub
| lished by the German ecclesiastical au-
| thorities, shows thai there are now only
| IS, ,Il2 church sittings in Berlin.
AS Berlin is city with nearly 1,IooWo
| of inhabitants, the probability is that
there is no other Protestant city in the
world where the disproportion between
population and church accommodations
| is so great
The Empress has recently done much
| to provide new churches in congested dis
| tricts, but the population is growing at
| a rate far in excess of the church build
| ing.
| owing to the enormous size of their
parishes Berlin clergymen are greatly ov-
| erwcrked. According to statistics some
of them have to attend to the spiritual
needs of over 10000 persons.
| another curious statement mentioned in
| the report is that 10 per cent of the to-
| tai baptisms registered in Berlin Were
those of illegitimate children, and as large
numbers of the latter are not baptized. 1t
follows that the total number must be
| much greater than 10 per cent.
| The new Australian nation is finding
the rush of problems consequent upon the
| attainment of its political unity terrible
| strain upon its patience and mental di-
gestion. The Commonwealth Parliament
has been sitting for over two months, and
now finds itself faced with half dozen
| great issues. each of which in normal
state of legislative activity would be suffi-
| cient to demand the whole concentrated
attention of the whole Parliament. Yet
| apart from the Victorian members, and
about dozen opposition and labor men,
the contributions made, TO the solution of
| these issues are OF the most trivial and
mediocre kind. The Government is as
keenly. progressive in its aims. as the
| powerful interests upon which it leans for
support will permit 1t to be. But al
ready there are signs of lack of states
manship and failure to dare greatly"
which is disappointing to both friends
| and foes. Three questions of the utmost
| Importance are now before the House of
Repre- pTesentatives-questions which bear
| closely upon the relations between Aus
| tralia and the outside world-viz.. defence.
| the New Hebrides control and the limits
| of federal control over railways and
shipping
Lord Salisbury is said by those who
know to be at once a younger and an
| older man since he left the Foreign Of
flee. He is younger, in that release from
| the absorbing cares and daily labors of
| that post has restored to him q certain
gayety of spirit. He is older. in that he
seems unable and unwilling to occupy
! himself seriously with that general con-
! troll and supervision of affairs for which
/ he now has leisure. AS some one put it
| the other day, he was not too old for For
eign Minister. but at his time of life he
| is not young enough to become Prime
| Minister.
OF the Prime Minister'S curious detach-
| ment from current affairs. and of his oc-
| casional lapses into forgetfulness. many
| stories are being told. One relates to pub
/ lie affairs and to a public occasion; The
extraordinary attack which he made last
/ year in the House OF Lords upon the
! Treasury and his subsequent retraction
will be remembered. 1t is well known
| that the retraction was caused by the fact
| that Sir Francis Mowatt very naturally
! took the attack as personal matter and
1 s.nt IN his resignation accordingly. The
| Prime Minister it is said, was never more
| surprised III his life. He had no desire 10
| make a personal attack upon anybody
| and he could. and did, truthfully say that
least of all had he any intention to make
| any reflection upon Sir Francis Mowatt.
What he thought-so the story runS-WaS
| that the permanent head of the Treasury
| was still Sir Reginald Welby. That he
! had for some years been sitting opposite
| to that great civil servant. as Lord We'll
by in the House of Lords. was news to
| the Prime Minister.
With the single exception of the British
Parliament the Swedish Riksdag is the
oldest legislative body in the world. The
|
! integrity for not less than 1900 years So
| far back as the anthropologists can trace
the history of the Swedish people. the
boundaries OF their land have remained
the same. The Duchy of Finland was
subject to Swedish sovereignty at one
| time, and at different periods Sweden has
been united with Norway and Denmark
| under the same ruler, but Sweden has
been Sweden ever since human beings in
| habited its territory, and IL is the only
nation in Europe that has never been in
vaded or conquered or had its boundaries
| changed by foreign Powers. Since the be
ginning of history home rule has pre-
vailed among the people and has been de-
| Tended and recognized as their right. The
parishes have always controlled their own
affairs, and since the reformation, their
government has been in the hands of a
| beard or council elected by the people of
which the pastor of the church is the
chairman. Everybody who pays taxes,
men and women alike, may vote at the
election of the council. The council Sc
! lectS the burgOmaSter from among their
| own number, who serves for life, and is
usually required to abstain from all other
/ business except that which pertains to
the public veal The parishes are con
solidated into twenty-five provinces. sim
| liar to our States, each having a certain
! Independence and government Of its own.
| although the governor general. who also
! serves for life or good behavior, is ap-
| pointed by the King
| When Signor Crispi. an old man of
eighty-two, was astonishing the whole
world by his extraordinary resistance to
/ death, many reasons were put forth to
account for the phenomenon, which, after
all, according to his own testimony, is Il
| very simple one. To great natural vigor
| of body was added "A life of absolute So
| nd
/ stinence was natural to him is not known