The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1901-08-16
FOREIGN TOPICS.

euvres in the Mediterranean, the cruiser
Bouvines was entering. on the night OF
July 2. the Straits of Gibraltar when its
wireless tele graph apparatus recorded the
fact that in the vicinity was another shir
similarly equipped. Tie Bouvines. think
ing that the other ship belonged to the
French fleet. began to talk to it, and the
other ship replied. There was so to say,
confusion of tongues. and after n few
minutes the Frenchman discovered that
instead of talking TO a compatriot il was
an EnSiishnan at the other end of the
wlTe The report, or so much of it as
has been Published, unfortunately does
not tell how far apart the two ships were.
but the episode reveals the interesting
possibilities of what might have happen
cd had the two nations been at war. In
| such a case the Marcuni system could
| have been both a source of danger and
of safety to the Frenchman. 1t would
have warned him of the presence of a foe
hitherto unsupported. and If. might
| happen. the Engiishman had possession
of the Frenchman's secret CODE the lat
ter might have been drawn into very
pretty trap.
The renewed efforts of the Bonapartists
in France to focus the attention of the
| country on Prince Victor, the pretender
has brought out from some searcher of
records curious coincidence in the lives
of the first and third Napoleons Napo-
leon l was born on August Is. 1862 and on
March 30, 1914. the last day of the En-
pire tsince the provisionary government
was instituted the next day. his age was
forty-four years and 227 days. Napoleon
| III was exactly that age to day when he
was proclaimed Emperor on December 2
lSo2 II this age means something in the
! lives OF the BonaparteS, Prince Victor Will
either be made Emperor of the French
in March. 1897. will lose the throne.
The Bonapartists-those most fantasia
cally minde1-think the former may be
the case, for they point out that that time
Will fall just ten months after the end of
the Parliament to b, elected next spring,
quite proper time for the induction of
new Emperor. as Ii would probably
take about ten months after the end of
Parliament to complete all arrangements.
According to a Budapest journal, Eu-
rope is shortly to be blessed with new
Monte Carlo, to be established by an
American syndicate on an island in the
Danube. The attractions of the new
health resort are to be similar to those
of its prototype, and the visitor will have
the same facilities for becoming healthy.
wealthy, and wise-on the beautiful blue
Danube as on the Cote d Azur.
1t would. however, be interesting to
know what the police of the Emperor
King have got to say to this pretty pro-
gramme. In the case of Monte Carlo it
is often urged, with considerable force.
that IL the public gaming tables there
were no longer tolerated every town along
the Riviera would be alive with Illicit
gambling hells. which would do far more
harm than the public tables, where the
gambler does, at least, get fair play.
The same can scarcely be said of the
banks of the Danube. and the public con-
science would hardly tolerate such a set
ting back of the hands of the clock as
would be implied in the establishment of
another Monte Carlo. The day of public
gaming tables is nearly over and Europe
is not likely to witness renascence or
Homburg and Baden-Baden.
There are now in London and its imme-
date neighborhood 800 public recreation |
grounds. varying in size from Epping |
Forest, which. with Wanstead Flats, is |
over 5000 acres in extent. to little city |
gardens and Fairgrounds measuring an |
eighth or a tenth of an acre. These in |
clude 100 plots of ground which have been |
used for interment, parish churchyards |
and other disused burial grounds, of |
which the largest is eleven acres and the /
smallest a few yards square. Among the !
recreation grounds are shady and we'll
kept gardens with seats, fiowerbeds, and |
fountains; public Fairgrounds for chill
drn. provided with gyInnastic apparatus,
giant s strides, swings, bars, etc; richly |
have been presented tn or bought for the
people; portions OF the marsh lands and
lammas lands Of East London. which
form such valuable grounds for football
and cricket; little resting places under
the shadow of the city churches, and |
vacant plots of land in odd corners of :
the metropolis. which have been turned
into recreation grounds instead of being |
used as building sites or builders yards.
Colonel the Maharajah Sindhia of
Gwalior. G. c. S. l.. who has been made
honorary aide-de-camp to King Edward
for services in China, attained his posi-
ton as a native ruler in 1866, Fortress
Gwalior and its treasure of many mil
lions of coined rupees being then handed |
over to him. His territories are as large
as Holland, Belgium, and Saxony COM
Dined, with population greater than
that OF Switzerland. The maharajah is
known as .'Sindhia," just as The maha-
ra]ah of lndcTe is called ''Holkar" He is |
entitled to salute Of nineteen guns any
where anu twenty-one guns i'll the |
~;walior territories. He has an army of |
l,Oio loot, 1901 morse, and fcity-eight
guns.
Absentee professors have been the sub
Jet of "A recent Ministerial decree in
France. Many, it appears while deliver
ng lecture or two a week in provincial
universities. were actually in residence in
Paris. Figaro" reports a notable in
stance. In a certain literary cafe of the
ATTN quarter a quiet, scholarly man was
| constant consumer Unlike the other
he was absent from his post |
With the utmost regularity, two days in |
he week-Tuesdays and Thursdays The |
suspicious of the other consommateurs
we're at length aroused. These periodic |
Essences they felt could only be for |
yeighty cause-a political plot at least |
owe AFFAIR. Finally a guest chosen for |
nat ONCE scraped acquaintance with the |
mysterious stranger and made bold to ask |
what he did Tuesdays and Thursdays |
The professor, for such he was answered |
RELY that he earned his living by lee ,
uring on rhetoric in provincial college |
md thus had to absent himself from |
1arlS on his lecture days, Tuesdays and |
thursdays. The balance of his time was |
lis own. 1t is this kind of thing that ,
ne French Minister of Education means )
o prevent, setting against the attrac-
IONS OF the town the deterrent of a Wig
rouS decree. 7
Last week there was discharged from =
he prison of WaIlachisch- Meseritsch +
easant woman, Marie Deutsch, after
CRYING twenty out of sentence of TWEEN
y-hve years for attempted murder
In 1881 Marie Deutsch was the wife of | L
prosperous farmer. but in a weak mo- |
rent she fell in love with young farm "
ne husband and take possession of the 81
urn. lo
After a desperate struggle the husband
'caped, although severely wounded h.
The woman was sentenced TO twenty | Il