The Washington times., 1901-10-13

English capitalists are Interested.
England has expended practically all of
the s1.000.O0O authorized in the last esti-
mates for the Improvement of the coast
defence, and all of it has gone into new
guns which will speedily be put into posi-
ton. The process of rearming began on
the Thames, and now nearly all of the
muzzle-loaders which were on the de-
fences along that river have been replaced
by breech-loading rifles of the latest type.
Contrary to the practice in this country,
which uses for its defences Finch, 10
inch, and S-inch guns Except the expert
mental l6-inch rife that is bu:lding), Eng
lands largest gun will have a cahbre of
90 inches On this weapon chief reli-
ance W.. be placed. 1t is wire-wound
and Is supposed to send n i6S-pound pro-
jectile twenty miles. The carriage and
loading apparatus viii be worked by hy-
draulics. The other guns which Will be
used along the coast are 6-inch quick
firers and 4.7-inch guns, also quick
firers.
France has completed and building over
thirty submersible torpedo boats. The
feet comprises two classes of submarines.
viz, the submarines which are filled with
accumulators and dynamos, and depend
entirely on electricity for their propul-
sive power, and the submersible boats
which navigate on the surface of the
water, like the ordinary torpedo boats.
but which. when desired, can be sub
merged and nayigated under the water.
These vessels are propelled by steam when
on the surface of the water, and by cleo
tricity when they are immersed. The Es-
padon is OF this class, and is the last of
a series of four similar vessel which have
been built at CherbOurg. The Silure. the
first of the four, is ready for service.
whilst the Sirene and Triton are undergo
ing their official trials. The vessels are
of an improved Narval type Which was
built at Cherbourg in 1897.
The submarines proper in service or In
construction are thirty-one In number
They comprise the Gymnote, which was
constructed in 1SSS-this vessel is now
only used for experiments-the Gustave
Zede, which is forty-eight metres long,
and was built in 1893 and the Morse.
which was built in 1889 and is thirty-six
metres long. The Francois and the Al
gerien. which were built in 1899 and 1900 by
public subscription, are thirty-six metres
long. The Farfadet. the Gnome, the
Korigan, and the Lutin, built at Roche
.ort in 1899 and 1900. are forty-one metres
long. In addition. orders were given in
March of the present year for the COM
mencement of twenty similar vessels, to
be twenty-three metres long. and three
other submarine vessels Of various di
n.ensions, to be built from new plans.
According to the naval programme voted
by the Chambers last year. there were to
be built, between 1900 and 1905, forty-four
submarine vessels, which. added TO the
fourteen which France possessed previ
ously to 1900. would give a total of fifty
eight submarine vessels to be completed
by 1905. Naval experts. however. declare
tanned, it is more than probable that this
figure will be largely increased.
When the death of Sir John Mackenzie,
who for nine years was Minister for
Lands in New Zealand. was announced.
Parliament adjourned for week and
nearly every member of the Legislature
attended the funeral. Highland customs
were observed at the funeral which was
attended by bands of Highlanders. play
ing laments on the bagpipes. the decedent
being chieftain OF the Gaelic Society i'm
New Zealand. A memorial to the late
Minister will be erected on the top of
worked as a shepherd in New Zealand
Though he died the possessor of a title
Sir John spent practically the whole of
his life as plain John Mackenzie, the title
having been conferred by the Duke of
Cornwall only ten weeks 1go.
The approaching execution by electric
ity of the assassin Of President Mckinley
recalls the cruel punishment meted out to
some of the men who killed rulers in the
Old World.
The murderer Of Selim III of Turkey
was publicly impaled. Those who did to
death his immediate successor. Mustapha
~, were slowly starved to death suffer-
ing barbarous tortures meanwhile As
late as the year 1881 the two assassins of
Count Capo d Istrta, President of Greece,
Were immured in narrow brick vaults
built round them up to their chins. and
were kept supplied with food in this spe-
cies of torture until they died.
Strangely awful was the punishment
n eted out to one, at least among those
implicated in the murder Of the late Shah
Of Persia. the illustrious Nasr-ed d-Dir
He was encased in wet plaster of paris
which, on setting. slowly but surely
crushed him 20 death. The assassins Of
his no less illustrious predecessor. Aga
MOhammed Khan, were Tor at least some
of them) immersed In huge caldrons OF
water, which were slowly brought to the
boiling point.
''Damiens' bed of steel has become a
synonym for extreme mental or physical
anguish, unreieved by even temporary re-
spite. The phrase was first used by Gold
smith in The Traveller Damiens was
the man who attempted the life Of Louis
XIV of France. He was interned in the
Bastile, chained to an iron bed and bar
for several days and'was eventually torn
to pieces by four young horses after being
publicly subjected to- the most appalling
torments. This terrible punishment was
avowedly modelled on the lines of that
meted out to Ravaillac, who murdered
Henry "
very dramatic was the rate which over
took the nihilist who assa ssinated the Car
Alexander II. He failed to leap back with
sufficient celebrity after throwing his bomb
and himself perished in the resultant eX-
ploslon. Five of his accomplices-of whom
one was 4 woman, were executed. while
the siXth-rcprieVed after sentence-is to-
day eXpiating her share in the plot by life
long solitary confinement in the fortress
prison of St Peter and St. Paul
This lifelong solitary immurement is, by
the way. a,sufficiently terrible punish
ment Bresci who killed King Humbert
of Italy last year preferred to die in his
cell by his own hand rather than endure
II. Passanante, who attempted the life of
the same monarch as far back as the year
1878 and who was consigned by his judges
TO a similar death In life, destroyed him
self In a fit of hopeless frenzy.
Only few years ago young and beau
tiful Russian girl, student at one of the
leading universities. set fire to her bed OF
straw in the dungeon wherein she was
confined and so perished miserably She
had been interned silently. secretly. at
dead of night. by order of the chief Of the
secret police on a charge of conspiring
against the life of the Car.