The Washington times., 1901-08-30
FOREIGN TOPICS.

|
American. Mr.. Rowland. who died re-
Gently. With this system four kilograms
can be sent in both directions simultan-
cousiy over the same wire The Raudot
| telt graph employed between Berlin and
rams works excellently. but is only cap
aple OF sending two messages simuitan-
| touS!Y IN either direction. Experiments
with the rapid telegraph system of Pol
FAX ana Nirag will soon be made on the
me between Berlin and Cologne.
An exodus of Swiss Mennonites is be-
ginning. The creed of the Mennonites or
old Anabaptists prohibits them from car
| rying arms or shedding blood. and they
try by every possible means to escape
| military service. Sometimes they enter
the army medical service and the ambu-
| iance corps. A good number of wealthy
| FARMERS have sold their property and
gone to America. These properties have
| peen sold for less than half their value
| but tn. Mennonites have decided to emf
CRATE. and Will soon establish new homes
| IN some agricultural country on the other
| side OF the Atlantic
| No fewer than twenty-three new SUBJ
marines are being built in the French
| naval dockyards. The orders were sent
out by the Admiralty few months ago
and twenty of the boats have now been
laid down These are all approxima tely
| S. tons They measure II feet between
| perpendiculars and feet inches amid
ships. The draft of each boat when on
the surface is Z feet 10 inches aft The
| motor is an electric machine propeliing
one screw. The speed will not exceed
eight knots. Each boat will carry an Of
| hcer and four men. The price of the new
submarines will be considerably less than
that of similar craft already in commits
sion, namely. e1i,600 each as compared
with the previous figures ranging from
tZ4,Vo to S32O0. The three submarines
shortly to be laid down will each be of
a distinct type and will be constructed on
novel plans drawn by three different engi-
neers No particulars regarding the de-
signs OF these new boats are to be al
lowed to leak out by the French Ad-
miralty. The cost of each will range
from 10000 to f37, 900. When the twenty
three boats are completed the French
submarine hotilla will number thirty-five
craft.
The whole of the official returns of the
census taken throughout France on
March "A last have now been received and
classified at the Ministry of the Interior.
The figures show Il more satisfactory sit
uat!on than had been expected. The total
population Of the country was at that
date 3S,64l,3Ss, as against IS, 2s.9s9 in
March, 1886 The increase during the last
five years was therefore 412364, whereas
In the preceding period of five years from
1891 to 1896 the increase had been only
l33,S19
The augmentation is yet more striking
by comparison between the ten years
from 1886 to 1896 During that period the
Increase in the population had been but
2o9.0l2 The increase which took place in
the following five years from 1896 to 1901.
Is. therefore. more than one-third greater
than that of the previous ten years. AS
was noted in 1896, II Is the towns which
show an increase of population. Since 1896
the population has increased in Paris by
1854, in Marseilles by Il, i2S; Nice 1883;
Havre. L, osl; Brest. 9-52i; Limoges. 1870:
Nantes. 6,5Si; Toulon, 6.55l: Nancy. 6,315:
Mines, SOS; Tourcoing. 5,739; Cannes,
$50; st, Denis; 5,is1;, Rennes, 52H, and
crease took place in twenty-eight depart
ments, there was a decline in tifty-nine.
The late Bishop of Oxford was general
iy recognized as very serious man. Only
his intimate friends know that he had a
fine sense of humor though some stories
have been told of him which went to in
dictate the fact Many will recollect. for
example how he once brought down the
house at an oxford High School prize
giving by an astonishing anti-cllmax. He
spoke with solemnity of a book which 1t
was necessary that every Bishop should |
have about him, adding: 1T begins with !
a 3. Everybody waited to hear that he /,
was about to insist on the value of the |
Bible, when he suddenly exclaimed. It's |
Bradshaw" The new number of the |
Church Quarterly Review in an article |
on the Bishops lif> and work. tells an
other story which we believe the writer |
is correct In thinking IS now printed for |
the first time. DR.. Strbbs was perhaps |
a 10 IlYa tn cuff fools ole
but he could not abide bore. and on one |
occasion he relieved his feelings by the |
construction of the following epigram at |
the expense of the wiseacres with whom |
he was sitting at a diocesan board:
To the ''l'etat c'est moi OF Louis lie roi
A parallel afford;
like it. you see. may be said about me.
Am | not the Diocesan Bored?
The Bishops remark when he was |
translated from Chester to oxford has |
always correctly. What he actually said
was, Like Homer, / lose so much by
and the point of the saying
lay. of course, in the fact that as his
predecessor. DIR. Mackarness. had a re-
firing pension, Stubs only enjoyed
portion of the revenue of the See.
There will shortly be unveiled at
Elabonga a monument to the famous
Russian heroine. Nadejda Dourova, prob
ably the only woman who bore an officers
in arms. Her father was a
savalry captain. and sse, in 1896. being
hen twenty-three years of age, enlisted
n a regiment of lancers under the mas
,uline name of Sokoloff After a time
Ter secret leaked out, but these were the
stirring times of the Napoleonic wars,
when a good soldier was not to be frown-
ID upon for trifles. and ''Sokoloff the
ANGER had proved himself so good a
ANGER that he vas sent to st. Peters ,
,urg where the Car Alexander personal |
ly recognized the masculine assumption, | /
,ut changed the name to Alexandron,
md gave the young soldier commission |
n a regiment of hussars. From that time
Onward "Alexandroff' saw much hard
ervice, and at the bloody battle of Boro- T
limo received a severe wound. and won I
he St Georges Cross. ''Alexandroff' re- 7
fred In 1877 with the grail of captain, q
nd settling down at Elabonga, died there
t the patriarchial age of eighty-three.
He was buried in the uniform OF a /
aptaIn of the Litovsk Dragons. The Of
cers of this regiment have contributed
literally to the monument of their unique
omrade.
The Russians have always been cele-
rated for. their courtesy and hospitality.
nd curious example of these attributes
as just occurred in Constantinople Many
ears ago some English children living
4 a house In prominent position on the
sosphorus used to wave to an officer on a
russian volunteer ship whenever she '
assed Gradually other Russian vessels !
ook it up till every naval or volunteer y
hip made point on passing the house y