New-York tribune., 1908-01-01
THEI YEAR ABROAD.

onoch making event of the first magnitude
hut in almost every land 1t witnessed incideh's
/ Of more than passing interest and importance
! In the foreign relations Of the United STATES
/ 1907 was year of peace, commerce ana non
est friendship with all nations and also OF
/ ..antancIino alliances with none," the treaties
and other cOmpactS which were made beins
such as should cause no entanglements. but
should promote peace. commerce ana HiehusiiP'
Among the conventions negotiated rhtiheN "E
| proclaimed were the m0dHS r1rendi anu aroitra-
tjon opraement with Great Britain for settling
| the Newfoundland fisheries dispute. the AlRe-
ciras treaty for pacfying .Gnd civiilzmg MO
rocco the Santo Domingo treaty for ahlihg III
the reha blitation Of that republic, the ran
American arbitration treaty, the Rio Grande
waterway convention with Mexico and trane
agreements with Great Britain and Germany.
This country also took a leading part IN the
! conference at The Hague and SHARED IN the
credit of its bene6cent results, ana was the
prime mover in bringing the five Central amer
icau republics together in conference ana
series OF treaties more auspicious OF permanent
good than any former act in the history OF thoSe
states 4 new British Ambassador was re-
ceived at Washington and changes were ah-
nounced of the Japanese Ambassador and the
Chinese Minister.
/ The international dealings Of other powers
comprised an important convention between
Great Britain and Russia regarding their inter-
ests in Central Asia, and treaties hetWech
France and Japan and Russia ana Japan vi
interest perhaps equal to that Of formal treaueS
were the international visitings OF the year.
+ These included visits of the King and Queen OF
England to nearly all important European
lands of the German Emperor to England anG
olso m 4he Russian Emperor Of the sovereigIs
of Spain Portugal, Denmark and Norway to
ENGLAND Of Prince FuShimi, Of Japan, and OF
President Barclay of Liberia to the King or
England and of the Ameer OF AfGn&nlsIah 10
British India 4 large and representative com
panv of British editors and publicists visited
Germany, the Lord Mayor and Corporation OF
London were the guests of the municipality oI
Berlin. and the Municipal Council or farls paio
4 visit to the Corporation of London. All these
movements had perceptiblP effects upon inter
national relations especially in confirming the
! entente c0rdi1le between Great Britain and
France and in promoting similar approach
ment between Great Britain and Germany.
/ The United Kingdom was the scene of much
preferential legislation in the interest OF labor
unions and OF further concessions to the unions
as the price of averting a universal railroad
strike At the same time mnncipal eiectlonS
almost everywhere were marked with phe-
nomenal revolt against socialism and ultra
radcalism The deceased wifes sister bill De-
came law at last. a. Court of Criminal Appeal
was established, agitation was rampant against
the House of Lords and in favor or woman
suffrage n great naval station was planned at
Rosvrh the Portland-DruCe case passed
through sensational perjuries to decisive grave
opening. and the Channel tunnel scheme was
revived only to he rejected again. The WISH
Of the King and Queen TO Ireland did not pre-
vent that most diStressful country" from hav-
! ing n rather diStresSful year. a natiOna! eX-
Dosition mt Dublin and ii law permitting tle
culture of tobacco were good FEATURES DH'
| against them were set serious strikes ana RIOTS
at Belfast the abandonment OF Mt BlrrellS
new Home Rule bill. the forcing out OF once OF
Sir Horace Plunkett, who had for years been
one of IreIand'S best benefactors. an open
breach between Sim Fein and the Irish Par
Uamentary party. and marked recrudescence
, of agrarian crime.
The British empire and its protectOrateS else
where had "A busy year. Lord CrOmer retired
from his great prOconSUiShip In Egypt anu
that country was the scene OF grave anti BRITISH
orffafiou India also conCurrently with the
fifti til anniversary of the Mutiny, was con
yused with dsloyGi agitation eXacerbated by
the prevalence of plague and famine Purely
Dutch governments were organized In the
Trausvaal and the Orange River Colony, though
with strong professions OF loyalty to the en-
pirP The Transvaal. despite it's financial em-
harrassments gave the big Cullnan diamond
10 the King a token of loyalty. The Cape
Colony Parliament dissolved and an appeal
WAS made to the electorate, which is soon to he
answered at the polls New Zealand became
dominion Australia adopted strongly pro-
tective tariff with preferential rates for British
goods The Canadian Parliament met for its
last session, railroad building in that dominion
WAS greatly pushed. and the Yukon Territory
was made n part of the Province OF Quebec. The
colonial conference in London resulted chiefly
in dissatisfaction To the colonies. whose desires
for a general system OF preferential tariffs
within the empire were negatired by the free
trade British government The somewhat onl-
inous principle was established by practice In
Canada and in the Transvaal that subjects of
other parts of the empire have no status, Of
right, in those colonies.
Germany elected d new Reichstag in which
there were significant political changes involv-
ing decline of socialism and a tendency tow
ard the formation OF a coherent bloc" IN sup
port Of the government. Later the highly I'm
portant intimation was made by the Chancellor
that the imperial ministry had come to regard
Itself as deIen:ient for continued existence upon
Parliamentary support-tbe most notable con-
stitutonal development since the foundation OF
the empire. Grave charges relating to Il court
camGriIld were tried in schudal0us law
suit with farreachinG consequences; Prussia re-
sorted 20 extraordinary means for suppressInS
Polish dominance In her Polish PROVINCES and e
Hanover regency dispute was disposed Of against
the interests of the former royal faEsiy. France
suffered wine growers insurrecIiOn marked
with some scandAious scenes: there was an
open rupture between RepubIIcanism and So
calism; the antlclerlcaI policy was maintained
and 3 strict Sunday observance lag was