Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1896 — FOREIGN, [ARTICLE]

FOREIGN,

Havana is in danger of famine owing to the cutting off of supplies by the i'nsurgents. The Argentine Republic Chamber of Deputies has passed a bill granting bounties for exports of sugar. i According to the official figures just made public, French imports for 1895 decreased 152,000,000 francs and exports increased 310,000,000 francs compared with 189 L The Hawaiian volcano has broken out again and shows great activity. The outbreak began on Friday night, Jan. 3i ami a rise of the lake of about 200 feet took place that night. The lake is now about 200 feet wide and 250 feet long. On Dec. 0. 1894, the lava disappeared, and the renewal on the third of January came without warning. _ The pope, through Cardinal Satolli. has made a semi-official proposal to President Cleveland to arbitrate the Venezuela question. The pope was much hurt by England's refusal last year when Venezuela proposed the pope as an arbitrator. It is believed that his holiness has now instructed Cardinal Vaughan to sound the British Government on the subject. The Chilian treaty with Brazil this been shorn of its importance by the announcement that Argentina has an anterior treaty with Brazil giving all the rights of a favored nation, it is the intention of the United States minister to demand oi the Brazilian Government that similar privileges be accords’ll this country. This will minimize the advantages that may possibly accrue in favor of Chilian flour and cereals. Berlin dispatch: In the Reichstag Thursday during the discussion of Count von Kanitz's proposal for the establishment of a Government grain monopoly,

the Count denied that it would raise tn« price of bread. He also said that the scheme was not socialisficand that its object was t» benefit the peasantry. He concluded with'the remark: “The Gk.♦eniment may look on while the country is being desolated, but we want deeds* not words.” ■ (Prolonged applause.) s The forthcoming report of the Department of Labor of the British State Department will say that, notwithstanding the numerous trade union troubles of the last twelve months, the manufacturing and building interests of the country are on the .whole in better shape than at any similar period in the last five or six years. From scarcely any center are there reports of the pressure of unemployed such as were made a year and two years ago, while prices of labor range a fragtion Higher. The .only exception to the general report of improved conditions is from : Lancashire, where, owing to lack of orders, it is stated that over 10,000 looms are idle. A Portsmouth, Eng., dispatch says: ‘‘The flying squadron, consisting of the battleship Revenge, flagship, Rear Admiral Alfred T. Dale; the battleship Royal Oak, the first-class cruisers Gibraltar and Theseus, and the second-class cruisers Charybdis and Hermione, together with six first-class torpedo boat destroyers, assembled at Spithead at noon Friday. It is reported that the destination of this squadron, after leaving Bantry Bay, Ireland, will be the Bermudas.” No information reached Washington Friday. It is doubted whether Great Britain would send sueh a powerful fleet into American waters at this time, when its presence iu force sufficient to overcome our North Atlantic squadron almost certainly would be regarded as a hostile demonstration certainly not called for as long as diplomacy has not yet exhausted its resources in the settlement of the differences between the United States and Great Britain. The Bermudas, lying between 600 and 700 miles off our. coast, would afford . an admirable base of operations against any point from Cape Cod down to Key West, and* while the islands are part of the British empire the assemblage of a powerful fleet there could not be regarded with indifference by the United States Government, unless its presence was explained satisfactorily. .>