Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1898 — FOREIGN. [ARTICLE]

FOREIGN.

A bomb, made of gas piping and filled with powder, was exploded in the German Theater at Olmutz, Moravia. Little damage was done, but the incident caused great excitement. The ballot taken by the striking English engineers as the outcome of the recent conference between tile representativs of the employers nnd the men has resulted in a rejection of the proposed compromise by 100 to 1, while the trades union’s proposal of fifty-one hours weekly, instead of forty-eight, has been rejected by a majority almost ns large. It is reported that seventeen British war ships are off Chemulpo, Corea, southwest of Seoul, supporting the British consul’s protest, really amounting to an ultimatum against the king’s practically yielding the government of Qorea into the hands of the Russian minister. The protest is especially directed against the dismissal of McLeavy Brown, British adviser to the Corean customs, in favor of the Russian nominee. Japan is said to be supporting Great Britain. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat has a Rome special which says that Pope Leo has issued a sort of expose of his policy toward foreign governments. The holy father was charged with favoring a monarchy to a republic. This he distinctly disclaims. One form of government, he says, is as good as another in the eyes of the church, and Catholics are at liberty to profess what political opinions they like, providing they do not ally themselves to a platform that comprises war upon the church and Christianity, as its principal plank. Moreover, the pope expressly denies ever having sought to influence in any way the political convictions of the faithful and unhesitatingly condemns those prelates and priests, not alone in France, but also in other foreign countries, who make use of their ecclesiastical prestige to sway the electoral suffrages of their flocks. But what the pope does insist on is submission and obedience to the duly constituted government of the day, on the ground that the maintenance of peace, the preservation of the social or public order, and the respect due to the constitutionally enacted laws of the land, are demanded by the Christian faith and by the church. This-ex-plains his attitude toward the Cubans, and why he does not fnvor the insurgents.