Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1898 — FOREIGN. [ARTICLE]

FOREIGN.

Sig. E rncst Nieoliui, the husband of Adelina Patti, died at Pau, Italy. The anti-Jewish crusade in France is reported to be assuming alarming proportions. Cuban insurgents exploded a dynamite bomb and wrecked a train in Havana province. Bread riots were renewed nt Ancona, Italy. The rioters were dispersed by troops and fifty arrests were made. Right Honorable Charles Pelham Villiers, known ns the “father of the House of Commons,” is dead at London, aged 96. Race conflicts have been resumed at Prague, due to a proposal in the diet to have Doth the Czech and German languages taught in Bohemia. The official engineers’ joint committee at London lias notified the employers’ federation of tlie withdrawal, on behalf of the men, of the eight-hour demand. Great Britain has agreed to provjde a loan to China of £12,000,666 at 4 per cent, to run fifty years, provided Chiba opens three treaty ports, declares that no portion of the Yangsto-Kinng valley shall be alienated to any other power and allows the extension of the Hurmnh Railway through Hunan Province. The Rome correspondent of the London Daily Chrouich*, in a startling statement quotes largely from nn article in Civilitn Cattolicn, which ho declares is directly inspired by the Vatican nnd the pope, ndvoenting ns the solution of the eternal question betwec'ii the Vatican ami the Quiriiuil the establishment of an Italian republic. The article, which is based on the pope's Christmas allocution, declares that the thing which stands opposed to pupal independence is not Itnliuu unity, but “the special and concrete form wherein that unity is nt present maintained, with results much more disastrous to the Suite than to the holy see.” It proceeds to assert that the co-existeuee of the \ ationti and the Italian mouareliy is impossible, nnd that one or the other must go. It then suggests the constitutions of Switzerland nnd America as exnmplcs of "admirable nnd glorious constitutions, true union of nation nnd state, though differing from thnt of Italy, which bus produced nothing but weakness, misery and starvation.” The article conclude*: "Without the nid of foreign bayonets the true Italy will find for itself its ow n way and will rise again, let us hope, from the ignominy In which It uow lies prostrate, to true great in's*.” The Clyde Line steamer Cherokee, which arrived Ht New York from San Domingo ports, brings details of the recent earthquakes which hnve occurred w.lth frequency Since’Dec. 29 last. Great damage hns been caused throughout the whole country, nnd the Inhabitants were rtfjven from tjieir homes ill a panic. At 6.43 in the morning of Dee. 15, the people In the northern port of the island were startled by a very severe trembling of the earth,

lasting fully 25 seconds. At Porto plnta and the/surrounding neighborhood, including the inland town of Santiago, this first shock was most severely felt. The first shock was soon followed by another, and , still another in rapid succession. Then all was quiet until 2 p. m., when another slight movement' was felt, which caused another stampede of the inhabitants. It is calculated, .that damage to the amount of s2s,oQo|jwas done in the small port of Porto Plata alone, The Central Domingo Railroad suffered severely, traffic, boding interrupted since the occurrence of the earthquakes. The swtfmarine cable to Hayti* was affected by the seismic movement, and communication was interrupted. In Santiago a number or churches were rendered dangerous for use, cemetery walls were ruined, and a chapel fell as though it had been struck by a bombshell. The Government buildings were'damnged to a great extent and will need extended repairs, if not complete rebuilding. The grand edifice of Santa Cerro, one of the oldest in the western hemisphere and dating from the time of Columbus, was entirely destroyed. Almost every dgy since Dec. 26 there have’been shocks, but of a comparatively harmless nature. As far as is known there has been no loss of human life.