Notes of News | AdventAI

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, February 5, 1880

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 6

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Notes of News.

—The English crown diamonds are valued at $8,500,000.

—All but six of the members of the Utah Legislature are polygamists.

—The railway mileage of the United States almost equals that of the whole of Europe.

—Negotiations are in progress for a commercial treaty between Spain and the United States.

—The 27th anniversary of the Y. M. C. Association of New York City was celebrated Jan. 26, 1880.

—An aged couple in Norridgewock, Me., recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of their wedding.

—A late paper says that 1,700,000 bushels of coal are on the way from Pittsburg to New Orleans.

—The Leadville (Col.) camp has spent $4,000,000 in 15 months, and has dug out silver to the value of $20,000,000.

—Bismarck has so far recovered as to be able to go to Berlin. He had a two hours’ conference with the Emperor the 28th.

—Stanley, the African explorer, has begun to ascend the Congo River, well equipped with all kinds of provisions, and boats.

—The Christian World says that if India had as many Baptist missionaries in proportion to her population as Wales has ministers, it would have 96,000.

—There is a rumor that a Russian transport vessel, with 2,000 troops aboard, has been lost in the Caspian Sea, most, if not all, of the soldiers perishing.

—Chicago received 137,766,380 bushels of grain during the past year, and claims that no other city in the world could have taken care of such a vast amount.

—The newspaper printed in English at Constantinople has been suspended for criticising the honors bestowed on Hafiz Pasha, who is obnoxious to the British.

—President Hayes’ action in displacing Gov. Emery, of Utah, by Eli H. Murray, of Kentucky, is understood to be part of a more positive anti-polygamy policy.

—In New York City there are no less than 963 places where liquor is sold in violation of the law. The proprietors of some of these places have never had a license.

—Twelve French Catholics, heads of families, have joined the Congregational church at Center Falls, R. I., having been led to renounce Catholicism by reading the Bible.

—Two Americans have been arrested in Paris on charge of robbery committed in Brussels, and will be surrendered to Belgium as soon as the American government consents.

—Fournier, who has been for 25 years a high functionary of the French War Ministry, upon being summoned a few days ago to produce his accounts, blew out his brains.

—About 9,000 miles of railroad are now under contract in this country; and it is estimated that more miles of new road will be built during 1880 than during any previous year.

—Dispatches dated Jan. 30 state that 3 deaths from starvation occurred the past week in County Louth, Ireland. This fact shows how immediate and pressing is the demand for relief.

—It is reported that the European Jews are throwing off their attachment to Judaism in its Talmudic or Rabbinical forms, and in so doing are losing all faith in religion of any kind.

—Indian Commissioner Hayt has been dismissed from his office in disgrace, the charges of malfeasance and corruption in office, made against him by Gen. Fisk, having been fully sustained.

—Davitt and Brennan, the Irish Home-rule leaders under indictment for sedition, have been selected as candidates for Parliament by the Nationalists of County Mayo. So says a late dispatch.

—A bronze tablet set in black polished marble has been set in the wall of the Church of the Strangers, New York, as a memorial of gratitude to the late Commodore Vanderbilt, who gave the church to the society.

—A Constantinople dispatch asserts that terrible destitution prevails in Adrianople. In one day 15 persons were found dead from hunger. In some cases pieces of wood were found in the mouths of the corpses.

—Geo. C. Needham, a Chicago pastor, has been giving his hearers pictorial sermons, taking for his texts the mountains and rocks of the Bible. The pictures are of large size, and are executed expressly for pulpit purposes.

—The trouble in Maine is at last happily and peaceably adjusted. The Fusionist members have taken their seats in the legally organized Legislature, and Gov. Smith has gone home, declaring that he will no longer play Governor.

—The First Presbyterian church of Elizabeth, N. J., has just celebrated the centennial anniversary of the burning of its first edifice, January 25, 1780, by a tory, whose parents were honored members of the church and zealous patriots.

—The Czarowitz of Russia recently made the following significant speech to some magnates of Poland: “I shall be proud to wear your glorious crown. Communicate this to your countrymen, and assure them of the favor of their future king.”

—The Baptist church at Virginia, on the St. Paul’s River, in Liberia, has received over 70 native Africans within two years. It has had no pecuniary aid from any missionary society, and is preparing to establish a mission station in the interior.

—The Rev. H. H. Hayden, charged with the murder of Mary Stannard, has been practically acquitted of the crime, the jury failing to agree. The trial, which has lasted 3 months, has been so tedious that it is not probable that it will be re-opened.

—The Italians are now said to own the most powerful war vessel afloat. It is a double-turreted monster ironclad, and has a powerful ram and at the stern a torpedo boat. In a trial, the Duilio gave 14 miles an hour, working only six-sevenths of her full capacity.

—A family consisting of a gentleman and his wife and 7 children, living in Alpine, Kent Co., Mich., have suffered terribly from diphtheria; 5 of the 7 children have died within a week, and the others are not expected to live, and the father, mother, and grandmother are all sick.

—Two persons were recently killed and several injured by an explosion which occurred on a steamer of the National Line which was lying in her dock at Hoboken, N. J. It is thought that the explosion was caused by the spontaneous ignition of coal-gas when the hatches were opened.

—The railroads in India dispatch Zenana cars in which the native women ride, and where the lady missionaries have opportunity to talk with them. They have native women for conductors, and Christian women, who have charge of the ladies’ rooms at the stations, lock and unlock the cars.

—Last year the Metropolitan church in East Washington, D. C., adopted the free-pew system and resolved to depend on voluntary contributions for support. The experiment proved a success, the treasurer’s report showing that the receipts of the past year were $500 more than under the rental system of the previous year.

—The Lord Mayor of Dublin fears a recurrence of the disaster of 1847, when abundance of assistance was forthcoming, but too late to save life. He thinks the people of London do not realize the gravity of the crisis, nor that unless prompt assistance be given, thousands of the people of Ireland must die of starvation.

—A man and his son, a boy of 12 years, were recently found dead in bed at their residence in Summit, N. J.; and investigation showed that they had been smothered by coal-gas, one of the lids of the stove having evidently been left open to keep the fire burning slowly through the night. The doors and windows were closed, and the house was filled with the sickening odor of the gas.

—Parnell and Dillon, the Irish agitators in this country, are having considerable success. Crowds listen to their speeches, and they are raising money, part of which goes to swell the “agitation fund,” and part to relieve the immediate wants of their suffering countrymen. They do not tell what proportion of the money is used for each purpose.

—The number of applications for patents during the past year was 19,300, being 357 less than during the previous year. The number of patents granted, including reissues and designs, was 12,471, being 1,629 less than the previous year. This is the first time that the year’s work of the patent office has shown a falling off, and it is doubtless due to the attempt in Congress last winter to change the law to the injury of inventors.

—Pomare, the Queen of Tahiti and Moorea, died last September, in the seventieth year of her age. When she was born, missionaries had just come to the South Sea Islands, but not a single convert had been won to Christ. When Pomare died she had been many years a faithful Christian, more than 300 islands had become wholly Christianized, and on nearly all the rest Christian workers are making known the gospel.

—On the morning of Jan. 25, Havana and the western coast of Cuba were well shaken by an earthquake. San Cristobal, a town of about 1,000 inhabitants, is entirely shattered, and the people are homeless. In some places there are fissures in the earth from 3 to 10 inches wide, and from 40 to 100 feet long; some of them are of considerable depth. The inhabitants say that on the morning after the earthquake, these fissures emitted sulphurous vapors.

—Germany’s increased military force causes considerable excitement among the various European nations, and leads the London Times of Jan. 24, in an editorial article, to comment as follows: “What is disturbing in the matter is the vivid revelation it affords of the terrible condition of armed truce in which Europe exists from day to day. By wisdom and firmness, statesmen may avert a collision of these armed forces, but such an achievement will need incessant vigilance and patience. . . . Far greater issues to the world are now at stake in Europe than in any other quarter of the globe.”

—The German army, an increase of which is asked by the government, now numbers 418,886 men. This force, ready at all times to take the field, is practically declared to be insufficient, and it is not without significance at this juncture that the increased levy proposed is destined to reinforce the garrisons in Alsace-Lorraine. The additional field artillery and heavy ordnance which are included in the government programme are also intended for Alsace-Lorraine. The government cannon foundry have received such large orders, that fresh hands have been engaged, and all are working extra time.

—The errors of Ritualism are set in very clear light by the following letter, addressed to Bishop Copleston of Ceylon: “We beg to remind your Grace that we are inhabitants of a country still to a great extent heathen; that many of us were brought up as worshipers of idols; and that therefore the placing in churches of things which appear to be intended as objects of material worship is more offensive to us than it might be did we not see those around us bowing down to wood and stone. We would also inform your Grace that in heathen worship flowers and lights take a prominent place, and that their intimate connection with devil worship renders them, in our view, a most undesirable adjunct in the service of the church.”