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| July-August 1904 World News |
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| July-August 1904 World News |
| Return to main Chronicle page See Crossword Puzzle details at bottom of this page — here. |
| All items for this
edition of World News are taken from The Age, July-August, 1904. A red hatch (#) at the top of an item means that the item contains an answer to a crossword puzzle clue. Clicking on the items in the list below will "jump" you to the relevant news reports further down this page. * Japanese-Russian war news * Internal Russian dissent and assassination * Wireless telegraphy * King Edward visits nephew Kaiser in Germany * British troops fight Dalai Lama's soldiers in Tibet * Samoan unrest * The Balkans * Dutch-Achin war in Sumatra * Presidential conventions in America * Death of Boer leader in exile, Paul Kruger * French government annoys Pope Pius X, and vice-versa * Somali Mollah versus British forces * Venezuela grabs foreign-owned railway — Brits send warship # Chronicle history note: this issue features a great deal of news about Russia. First, the war with Japan, including Russia’s attempts to prevent British, American and German merchant shipping from allegedly carrying hidden arms and supplies to Japan, thus upsetting those respective national governments. Also, news on the internal dissent in Russia, culminating 13 years later (in 1917) with the Russian Bolshevic Revolution. We can also see, from some of these news reports, the strategic importance of the Dardanelles and the Turkish coastline, that part of the world familiar to Australians, where the World War One events on Gallipoli beach took place only eleven years later, in 1915. Note also that the Manchurian seaport of Port Arthur, held by the Russians, is today known as Lushun. The following is shortened. # THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR. SUCCESSFUL LAND ATTACK. THREE FORTS CAPTURED. VLADIVOSTOCK SQUADRON AGAIN CUT. LONDON, 30th June. The "Times" correspondent at Tokyo telegraphs that a Japanese land attack upon Port Arthur is unofficially reported to have been made last Sunday morning. The Japanese troops assailed the outworks at the extreme east of Port Arthur, and after a fight which lasted all day drove the Russians towards evening in confusion from the heights they held along the Fungui River to Keekwan (probably Chick-wan) fort... The Japanese killed and wounded totalled 100. The Russians lost two machine guns and a quantity of rifles and ammunition, captured by the Japanese, and left 40 dead on the field... A RUSSIAN SPY DECORATED. A decoration of honor has been conferred upon a Russian non-commissioned officer named Wopkoff for signal audacity and skill in obtaining information as to the movements of Japanese troops. Wopkoff, disguised as a Chinese, lately succeeded in penetrating into the camp of the Japanese troops at Siung-yu-cheng, 15 miles south of Kaiping, and got out again without being detected. Later on he was intercepted by a Japanese patrol, but drawing a hidden revolver he shot down several of the patrol, seized a horse and escaped at a gallop. (Age, July 1, 1904) JAPANESE HUMANITY. DEFENDED IN GERMANY. LONDON, 1st July. The Japanese have from the commencement of the war treated their prisoners with unusual consideration, and even keep the Russian Government informed weekly, through the American Legation, as to their condition. This, however, has not prevented Russian newspapers casting grave aspersions upon the Japanese treatment of the dead and wounded. The German press is now protesting against these aspersions, and is arguing that if cruelty has been practised on wounded Russian soldiers, as alleged, it has been the work of the Manchu bandits and pillagers, who hang on the skirts of a battlefield in the hope of booty. (Age, July 2, 1904) # BOLT FOR GERMAN SHELTER. ENGLAND’S TREATY OBLIGATIONS. LONDON, 4th July. The leading Japanese journal of Tokyo, commenting on the Port Arthur fleet’s rush to sea, with the assumed view of sheltering in a neutral port, hints that the refuge in view was Kiao-chau, Germany’s "leased" port on the east of the Shan-tung peninsula of China. If Russian war ships from Port Arthur are allowed to take refuge at Kiao-chau, the Tokyo journal hints that the Mikado will consider Germany the ally of Russia, and appeal to the terms of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, by which England is bound to assist Japan if attacked by two powers while defending her interests in China and Manchuria. (Age, July 5, 1904) # # CONTRABAND NEWS IN RUSSIA. LONDON, 4th July. The sale of the St. Petersburg newspaper "Novisty" in the streets of the city has been prohibited by the Russian Government. The newspaper’s offence was that it published in a London telegram laudatory comments on the article recently contributed by Count Leo Tolstoy to the "Times" in denunciation of the war, and the Ministers who had deluded the Czar and the country into war. (Age, July 5, 1904) # THE TURKESTAN RAILWAY. LONDON, 5th July. The Russian-Turkestan railway line from Orenburg, on the Volga, to Tashkent, in Southern Turkestan, is now open to Kazalinsk, a town on the Syr Daria River, some miles above where it falls into the Aral Sea. Russian newspapers, in jubilating articles on the opening of the railway, admit that it has been constructed as a menace to India and Afghanistan. (Age, July 7, 1904) The following is slightly edited to remove repetitive detail. # RUSSIA’S RED SEA RAIDS. INDIGNATION IN ENGLAND. A SERIOUS SITUATION. BRITISH WAR SHIPS IN PURSUIT. LONDON, 19th July, 10.40 a.m. The P. and O. steamer, Malacca, which on 14th inst. was seized as a prize in the Red Sea by the Russian "volunteer" cruiser St. Petersburg, has passed Suez at the Red Sea entrance of the Canal. Russian officers were in command, and the steamer was manned by a Russian crew. The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company… denies that the steamer was, as alleged by her captors, conveying arms and ammunition to Japan. The only war-like munitions on board the Malacca are Government stores for the British colony of Hong Kong. MORE SEIZURES THREATENED. The captain of the St. Petersburg told Captain Rose, of the Waipara (en route to Australia — Chron. ed.), after detaining her for four hours, to inform the British consuls at Suez and Aden that he intended to seize all British steamers he met if the contents of their cargo packets were not clearly shown in their manifests. (Age, July 20, 1904) # BRITISH ADMIRAL’S OPINION. AN ACT OF PIRACY. LONDON, 20th July. Admiral Sir Edmund Fremantle, Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom, in a letter to the "Daily Chronicle" declares that the Russian volunteer cruisers are really pirates. Owing to Turkey’s action in allowing these vessels to pass through the Dardanelles, in despite of treaty obligations, Japan, Sir Edmund Fremantle considers, may ask England to fulfill her obligations under the Anglo-Japanese alliance treaty. British cruisers ought to intervene unless Russia disavows the action of the St. Petersburg and the Smolensk, and releases the vessels thay have taken as prizes. (Age, July 21, 1904) In later reports during July it was stated that the Malacca was released by the Russians at Port Said, Egypt, but that the captain and crew had been insulted. Almost immediately after, a German ship was seized. Then, on July 26th, it was reported that the Russian Czar’s grand council of advisors cancelled further orders for the "volunteer" fleet to detain foreign shipping in the Red Sea. But then Russian war ships off the eastern coast of Japan attacked and sunk a British ship sailing from the United States to Japan. Other British and American steamers were also intercepted. — Chron. ed. The following is shortened. # THROUGH THE DARDANELLES. PERMIT TO RUSSIAN MINE VESSEL. LONDON, 30th July. The St. Petersburg correspondent of the "Daily Mail" states that Turkey has granted permission to the Russian mine vessel Euna, one of the Yenissei type (about 2700 tons), to pass through the Dardanelles. [Following Count Lamsdorff’s statement regarding the volunteer cruisers came a report that Turkish officials no longer saw cause to stop these vessels from passing the Dardanelles; also that several German journals consider that the German Government was giving Russia passive support in her resolution to uphold the right of passage of these vessels under the commercial flag, though once outside they were intended to act as war ships. Now it looks as though these reports are true…] (Age, August 1, 1904) PORT ARTHUR SIEGE. THE END APPROACHING. HEAVY LOSSES ON BOTH SIDES. LONDON, 1st August. Reuter’s correspondent at Chi-fu, in the Shantung province of China, telegraphs that a Japanese merchant resident there has received from a Chinese woman whom he considers trustworthy an important report as to the progress of the siege of Port Arthur. This Chinese states that the Japanese troops have occupied every position around Port Arthur except the Golden Hill, east of the harbor entrance, and terrible losses have been suffered by both besiegers and besieged in the fierce fighting by which these positions were won. Members of the Russian Intelligence bureau admit that they have received intelligence that the Japanese have made great progress in the siege of Port Arthur. (Age, August 2, 1904) # RUSSIAN RAIDERS. THE CONTRABAND LIST. AMERICA MAKES A STAND. LONDON, 10th August. The United States Government has now made public a circular despatched on 10th June by Colonel John Hay, the Secretary of State, to the American ambassadors in Europe on the subject of contraband of war. Up to the present publication of this circular has been withheld by the American Government in order to avoid friction, and in the hope that Russia would heed the protest it conveys. Colonel Hay’s circular declares that a recognition of the principle of the treatment of coal and other fuel and raw cotton as absolute contraband (as declared by Russia) might ultimately lead to the total inhibition of the sale by neutrals to the people of belligerent States in non-blockaded ports of all articles that are conceivably convertible to military uses, and the doctrine might apply to every article in human use. "The present Russian extension of the definition of contraband is," the despatch concludes, "at variance with the reasonable and lawful rights of neutral commerce." (Age, August 11, 1904) The following is shortened. # TWO GREAT SEA FIGHTS. VLADIVOSTOCK AND PORT ARTHUR FLEETS SUNK, DISABLED OR SCATTERED. TERRIBLE RAIN OF SHELLS. TWO RUSSIAN ADMIRALS KILLED. SINKING THE RURIK. LONDON, 15th August. The news of Admiral Kamimura’s victory over the the Vladivostock squadron, which he encountered off Tsu-shima, midway in the Strait of Korea, has been celebrated with enthusiasm at Tokyo. The powerful Russian cruisers Gromoboi and Rossia escaped, severely damaged, to the northward, with the evident intention of seeking refuge in Vladivostock, after a fight which lasted five hours. The Rurik, 12,400 tons, with a complement of 768 men, was sunk, and many of her crew were killed or drowned… News of the disaster to the Vladivostock squadron and of the sinking of the Rurik, though officially known in St. Petersburg, was withheld from the Russian press until today. PORT ARTHUR FLEET’S ROUT. DYING ADMIRAL’S REPORT. HOW THE TSAREVITCH SUFFERED. Rear-Admiral Matussevitch, who died of his wounds in the Tsing-tau (Kiao-chau) Hospital, signed a cablegram despatched to the Czar on Friday, 12th inst., reporting himself "slightly wounded," and giving an account of the battle of the Port Arthur fleet with Admiral Togo’s fleet… (Age, August 16, 1904) There were many reports throughout August 1904 of "Russian raiders"; this is an example. The English newspapers in particular were outraged, demanding that British naval escorts sail with the merchant ships Russia was accusing of carrying war goods to Japan. ELEVEN MORE RAIDERS. LONDON, 22nd August. The Russian volunteer cruiser Ural, purchased from Germany after the outbreak of the war, is still hanging around the entrance of the Mediterranean, overhauling steamers on suspicion of carrying contraband, her special mission being to seize British vessels with cargoes for Spanish and Italian ports, meant to be transshipped to Japan. The captain of the Ural has boasted that Russia has eleven vessels out on similar work. A war ship, believed to be a Russian, has been seen off the coast of Cape Colony, and is suspected of being a commerce raider. The Black Sea volunteer fleet of transports which was to accompany the Russian Baltic fleet to the Far East, has returned from Sevastopol to Odessa, Russia’s chief commercial port on the Black Sea. This circumstance is interpreted to mean that the Baltic fleet will not after all sail. (Age, August 23, 1904) The following items about Russia concentrate on internal State violence. The following is shortened. # # # THE RUSSIAN ASSASSINATION. A FEARFUL EXPLOSION. THE PERPETRATOR’S STORY. A NIHILIST CONSPIRACY. OTHER CRIMES INTENDED. LONDON, 29th July. The murder of M. de Plehve, the Russian Minister of the Interior, while on his way to an audience with the Czar, has caused great consternation in Russia, especially as his predecessor in office was assassinated only two years ago. The outrage took place in the Ismailovsky Prospect, a street in St. Petersburg near the railway station for the Petersburg-Warsaw line. The assassin, who is about 30 years of age, and who is supposed to be a Polish Nihilist, was lying in wait for the Minister’s carriage in a restaurant in the street, and it is believed that he had an accomplice watching to warn him when the moment for action had arrived. SHOCKING MUTILATION. The dynamite bomb was thrown immediately under M. de Plehve’s carriage, and exploded instantly, killing the coachman and his horses and horribly mutilating the minister, whose left arm and leg were dismembered, and whose head was nearly severed from the body. His face, too, was terribly disfigured, and splinters of wood from the wrecked carriage were driven into various parts of his body… The assassin, who was himself dangerously wounded in the stomach, was vainly attempting to commit suicide with a revolver when arrested by a detective detailed to shadow M. de Plehve’s movements, who was following the carriage on a bicycle… "THE CZAR’S FRIEND." The Emperor Nicholas was quite overcome by emotion when he heard of M. de Plehve’s assassination. His Majesty exclaimed pathetically, "He was my friend and most valued counsellor." The Czar intends to attend the funeral of M. de Plehve — as he did two years ago, that of M. Sipiagune, M. de Plehve’s assassinated predecessor. A COMPREHENSIVE PLOT. … The St. Petersburg correspondent of the "Daily Express" reports that at the preliminary examination of the assassin before the police authorities, he placed them in possession of the details of the details of a Nihilist plot for the murder successively of the Czar, M. Pobiedondzoff, Procureur-General of the Holy Synod; Prince Obolenski, Controller-General of the Imperial Court; M. Besobrazoff, Secretary of State without portfolio, reported to be the Czar’s confidential adviser, and many other leading Russian bureaucrats. POPULAR APPROVAL. Many indications are apparent that the assassination of M. de Plehve is popularly approved in Russia, owing to the brutality and tyranny which marked the dead Minister’s administration of the Department of the Interior. (Age, July 30, 1904) RUSSIAN HOME DISASTERS. LONDON, 1st July. The loss of the Delphin, Russia’s largest and best submarine boat, which sank prematurely while preparing for trials on the Neva, would have been accompanied by the death of her whole crew of 33 officers and men but for a curious incident. The upward rush of air escaping as the Delphin sank and the water entered her hull, actually blew two officers and 10 men through the open manhole of the boat. Another mysterious explosion has occurred in the Russian naval arsenal at Kronstadt, in which there have recently been several sinister occurrences, attributed at first to Japanese and afterwards to revolutionary or Nihilist agents. In this last case no one was injured, but eight torpedoes in the arsenal exploded, great excitement being caused owing to the suspicion that the affair was not an accident, but a planned outrage. (Age, July 2, 1904) THE RUSSIAN ASSASSINATION. A THOUSAND ARRESTS. LONDON, 1st August. It is reported from St. Petersburg that no fewer than 1000 arrests of suspects have been made in connection with the assassination of M. de Plehve, Russian Minister of the Interior. The actual assassin, it is alleged, has revealed to the police the existence of an extensive plot, of which the murder of M. de Plehve was only one feature, the assassination of the Czar and several of his chief advisers having been planned. The Czar, the dowager Empress, his mother, and the diplomatic representatives of the powers at St. Petersburg yesterday attended the funeral service of M. de Plehve, given in the chapel attached to the building devoted to the Ministry of the Interior. THE EXPLOSIVE USED. It is believed that the Polish Nihilist who assassinated M. de Plehve used an explosive hitherto unknown in Europe. This conclusion is arrived at from the terrific force of the explosion, which completely wrecked M. de Plehve’s carriage, killed himself, his coachman and the horses, tore up the street pavement, smashed all the windows in the vicinity, and injured a number of persons in the street. Chemical experts are endeavoring to ascertain the nature of the new explosive. (Age, August 2, 1904) And, in other world news throughout July and August 1904… # WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. AN AMERICAN CONTRACT. LONDON, 29th June. The American wireless telegraph company which has adopted the De Forest system, has entered into a contract with the United States Government for the establishment of a number of ethergram stations to be in electric touch. These stations are Key West, south of Florida; Puerto Rico, east of San Domingo; Panama, on the Pacific coast of the isthmus; Guantanamo, in Mexico and Pensacola, in Alahama. In addition the company undertakes to operate — i.e. transmit messages — for a distance of 1000 miles out in the Pacific Ocean from Panama and other land stations, and from ships at sea. (Age, July 1, 1904) # GERMANY AND ENGLAND. KING EDWARD'S VISIT. LONDON, 30th June. His Majesty King Edward, who is on a visit to his nephew, the Emperor of Germany, accompanied the latter yesterday on an inspection at Kiel of the entire German fleet, which was ranged in three lines out on the open sea. After the inspection a banquet was given in honour of the King, at which the Kaiser, in the course of a speech, alluded to the indelible impression that the giant British ironclads had made upon his youthful mind when as a boy he first visited the British naval ports — Plymouth and Portsmouth. King Edward, in reply, expressed a hope that the British and German fleets would always stand in friendly relationship. The King embarked at midnight yesterday, the scene presented at the embarkation being a highly picturesque one, and he sails for England early this morning. (Age, July 1, 1904) The following items relate to the British military’s violent march through Tibet. # THE TIBET EXPEDITION. BRITISH TROOPS ADVANCE. JONG TO BE TAKEN. LONDON, 30th June. Brigadier-General Macdonald, commanding the military force which escorts the Tibet political mission, has started from Gyantse on the advance to Lhasa. He is, however, making a wide detour for the purpose of capturing Jong. He has already intercepted the only line of retreat open to the Tibetans, who oppose him, towards Shigatse. The Jong Tibetans have now requested Brigadier Macdonald to grant them an armistice pending the arrival at Jong of officials from Lhasa, duly authorised to negotiate with the British commissioner. The water supply of Jong has been cut off by the British troops. Colonel Brander, who commands the fighting advance column, has completely cleared the Gyantse Valley of hostile Tibetans, expelling them from 15 villages. A SHARP FIGHT. After accomplishing this work he assailed the massive Tse-chen Buddhist monastery, which was strongly fortified. The Tibetans fought with the greatest courage and obstinacy, rendering it ultimately necessary to blow up the monastery with gun cotton. Captain Graster, of the 40th regiment (Pathans), who have just arrived from India, was killed in the fight, two captains of the 8th Gurkhas were slightly wounded and five privates were wounded. The Tibetans lost heavily. (Age, July 1, 1904) # # # THE TIBET EXPEDITION. HOSTILITIES RESUMED. ATTACK ON THE JONG. LONDON, 6th July. The negotiations at Gyantse of Colonel Younghusband with the Tibetan delegates from Lhasa have failed to accomplish anything, because his first and essential condition was that the armed Tibetans, of whom there are said to be about 8000, should evacuate the Jong, the water supply of which the British troops had already cut off. The Tibetans were afraid of the responsibility of surrendering the great fort, lest the Dalai Lama at Lhasa should decapitate them for so doing. The delegates, who profess to be thoroughly accredited from Lhasa, were, however, apparently willing to resume negotiations with Colonel Younghusband in the event of his capturing the Jong. The armistice which the British had granted top the Tibetans pending the peace negotiations having expired, hostilities were resumed, fire being opened on the Jong, to which the Tibetans did not reply. The "Times" correspondent with the expedition telegraphs that before dawn today (Wednesday) three of Brigadier-General Macdonald’s columns were operating against the dense mass of houses at the foot of the eastern slope of the Jong, a 7-pounder mountain gun being employed to clear a passage from one stone house to another. It is intended, the "Times" correspondent states, after it is clear daylight, to take the field guns out half-way between the mission camp and the village of Palla, and from the vantage point of the Ghurka post, which was established there, clear by shelling the face of the Jong rock preparatory to carrying it by assault. Brigadier-General Macdonald has 1200 troops engaged in the attack, and the position of the enemy, who are said to number 8000, has been additionally strengthened by the erection of fresh sangais (stone shelters). (Age, July 7, 1904) The following is shortened. # THE MARCH TO TIBET. STORMING THE JONG. THE FORT CAPTURED. A GALLANT ACHIEVEMENT. COMPARABLE TO DARGAI. LONDON, 7th July. Brigadier-General Macdonald, commanding the military forces of the Tibet expedition, yesterday opened his attack on the Jong, or great fort, at Gyantse, which was held and defended by about 7000 Tibetans. The Buddhist delegates from Lhasa, who came to negotiate with Colonel Younghusband, the political head of the mission, having refused to take the responsibility of directing the Tibetans to evacuate the Jong, they were warned to leave it and remove all women from the place before the armistice granted had expired. The delegates, however, disregarded Colonel Younghusband’s warning. The attack was commenced before dawn… Three columns of British troops advanced in the darkness, the accompanying explosions announcing their progress; but even the roofs of the Jong houses were crowded with Tibetans, whose constant volleyings impeded the attack… The climax of the fighting occurred during the afternoon, when a heavy fire was directed on a spot at the extreme east of the Jong, 160 feet above the plain. The rampart slowly crumbled under the terrific hail of shells and bullets, the wind blowing away fragments of splintered stone in a continual cloud. The explosion of a magazine of Tibetan gunpowder, at 4 p.m., near the point of attack, helped in the operation. It must have killed many in the Jong. The concentrated British fire succeeded in its object, and, the wall crumbling to its fall, the position was practically abandoned by the Tibetans… The "Daily Mail’s" correspondent with the mission in his report declares that the achievement of the troops which took the Jong is comparable with that of the Highlanders who carried the Dargai pass in the frontier campaign in the north-west of India. (Age, July 8, 1904) "SACRED CITY" REACHED. BRITISH MISSION AT LHASA. NO RESISTANCE OFFERED. LONDON, 7th August, 12.50 p.m. Colonel Younghusband, the political head of the British mission in Tibet, reports that he has reached Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, and has not met with further opposition, no fighting having taken place. APPEALS BY LAMA’S DELEGATES. LONDON, 5th August. The continued steady advance towards Lhasa of the British Mission in Tibet has had the effect of causing the Tibetan peace delegates to abandon their arrogant attitude. They are now appealing to Colonel Younghusband, the political head of the mission, not to proceed to Lhasa, and declare that the Dalai Lama might die of shock if the "sacred city" were entered by the mission. Colonel Younghusband, however, insists that the treaty between Great Britain and Tibet must be signed at Lhasa. He promises that the British troops will not enter the monasteries in the capital unless they are attacked from them. (Age, August 8, 1904) The following is shortened. ENGLAND AND TIBET. FEELING IN EUROPE. LONDON, 9th August. The arrival of the British expeditionary force under Brigadier-General Macdonald at Lhasa, the sacred city of Tibet, has caused much sensation in Europe. The Berlin "Fremdenblatt" declares that Tibet is now withing the "sphere of British influence," though the loose bond between Tibet and China, as the suzerain power, will prevent the actual supremacy of Britain… RUSSIA’S SECRET ENVOY. The Russian secret agent in Tibet, Dorijeff, who was appointed by the Dalai Lama Master of the Horse and Treasurer, is no longer in Lhasa. The British mission inder Colonel Younghusband has ascertained the Dorijeff left Lhasa in May last and went to Siberia. (Age, August 10, 1904) The following is shortened. BRITISH AT LHASA. THE TREATY NEGOTIATIONS. LONDON, 11th August. … The sacred city of Lhasa, about which so much curiosity has been felt throughout the world, proves to be a dirty and insanitary town. The streets themselves serve as drainage channels, and are infected by numbers of vagrant dogs. (Age, August 12, 1904) FANATICISM AT LHASA. A LAMA RUNS AMOK. LONDON, 26th August. Reports from Lhasa state that the fierce attack upon Captains Young and Kelly, of the British military mission, was made by a lama, or Buddhist priest, of herculean proportions. Armed with a sword, the lama set upon the two officers in the outskirts of the British camp, and severely wounded both of them. The fanatical priest then seized a sentry’s rifle and rushed into the camp, in which he ran amok. Eventually he was overpowered, and after trial was condemned to death and hanged. A British interpreter has also been found lying seriously wounded near the camp. It is believed that these are isolated cases of fanaticism by certain irreconcilables, but as a precautionary measure all the monks are confined for the present to their own quarters. (Age, August 29, 1904) Events elsewhere: # UNREST IN SAMOA. NATIVE REQUESTS REFUSED. DISLOYAL WHITES AT WORK. AUCKLAND, Monday. News from Samoa states that the white residents of Apia are uneasy about a letter sent by the Fairpul natives of Muwinuu, and report that they intended to enforce their demands for arms if necessary. The Governor, Dr. Solf, states that the Fairpuls requested a royal salute for Mataafa and uniforms for all officials, while they also required the production of quarterly balance sheets, and insisted that the accounts should be countersigned by Alii Sili before becoming valid. Dr. Solf added that he had received similar letters since the hoisting of the German flag, but had refused nearly all the requests made in the present letter. The Fairpuls had already sent a letter of apology, and he (Dr. Solf) had given them a strong lesson in plain language. As Mataafa had nothing to do with the matter, Dr. Solf does not foresee any serious trouble from the letter, the origin of which he attributes to disloyal whites. (Age, July 5, 1904) # THE BALKANS TROUBLE. BULGARIA MENACING. LONDON, 5th July. The situation in the Balkans in respect to Bulgaria and Turkey, which is causing considerable anxiety in Vienna, is becoming more menacing. Colonel Savoff, the Bulgarian Minister for War, has just countermanded the temporary discharge of 15,000 Bulgarian army recruits, who were to have been permitted to return to their homes in order to help in the approaching harvest. In issuing this countermand, Colonel Savoff delivered a speech on the necessity of maintaining an efficient Bulgarian army, and added that early and serious work might perhaps be required from it. This speech is interpreted at Vienna to mean that Bulgaria is watching developments in the Far East, with the view of intervening in the affairs of Macedonia. TURKISH PREPARATIONS. Meanwhile, the Turkish Government, which is quite alive to the menace to peace which Bulgaria’s attitude affords, is summoning 25,000 Anatolian troops from Asia Minor — ostensibly to replace discontented redifs (militia) in Macedonia. (Age, July 6, 1904) # THE CONGO CANNIBALS. A SWISS OFFICER EATEN. LONDON, 5th July. Captain Rauss, a Swiss officer employed in the Congo Free State, has, with 15 Congo native soldiers under his command, been killed by the Budja tribe, which is in revolt, on the Mongalla River, a northern tributary, which joins the Congo at Mobeka. The Budjas not only killed, but ate, Captain Rauss. The Congo authorities have sent 200 troops to the district to suppress the revolt and punish the cannibals. (Age, July 6, 1904) REBELLION IN THE CONGO. LONDON, 18th August. A recurrence of trouble has taken place in the Congo Free State, owing to the oppressive measures adopted by the authorities. In consequence of the ill-treatment to which they have been subjected, the natives in the Mongalla River district, in the north-west, have openly rebelled. Troops have been despatched to subdue the rising. (Age, August 20, 1904) # BELGIAN CONGO CRUELTIES. LONDON, 21st August. The Rev. Dugald Campbell, a Central African missionary, has forwarded to the Aborigines’ Protection Society in London a report on the inhuman treatment of the natives by the Belgians in the Congo Free State. Mr. Campbell’s report deals principally with the ivory trade districts of Katanga, which are remote from the districts visited by Mr. Casement, the British consul, who reported last year on the Belgian atrocities in the rubber trade country. Mr. Campbell states that terrible cruelties and most execrable oppression characterise the treatment of the Congo aborigines by the Belgian authorities of the State. (Age, August 23, 1904) # DUTCH-ACHIN WAR. WOMEN AND CHILDREN SLAUGHTERED. FEARFUL BUTCHERY. LONDON, 6th July. The commander of a Dutch expedition to the north of Achin, in the island of Sumatra, against the natives of which the Dutch have waged war for the past 20 years, has reported by telegram to Holland two successes he has gained. He attacked first a place called Likat, and killed 432 of the "enemy," of whom 124 were women and 88 were children. In addition 54 of the enemy were wounded, and 17 were taken prisoners. The Dutch casualties were commanding officer and 15 men wounded. The Dutch troops next attacked the Langatbars village, where they killed 654 of the "enemy," of whom 186 were women and 130 were children. Forty-nine of the natives were wounded, and 28 were captured. The Dutch had three men and six coolies wounded. (Age, July 7, 1904) Chronicle note: in the following item, newspaper magnate William Hearst was the man upon whom Orson Welles and his scriptwriter based the character of Charles Foster Kane, in the famous film, Citizen Kane, produced in 1941. # AMERICAN PRESIDENCY. BRYAN IGNORED BY DEMOCRATS. LONDON, 8th July. The National Democratic Convention now sitting at St. Louis has not finally decided who shall be the party candidate at the forthcoming Presidential election, but at the same time the convention ignores the claims of Mr. W.J. Bryan, the defeated Democratic candidate at the elections of 1896 and 1900.It is considered likely that Chief Justice Parker, of the Supreme Court of New York, will be nominated by a large majority of the convention, and that Mr. William Hearst, newspaper proprietor, who has been spending money most lavishly in his canvass, will have only a small following. (Age, July 9, 1904) The following is shortened. # # ROOSEVELT’S NOMINATION. AN UNPARALLELED DEMONSTRATION. PROTECTION THE LEADING PARTY CRY. AMERICAN POLITICAL ORATORY. (FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.) SAN FRANCISCO, 7th July. Of course it was at no time doubted that the Republican Nominating Convention, which met at Chicago in the last days of last month, would nominate Theodore Roosevelt for President. No other candidate was even hinted at, let alone mentioned… Only once before in its 50 years’ history has the Republican Party united upon its standard bearer with such complete unanimity; that was upon the occasion of Abraham Lincoln’s second nomination… In one respect Roosevelt’s nomination is absolutely without parallel. Never before has a Vice-President who has succeeded to the Presidency owing to the death of the incumbent been honored with the nomination for President at the succeeding convention… By the clock, the convention cheered for 23 minutes when ex-Governor Black, of New York, nominated Roosevelt. Such a riot of tumultuous enthusiasm was never before seen at a nominating convention. The great assemblage of 10,000 people, covering a floor space of six acres, simply went mad, and the air was rent by one continuous shout… Whenever the roar showed a sign of spending itself something was done to give it renewed impetus. An immense crayon bust portrait of President Roosevelt, brought to the stage by three men, was the first action of this kind. Then the front of the stage was given over to a young man with a flag and a megaphone, through which he shouted, "Roosevelt! Roosevelt!" the whole assemblage shouting with him in measured unison… Children, with waving flags, were hoisted shoulder high and carried round the hall. But if the demonstration cannot be regarded as entirely spontaneous, it was a sufficiently extraordinary spectacle. A 23-minute cheer! … (Age, August 3, 1904) The following is shortened. It relates to the chief political leader of the Boers at the outbreak and into the second year of the 1899-1902 South African Boer War against England. # DEATH OF PAUL KRUGER. LONDON, 14th July, 10.15 a.m. Stephen Johannus Paul Kruger, ex-President of the Transvaal republic, died yesterday at Mentone, in the south of France, whither he went last January from Holland, where he had been living in exile since 1900, to recuperate his health. Mr. Kruger was in the 79th year of his age… The life of Paul Kruger is practically the history of Dutch South Africa for the last half of the 19th century… at the age of ten years he participated with his parents in the "great trek" across the Orange, by which the Dutch Cape Colonists practically demonstrated their disgust at British emancipation of the black, and their determination to seek a country where every white man was "free to wallop his own nigger." … The death of the ex-President may perhaps have the effect of bringing about a revelation which the British Government has for three years past striven in vain to learn — namely, what became of the commandeered mine gold which Mr. Kruger took with him to Europe. Mr. Chamberlain urged De la Rey, De Wet and Botha to discover what had become of it, but in vain. Dr. Leyds certainly could tell, but was as certain not to do so… It has fallen to the lot of few men to figure so largely in the eyes of the world as did the late President of the Transvaal Republic. When he threw down the gauntlet to the British Empire [after an almost-bankrupted Transvaal was annexed by the British, according to The Age — Chron. ed.] he said he would astonish Christendom, and certainly the Boers, if they did not altogether fulfill the President’s prediction, surprised the world by their dogged persistency, Mr. Kruger made a bold bid for South Africa dominion, and although he failed, and was in many ways opposed to the genius of modern civilisation, we can accord him the tribute which could only be won by the exercise of some, at least, of those qualities which must always appeal to an independent and militant people. (Age, July 15, 1904) FRANCE AND THE POPE. BISHOPS SUMMONED TO ROME. LONDON, 1st August. Pope Pius X has further emphasised his refusal to withdraw the order for the resignation of seven French bishops who have signified their submission to the recently passed legislation against teaching by members of religious congregations. His Holiness has notified the French Government — which has withdrawn its embassy from the Vatican and presented the Papal nuncio at Paris with his passport — that he declines to be bound by the organic articles which the Emperor Napoleon, without consulting the church, promulgated in connection with the Concordat. (Age, August 2, 1904) THE SOMALI TROUBLE. LONDON, 15th August. The British Government has decided on a new method of dealing with the evasive Mollah of Somaliland by furnishing the friendly tribes with arms and ammunition wherewith to fight him. A limited number of rifles and cartridges are being issued to friendly Somali tribes for levies commanded and selected by head men, who will be under the close supervision of the British officers at Berbera, the British Somali port on the Gulf of Aden. (Age, August 17, 1904) # VENEZUELA AGAIN! LONDON, 17th August. President Castro, of Venezuela, is now attempting to avenge himself for last year’s blockade of the coast and the compulsion brought to bear in connection with the foreign debts of the country, by blackmailing foreign companies trading in Venezuela. He has seized the Asphalt Lake Guanolo railway, owned by foreigners, and worth £2 million. The New York-Bermudez Company, whose property was lately seized in pursuance of an order by the Caracas High Court, a receiver being placed in charge, has invoked the protection of the British and American Governments. [The New York-Bermudez Company is registered in America, but £1 million worth of its bonds are held in England. H.M.S. Tribune, second class cruiser of the West India squadron, is now on her way to La Guayra to protect the interests of British residents in Venezuela.] (Age, August 19, 1904) |
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