1893 CYCLONES IN SOUTHERN STATES Sherman Silver Purchasing Act. On August 11 William L. Wilson of West Virginia introduced the Administration's bill for this purpose. Richard P. Bland of Missouri moved as its substitute a bill for the free coinage of silver. The debate continued for three months. The Finance Committee of the Senate, on August 18, reported a bill favoring the unconditional repeal of the Sherman law. All amendments were defeated finally, and the bill was passed. On August 29 the Finance Committee of the Senate reported the House repeal bill with an amendment, substituting the Voorhees bill, which declared for the continued coinage of both gold and silver. A notable struggle ensued. On October 21 the American Treasury's statement showed that the gold reserve had decreased to $81,700,000, the lowest point yet reached. On October 30, at last, the Voorhees bill was substituted for the Wilson bill and was passed by the Senate. On November 1 the bill as amended by the Senate passed the House. The President immediately signed the bill. In the last days of August a destructive storm passed over Georgia and the Carolinas. In Savannah and Charleston, public buildings, harbor works, and entire streets were swept away. More than 500 lives were lost, while 20,000 persons were rendered homeless. Property to the value of $10,000,000 was destroyed. Another disastrous cyclone followed by a tidal wave of unusual magnitude, passed over the Gulf of Mexico the second day of October. The coast of Louisiana, and especially Mobile Bay, was the centre of the chief disasters. Upward of 1,200 lives were lost, while the value of property destroyed amounted to $5,000,000. In France the Court of Appeals pronounced judgmentin the case of the directors of the Panama Company accused of misappropriating funds. Of the 1,500,000,000 francs which investors had been persuaded to put into the scheme it DEATH OF GOUNOD 1893 was found that more than half had been stolen or used in bribing public men. Ferdinand and Charles de Lesseps were condemned to five years in prison and to pay a fine of 3,000 francs each. Eiffel, Cottu, and Fontaine were sentenced to imprisonment for two years as well as to pay heavy fines. The sentence passed upon Ferdinand de Lesseps, the aged promoter of the Suez Canal, was not carried into effect, nor was the old man in a condition to realize the gravity of the charges brought against him. The scandal shook the Republic to its foundations. A state event was the death of Marshal MacMahon, Duc de Magenta, and ex-President of France. When he was entombed at the Invalides, representatives from all the crowned heads of Europe attended. Even the German Emperor sent a wreath. MacMahon's death was followed by that of Charles François Gounod, the composer. He received a state funeral at the Madeleine. He was born on June 17, 1818, in Paris, the son of a painter. He won the Prix de Rome three times in succession by his cantatas "Marie Stuart," "Rizzio," and "Fernand." In 1859 Gounod brought out his masterpiece, "Faust." The success of "Faust" was revived with "Romeo and Juliet" in the season of 1867. During the Franco-Prussian war, Gounod went to England, where he devoted himself mainly to sacred composition. His "Redemption" and "Mors et Vita," composed at Birmingham, have become standard works. Another great composer was lost to the world by the death by cholera, on November 6, of Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky, the most original of Russian composers during the nineteenth century. His compositions were full of the strange emotional changes of mood characteristic of the Slavic race-now wild and fiery, now darkly despondent, now infinitely tender. Since the previous year the ravages of the cholera in Russia had continued. The first serious outbreak of the year 1893 THE MATABELE WAR occurred at Mecca, Arabia, in June, among the Mohammedan pilgrims gathered there. The mortality rose from 400 to 1,000 a day. The returning pilgrims carried the disease to all the Mohammedan countries of the world. In July the epidemic traveled up the Danube River into Hungary. Sporadic cases appeared in the south of France and Italy. As late as September, an increased mortality from cholera was reported from Sicily, northern Spain, and Hamburg. In the Russian provinces the pest raged until late in the year. Hostilities were again resumed in South Africa. On October 29 the Matabeles under Lobengula attacked two columns of the British South Africa Company, but were driven off with great loss. They repeated the attack near Buluwayo, their chief kraal, but were again defeated. Buluwayo was occupied the following day and the royal kraals destroyed. At Barcelona, during a performance of "William Tell” at the Teatro Siceo, two bombs were thrown from the upper gallery into the stalls. One exploded and killed twenty-three persons. The theatre was wrecked, and in the panic which ensued more lives were lost. Many suspects were arrested. In America the so-called Cherokee Strip, covering over 9,000 square miles, recently ceded by the Indians, was opened in the middle of December. One hundred thousand people rushed to secure the 6,000,000 acres of land. Besides James G. Blaine, America during this year lost a number of her foremost men by death. Among these were Generals Benjamin Butler and Beauregard, two conspicuous soldiers of the American Civil War; the two distinguished. actors Edwin Booth and Murdoch; Lamar, the jurist, lately on the bench of the United States Supreme Court; Lucy Stone Blackwell, the woman-suffragist; Leland Stanford, the philanthropist; Phillips Brooks, the great New England divine; and Francis Parkman, the historian. EVENTS OF 1894 Death of Hertz, Physicist-Assassination of President Carnot-CasimirPérier is Elected President-Captain Dreyfus is Sentenced to Per petual Imprisonment for Selling French Military Secrets-Death of Ferdinand de Lesseps, Canal Builder-Death of Alexander IIINicholas II Succeeds Him-Deaths of Rubinstein, the Composer, Stevenson, the Author, and Holmes, the Poet-Dr. Roux Announces Serum Cure for Lockjaw and Diphtheria-Strike of Pullman Car and Western Railway Employees-President Cleveland Declares Martial Law in Chicago and Ends Strike Debs and Other_Strike: Leaders are Imprisoned for Contempt of Court in Defying Injunction of Federal Court-President Recognizes Republic of HawaiiNew York Legislature Authorizes Organization of Greater New York Wilson Tariff Bill as Amended by Senate is Adopted-Samoan Rebellion against King Malietoa is Suppressed by British and German Warships-Central American Republics, Save Costa Rica, Federate Brazilian Insurgents Abandon Blockade of Rio and Sur render-Bubonic Plague at Hong Kong-British Beat Mahanjua, African Slave-Trading Chief, at Lake Nyassa-Lobengula, Matabele Chief, is Killed-Kafirs Revolt against Boers-Great Britain Turns Over Administration of Central Africa to Rhodes -China and Japan War Over Influence in Korea-Japanese Warships Rout Chinese Squadron in Prince Jerome Gulf Japanese Capture Asan They Rout Chinese at Ping-Yang-Great Fight of Ironclad Fleets at Mouth of Yalu-The Routed Chinese Abandon the Sea-Japa nese Win Battle of Hushan-They Storm Port Arthur-They Rout Chinese at Kungwasai-China Appoints Peace Commissioners. O N January 1 Heinrich Hertz of the University of was one of the most brilliant of modern physical investigators, chiefly of electrical phenomena. By experiment, Hertz proved that the waves of electricity are transversal, like those of light. He ascertained the velocity of electricity, and found it to be equal to that of light. In the afternoon of June 24 Sadi Carnot, the President of France, was mortally stabbed during his visit to Lyons, as he was driving from the Palais de Commerce to attend a gala performance at the Grand Théâtre. The assassin was an Italian by the name of Cesario Santo. At Paris and Lyons, mob demonstrations were made against the Italians. The President's body reached Paris on the 26th, and was 1894 CAPTAIN DREYFUS IS SENTENCED conveyed to the Elysée. On the next day Casimir-Périer was elected President of the French Republic by the Congress of the Chambers at Versailles. Later President Carnot's assassin was sentenced to death at Lyons. From May to July 3,500 anarchists were arrested in Italy, at Berlin, and in Marseilles for suspected plots. About the same time, Captain Dreyfus, a French officer, after a protracted trial by court-martial with closed doors, was found guilty of having procured, for a foreign power, documents connected with the national defense. He was sentenced to military degradation and perpetual imprisonment beyond the seas. Other events were the death of the Comte de Paris at Stowe House near Buckingham on the 8th of September, and the death of Ferdinand de Lesseps. Vicomte Ferdinand de Lesseps was born November 19, 1809, the son of a French diplomat. In 1841, he conceived the idea of the Suez Canal, and interested a sufficient number of French capitalists in the project to commence operations in 1859. The Suez Canal was formally opened in 1869, and honors were poured on De Lesseps upon his return to France. He became involved in the Panama Canal project. The original estimate of cost was $120,000,000. Operations were begun in 1881. The hardships of the tropical climate debilitated the laborers, and in December, 1888, the company suspended payment. Now the sea-level project was abandoned and Eiffel undertook to finish the canal by means of eight locks. Reckless financiering brought about the finan cial crash which put a stop to all work. In 1893 De Lesseps was prosecuted in the courts for breach of trust and misuse of funds, but his sentence was never executed. De Lesseps died on the 7th of December, at La Chesnaye, after a lingering illness. On the 1st of November Czar Alexander III died at Livadia, in the Crimea. After Alexander's funeral the wed |