BERING SEA AWARD

1893

were the Duke of Veragua, an indirect descendant of Christopher Columbus, and Princess Eulalie of Spain.

The long-disputed points between Great Britain and the United States in regard to the Bering Sea fisheries were settled by the tribunal which sat in Paris. Arguments on both sides were made by Sir Charles Russell, James C. Carter, Frederic R. Coudert, and Edward J. Phelps. On the broad questions of international law the decision was in favor of Great Britain, while the practical regulations for the protection of the fur seal were found to be in accordance with the demands of the United States. In November negotiations were opened for the settlement of the claims of British sealers seized by American warships before the modus vivendi of 1891. The indemnity claimed by Canada was not to exceed a half-million dollars. A close season for seals was to be maintained for three months every midsummer, and a protected zone was established for sixty miles around the Pribylov Islands.

On June 22, while the British squadron was practising evolutions in the Mediterranean, a disastrous collision occurred, in which the flagship "Victoria" was sunk. With the ship sinking beneath them the crew were ordered to jump. Ten minutes after the collision the flagship went down. Of her crew of 659, less than one-half were picked up alive. A court-martial which sat at Malta found Sir George Tryon, the drowned Vice-Admiral, to blame for the collision.

Guy de Maupassant, the famous French novelist, died on July 7, at Paris, after suffering for some years from an incurable mental disease. Maupassant had the rare distinction of "having studied to write." For some years he was a pupil of Flaubert. De Maupassant soon was foremost in France as leader of the modern school of the naturalists.

On August 7 the Fifty-third Congress opened its extraordinary session on the call of the President, for repealing the

ich declared for the continued coinage of r. A notable struggle ensued. On October Treasury's statement showed that the gold ased to $81,700,000, the lowest point yet ober 30, at last, the Voorhees bill was subilson bill and was passed by the Senate. On bill as amended by the Senate passed the sident immediately signed the bill.

ays of August a destructive storm passed the Carolinas. In Savannah and Charlesngs, harbor works, and entire streets were re than 500 lives were lost, while 20,000 dered homeless. Property to the value of destroyed.

trous cyclone followed by a tidal wave of de, passed over the Gulf of Mexico the secer. The coast of Louisiana, and especially the centre of the chief disasters. Upward e lost, while the value of property destroyed 00,000.

e Court of Appeals pronounced judgment directors of the Panama Company accused ing funds. Of the 1,500,000,000 francs ad 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.

Leaders are Imprisoned for Contempt of Co tion of Federal Court-President Recognizes New York Legislature Authorizes Organiza York-Wilson Tariff Bill as Amended by S moan Rebellion against King Malietoa is Sup German Warships-Central American Repul Federate-Brazilian Insurgents Abandon Blo render-Bubonic Plague at Hong Kong-B African Slave-Trading Chief, at Lake Nyassa Chief, is Killed-Kaffirs Revolt against Boers Over Administration of Central Africa t Japan War Over Influence in Korea-Japane nese Squadron in Prince Jerome Gulf-Jap They Rout Chinese at Ping-Yang-Great Fi at Mouth of Yalu-The Routed Chinese Al nese Win Battle of Hushan-They Storm_Po Chinese at Kungwasai-China Appoints Pea

O

N January 1 Heinrich Hertz of Bonn died at the early age of t was one of the most brilliant o investigators, chiefly of electrical pheno ment, Hertz proved that the waves of el versal, like those of light. He ascertai electricity, and found it to be equal to th

In the afternoon of June 24 Sadi Ca of France, was mortally stabbed during as he was driving from the Palais de Co gala performance at the Grand Théâtre. an Italian by the name of Cesario San Lyons, mob demonstrations were made a The President's body reached Paris on