Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/437

 1899.] CHEONICLE. 13

28. The Republic of Uruguay, after a period of twelve months, re- sumed constitutional government, and elected Senor Cuestas president.

— The Italian Minister at Pekin presented to the Tsung-li-Yamen a demand for the lease of Sammun Bay on the coast of Chekiang as a coaling station and naval base.

— The Dominion liner Labrador, from Halifax, N.S., to Liverpool, ran on the Mackenzie Rock, Hebrides, in a dense fog, and was totally lost. All the passengers and crew were saved by the German ship Viking,

MAECH.

1. The election for Hythe, consequent on the resignation of Sir J. Bevan Edwards (C), resulted in the return of Sir E. A. Sassoon (C.) by 2,425 votes against 1,898 polled by Sir J. Hart (L.).

— The French Senate after three days' debate finally passed by 158 to 131 votes the bill for remitting the Dreyfus case to the entire Court of Cassation.

— On the eve of his eighty-ninth birthday, the Pope successfully operated on without chloroform for the removal of tumour in the hip.

— The Governor of Ceylon cut the first sod of a new graving dock at Colombo, destined to be the largest between Malta and Hong-Kong.

— The Spanish Government resigned in consequence of having obtained a majority of only two in the Senate on the Peace Treaty Bill.

2. The French Government announced its intention of proceeding against the various leagues recently established with a view to their suppression.

— The students of St. Petersburg University and high schools, numbering 6,000, " struck," as a protest against arbitrary ill-treatment by the police, and the policy of the new Minister of Public Instruction.

— The New South Wales Legislative Assembly passed the Federal Bill without amendment, and amid cheers.

3. The Criminal Chamber of the Paris Court of Cassation decided that the charge of forgery brought against Colonel Picquart should be tried by a civil court, and only the minor charges against discipline by a military court.

— M. Faillieres elected President of the French Senate by 151 votes against 85 given to M. Constans, and 15 to M. Chauveau.

— The Tsung-li-Yam£n returned to the Italian Minister his applica- tion for a naval station, and declined to receive it, although supported by Great Britain.

— It was announced that Lord Penzance, Judge of the Court of Arches, had placed his resignation in the hands of the archbishops.

4. Senor Si 1 vela formed a Cabinet composed of Conservatives and Ul tramontanes, and the sittings of the Cortes were forthwith suspended.