The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls | Page 3

the Government promises to submit proposals for the regulation of matters between the two countries, which shall go into force when the contract expires in December, 1898.
As soon as this bill had been read, Francis Kossuth (who, as we told you, is the son of the great Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth) asked leave to make suggestions in regard to the bill.
It being late, the house adjourned, after granting him permission to speak on the following day.
Everybody was eager to know what Kossuth would do. His love for his country and his desire to see her free were so well known that it was supposed that he had some plan to secure his hoped-for project.
As was expected, he made a strong plea that Hungary should declare her freedom.
Having pointed out to the members that the present was a golden opportunity in which to throw off the Austrian yoke, he ended his speech by asking that Baron Banffy's bill be referred to a committee.
Those who understand parliamentary procedure will see that this was a very clever move. Kossuth hoped thus to delay the final discussion of the bill until after the date of the treaty had expired, and then Hungary would once more have her freedom.
In getting the matter referred to a committee, he was submitting it to all the delays that attend parliamentary work. It would be placed in the hands of men who would be obliged to discuss it thoroughly before they could report it, and it would be unlikely that it could be returned to parliament before the beginning of January, when it would be too late to be of any use.
What the result of this clever move was, we have not yet heard.
It is thought by many people that the fall of the Austrian Empire is at hand.
Some fear that the German element may appeal to Emperor William of Germany, and that a war in which Germany, Austria, and Russia will be concerned may be the upshot of the present troubles.
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Germany has a good deal on her hands at this moment.
In regard to Haiti, the case of young Lueders seems to be more complicated than it at first appeared.
By the laws of Haiti he is a Haitian, having been born on Haitian soil of a native mother; but he was educated in Germany, and served his time in the German army, so he has voluntarily assumed the duties of German citizenship.
This makes the case hard to handle.
Haiti has a perfect right to insist that he is a citizen, and must be treated according to her laws, but Germany has also some right to say that he is a German citizen, and shall not be abused by a foreign country. Were Haiti a more powerful country than she is, there is little doubt that she would take a stand and insist on her rights, but as it is, she does not dare to resist a strong power like Germany.
There was, as we told you, a report current that Germany did not intend to send any ship to Haiti, but that the matter would be settled by arbitration.
Three days after the announcement, two German cruisers entered the harbor of Port-au-Prince, and sent in an ultimatum, which is a government's final decision on a given subject.
The Haitian Government was informed that unless Germany's demands were submitted to within eight hours, the town would be bombarded.
Germany had said that two of her schoolships would visit the West Indies during the winter, and the two vessels which arrived at Port-au-Prince are believed to have been the two in question. They were, however, so fully equipped, and presented such a formidable appearance, that they were quite sufficient to seriously alarm the Haitians.
Word had been sent a few days previously that two German vessels were making all haste to Port-au-Prince, but thinking them the coming schoolships, the Haitians felt no fear. They determined to resist these German schoolboys to the last, and armed themselves to fight their foe.
When the German vessels finally made their appearance, and the Haitians saw for themselves that these so-called schoolships seemed to have just as many seamen and murderous-looking guns as the ordinary man-of-war, their courage oozed out at their finger-tips.
Before the ships came in sight, they had paraded the city, crying "Down with the Government!" in their fear that President Simon Sam might submit.
Now, in face of the two cruisers, affairs took on a new complexion, and when they heard that the town would be bombarded if Germany's demands were not acceeded to within eight hours, the natives' only fear was that the President would not submit.
The foreign residents did not feel any more cheerful than the Haitians.
The members of the French colony took refuge on the French ships in the harbor; the Germans hurried