As we have told you before, Germany is quite friendly with the South African Republic, so much so that, at the time of the raid, the Emperor of Germany very much displeased the English people by sending President Krüger a telegram congratulating him on his victory over the raiders.
It is said that neither the English nor the Boer-German offer for Delagoa Bay has as yet been accepted by Portugal.
The news from India is of a very serious character.
We told you some months ago how the trees in Bengal province had been marked, and how the European residents in India feared that it might be the signal for another mutiny.
It would almost seem that their fears were well grounded.
On the clay of the Jubilee celebration in India the natives killed Government officers in various parts of the country, and assumed a hostile and impudent attitude toward Europeans generally.
Last week a riot broke out in one of the suburbs of the city of Calcutta, and for more than forty-eight hours the mob held the town.
The trouble arose over a mosque or Mohammedan temple.
It is contrary to the rules of their religion to allow mosques to be built on ground that belongs to unbelievers, but of late the Moslems have been seizing on buildings owned by Europeans and Hindoos, converting them into mosques, and then refusing to pay rent for them.
This practice has annoyed the land-owners very much, and at last one owner, a Hindoo, determined to put an end to the nuisance.
The Mohammedans had seized a mud hut which he owned, and as usual they refused to pay rent for it. The Hindoo appealed to the British Government, and under its protection sent workmen over and had the hut demolished.
The hut had been converted into a mosque, and they regarded its destruction as a wicked act.
They rose against the Europeans under whose authority this had been done, attacked them, and the soldiers had to be called out to quell the disturbance.
The riots lasted for two days. At the end of that time it was reported that to pacify the mob the authorities had given them possession of the land on which the mosque had stood.
The European residents were very angry when this news reached them. They feared that it would make the people still more unruly, as they would be sure to think the authorities were afraid of them if they gave in to their demands.