CONFERENCE IS SITTING,

and after burning a blue light or "flare " to warn her, hurried to her assistance.

As soon as the passengers were safely landed efforts were made to tow the vessel off the rocks, but they proved fruitless, and though they will be renewed, it is feared that the Paris cannot be saved.

The Paris narrowly escaped foundering nine years ago, off the Irish coast. She was one of the auxiliary cruisers in the late war, and as the Yale, did excellent service for us as a despatch boat and scout. She captured the blockade runner Rita off the Porto Rican coast.

There will be a careful enquiry into the cause of the accident. The commander of the Paris, Captain Frederick Watkins, is considered a careful man, and his employers have full confidence in his seamanship. He is conceded by brother captains to be one of the best captains in the North Atlantic service. He is a strictly temperate man, and tea is his favorite bev

erage.

(May 26, 1899)

In the Philippines.-The members of the Filipino Commission, bearing credentials from Aguinaldo, arrived in Manila on May 20. They carried instructions which, if acceded to by General Otis, will empower them to conclude a peace with us. They declared that they want peace, as they find they cannot fight the Americans, who are destroying the country.

If Aguinaldo is merely endeavoring to gain time by these parleyings, he will not succeed in his object, for

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725

the military arrangements are being pushed forward with such energy that San Isidro has been captured without difficulty, and the Filipinos were forced to make a hasty retreat from it.

San Isidro is the third town to which the Filipino government was compelled to remove. The legislature first held its sessions at Malolos, then it decamped to San Fernando, and lastly to San Isidro.

The taking of San Isidro was effected by General Lawton's advance guard under Colonel Summers. General Elwell S. Otis, in sending his despatches in regard to the work, praised Lawton highly for the brilliant campaign he had made.

The Filipino seat of government has now been moved to Tarlac, thirty miles north of San Fernando, and the rebels are said to be tired of fighting and convinced that it will be useless to oppose the Americans longer.

You will be pleased to hear that Colonel Frederick Funston, who did such brilliant work in crossing the Rio Grande and storming the trenches at Calumpit, has been rewarded by being made a brigadier-general.

(May 27, 1899)

Dawson City Burned.-A telegram from Victoria, B. C., states that the main portion of Dawson City was destroyed by fire on April 26. Dawson City is the capital city of the Klondike region, and was its great business center. The fire was caused by a drunken woman upsetting a lamp. It burned with such rapidity that the firemen were helpless, and the conflagration continued to rage until a strip of the

town, three quarters of a mile long and four blocks in width, was completely consumed. One hundred and eleven buildings were destroyed, among them being the bank and some of the most important of the business buildings in the place. The worst feature of the fire was that some stores of provisions were destroyed.

The business of the town is said to be paralyzed, but it is stated that there is no fear of famine, as not one of the warehouses of the Alaska Commercial Company was burned, and there is enough food stored in them to supply the wants of the people until the lakes will be open for navigation, which it is expected will be earlier than usual this year.

Dawson City has had several bad fires before, but this is said to be the worst that has yet visited it.

Strangely enough, every fire that has occurred has been started in the same way, by the overturning of a lamp.

(May 27, 1899)

Dewey's Home-Coming.-Admiral George Dewey sailed from Manila on May 20. As the flagship Olympia, with the Admiral on board, steamed out of the bay, the other American warships fired salutes. The crews cheered their departing leader, and honored him with flags and music.

The Admiral will make his way to Hong Kong first. The Olympia will be docked there and put in proper condition for her long cruise. She will make a somewhat leisurely trip, and is expected to arrive here early in August.

A plan has been started to raise a fund to give the

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Admiral a handsome house in the vicinity of Washington, as a mark of the nation's esteem. The plan appears to be meeting with universal approbation, and the fund is growing.

It is intended that Admiral Dewey shall have a superb reception, and to this end troops are to be invited from all the neighboring States, and the State government will be asked to provide a portion of the funds necessary to carry out the plans in becoming style.

(May 27, 1899)

Queen Victoria's Last Public Appearance.Great interest has been manifested in England over the recent visit of Queen Victoria to London. The reason for this was that Her Majesty had announced that it would be her last public appearance, and that after this her people would not see her any more. The Queen is now a very old lady. She was eighty years of age on the twenty-fourth of May. She has been on the throne sixty-two years, and now begins to feel the burden of age.

This last public appearance, which was made on May 17, was on the occasion of laying the foundation stone of a new Museum building, which is to be called the Victoria and Albert Museum, and will complete the great South Kensington Museum. This exhibition was developed by the energy of the Prince Consort, the husband of Queen Victoria, and was opened by the royal pair in 1857. The Queen has always maintained a strong interest in this work which so interested her beloved husband, and the newspapers