The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 2, No. 10, March 10, 1898 | Page 9

exiled from his country, as all the pretenders to the French throne have been in recent years, forced his way into Paris and demanded that he be given the right to join the army. This was a very youthful and theatrical attempt to excite the enthusiasm of the French people. It failed, however, for the republican Government succeeded in placing the Duke in a rather ridiculous position. He was kept in prison for a few months, and then quietly released.
The Bonapartist party has for leader Prince Napoleon Victor Jerome Bonaparte, grandson of Prince Jerome, youngest brother of Napoleon the First.
Prince Victor has had almost no chance of making himself known to the world, and at the present time his chances of succeeding to the throne of France seem very slight.
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Our Government has been quietly making provision for strengthening our navy and coast defences in case of war.
This fact does not mean that the governmental authorities believe that war is sure to break out. It means simply that they are taking precautions to be prepared for any circumstances which may arise.
The Department of the Navy has been hampered by being obliged to wait for the approval of Congress before it can carry out certain important work. It has, however, lately put two more vessels in commission without the approval of Congress and on its own responsibility. They are the monitor Miantonomoh and the harbor-defence ram Katahdin.
Since the disaster to the Maine, the Government has received a great number of applications for the regular army and for the naval service.
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During the past few months some very rich "finds" have been made in the Klondike, and a great deal of excitement has been created there. The facilities for carrying on the work are now greater than they have previously been, and to this fact is attributed the new discoveries.
If the latest reports are to be credited, the gold region is proving to be as valuable as it was thought to be during the first excitement. Nevertheless, it is only the few who win great profits, while the majority suffer.
The Canadian Government is taking an active interest in the Klondike, and it will probably undertake before long to have surveys made to discover the best route from the interior of Canada to the Yukon, and will also have the Mackenzie-River route improved. Sir Wilfrid Laurier has lately expressed the belief that there are gold regions in the Rocky Mountains yet to be discovered.
Our Government has several questions to settle with Canada, arising out of the conflict of opinion regarding the boundaries between the American and the Canadian Klondike. These are likely to be settled, however, in a perfectly friendly way.
We continue to hear reports of suffering among the miners, and the Government is doing its best to provide relief. The best relief it can provide, however, is to keep out of the gold regions those who are not sufficiently provided with supplies to keep them alive for a long period.
An American correspondent from Dawson City has lately given a gloomy picture of the way affairs are managed in the gold regions. The Canadian Government, he claims, is doing more for the miners than our own authorities. The Canadian mail service, for example, is much better than our own. Throughout the Klondike, governmental discipline seems to be very poor. Most of the money used is United States money, but the store-keepers and the owners of saloons do their best to keep it out of circulation; they naturally find gold more profitable. According to the correspondent, the miners are the men who are making the smallest profits in the gold regions for this very reason, as the store-keepers have their own methods of measuring the gold and estimating its value. No doubt by next summer banks will be established where miners may exchange their gold, at full value, for money.

Progress
Invention and Discovery
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THE NICARAGUA CANAL.
The Nicaragua Canal has been so often referred to lately that it will prove interesting to our readers to know more about this project and what its successful completion will mean to the maritime nations of the world, and especially to the United States.
After Columbus had discovered America and it was known that the Indies had not been reached, but that a new continent barred the way, the early discoverers sought a short route past this continent. Hudson, Baffin, and others sought this route in the North, and others tried every available opening in both North and South America, but of course unsuccessfully, as it was soon known that no such route existed.
It must be remembered that the expeditions sailing to the new continent had no knowledge of it geographically. It is hard to understand now, maps are so familiar to