The great war of 189.....

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A FORECAST.

IN the following narrative an attempt is made to forecast the course of events
preliminary and incidental to the Great War which, in the opinion of military
and political experts, will probably occur in the immediate future. The writers,
who are well-known authorities on international politics and strategy, have
striven to derive material for their description of the conflict from the best
sources, to conceive the most probable campaigns and acts of policy, and gener-
ally to give to their work the verisimilitude and actuality of real warfare.



ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF PRINCE FERDINAND
OF BULGARIA.

FULL ACCOUNT OF THE MURDEROUS ASSAULT ; CRITICAL CONDITION
OF THE WOUNDED PRINCE.

(By Telegraph from our Own Correspondent, Mr. .Francis Scudamore.)

CONSTANTINOPLE, Sunday, April 3 (via VARNA).
Noon.

A REPORT has been current here since a late hour last evening,
the effect that an attempt has been made to assassinate Prince
Ferdinand of Bulgaria, at a mining town named Samakoff, about
forty miles south of Sofia. It is said that the Prince, who had
been shooting in the Balabancha Balkans, was driving into
Samakoff towards evening yesterday, when his carriage was
stopped, and he was attacked by a number of men armed with
knives and pistols. The Prince's attendants succeeded in saving
their master's life and in beating off some and capturing others
if tiis assailants, but not before His Highness had been severely
wounded.

Prince Ferdinand was carried into the house of an American
missionary resident in Samakoff, where he now lies. His High-
ness's condition is serious, and is rendered the more critical from
the fact that there is no very adequate surgical aid obtainable in
Samakoff, and it was necessary to telegraph for doctors to Sofia
and Philippopolis.

The greatest excitement reigns in Constantinople since the
receipt of this intelligence, and very grave anxiety is expressed
in diplomatic circles as to the possible consequences of this terrible
misfortune.



EDITORIAL COMMENTS.

IT is impossible to overrate the grave significance of this
attempted assassination at Samakoff, which in the light of our
Correspondent's telegrams would seem to be the prelude to very
serious complications in the East. It is, of course, too early to
estimate its influence upon general European politics, but we are
quite within reason in saying that the dramatic incident may
prove to have endangered the peace of Europe. We have long
familiarised ourselves with the thought that the Great War of
which the world has been in constant dread for some years back,
and which is to re-adjust the balance of the Continent, is much
more likely to break out in the region of the Danube than on the
banks of the Ehine, and the incident at Samakoff may well pre-
cipitate the catastrophe. The situation is most perilous, and it
is to be hoped that strenuous endeavours will be made by the
Powers to chain up the 'dogs of war,' and spare this dying
century, at least, the spectacle of their release. Since the Treaty
of Berlin patched up the last serious disturbance in Europe,
there has been peace; peace, it is true; but a peace subject to
perpetual menace, and weighty matter for the consideration of
statesmen. Europe has lived, as it were, in armed camps, neutral
and watchful; and all the time the nations have prepared against
war as though war were at their doors. The dastardly outrage
at Samakoff comes at a sorry time.

For we repeat our firm conviction, based on long and close
attention to the political motives at- work among the nations, that
it is on the Danube and not on the Ehine that the torch of war
will first be kindled. To a pessimist, indeed, if not to an unbiassed
observer, we may well seem of late to have been drawing nearer
and nearer to a general war. The world has never been afflicted
with more persistent rumours of war. No single day has passed
without bringing us its perturbing crop of tremors and apprehen-
sions about the stability of the European peace. From week to week
the Jewish speculators on all the Bourses of Christendom have
been robbed of their sleep, and, worse still, of their dividends, by
telegrams as to the secret massing of troops on this or that frontier,
and of ruinous uprisings in various subject and down-trodden
countries. Now it is the Black Sea Treaty that is going to be
forcibly robbed of its entire Dardanelles clauses, and again the
Bargain of Berlin is about to be perforated, for the sixth time, by
the sword-point of the Czar. Then the Roumanians wake up to find
the Russians beginning to hem them in on three sides ; while, again,
newspaper readers are horrified by a revelation of the rapacious
passions which some dignify by the title of ' principle of nationality,'
and others denounce as criminal ' lust of land,' that are on the
verge of outbreak at Athens and Sofia, at St. Petersburg, at
Belgrade, at Vienna, at Paris, and even at Rome.

Where is the wisdom of highly-placed men like the German
Emperor and his new Chancellor assuring the world, in addresses
from the throne and after-dinner speeches, that the peace of Europe
was never more assured than at present, and that the political
horizon is without a cloud even of the size of Elijah's ominous and
initial speck of vapour ? What is the truth or the wisdom of such
assurances, when the thorn of Alsace-Lorraine is still sticking in
the flesh of the unforgiving and revengeful French; when Italy
still has some territory 'unredeemed;' when Denmark still harbours

a deep grudge against her truculent despoiler ; when even the peace-
ful Swedes, who are still animated by the spirit of the Great Gusta-
vus, long to free their former subjects, the Finns, from the tyrannical
mastery of the Eussiaiis ; when the Spaniards would gladly profit by
a European complication even if they shrank from the thought of
an audacious coup de main to repossess themselves of Gibraltar ;
when the Portuguese, following suit, would never hesitate to kick
their British rival in Africa, if they deemed him to be down ; when
the Cretans, egged on by the Greeks, are firmly resolved to throw
off the galling yoke of the Turks; when ex-ministers like M.
Tricoupis stump about the Balkan Peninsula, openly preaching
Pan-hellenism and Balkan Federation against the advocates ot
disunited nationalities ; when the Servians secretly vow to settle
up old scores with their Bulgarian vanquishers, and when these
Bulgarian victors themselves, with their Prime Minister more than
their Prince at their head, are sternly determined to be free and
independent alike of Sultan and of Czar; when Austria continues
to cast longing eyes in the direction of Salonica ; and when, above
all things, the Colossus of the North, with his head pillowed on
snow, and his feet swathed in flowers of the sunny South, has
sworn by the soul of his assassinated and sainted father that he
will ever remain true to the intention of his sire in exacting a
solid equivalent of power, prestige, and territorial foothold on the
Balkan Peninsula for all the blood and treasure spent by Russia in
the task of 'liberating' the Bulgarians ; when all these things, all
these slumbering passions and meditated schemes of aggression
and revenge are duly considered, how is it possible for any one, be
he sovereign or subject, to lull the world asleep by false assurances
of peace which is sooner or later doomed to be broken ?

The Triple Alliance will no more succeed in terrorising the
souls of all these secret plotters and designers, and in giving them
pause, than three inter-locked mountain oaks or firs could stay the
downward course of an extended series of separate avalanches, which
rend away with them pines, and oaks, and all, in their resistless
rush. But has the avalanche, which we thus dread, really and' truly
at last begun to move ? We sincerely trust not, but for the present
at least, the omens in the East have an exceedingly ugly and
alarming look, and we shall await the arrival of further telegrams
with the greatest anxiety. The Triple Alliance is not an embank-
ment that can bar the advancing flood of war, but rather a detached
fortress which must itself soon incur the danger of being sur-
rounded and even submerged by the rushing, whirling waters of
European strife. Though the parties to this three-cornered pact
have agreed to place their fire-engines, so to speak, at each other's
disposal in the event of external danger from fire to their respective
domiciles, it is beyond the reach of these Powers to prevent the
outbreak of a conflagration, from accident or arson, among the
rickety, wind-swept, and thatch-roofed mansions of their neigh-
bours ; nor is there any fact better established in connection with
fires than that they are used by thieves and anarchists for the
purpose of sudden plunder and disorder, at once upon the persons
and property of the victims and beholders of such catastrophes.

Let us suppose, for example, that as a consequence of this most
alarming incident at Samakoff, hostilities should ensue between
Eussia and Austria, the former being the aggressor. In that case
Germany in virtue of her published Treaty with the Hapsburg
Monarchy would almost immediately have to take the field.
Now, in such a contingency, is there not a grave danger that
France, seizing the golden opportunity for which she has so long
been waiting, would at once mobilise her army, and march the
greater part of it towards the Rhine ? And is it not certain that
the immediate result of such a revengeful step on her part would
be that Italy, true likewise to her Treaty engagement with
Germany, would make haste to spring upon the flank of the
Eepublic ?

It is not well to forecast evils, but at the same time it is well
to look clearly ahead. We know surely enough the real nature of
the feelings with which the Bulgarians are regarded by their
' Liberators/ just as we are equally cognisant of the true character
of those who profess to be the Sultan's ' friends,' and who, with the
privilege of most intimate amity, have repeatedly helped themselves
to disintegrating slices of his dominions. We need not remind our
readers of th bitterness which still rankles in the breasts of the
Koumanians at the memory of the manner in which they were
'rewarded' for services rendered at the Gravitza Kedoubt and
elsewhere during the war against the Turks ; a bitterness which was
only equalled by the rage of the Eussians when they recognised
the supreme folly of their conduct in forcing Eoumania to accept
the Dobrudja in exchange for Bessarabia, and thus depriving them-
selves of a pied b terre and strategical base of operations south of
the Danube, in the direction of the grand goal of their ultimate
ambition the Golden Horn. It is as much the desire of Eussia
to undo this unfortunate bargain as it is to shake herself free from
the intolerable shackles that restrain her liberty of action in the
Black Sea, and seal up the outlets thereof against her ships of war.
Eussia is only awaiting a proper opportunity for accomplishing
these two other stages in what she deems to be her destiny (and
does not everything come to him who can wait ?) just as she con-
tinues to pursue her anti-English policy in Central Asia with steady,
disdainful, unresisted strides, ever lessening the distance between
her own frontiers and those of India, and thus paving the way for
the execution of her policy of preventing the forces of England
from being thrown into the balance should any complication arise
in the East of Europe. ' And ever,' as Tennyson sang, ' upon the
topmost roof the banner of England blew ; ' but that proud banner
has now, at last, been blown away by Cossack colonels from the
topmost roof of all the ' Eoof of the World ' itself, thus enabling
Eussia to overpeer our very Indian plains, and thence despatch her
Calebs and her Joshuas to spy out this other land of promise.
 
It may be quite true and, indeed, from all we know of the
character of the Czar, we think it is quite true that Alexander in.
has a holy horror of war, into which he is determined not to plunge
his people ; and we have been assured by the greatest master of
modern war, the late Count Moltke, that the period of dynastic
conflicts, or struggles resulting from the personal passions and
petulance of rulers, has come to an end, and been succeeded by
wars between peoples and nations. This is also quite true ; but it
is precisely herein that the greatest danger lurks. For a ruler
as witness the case of the present Czar's own father may prove
too weak to restrain or deflect the set of the popular tide, and be
plunged into a war against his own will. It is also conceivable
that the French Government might find it impossible to resist the
clamours of the Chamber to embrace the first opportunity and
what could be a better one than a general European conflagration ?
for ousting the English from Egypt an object which all good
Frenchmen deeply have at heart. But it is on the Balkan
Peninsula, where there are no rulers or restraining influences to
speak of, that popular passions and aspirations must enjoy most
unbridled sway ; and therefore it is that we look with anxiety for
the further development of this tragic event at Samakoff, which
has already thrown the Balkan countries into a state of wild
excitement, and all Europe into a fit of ever-increasing alarm.

(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Francis Scudamore.)

PHILIPPOPOLIS, April 4.

(Sunday Night} I date this message from Philippopolis,
whence indeed it will be despatched on our arrival there to-
morrow ; but, as a matter of fact, it is written in the sleeping car of
a special train by which I am travelling to Ichtiman en route for
Samakoff, in company with Drs. Patterson, Stekoulis, and Lelongt.
who have been invited by telegraph to meet their Bulgarian col-
leagues in consultation at the bedside of the wounded Prince.
It is to these gentlemen's courtesy that I owe the privilege of my
passage.

I am enabled, by the kindness of my friends at the United
States Legation, which, as is natural in the circumstances, has
received minute information as to the occurrence, to give you a
fuller and more authentic account of the Samakoff tragedy of
yesterday by which Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria so nearly lost
his life, than is likely to have been transmitted as yet, and of
which no doubt garbled first reports have already thrown conster-
nation into every European capital. I have already stated that it
is in the house of an American missionary that Prince Ferdinand
is at present lying. I must now explain that Samakoff, which is
nestled in the heart of a picturesque valley formed by the rough
triangle of the Kilo Dagh, the Kadir Tere, and the De mir Kapou
Dagh at the head of the Balabancha range of Balkans, is not only
one of the wealthiest towns in the principality, thanks to the iron
mines by which it is surrounded, but is also famous and dear to
Bulgarians by reason of the presence there of the American
Mission School, whose principals rendered such devoted and signal
service to the oppressed Christians throughout the terrible time
of the massacres of 1876 and the war of 1877. At that time, when,
as will be remembered, to be a Bulgarian was all- sufficient reason
for being summarily hanged (if a man), or foully outraged (if a
woman), the principal of the school and his courageous wife
snatched many victims from the gallows, and rescued from a
terrible fate, by harbouring in the mission-house, numerous young
girls and children, fugitives from the devastated villages of the
Balkan slopes. And when brighter days dawned for Bulgaria,
and it became a principality, the services of the American Mission
at Samakoff were not forgotten. It became a custom, inaugurated
by Prince Alexander and studiously maintained by his successor,
for the Euler of Bulgaria to visit Samakoff in an informal manner
once or twice a year, for the purpose of inspecting the mission
school and complimenting its directors.

The snows which have held Samakoff isolated from the rest of
the world throughout the past four months, are now just melted,
and thus it chanced that Prince Ferdinand, who for a week past had
been shooting in th.e hills around Philippopolis, decided to pay his
first visit of the year to the missionaries of Samakoff, and had, un-
fortunately as it turns out, announced his intention of so doing.

The Prince, with this purpose in view, left Philippopolis on
Friday evening, passing the night in his sleeping-car, and yester-
day morning started in a caUclie from Ichtiman-i-Vakarel, formerly

the boundary between Bulgaria and the province of Eastern
Roumelia, to drive to the little township in the mountains.

His Highness has usually been accompanied on these visits by
one or other of the ministers, but on this occasion, owing partly,
no doubt, to his hurriedly-formed plans, he had with him only one
of the aides-de-camp who had been of the shooting-party. The
Prince's carriage was preceded by half-a-dozen mounted guards,
and followed by a like number, as an escort. This is a precaution
which Prince Ferdinand's advisers have prevailed with him, much
against his will, to adopt of late, in view of the renewed activity
of Russian agents and sedition-mongers throughout the Principality
and the neighbouring States, where, indeed, a great anti-Bulgarian
and anti-Turkish propaganda has been actively carried on for the
past year ; and in view also of the growing apprehension of his
advisers that the recent success in this city of assassins in Russian
pay, coupled with the immunity from punishment which the
Czar's representatives have shown their ability and readiness to
secure for them, would prompt the conspirators, soon or late, to
fly at higher game than either M. Starnbuloff or the late Dr.
Vulkovitch. That his Highness's advisers were in the right has
been proved by the attempt of yesterday. The event, however,
may be said to offer encouragement at once to would-be regicides
and to their intended victims, inasmuch as it has been shown yet
once again to the former, how useless as a protection against
assassins is the presence of an armed escort, and to the latter, how
apt is a well-matured plot to be frustrated by a commonplace
accident.

The Prince's carriage was expected to reach Samakoff about
noon, and shortly before that hour a considerable number of
persons had collected in the main street, while small crowds had
gathered round the gates of the Prefecture and about the door of
the American Mission-house, which is situated in a side street
leading off the high road, and where the usual modest preparations
had been made for the princely visit.

His Highness, on arrival, after halting for a moment or two at
the gate of the Prefecture where he did not alight, drove on
through the town towards the Mission-house. At the moment
when the carriage turned the comer into the narrower street, a
man wearing the long black gown and brimless stovepipe hat of a
priest of the orthodox church stood forward from the crowd, in
which were several other persons dressed as he was, and, raising a
revolver, took deliberate aim at his Highness. And then occurred
the accident to which, in all probability, Prince Ferdinand owes
his life. The cartridge did not explode. The sham priest lowered
his weapon slightly, raised it once more, and again pulled the
trigger ; but as he did so the pistol barrel was struck up the ball
burying itself in the wall of a house across the street and the
assassin was seized and firmly held by many willing hands.

The whole occurrence had taken but a moment. The Prince,
when he saw the pistol levelled at him, had leapt to his feet, with
the evident intention of thowing himself upon his murderer.
As it was, his Highness's intervention seemed very necessary on
behalf of the baffled assassin, who stood in no small danger of
being lynched incontinently by his furious captors.

The carriage had stopped ; the escort was hastily dismounting,
and the Prince, shouting orders to the people to spare their
prisoner's life, had alighted, and turning, was in the act of throwing
his heavy pelisse to his companion, when sudden as thought a
second ruffian sprang from amid the vociferating mob, hurled
himself upon the Prince, and thrusting a great, broad-bladed Cir-
cassian klianga into his bosom, was away and out of sight almost
before any of the bystanders had recovered from this second shock
of horror and surprise.

the gate of the Prefecture where he did not alight, drove on
through the town towards the Mission-house. At the moment
when the carriage turned the comer into the narrower street, a
man wearing the long black gown and brimless stovepipe hat of a
priest of the orthodox church stood forward from the crowd, in
which were several other persons dressed as he was, and, raising a
revolver, took deliberate aim at his Highness. And then occurred
the accident to which, in all probability, Prince Ferdinand owes
his life. The cartridge did not explode. The sham priest lowered
his weapon slightly, raised it once more, and again pulled the
trigger ; but as he did so the pistol barrel was struck up the ball
burying itself in the wall of a house across the street and the
assassin was seized and firmly held by many willing hands.

The whole occurrence had taken but a moment. The Prince,
when he saw the pistol levelled at him, had leapt to his feet, with
the evident intention of thowing himself upon his murderer.
As it was, his Highness's intervention seemed very necessary on
behalf of the baffled assassin, who stood in no small danger of
being lynched incontinently by his furious captors.


His Highness, who had sunk to the ground under the blow,
though he did not lose consciousness, was at once carried into the
Mission-house, distant a few yards only, and very speedily all the
best medical advice obtainable in Samakoff was at hand, while
telegrams for further assistance were at once despatched to Sofia
and to Philippopolis, the latter place being perhaps more rapidly
accessible than the capital. The first examination of the wound
showed that the broad knife had turned on the point of a rib
very fortunately and had therefore missed, by a hair's-breadtht
the envelope of the heart. It was not till to-day that a persisten,
recurrence of internal haemorrhage aroused the gravest fears of the
Prince's surgeons, and prompted them to appeal to Constantinople
for further advice.

The pretended priest, when searched, was found to be costumed
beneath his robes in the ordinary dress of the petty trader of the
towns here. His long flowing locks proved a wig, and his thick
unkempt beard was also false. Upon him, among other papers
said to be of great importance, but as to which I know nothing,
was found a passport issued by the Eussian Consulate at Odessa
no less recently than last month, and bearing the ms& of the
Eussian Chancellor at Sofia. The passport is made out in the
name of Ivan Bendukdjieff, -and belongs, the fellow avows, to a
man, a stranger to him, who left it with him by mistake a week
ago. But the authorities entertain few doubts as to the scoundrel's

identity with one of the men implicated with Shishmanoft in tlxe
recent murder of Dr. Vulkovitch.

I have said that the news of this dastardly attempt on Prince
Ferdinand's life caused the greatest excitement in Constantinople.
There is indeed no doubt that both the Palace and the Porte are
very seriously alarmed, as, in view of the Sultan's disgraceful action
in the Vu.lkovitch affair, it is only just they should be. It is
significant of his Majesty's state ot mind that, when early this
(Sunday) morning, first the French and then the Eussian Ambas-
sador drove to. the residence of the Grand Vizier, they were unable
to see him, orders having been sent from Yildiz ordering the
Pasha not to receive them. Sir Clare Ford, on the other hand, had
a long interview with the Sultan this morning.
 
PHILIPPOPOLIS, April 4.

When the train steamed into the station here, I learned in the
restaurant, where everyone wns eagerly discussing the events of the
past two days, that the second assassin was captured yesterday
afternoon at Banja, as the result of an order widely circulated by
both telegraph and horse messengers throughout the country,
calling upon all Tchorbadjis, or headmen of villages, to detain any
stranger found within their jurisdiction, and at once communicate
with the nearest central authority. The man has been identified
as one Nicholi Naoum, a very well-known character who, besides
being suspected of participation in the murder, last spring, of M.
Beltcheff, is known to have been acting for the past six months as
a revolutionary agent on the Macedonian frontier. Naoum, who,
as leader of a gang of border brigands, has gained a bloody
notoriety in connection with various dastardly outrages against
society, is believed to have been recently engaged in distributing
arms and ammunition among Macedonian villages, and in inciting
the Macedonians to molest the Bulgarians dwelling among them.
Naoum, when arrested, was found to be provided, like his accomplice,
with a Russian passport executed in regular form. He was immedi-
ately carried back to Samakoff and confronted with Bendukdjieff,
against whom he at once began to rail as a bungler, making no
attempt to exonerate himself, or to deny his share in the tragedy.
In this course, perhaps, he was guided by the knowledge that his
life was already forfeited for many atrocious crimes before he set
his hand against Prince Ferdinand. As a consequence of his last
admission of guilt, a very brief trial was necessary, and the two
wretches were hanged this morning outside the house in which
they had lodged on Friday night in Samakoff.

The Prince is apparently doing well. M. Stambuloff. who,
on receipt of news of the disaster, hurried to his master's bedside,
remained but one hour in Samakoff, during which time, despite

the doctors, the Prince insisted on seeing him, and returned direct
to Sofia. Late on Saturday night, at a meeting attended by most
of the Ministers, hurriedly convened, he was declared Eegent
during the serious illness of the Prince, and for such time as might
be necessary, and the formal proclamation in accordance with this
decision was issued yesterday morning.
Instead of accompanying Dr. Patterson and his colleagues on a,
to me, fruitless expedition to Samakoff, I bid them good-bye at
Ichtiman, where they left the train, and came on here. As might
be expected, I have found this city boiling with tumultuous
emotions, and not only though that were sufficient cause on
account of the outrageous attempt on Prince Ferdinand's life.

It appears that the Cabinet has received news of the greatest
importance from the Macedonian frontier. The assiduous efforts
of Eussian agents, who have been actively engaged for the past six
months or more not only in the provinces itself, but also in the
Greek and Montenegrin borders, in fermenting an anti-Bulgarian
rising, are now on the eve of being crowned with success. Already
reports have reached the capital of disturbances, caused apparently
by raids made across the border at Petrovich and Melnik. That
there is a great shifting of troops at present in progress as a result
of this intelligence, is not denied. It is said, indeed, though I
cannot as yet tell with what truth, that a half division has been
ordered to Petrovich, and another like force to Strumnitza. The
latest rumour here is to the effect that the movement in Macedonia
is as much anti-Turkish as an ti- Bulgarian, and that Turkey is also
despatching a large military force to Salonika. If this report be
true, it is surely an instance of the irony of fate. In this country
it is a matter of common talk that any anti-Bulgarian movement
in Macedonia is mainly due to the attitude of Zuknir Pasha, the
Vali of Salonika, towards the large Bulgarian element of the popu-
lation of the province under his control. This functionary's
persistent ill-treatment of Bulgarians has been very frequently represented to the Porte in notes from this capital as being contrary at
once to the interests of Turkey and of Bulgaria. The Principality, it
has been said, has consistently refused to take side with those who
seek the dismemberment of Turkey, and has claimed a right to expect
that the development of the Bulgarian element in Macedonia would
not be crushed by Pashas who, by their arbitrary actions, paralyse
the intentions of the central government, and prepare the way for
events which had better, in the common interest, be avoided. It
is needless to say these sensible warnings have been altogether
disregarded by the Porte, with the present inevitable result.

It is further rumoured here for the place is full of suspicion
that in view of certain movements of Servian troops, a large
Bulgarian force has been hurriedly thrown forward to strengthen
the troops at Eadomir, Trn, and Zaribrod.
 
SOFIA, April 8.

The latest reports as to Prince Ferdinand are more favourable
than could have been hoped for. The dangerous symptoms have
subsided. Internal haemorrhage has been checked. The Prince
sleeps and takes nourishment, and his pulse and temperature are
satisfactory. Hopes are held out that in a week's time His
Highness may be moved from Samakoff. Meanwhile, during the
past few days, events have marched so rapidly that people here are
prepared for almost any eventuality. There is no longer any
attempt to conceal the movements of Servian troops. Great
numbers of men are already massed at Nisch and Vranja, and at
points on the line of railway between Nisch and Pirot. The main
body of the Servian army has its headquarters at Knuzevatz.
From Belgrade, we learn of the steady despatch of war material
and siege-train to Negotin on the frontier against Widdin, and a
telegram from the same source announces the arrival at Nisch of a
train of the Ked Cross Society, consisting of eighteen carriages
furnished with all the necessary equipment for active service.

News from Constantinople is to the effect that the Porte,
alarmed at the aspect of affairs in Macedonia, has, in addition to
the calling out of the last class of rediffs, decided on the formation
of five new Army Corps. Fresh levies are to be made in order to
form a strong reserve. The transport of rediffs, mainly from Smyrna,
Skanderouu, and the Tripolitaine, is being carried on on a large
scale. Over 27,000 reservists have already passed through Smyrna.
Many of the Austrian Lloyd vessels being engaged in the trans-
port of troops to Salonika to guard the frontier line and to
reinforce the Bitolia garrison, the Seraskierate is negotiating with
some English shipping companies for additional transport. More
than fifty thousand troops are to be employed on the Macedonian
border in a line stretching from Mitrovitza on the north, all
round to Easlok on the south-east. Their chief stations will be
Palanka, with Uskub as base, and Djuma and Neurokoy with
Strumdja as base. No further disturbances are reported from the
frontier.

M. Stambuloff left here last night to inspect the troops on
the frontier. I am, of course, unable to give any information as

to their numbers or disposition, but it may be said that Bulgaria
is well prepared to resist any attack. It is infringing no rule to
say that the Prince's army possesses no fewer than 400 pieces of
ordnance of all calibres. The report that his appointment as
Eegent has met with disapprobation among a large section of the
community here is absolutely without foundation.

A trusted agent of the Government has also left here for
Berlin, for the purpose, it is understood, of raising a loan in that
capital.

SOFIA, April 10.

We are now at war, and fighting is going forward even as I
write. This morning rifle-shots were exchanged between Servian
and Bulgarian patrolling parties on the frontier, near Trn, without
result on either side. A body of some 300 Servians then crossed
the frontier and advanced about a mile, seeking to cut off a party
of fifty Bulgarians, who, however, retreated and escaped. Later
on heavy fighting was reported in the neighbourhood of Vlassina.
How it originated is immaterial. The Bulgarians lost 17 men
killed and 54 wounded. This set fire to the torch all along the
frontier line. Some time before the official declaration of war,
which, though it announced that hostilities would begin at noon
to-day, did not reach the Minister for Foreign Affairs here until
nine o'clock this evening, reports had been posted up in the cafe's
announcing fighting in the vicinity of Planinitza, Beuskedol,
Miloslawtzi, Zelene, and Gard, in the Trn district. The Servian
Minister, who had twice telegraphed to his Government for
instructions during the afternoon, demanded a special train as
soon as he had presented the declaration of war, and left half an
hour later, under escort, for the frontier.

A solemn Te Deum was sung this evening in the Cathedral,
M. Stambuloff and the Ministers being present. The streets are
crowded no one shows any intention of going to bed ; the popular
enthusiasm and confidence are immense, and there is apparently a
general sensation of relief at the relaxation of the strain of the
past few days, and a feeling of satisfaction that the dastardly
attack on the Prince will be promptly avenged. I am, by the
way, authorised to state that, by order of Prince Ferdinand's
physicians, all news of these exciting events is rigidly withheld
from his Highness.

Fresh troops are hourly leaving Sofia and Philippopolis for
the front.

At the moment of closing this despatch, news comes of an
important action near Dragoman, with reported defeat of the
Servians with heavy losses.

SOFIA A April 11.

There is to be no more fighting. The brilliant and most
sanguinary engagement at Dragoman^ which I reported in progress
last night, in the course of which the Bulgarians, who were com-
pletely successful, drove the enemy back from all their positions
on the heights above the pass : an incessant, artillery duel, main-

tained ever since the commencement of hostilities between the
heavy Servian batteries before Negotin and the Bulgarian forces
garrisoning Widelin, and a very successful unopposed advance
along the Vranja road as far as the Morava river by a Bulgarian
force, composed of three brigades from Sofia, from Trn, and from
Badomir, make up all there is to report of the campaign. For
when hostilities were about to be opened this morning near
Kumareno, which was evidently held by a large Servian force, an
officer bearing a white towel, with a pink fringe, tied to a hedge
stake, as a flag of truce, rode out from the Servian lines and
demanded a pourparler. It then transpired that the Servians
found themselves in a terrible quandary, and were at their wits'
end what to do.

Late last night a large Austrian force had, without warning,
crossed the Save into Belgrade, which city they had taken so com-
pletely by surprise that it was not until the morning that the
populace was made aware of the presence of the strangers in their
midst by the sight of the troops bivouacking in the squares, and
the officers quietly breakfasting outside the principal cafes. An
Austrian force, said the parlementaire, had also crossed the Danube
to Semendria, and there were rumours that another force had
crossed the same river at Orsova In these circumstances, with
their capital cut off from them, and their young king and govern-
ment in a manner locked up, the Servian generals considered they
had no alternative but to demand a suspension of hostilities, at
least for forty-eight hours, An armistice was therefore granted,
much to the Bulgarian leaders' annoyance and disgust.

We learn that Austria has notified the Powers that she has
occupied Semendria and Belgrade as a precautionary measure, in
view of the wanton aggression of Servia.
 
It is here considered unlikely that Bulgaria will have any
more trouble from this quarter. On the other hand, however,
grave rumours reach us from Constantinople, where apparently
there is very great anxiety as to certain mysterious and as yet
undefined threats by Bussia. The Turkish capital is, as matters
stand at present, likely to be the chief centre of interest for some
time to come, and I shall therefore return there to-morrow morning.
All through the day long trains of Bulgarian and Servian
wounded have crept one after another into Sofia. It is note-
worthy that a considerable percentage of the sufferers are bright
and lively and make light of their injuries. These are men who
have been struck by the small nickel bullets of the new rifle,
which has been used in pretty equal proportions on both sides.

CONSTANTINOPLE, April 15.

There is no doubt good cause for the grave fears at present
agitating Porte and Palace. By his foolishly near-sighted policy
of pandering to the wishes of whatsoever Power bullies him with
most brutal persistency, at the risk though it be of injuring a
friendly State, the Sultan has, as he is beginning to realise, suc-
ceeded in alienating, for the moment at least, the sympathies of
all his legitimate friends. By his attitude wilfully perverse and
undignified throughout the varying phases of the Vulkovitch
episode, his Majesty has aroused throughout Bulgaria deep distrust
of himself, and fierce indignation against his ministers and his
methods. The inane and futile strivings of the Porte to throw
difficulties in the path of the young Khedive, and to cheat him, if
possible, of rights clearly accorded and amply paid for, have pro-
duced similar sentiments in Egypt and in England. And having,
at the cost of much labour and intrigue, achieved this wholly
unsatisfactory position of being an object of contempt, suspicion,
and obloquy, the Sultan finds himself suddenly but decidedly
thrown over by the very Powers with whom he had sought to
curry favour. The Russian Ambassador is now too thoroughly
pre-occupied with the immediate policy of his own Government to
have any further care to wear gloves in his dealings with the
Porte, and his mood has so affected M. Cambon, the French
Ambassador, that that astute personage, unable to find those sweet
professions and gracious persuasion half unmeaning promise,
half veiled threat with which he has been wont to dorloter the
Ministers at Bab Aali come readily to his tongue, has ceased for
a fortnight past to hold any other than mere chancellerie com-
munication with the Turkish Government.

Let it be said at once that, despite very natural indignation,
Bulgaria shows every disposition to behave well towards the
Suzerain Power. Officially, indeed, her attitude has been in every
way admirable. When the Servians opened hostilities, when they
declared war, when they asked for an armistice in every phase,
in short, of the quarrel, M. Stambuloff apprised, and asked
counsel and aid of, the Sultan. To be sure he got nothing for his
pains, but it must have been a satisfaction to the Sultan to receive
proof that, in one quarter at any rate, he is not regarded as a
European Power of merely sentimental importance.
Fresh alarm was caused here this morning by the discovery
that our telegraphic communication has been interrupted at once
with Odessa and with Batoum. All inquiries as to the cause of
the rupture made by other routes failed to elicit any explanation.
Later in the day a vessel of the Cunard line arrived in the Bos-
phorus, and her captain lias stated that the Eussian harbour-
master at Odessa is detaining all ships, of whatever nationality, in
that port. His own vessel, he says, was the last to leave Odessa,
and only got away by a chance, the order having reached him
when he had already got under way. He states that there were
several Eussian ironclads, and quite a fleet of torpedo boats at
Odessa, all with steam up, and says that when he was on shore
there the day before yesterday the town was full of soldiers, and
the approaches to the dockyards crowded with a constantly -increas-
ing mass of guns, horses, ammunition, and other war material.
CONSTANTINOPLE, April 18.

I have received a telegram from my correspondent in Sofia,
who tells me that the Bulgarian Government understands that the
Russians are preparing an expedition for sea at Odessa, and intend
to occupy some portion of Bulgarian territory. The Princely Govern-
ment has reason to expect the attack will be directed against Varna,
and has called upon the Sultan to aid Bulgarian arms by sending
his fleet to guard the Varna roads. The Sultan has as yet made
no reply to this request, says my correspondent, but it is not
difficult to guess what His Majesty's action will be, inasmuch as
Turkey has no single ship of war in condition to be got to sea
under a month at the least, and it is more than questionable whether
even then any of the ironclads could be completely manned or
provided with serviceable ammunition. There are, indeed, some
torpedo boats unprovided, I understand, with torpedoes and a

couple of the monitors that did some service in the Danube in
the last war. If the Admiralty should elect to place these vessels
at the service of the Bulgarian Government, they might be of some
use as scouts. But that is about all that Turkey can hope to do
for her vassal.

Here there is terrible anxiety lest the Eussian expedition be
directed, not against Varna or Bourgas, but against the Kavaks,
and the Seraskierate is busily taking precautions to meet such a
contingency with all the forces available.

Despite the recent draining of the Stamboul camp by the
despatch of a large force to Salonika, there are still some 45,000
men in and around the capital. These, with the exception of the
Sultan's guard of about 15,000 men, have been distributed along
the chain of forts extending from Eoumelie Kavak to the Golden
Horn. The telegraph is kept busily at work summoning troops
from all parts of the Empire. 15,000 men from the Adrianople
garrison are expected to arrive here to-night.

The Russian Ambassador is said to be ill. He has not left the
Embassy in the Grand Rue de Pera for now almost a week, and
refuses to receive any one. Even his French colleague found the
door closed to him yesterday.
 
CONSTANTINOPLE, April 19.

A Russian force, variously computed at from 50,000 to 70,000
men, occupied Varna this morning. There was some smart resist-
ance, but the comparatively small Bulgarian force was powerless
igainst the heavy metal of the Russian fleet, and after an hour's
lighting was compelled to abandon the position.

Coincident with the receipt of this news is the delivery of a

note by the Kussian Ambassador suddenly restored to health
to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, setting forth that, as a result
of the extraordinary and uncalled-for position taken up by Austria,
the Czar's Government feels the necessity of acquiring a material
guarantee for the maintenance of peace, and will therefore effect
a peaceful occupation of Bourgas and Yarna with that end in view.
MOBILISATION OF GERMAN ARMY CORPS WILD EXCITEMENT
IN BERLIN.

(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Charles Lowe.)

BERLIN, April 21 (8.50 P.M.).

NEVER since the fateful days of July 1870 has so much excite-
ment been caused here as by the news which now seems to be
beyond all doubt that Russia, having received an evasive, or, as
other telegrams put it, a flatly negative reply to her peremptory
demand for the immediate evacuation of Belgrade by the Austrians,
has already begun to move down immense masses of troops towards
her south-western frontier ; and it is even rumoured that a
division of cavalry has suddenly made its appearance near the
border, on the Warsaw-Cracow road, at a place called Xiaswielki.
This is a grave situation, indeed, as alarming as it is sudden. The
Unter den Linden, which is a perfect Babel with the bawling voices
of the newsvendors, i? rapidly tilling with crowds rushing hither,
as to the main channel of intelligence, from all parts of the
city, and the Foreign Office in the AVilhelm-Strasse is besieged by
a huge throng clamouring to hear the truth.

For on this depends the issue of peace or war for Germany.
Let but Russia lay one single finger of aggression on Austria,
and Germany must at once unsheath her sword and spring to
her ally's aid. Pray let there be no mistake as to the terms of the
Austro-German Treaty of 1879, which was published a year or two
ago, for it has often been misinterpreted. Under this instrument
a casus fcederis does not arise for Germany in all and any circum-
stances of a war between Russia and Austria, but only in the event
of the former being the aggressor ; and it looks very much as
though Russia were now seriously bent on taking the offensive.
Does she really mean to do this ? is the question on every one's
lips here, and the excitement of people is equal to their suspense.
It is known that an active correspondence by wire is proceeding
between here and Vienna, but the authorities are very reticent,
and only beg the crowds to keep calm and hope for the best.

9 P.M.

I have just returned from the Schloss, whither the multitude,
which was unable to gratify its curiosity at the Foreign Office, had
surged along to pursue its eager inquiries, but only to find that
the Emperor was closeted with his Chancellor, General Count
von Caprivi, and his Chief of the Staff, Count von Schlieffen. It
was remarked that when both these magnates emerged from their
interview with His Majesty, and drove off at a rapid rate, they
looked very serious and pre-occupied, paying but little heed to the
cheering which greeted their appearance. This only tended to
deepen the apprehension of the vast crowd in front of the Schloss,
whose fears were further augmented by a rumour (a true one, as I
found on tracing it to its source), which spread like lightning, that
the Emperor had telegraphed for the King of Saxony, Prince
Albrecht of Prussia, Prince-Regent of Brunswick both Field-
Marshals as also for Count Waldersee, Commander of the Ninth
Army Corps in Schleswig-Holstein, whom the Emperor, it may be
remembered, when parting with this distinguished officer, as Chief
of the General Staff, publicly designated as the Commander of a
whole army in the event of war.

10 P.M.

After despatching my last message, which I had the utmost
difficulty in doing owing to the frantic mass of newspaper corre-
spondents of all nationalities struggling desperately into and out
of the Telegraph Office, I had the good fortune to meet Baron von
Marschall, the amiable and accomplished Foreign Secretary, who
favoured me with a brief conversation on the momentous subject
of the hour. Yes, he said, it was unfortunately quite true that the
Russians were rapidly concentrating their forces towards the Austro-
German frontier, and that a sotnia of prying Cossacks, coming from
Tarnogrod, had even pushed forward on the Austrian side of the
border towards Jaroslav, an important railway junction point in
Galicia. He had just received intelligence to this effect from
Prince Reuss, the German Ambassador in Vienna, who added that
things indeed looked their very worst. ' But this,' I remarked, ' is
an act of invasion on the part of Russia, is it not, and means
war ? ' The Baron shook his head ominously, and, with a kindly
' come and see me again to-morrow morning/ squeezed my hand
and hurried off to see Count Sye'che'nyi at the Austrian Embassy,
which stands over against the former home of M. Benedetti,
with all its associations connected with the beginning of Germany's
last great war.

On my way back to the Telegraph Office, where I write
this, I encountered, just at the entrance to the Russian Embassy,
Unter den Linden, its genial and honest occupant, Count
Schouvaloff, who was good enough to return my greeting by
motioning me to stop, and telling me that he had just been to see
Count Caprivi, and assure him, on the part of his Imperial master,
that all these warlike preparations in "Western Poland implied no
menace whatever to Germany, with whom Russia had not the
least cause of quarrel, but that, nevertheless, so long as Austria
threatened to derange the balance of power in the Balkan Penin-
sula for her own selfish ends, Russia would be incriminating her-
self in the eyes of history if she stood by with folded hands
and sought not to safeguard her most vital interests by all the
means at her disposal. And as Pitt had created a new world to
redress the balance of the old, so Russia was now compelled to
re-establish equilibrium in one part of the Eastern Continent of

Europe by giving the would-be disturber of this equilibrium
work enough to engross all his attention in another. ' These were
not, of course, the very words/ added the Count, ' which I used to
the Chancellor, but they express the exact sense of my communi-
cation.'
 
MIDNIGHT.

Berlin, which has poured all its teeming million-and-a-half
into the streets, is at this hour a scene of the wildest excite-
ment, owing to a rumour (and a friend of mine in the General Staff,
whom I chanced to meet, confirmed the truth of the rumour), that-
the awful and electrifying words 'Krieg, mobil/' had (as in 1870)
been already flashed again to no fewer than seven of the twenty
Army Corps constituting the Imperial host viz., to the 1st, or
East Prussian; the 17th, West Prussian; the 3d, Brandenburg;
the 4th, Province of Prussian Saxony; the 5th, Posen; the 6th,
Silesian ; and the 1 2th, Kingdom of Saxony.

Loud and long was the cheering in front of the Schloss which
is thronged by an ever-increasing and excited multitude when
this intelligence oozed out, and with one accord (for your Germans
are a most wonderful people of trained choral-singers) the whole
mighty assemblage burst forth with a battle-ballad, in which some
deft patriotic poet had been quick to embody the fears and determina-
tions of the last few days under the title of 'Die Weichsd-Wacht,'
or the ' Watch on the Vistula ' a war-song which promises to
fill as large and luminous a page among the lyric gems of the
Fatherland as Schneckenburger's immortal * WacJit am Rhcin'
When the frantic cheering which followed the chanting of this
stirring battle-anthem had subsided, the Emperor (who has now
Completely recovered from the accident to his knee) came out to
jow his acknowledgments from the front balcony of the castle ;
md on his arm was the Empress holding the hand of the pretty
ittle flaxen-haired Crown Prince, who had been routed out of his
warm bed at this late and chilly hour to add one crowning touch
of spectacular effect to the tableau which, amid another frenzied
outburst of ' hochs ' and ' hurrahs/ thus closed the drama of a most
exciting and momentous day.
INTERVIEW BETWEEN GENERAL CAPRIVI AND THE
FRENCH AMBASSADOR.

DISPOSITION OF THE GERMAN TEOOPS.

(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Charles Lowe.)

BERLIN, April 23.

THE excitement of the last few days has now calmed down into
the serious and stolid determination, which is the most striking
characteristic of the German race, and though it is known that,
since the order to mobilise seven Army Corps was issued,
M. Herbette, the French Ambassador, has had repeated interviews
with General Capri vi, the nation is meanwhile content to suppress
its suspicion with regard to the possible nay, probable policy of
its western neighbour, and devote all its attention to the develop-
ment of events on its eastern border.

Certain official telegrams which I have been allowed to peruse
leave little doubt that, while the Russians are making a show of
massing troops in the direction of Cracow, the real line of their
strategic advance is towards the Lemberg side, whence a railway
leads across the Carpathians to Buda-Pesth. It is argued here
that, had the Russians merely to deal with Austria alone, the
likeliest line of their advance would be by way of Cracow and its
fortress, which they would endeavour to turn, and then strike for
Vienna by the route which has been deemed, on the whole, the
easier for them, namely, that which leads to the valley of the
Danube across Austrian Silesia, and through the gap between the
Bohemian and Carpathian mountains. But with a German army
massed in Silesia, and menacing their right flank, the advantages
of this route would be more than countervailed, and so the
Pr ussians seem to have chosen an invading route as remote as
possible from the German base of attack, namely, vid Lemberg and
Stryj.

Meanwhile the mobilisation of the seven German Army Corps,
enumerated by me in a previous despatch, is in full swing, the
reserve men hastening to the colours with great alacrity ; and as
the railways are working night and day, all public traffic being
suspended, the troops will soon be in the various positions assigned
them. The 12th, or Eoyal Saxon Corps, it seems, is to be sent
over to strengthen the Austrians, which will appear a wise and
tactful disposition, when it is remembered how the Saxons fought
shoulder to shoulder with the Austrians at Koniggratz; while
Field-Marshal Prince George (brother of the King of Saxony) has
been intrusted by the Emperor with the command of what is to
be called the Army of Silesia, consisting of the 5th arid 6th Corps,
now swiftly concentrating between Breslau (which, being at present
an open town, is undergoing rapid circumvallation by a ring of
3arthwork forts armed with Schumann gun-turrets) and Neisse,
"he Prussian Crown Prince's point of departure for Bohemia in
1866. On the other hand, a Second Army, consisting of the 3d and
tth Corps, to be called ' of the Vistula/ and to be commanded by
:he King of Saxony, is swiftly massing round Thorn, that Metz of
,he East; while a Third Army, compounded of the 1st and 17th
Dorps (East and West Prussia), and denominated ' of the Baltic/
ms been assigned to Count Waldersee, and is fast taking
position on the line flanked by the fortresses of Konigsberg and
[xftzen, the task assigned to it being evidently an invasion of the
3altic Provinces and the consequent splitting up and diversion of
he Eussian forces from their southern objective. As to the .First
md Second German Armies (those of Silesia and the Vistula), a
jlance at the map will show that, roughly speaking, they form the
>ase ends of a triangle whereof Warsaw is the apex, and that a well-
imed advance by road or rail, for both are available, would enable
hem to effect a junction (on Moltke's principle of marching
eparately and fighting combined, as applied with such brilliant
success at Sadowa), and give decisive battle to the Russians some-
where near Warsaw.

But I may not indulge at present in a more detailed forecast of
the impending campaign and its incidents. Suffice to say that the
Germans promise to keep General Gourko, commanding the
Russian forces in Poland, quite as busy as General Dragomiroff,
commander at Kieff, and chief director of the operations against
Galicia, will be kept by the Austrians themselves on their
particular side of the seat of war.
 
BERLIN, April 24.

I HEAR that the Guard Corps is also about to be mobilised as
a precautionary measure. This will, of course, be followed by
similar orders to all the rest of the German Army should France
assume a threatening attitude, and the signs that she means to do
this are increasingly ominous.

Meanwhile, the armies of the East are pouring towards the
frontier with machine-like order and rapidity. All night and all
day long, heavily-laden trains conveying the troops of the 4th
Corps have been passing through Berlin, one at the tail of the
other, towards Thorn ; and there was tremendous cheering this
afternoon at the Central Station, which is littered about with beer
barrels and piles of edibles offered by the citizens for the refresh-
ment and encouragement of the < lapfere Krieger ' who are going at
last to measure their strength with the Muscovites, when the
Bismarck Cuirassiers from Halberstadt steamed slowly up to the
platform for a stoppage just long enough to let the couple of
powerful engines water. Rolls and sausages were showered into the
carriages containing these splendid heavy troopers (in whose ranks,
by the way, Lieutenant Campbell of Craignish, a young Argyllshire
laird now Eittmeister, like Dugald Dalgetty, and aide-de-camp to
the Grand Duke of Coburg-Gotha had captured a French eagle
at Mars-la-Tour) ; and when their heavy train again began to move
away there arose another ringing cheer mingled with ' Hochs ' for
Bismarck (and I wonder how the exile of Friedrichsruh feels at the
contemplation of all this !) cheers and ' hochs ' that were responded
to by these big, deep-chested fellows roaring out the ' Watch on
the Vistula,' which has already spread like wildfire throughout the
nation, and kindled its heart into a fine warlike glow.
(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Charles Lowe.)

BERLIX, April 25.

TO-NIGHT the Emperor gave a grand military banquet in the
White Saloon of the Schloss previous to his starting for Thorn
that tremendous bulwark on the Vistula over against the Eussian
frontier, where the work of concentrating the German troops is
proceeding rapidly. At this banquet I was favoured with a seat
in the gallery, from which I have witnessed so many pomps and
pageants at this Court; and when the third course had been
reached, His Majesty (who wore the gala uniform of the Gardes du
Corps) rose, and, amid a silence in which you might have even
heard the fall of a hair, addressed his guests as follows, in a most
resolute and rasping voice :

' Heine Herren, God has willed it that Germany should draw
her sword in defence of her ally, and to God's high, holy will we
all must bow. German loyalty (< Dcuteche Treue') has ever been
one of the most conspicuous virtues of our race, and, if we now
failed to prove true to our treaty engagements, we should justly

deserve to become a mockery and a byeword among the nations.
Eemembering, as I do, the very last words almost which were
addressed to me by my beloved grandfather, now resting in God,
who conjured me to be considerate towards and cultivate the
friendship of Kussia, it is with a heart full of exceeding heaviness
that I look forward to the events that are ahead of us. Never-
theless, it shall be in the power of no one to say that the German
Government was ever wanting in fidelity, or the German army
deficient in courage.

'Gentlemen, that courage has been displayed on a thousand
glorious battle-fields, and never more so than in those stupendous
and heroic encounters which made of us a great and united nation
a nation whereof the safety and integrity would be gravely
imperilled by disaster, involving, perhaps, disruption to the dual
monarchy of our allies. Such a result, gentlemen, we cannot
endure; and it is to obviate the bare possibility of such a thing
that we are now about to respond to the solemn call of treaty
obligations, by placing some of our heroic troops side by side with
the brave army of my august friend and ally, His Majesty the
Emperor Francis- Joseph ; nor is it to be doubted that this com-
panionship-in-arms, among other things, will have the blessed
effect of wiping out all memory of our past conflicts and estrange-
ments, and of re-uniting, in the bonds of fraternal love and loyalty,
the two greatest sections of the mighty and invincible German
race.

' Meinc fferren, God is above us, but uncertainty, to some
extent, is before us. Within the last few years the science of war
has been completely revolutionised, and we are all now about to
grapple with military problems which never taxed the powers of
our predecessors. As the Supreme War-Lord ( ( oberste Kriegs-
fferr') of our armies, I mean to make inspection of such of our
forces as are now marshalling themselves on our Eastern marches
and also to remain at their head unless which God forf end ! the
course of events should call me elsewhere. (Sensation.)

' But, gentlemen, I do not require to tell vou that the duties and

functions of a commander are very different now from what they
were at the beginning of this century, not to speak of the time of
my invincible and immortal ancestor, Frederick the Great, who
inspired his troops by his very presence and directed them in
battle ; whereas now all that is nearly left to the modern com-
mander-in-chief is to lead his forces up to battle and then leave
them to the charge of his subordinates an era in the science of
warfare which was inaugurated by that great scientific soldier,
lately, alas ! taken from us, who has written his deathless name in
indelible letters of gold on the tablets of his country's history.

' Forbidden by the nature and necessities of warfare, as now
practised, to be a tactician such as Caesar, or Frederick, or Napoleon,
or Wellington the modern commander-in-chief must restrict him-
self to the task of strategy, and intrust his colonels and his captains
with the duty of beating the enemy in detail. And as a modern
battle must necessarily stretch over a vast extent of front, it really
resolves itself into a hundred separate combats, in which even
company leaders become independent commanders ; and thus,
gentlemen, to all of you there is opened up a glorious prospect
of doing your duty to your country and achieving a distinction
which was reserved to the generalissimos of yore. But though
thus every colonel and every captain among you is now a com-
mander-in-chief, it behoves you to remember that, what witli
smokeless powder, magazine rifles of vast range, and other inno-
vations, the conditions of fighting have altered immensely even
since Germany last took the field ; but I doubt not that you will
all prove true to our highest traditions, and that our brave army,
with God's blessing, will once more show the stuff of which it is
made.

' Gentlemen, this is a solemn moment, and it is not in a spirit
of festive mirth, but rather under the influence of the serious feel-
ings which dominate us all, that I ask you to drain your glasses
to the health of my august ally, His Majesty Francis-Joseph,
Emperor of Austria-Hungary. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah ! '

To-morrow the Emperor will leave for the frontier, and I have
been graciously permitted by His Majesty to attach myself to his
Headquarter-Staff.

DEPARTURE OF THE EMPEROR FOR THE EAST.

BERLIN, April 26.

It is long since the Linden Avenue witnessed such a scene of
crowding and excitement as it presented to-day, when the Em-
peror (who wore the drill uniform of his Silesian Bodyguard
Cuirassiers, named of the Great Elector), drove from the Schloss
to the Central Station to take train for Thorn. His Majesty
was accompanied by the Empress, who looked very sad, where her
august husband only wore a serious mien. The fine sunny
weather, balmy already with the fragrance of the budding spring,
had lured thousands and thousands into the streets to see the
away-going of the Emperor on his first campaign ; and it was
only with great difficulty that the demi-squadron of cavalry
(Gardes du Corps) escorting the Imperial victoria could advance
through the packed and cheering masses of people who thronged
every inch of standing-space in Unter den Linden, and reached
up to the very house-tops.

At one point of its route, just opposite Cafe Bauer, the
Emperor's carriage was even brought to a stop ; and it was then
that a very excited gentleman (who turned out to be an American
admirer of His Majesty) profited by the opportunity to throw a
laurel wreath into the Imperial equipage. Quick as thought, the
Emperor placed the wreath on the point of his sword-scabbard
and tossed it back to his adulator, saying with a smile, ' Wait a
little, my friend; let us earn this first 'a sally that was the
signal for a perfect storm of cheers on the part of the witnesses
of this charming incident, which furnished them with additional
reason for lauding the Emperor's modesty and good sense.

There was much cheering, hat-waving and fluttering of hand-
kerchiefs as their Imperial Majesties who never ceased bowing
their acknowledgments threaded their way to the station, on the.
platform of which was assembled Headquarter- Staff, with the great
Household officers and Ministers of State (who looked very grave
indeed), and others whom duty or curiosity had brought to see
the Emperor off. After conversing for a few minutes with Count
Caprivi (who, unlike his predecessor in office, is not to go to the
front in the meantime, pending the development of French
schemes), His Majesty turned to his sad-eyed consort, whom he
embraced with great warmth, and then entered his travelling
saloon carriage. In another moment, amid three parting ' hochs/
the train had glided away, carrying with it the first German
Emperor who has unsheathed his sword against the Czar of all
the Russias.
 
(By Post from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Charles Lowe.)

THORN, April 27.

FOLLOWING the route taken by the Emperor, I arrived here this
morning, thanks to the courtesy of Baron von Tauchnitz (a son of
the great Leipzig publisher of the well-known Continental edition
of our English classics), who kindly allowed me a place (it was
only a standing one) in the train conveying to the front the
Magdeburg Artillery Regiment of his command, as well as the
Train, or Army Service, Battalion of the 4th Corps.

While crossing the bridge from the railway station to claim the
quarters that had been assigned me at the ' Black Bear/ my eye and
ear were suddenly struck by a strange hubbub going on below. A
troop of red-tunic'd Zieten Hussars ('Duke of Coimaught's ') were
watering their horses in the Vistula, which has here abroad, placid,
and majestic course ; and while these thirsty animals were revelling
in delicious draughts of the first water they had tasted since leaving
Eathenow (their garrison townlet, near Bismarck's native place),
their riders were amusing themselves by roaring and laughing at
the frantic efforts of what seemed to me to be a big Newfoundland
dog to extricate himself from the stream. Presently the poor
brute, which to my great astonishment gradually assumed human
shape, struggled, spluttering and gasping, on to the shelving bank ;
and then it was that I recognised in this buffeted and bedraggled
creature, Solomon Hirsch, the well-known correspondent of the
Berliner Tageblatt, whose shock head of hair, all touzled and
dishevelled, had given him the semblance of canine form and
feature alluded to. It appears that poor Hirsch, fulfilling his
functions with more zeal than discretion, had already made him-
self an object of universal execration at the front by communi-
cating to his paper most minute details as to the massing and
position of the German troops towards the Eussian frontier, and
that being recognised by these rollicking and resentful Zieten
Hussar fellows, to whom he had, in an evil moment for himself,
appealed for information as to their ultimate destination, this
' curse of modern armies ' was at once set upon, hilariously tossed
in a horse-rug, and then contemptuously heaved into the Vistula.
I have made a point of dwelling on this serio-comic incident, which
I myself was quick to take to heart, as it will serve to explain the
absence from my telegrams of all but the most meagre and general
references to the positions and movements of the German troops ;
and, indeed, I should be worthy the fate of my hapless colleague
did I abuse the hospitality which has been so graciously extended
to me by revealing unexecuted plans.

Indeed, I have only been promised the use of the field arid
other telegraph wires on the strict condition that my messages
never exceed a limited number of words, which will necessarily
restrict my reports to tfce briefest and barest, yet, I trust, sufficient
summaries.

The Emperor (who was accompanied by the King of Saxony
and other high general officers) has just returned from a rapid ride
round the circle of the outer forts, within which the troops are all
lying under canvas; and from the top of the Garrison Church
Steeple, the highest point in this mighty fortressed town, nothing
can be seen but endless vistas of tented bivouacs. Never before
has the German soldier been allowed any other night covering in
the field but the canopy of heaven, though, indeed, in a country
like France, which is, in truth, a land flowing with milk, wine, and
honey, and teeming with villages and other opportunities of
cantonment, he had comparatively little need of tents. But it is
quite a different thing in Eussia, with its raw and rigid climate, its
vast, uncultivated, and uninhabited spaces ; and it was in view of
the probable contingency of a campaign in such a foodless and
roofless wilderness that the General Staff, with that remarkable
foresight and wisdom which has always distinguished it, resolved
to equip all the Army Corps lying nearest the Eastern frontier
with the very best tents procurable namely, such as were at once
waterproof, windproof, and even fireproof. For otherwise what
ruin might not a spark from a bivouac fire entail upon the tented
fields which stretch away in every direction towards the horizon,
both here and at Posen, at ^"eisse, and at Konigsberg, reminding
one of the hosts, countless as the sands on the sea-shore, of the five
kings who encamped over against Gibeon.

But I must not omit to record a curious incident which
happened as the Emperor was riding past the statue of Copernicus,
whose birthplace was Thorn. Just when abreast the monument
of that immortal astronomer, His Majesty remarked to his suite :
' Ja, meine Herren, there you see the man who first opened the eyes
of the world to the true nature of the solar system ; and I think
that with God's help we shall equally be able to assign Russia her
proper place in the system of nations.
THE AUSTRIAN PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.

DETAILS OF PREPARATION.
(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Charles Lowe.}

THORN, April 29.

TO-NIGHT the Emperor (who continues to display wonderfully
good spirits and energy) gave a banquet in the hastily furbished-up
rooms of the gloomy old Schloss, in honour of Feldzeugmeister
Baron Beck, the Chief of the Austrian Staff, who, pending the
progress of his well-thought-out mobilisation and massing scheme,
which he had set a-going by a simple order from Vienna, had
hastily run up here by rail to concert united action with his
German colleague, Count von Schlieffen, the present occupier of
Moltke's high and responsible office. From a trustworthy source
I gather that this was the substance of Baron von Beck's communication :

It had been discovered, beyond all doubt, that the main
objective of the Eussian invasion was Lemberg, in the direction of
which Dragomiroff was concentrating immense masses of troops,
drawn from the 4th, 8th, 9th, 10th, llth, 12th Army Corps, in the
rear of whom other forces, furnished by the remoter 13th, 16th,
17th and other Corps, were pushing up as fast as the defective
railway system of the country would allow them. Austria, on her
part, had resolved to combine her defensive forces into three
armies one of about 300,000 strong, in East Galicia, on the
Dniester; another, about as half as strong (150,000), on the San,
with its back on Przemysl, that tremendous bulwark of Middle
Galicia; and a third, of about 120,000, near Cracow, that almost
equally formidable place d'armes, and key of Western Galicia on
the Upper Vistula.

But these numbers do not include a force of eight independent
Cavalry Divisions, each of four Brigades, or four regiments, which
are to be ranked along the Galician frontier at the likeliest points
of danger from the mass-raidings of Russian horsemen.
Such were meanwhile the relative dispositions and prospects
on either side of the Austro-Eussian border, while, on the other
hand, General Gourko, the hero of the Balkans, was concentrat-
ing at Warsaw an army consisting of the 5th, 6th, 14th, 15th
Corps, and other troops, for the double purpose of holding the
Germans in check, and of operating towards Cracow, on the
Austrian left flank. Moreover, the 2nd Eussian Corps from Wilna,
and the 3rd from Eiga, seemed to be marshalling on the lower
Niemen with the view of looking over into Konigsberg ; and of
these Muscovite troops in the Baltic Provinces, no less than in
Western Poland, Baron Beck trusted that the Germans would give
a good and satisfactory account.

As a token of his complete satisfaction with the Baron's lucid
and hopeful exposition of the military situation, the Emperor, at
parting, which was very cordial on His Majesty's part, conferred
on the distinguished Chief of the Austrian Staff the Eed Eagle of
the first class (with swords), and, at the same time, intrusted him
with an autograph missive for his august master at Vienna.
 
(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Charles Lowe.)

THORN, LATER.

From my correspondent with the Army of the Baltic at
Konigsberg I learn that its mobilisation is now complete, and that
Count Waldersee (who has had a bad fall from his horse, but is
better again) is burning to make a dash across the frontier and
pluck a leaf from the laurel- wreath of General Gourko.

The 2nd, or Pomeranian Corps, has meanwhile been appointed
to cope with any descent from the Eussian Fleet on the Baltic
shore ; while the 9th Corps has been similarly left in Schleswig-
Holstein for the double purpose of frustrating any attempted
landing in that quarter, and also of keeping an eye on Denmark,
whose hearts are practically with the Eussians, and who have not
yet forgotten the Eedoubts of Diippel.

On the other hand, the fortification of Breslau is proceeding at
a rapid rate, Prince Pless and the Duke of Eatibor having lent a
little army of their miners to do the necessary pick and spade
work ; while the Army of Silesia (under Prince George of Saxony)
is now echeloned along the railway line, parallel to the Eussian
border, between Kreuzburgand Tarnowitz in utrumque paratus
that is to say, ready either for a front march across the frontier on
Czenstochau, on the Warsaw railway, or for a flanking movement
of support in the direction of Cracow, as occasion may demand.

The Austrians, we know, are well forward with their con-
centration ; but owing to the fact that the telegraph wires of the
Eussians have now ceased to speak to the outer world, and that
travellers are neither allowed into nor out of Eussia, we are still
very much in the dark with regard to their massings and their
movements. To-morrow, however, we mean, if possible, to try and
penetrate a little the veil of this mystery.

SKIRMISH AT ALEXANDROVO.
(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Charles Lowe.)

THORN, April 30.

I HAVE just returned from a reconnoitring ride with two squad-
rons of the Zieten Hussars, who pushed across the Eussian frontier
to within sight of Alexandrovo, the scene of the meeting (of which
I had the good fortune to be an eye-witness) between the old
German Emperor and the late Czar Alexander n., in September
1879, shortly before the signature of the Austro-German Treaty
of Alliance.

It is a curious coincidence that the first blood in the present
campaign should have been drawn within view of the spot to
which the old Emperor greatly against the advice of his irate
Chancellor, Bismarck then hastened to conjure the Czar to desist
from his warlike operations, and assure him, on the other hand, of
his own unalterable determination to keep the peace.
When we had advanced by the road skirting the railway to
within about a mile of Alexandrovo, a gun attached to a body of
Cossacks (they were of the Don, as I could make out through my
glass, from their blue tunics faced with red) opened fire on us ; and
the shell, bursting right in front of our leading troop, killed two
horses and seriously wounded one man (a Wachtrneister). So
having thus caused the enemy to give tongue, we turned bridle
and trotted back, carrying with us the intelligence the rich fruit
of our reconnaissance that Alexandrovo was strongly occupied
by troops of all arms. Four sotnias of Cossacks came pelting after
us, but we were quick to outrun these rampaging gentry, to whom
a gun from one of our horse-batteries sent hurtling over a few
shells as a parting souvenir of our hasty yet successful visit.

(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent. Mr. D. Christie Murray.}

PARIS, April 30.

PARIS to-night is in a state of the maddest ferment. For some
days past the public have followed with breathless interest the
rapid development of events on the Russo-Gennan frontier, and
the news of the first skirmish at Alexandrovo, which was printed
in Le Soir this evening, has roused the wildest enthusiasm. Long
and anxious consultations of Ministers have been held daily, and
the Press, with hardly an exception, have been urging on the
Government an immediate declaration of war. Many of the
better- class Germans have been hurrying from Paris a precau-
tion which, in the issue, has been shown to be judicious. When
to day's news became known, every trade and artifice was
instantly abandoned, and the streets since three o'clock till now
have been thronged by vast crowds, pulsating to a more and more
impassioned excitement. By four o'clock there were literally fifty
thousand people standing in the street with newspapers in their

hands, and every reader was the centre of an excited throng. I was
standing opposite the Vaudeville when a man, bearing a prodigious
bundle of newspapers wet from the press, came staggering swiftly
towards the kiosque. The mob fell upon him, despoiled him of
liis burden, and tore open his parcel. There was such a wild
hurry to learn the news, and everybody was so eager to be first
with it, that scores of the journals were torn to ribbons, and
hundreds more were trampled into the mud of the pavement.
The proprietress of the kiosque wrung her hands and wept over
the spectacle, and a gentleman who, by pressure of the crowd,
was forced half-way through one of the windows, vociferously
demanded to know the value of the lost journals. The woman
instantly became business-like, and appraised them roughly at a
hundred francs. The gentleman produced a pocket-book and paid
her twice over, shouting noisily, ' I present this glorious news to
Paris ! Vive la Russie ! A las la Prusse ! ' That was the first
signal I heard, and in one minute the whole boulevard rang with
frenzied roar on roar. Omnibuses, public carriages, and vehicles
of every description were wedged immovably in the crowd which
thronged the horse-road. The drivers rose from their seats, the
passengers and occupants of the carriages stood up in their places
and roared and gesticulated with the rest. Hundreds of people at
once strove to make speeches, and the combined result was such a
charivari as can scarcely have been heard since the great day of
Confusion of Tongues.
I, myself, had occasion to be thankful for that inconquerable
English accent which has always disfigured my French. A blond
beard and spectacles have always helped me to something of a
German look, and to-day has given the few Germans who happen,
to be left in Paris such a scare as the bravest of them is not likely
to forget. At one moment I was surrounded by a wild section of
the mob, whose yells of 'Down with Prussia!' were far too
obviously intended to be personal to me. There was nothing for
it but to join in the shouting, and I cried ' Vive la France /' and
'A las la Prusse!' as lustily as any of them. There was an
instantaneous laugh at the English accent, and I was left alone ;
but I could not help thinking what would have happened had I
chanced to learn my French mainly in Berlin rather than in
London. One unfortunate German is reported fatally injured by
the violence of a mob at the Gare dti Nord. He had booked for
London, and is said to have carried with him only a small hand-
bag, and to have left all the rest of his belongings at the hotel,' in
his hurry to catch the train for Calais. The director of the Opera
came near to paying with his life for his artistic allegiance to
Wagner. Happily for him he was able to take refuge in the
house of a friend, and the mob contented itself by keeping up a
ceaseless boo-hooing for an hour or more.
 
The wildest manifestation of the afternoon was in the Place de
la Concorde, where an immense mob fell to dancing about the
statue of Strasburg. Everybody knows the sullen threat with
which that statue has been placarded for so many years. It runs
' L. D. P. (the initials standing for " Ligue de Patriotes ") Qui
Vive? La France. 1870 18 .' When the prodigious noise
created by the mob seemed at its highest, it was cloven, as it
were, by a din still greater, and a solid phalanx of men forced a
way into the already crowded square. In the centre of this
phalanx twenty or thirty men marched, bearing a long ladder, the
heads of many of them being thrust between the rungs. In the
middle of the ladder was seated a working painter in a blue
blouse. The man was literally wild with excitement, and was
roaring ' Quatre vingt douze ' to a sort of mad, improvised tune,
in which the packed marchers about him joined with the fell
stress of their lungs. In one hand the man flourished aloft a pot
of red paint, with the contents of which he occasionally bedewed
his unheeding companions, some of whom had playfully bedaubed
their own and others' features, so that they looked as if they had
just come fresh from some scene of massacre. In the other hand
the man held aloft a sheaf of brushes, and in an instant the vast
crowd seized the motive of his presence there, and the meaning of
the rhythmic repetition of ' Quatre vingt douze ! "

A way was cleared for the advancing cohort as if by magic.
The ladder, still supporting the painter, was drawn up lengthwise
before the statue, and the workman knelt to his task. At first it
was impossible for him to work, for the bearers of the ladder were
jigging to the tune they sang ; but by and by they were persuaded
to quiet, and a very striking and impressive silence fell upon the
crowd. The man, with great deliberation, and with a much firmer
hand than he might have been supposed to own at a time of such
excitement, drew the outline of the figures 9 and 2 in white chalk,
at as great a size as the space of the placard admitted. His move-
ments were watched with an actually breathless interest, and
when, after the completion of his drawing, he rose and clasped the
knees of the statue in his arms with a joyful and affectionate cry,
two or three people in my neighbourhood sobbed aloud. The man
knelt down again and filled in with red paint the outline he had
drawn. One grim personage, with a squint and a pock-marked
face, who held a short, well-blacked clay between his teeth,
shouldered me at this moment, and said, ' C?est le sang de la
France, ga.' He thought so well of this that he moved away
among the crowd repeating it, nudging his neighbours to call
attention to the saying, and pointing a dirty forefinger at the red
paint of the figures to indicate its meaning. I was waiting for an
outburst of enthusiasm when the figures were completed, but to
my amazement the mob accepted the proclamation they conveyed
with a grave silence, as if it had been in some way authentic and
official, and as if for the first time they recognised the terrible
significance of the hour. Their quiet did not endure long, for one
of their number, having contrived to scramble on to the ladder,
clambered up the statue, and amid great cheers tore from it the
ragged emblems of mourning which have so long disfigured it.

Then came an episode, the like of which would be possible
nowhere but in Paris. The whole thing might have been arranged

for scenic effect, and the distinguished artist who made the coup
had never, brilliant as his triumphs have been, arrived on the
stage at so opportune a moment, or encountered so overwhelming
a reception. The new-comer was no other than M. Jean de
Reszke, who was on his way to dine with a friend before appear-
ing as Faust in Gounod's masterpiece this evening. His coach-
man was slowly making way along the crowded road when the
great singer was recognised. He was greeted with a roar of
applause, and a dozen members of the crowd threw open the
closed landau he sat in, while a thousand voices clamoured for ths
Marseillaise. The statue had, at that instant, been denuded of its
last rag of mourning, and M. de Beszke, who had risen bare-
headed in the carriage, was whipped out of it in a trice, and borne,
nolens volens, to the figure, and placed aloft on the pedestal. His
companion, a lady attired with much distinction, was at first
evidently alarmed, but soon gathered the peaceful intention of the
crowd, and seizing the meaning of the moment, she stripped from
her own shoulders a handsome scarlet cloak, and threw it towards
M. de Eeszke. It was immediately passed on to him, and he,
with considerable difficulty, and at the risk of a tumble on the
heads of the people below him, succeeded in casting the cloak
over the shoulders of the statue. At this, all the previous noises
which cleft the air of Paris this afternoon seemed as nothing.
The cheering was simply deafening and maddening, and lasted for
full three minutes. At length perfect silence was restored, and
M. de Eeszke began to sing the Marseillaise. He was pale at first,
and obviously unstrung at the spectacle of this prodigious audience,
and for the first few notes his voice was broken and ineffective.
He gathered confidence, however, before he had completed the
singing of the first line, and gave the rest of the song with an
inspiring vigour and dan.

From the beginning of the whole extraordinary scene people
had been flocking in from every quarter, and I believe that I am
well within bounds when I say that the singer had an audience of
a hundred and twenty thousand. The chorus was one of the most

stupendous and moving things which can ever have been heard
by human ears. It rose from the densely-packed mass of humanity
in one amazing roll and roar of sound, and its echoes came
straggling faintly from the Eue de Eivoli and the Tuileries Gar-
dens, from the Avenue des Champs Elyse*es, from the Eue Eoyale,
from the Pont de la Concorde, and the embankment on the further
side of the river. When the whole song was finished it was
redemanded, and was sung through again with undiminished relish
both by the soloist and the chorus. Finally, the singer was per-
mitted to descend from the pedestal, and was escorted to his
carriage. The crowd had taken out the horses, and M. de Eeszke
and his companion were drawn away by some hundreds of volun-
teers. The great singer's nationality has made him the idol of
Paris during all the late days of strained expectation. Every night
the Opera-house has been thronged, and every song from his lips
has been received with literal thunders of applause.
The crowd had already begun to thin when the news passed
round that the Ministers were in conclave at the Elyse'e. I acted
immediately on the first hint I received, and with great difficulty
made my way across the Place. I found myself almost at once
wedged in anew, this time in a streaming current which set steadily
owards the Elyse'e. The crowd grew vaster every moment, for
by this time all Paris seemed to have been drawn to that quarter
of the town. For a long time there was silence, or what seemed
like it after the torrent of noise which had roared so long in all
ears, but at last the babble of excited tongues fcegan again, and
was intermixed with occasional cries of impatience. These grew
in a steady crescendo, until no single voice was audible. & But
before things reached that point I had heard a hundre^ excited
conjectures as to the course which would be adopted by England
at this crisis. By seven o'clock the patience of the mob was quite
outworn. The building, so far as could be seen from the outside,
was in complete darkness, and the rumour of the meeting of the
Ministers seemed likely to be practically denied. At length, how-
ever, a sudden swell in the storm of sound greeted the appear-
ance of light at three windows, and certain ill-defined shadows
were seen moving on the blinds. One profile was distinct and
stationary for a moment, and there was a roar of ' Eibot !' A minute
later the blind of the centre window was drawn up, the window
itself was thrown open, and the figure of M. Eibot, Minister of
Foreign Affairs, was seen. This apparition was the signal for a
new outburst in which only the name of the President of the
Republic could be distinguished. The air rang with shouts of
* Carnot ! Carnot ! ' and M. Ribot having braved this incredible
tempest for a few seconds only, bowed and retired. A minute
later the President himself appeared. From where I stood his
features were invisible, but his attitude was erect, and he stretched
out his right hand with an impressive gesture to command silence.
It was some time before this injunction was obeyed, but when he
was allowed to speak his voice was firm and unusually clear. His
words were few and to the point. ' Citizens ! Germany has
declared war upon the ally of France. Those gentlemen whom
you have appointed as the guardians of the national honour have
debated the serious intelligence which has to-day awakened the
heart of Paris. It is my duty to tell you that there is no dis-
sentient voice amongst them. France will fulfil her pledges ! '
At this point M. Carnot was interrupted by a unanimous outburst
of applause, which made speech impossible for a space of at least
five minutes. Again and again, when it seemed about to quiet
down, it was taken up from distant quarters, and came rolling
along like a wave, again to subside and again to be renewed.
When order was once more restored the President continued:
' France speaks to-night, and demands of her neighbour that the
menace against her ally shall be withdrawn. She couples with
that a demand for the surrender of those provinces which were
torn from her twenty years ago ! '
 
There was at this more cheering, and yet more. The President
retired, and a great deluge of rain which had been threatening to
fall all day speedily cleared the streets. The latest and most
important of the day's events is yet hardly an hour old, but we
seem now to be living in a city of the dumb. Everybody is hoarse
with four hours' almost continuous shouting, but the popular
excitement is as great as ever.

The house of M. Ferry has been guarded by the military, and
only the entente cordiale existing between the troops and the
populace has saved it from attack. At the moment of writing
the Boulevards are again crowded. The reply of Germany is, of
course, a foregone conclusion, but it is awaited with, intense
eagerness.
DECLARATION OF WAS BY FRANCE.

DRAMATIC RECEPTION OF THE NEWS BY THE GERMAN EMPEROR.
(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Charles Lowe.)

THORN, May 1.

FOR this morning the Emperor had ordered a review of all the
troops, amounting to about 60,000 men concentrated hereabouts
the scene of the parade being a long sweep of meadow-land, not
unlike the Champ de Mars at Paris, on the right bank of the
Vistula. His Majesty and his Staff took their stand on a con-
venient knoll commanding all the ground, and scarcely had the
serried battalions of the 3d Corps, with their bristling bayonets
glittering in the bright sun, begun to stride along in all their
martial and magnificent array, when the march past was inter-
rupted by a most dramatic and thrilling incident,

I was standing on the outside fringe of the brilliant circle of
His Majesty's suite, quietly chatting to Dr. von Leuthold, the
Emperor's body physician, when suddenly we saw an orderly
officer dash up to his Majesty and deliver a message, which we
could discern from the colour of the envelope to be a telegram.
The Emperor tore it open, glanced through the contents, then
looked up, and let his eye wander all round the circle of his suite,
as if to note the impression produced upon their minds by the
news which His Majesty felt had already been intuitively divined
by those about him. ' Ja, meine Herren' he at last said ; ' it is
just as we all expected. This is a telegram from General von
Caprivi ; France has declared war against us ' (Frankreich hat
Uns den Krieg erkldrt.) There was a moment's pause, each man
looking at his neighbour to study the effect of this terrible
announcement, and then all eyes were again turned on the
Emperor, who looked a shade paler than before, but not a whit
less calm and resolute.

' Gentlemen,' he said at last, ' this is a serious moment for us all,
but the news dismays just as little as it surprises us. Yet I must
now leave you, for the danger to the Fatherland is much greater
on its western than on its eastern frontier ; and where the danger
to the Fatherland is greatest, there also must Germany's Kaiser be.

' Meine Herren, my place as Commander-in- Chief of our armies
here will now be taken by that tried and gallant soldier, my dear
friend and brother, the King of Saxony, who will, I am sure, bring -
honour and victory to our arms. One foe at a time is quite enough,
and the sooner we can help our allies to dispose of their invader,
the sooner shall we be able to concentrate all our forces and inflict
a crushing blow on our hereditary enemy (Erlfeind), who has
again, in the most wanton manner, broken loose against us.

' Gentlemen, this is no time for words, when the call to action
is tingling through all our veins, so I will only invoke the blessing
of God upon the course of our arms in this quarter, and hasten
myself to where the peril of our Fatherland is sorest. Adieu, and
may each and all of us do his duty throughout the coming period
of grievous trial and tribulation ! '

So saying, the Emperor put spurs to his steed and, accompanied
only by his immediate suite, galloped off back to Thorn, receiving
as he went three enthusiastic ' hochs.'

Just as I am closing this despatch information reaches us from
Berlin of a naval engagement in the Baltic between our fleet and
some Russian ships ; but you, in London, will probably hear all
the details before they reach us here.

WITH THE GERMAN FLEET IN THE BALTIC.

We have been favoured with the following letter, under date
April 30, from Rear- Admiral Philip Colomb, who has been an eye-
witness of the naval operations in the Baltic :

I was at Kiel with my yacht when the news of the attempt on
Prince Ferdinand's life reached us. The successive telegrams and
published news created the greatest excitement among all classes,
but especially amongst those connected with the navy. Simul-
taneously with the news that Russia had crossed the Austrian
frontier, several German cruisers went to sea, and in a day or two
a regular fleet began to assemble in the port. I don't understand
German, but my wife does, and she told me whenever we met an
eager crowd discussing, that it was all about whether the fleet
would not be kept to defend the place, and the danger of an attack
by the Russian Fleet if the German Fleet did not remain.

I thought I had better get out of it, as if such an attack
were made it might be awkward for me. I think my wife was
so excited about it that she wanted to stay where we were and
see it all ; but I thought we might see all there was to be seen
in greater safety from the seaside. And then from the conversa-
tion of some German naval officers which my wife overheard, I
gathered that the navy, at least, believe that it would try to carry
war into the enemy's country. There were, however, great dis-
cussions about some German coast defence vessels that had not
coal supply enough to go up the Baltic, and great arguments as to
what ships would go and what would stay. As every day more
heavy ships arrived and stayed, while only small ones came and
went, I began to think that after all it was most likely that the
Germans would not stay quiet to let the Russians ravage their
coasts. Then, by the time that nine or ten large turret-ships and
others, besides several smaller ones, had assembled, I understood
that the German armies were about attacking Eussia by way of
Konigsberg, as well as to the south. I thereupon made sure that
the German fleet would go up in support, even if they were not
ready to do more.

So the end of it was that I waited till ten big ships and
five or six smaller ones got under way, and then I did ditto, and
steamed out with them. I was afraid I might be left behind, as
my coal supply did not allow me to go at any speed ; but I found
the Germans, after putting their big ships into two lines a good
distance apart, with some of the smaller ones close at hand on each
side, and two or three others a long way in front, steamed quite
slowly along, not more than five or six knots. I went in-shore of
them, and kept them in sight a couple of miles off.

We passed close to Eiigen Island the afternoon succeeding our
departure, and the south end of Bornholrn in the night. I made
out that we were steering straight, for Libau, which is about 450
miles from Kiel. "We scarcely had seen anything in the shape of
a ship except a couple of homeward-bound English trading
steamers ; but on the second morning at daybreak I noticed all
the German ships had been stoking up, and were making an
immense amount of smoke. There was a good deal of signalling
going on between the German flagships there were two of these
yesterday, one at the head of each line and one or two of the
cruisers, which sped away nearly out of sight, and then came
slowly back, signalling as they came. The same sort of thing
went on on the third morning, when we had got beyond Dantzig,
with the difference that two German crurers were seen steam-
ing up, one from the southward, and one from the south- westward.
The fleet stopped, and a boat from each of these went to the flag-
ship and returned, after which there was more signalling, and a
boat from every ship went on board the flagship. I suppose the
other Admiral and the captains were in them, but I was too far off
to make certain.

After a couple of hours we all went on again slowly as be-
fore, but electric and other lights were flashing about all night,
so that we were very excited, and made sure that something was
in the wind. As a consequence, long before daylight on the
fourth morning we were on deck looking out in all directions,
and with a good head of steam so as to get out of the way in
case of accidents. Sure enough at daybreak there was a great
bank of smoke to the northward, and presently I could make out
a mast or two sticking up. The two German cruisers, which were
five or six miles in front, at once became very busy with their
signals, and soon afterwards the whole fleet formed into a single
line and turned to the westward, not steaming any faster, but
making such clouds of black smoke that they almost hid them-
selves from me. It did not seem that the Eussian Fleet I was
not sure whether it was or not was closing much, but one or two
ships appeared to draw more in front as if to close the two German
cruisers. Presently the other cruisers that had kept closer to the
fleet also drew out in front, but none of them seemed more inclined
to close the strangers than the strangers were to close them.

I could not make it out at all. I had always understood that
in a modern naval battle, everybody would immediately run at
everybody else, and this looked so little like the sort of thing that
T was inclined to think that what I saw was only an advance
guard of the Eussian Fleet. Yet it looked too large a mass for
that, and my doubts were presently set at rest.

Signals were made to one of the German cruisers that had
come to us the day before, and she presently turned and slowly
steamed to the southward. She passed us so very close that I took
heart of grace to call out

' Is that the Eussian Fleet ? '

And the answer came back

' Oh ! ye-es, zat is ze Eussians ve sail fight zem ! So ! ' and
the steamer went on her way.

I began to have some sort of an idea that, perhaps, neither fleet
was able to make out the force of the other, and was, therefore,
not in a hurry to bring it to action. And this might easily be
so. Though the sky was clear overhead and the water quite
smooth, it was misty round the horizon, and so far as the Russian
Fleet was concerned, it seemed to me very likely that even the
advanced German cruisers were not able to discover more than I
could, between the mist and the smoke.

But as I puzzled myself over this, I also thought that, perhaps,
as the main attack of Germany was going on by land, it might be
her game merely to watch the Russian Fleet. For if the Germans
were badly beaten at sea, Russia might be left free to land and cut
their communications. I had never thought of this kind of thing
before, and I quite woke up with a new sort of idea, for I saw quite
well that the Russian Fleet could not do anything unless they first
thoroughly beat the Germans.
 
ENGAGEMENT OFF DANTZIG SINKING OF A RUSSIAN TORPEDO-BOAT.

I was so keen on my new ideas that I wanted to know more
about it, and so steamed well to the N.E. to see what the Russian
Fleet was like. Just as I did so, I saw a very small Russian
steaming away to the south-eastward as if to get the look at
the German Fleet which I was going to get at the Russian. She
was stoking up tremendously, and evidently going at great speed.
Two of the German cruisers in front immediately turned to the
eastward to cut her off, but the plucky little Russian did not seem
to mind ; they closed one another very rapidly, and some puffs of
smoke, followed by distant bangs, showed a little game of long
balls. The Russian had evidently much greater speed than the
others, and was drawing them astern, but quite away from her
own fleet or supports of any kind. All of a sudden I saw she was
blowing off steam furiously, and that her speed had slackened, if
not dropped altogether. She began to fire more rapidly, and so
did the Germans. All three were hidden by the cloud of smoke
they raised. My engineer was frightfully excited; he said, 'It
was one of them new boilers a-priming/ and that it was all up
with the Russian. Sure enough it was, for all three ships pre-
sently came out of the smoke, the little Eussian with the German
flag flying over her own.

I had got far enough now to see that the Eussian Fleet was
much more numerous than the German, but I could only make out
six or seven really big ships. But there were a crowd of small
ones, and behind, eight or nine little things like those we had seen
taking the Excellent* s men for training. I thought it might be
dangerous to get mixed up with such a crowd, so I returned to the
southward and eastward of the German Fleet. I had noticed that
the Eussians were steeyng slowly parallel to the position of the
Germans, and night closed, leaving all things in this position.
Both sides never left off flashing their electric lights up into the
sky and all over the sea, and it really seemed to me as if they must
all be a good deal confused by such things.

So matters went on till eleven o'clock, when I made my wife
go below, while I lay down for a sleep on deck. I was awoke at
one o'clock by such a row as never was, the whole German Fleet
was a blaze and a roar of artillery. I supposed, of course, a Eussian
torpedo-boat attack, but it was impossible to tell what had
happened, all one knew was that an attack of some kind had been
made. After a very few minutes the fire began to slacken, and
some of it I noticed, with an unpleasant sensation, was coining my
way. But that, too, soon came to an end. My wife was at that
moment beside me again, and she suddenly cried out, ' Hark !
what 's that ? ' I could hear a rushing and a panting sound
drawing close to us, and then the ball of white foam that I had
seen one night from a torpedo boat. The panting suddenly
stopped, and the rushing became fainter and fainter until out of
the dark came a torpedo-boat evidently making for the yacht,
but very slowly. Just as she was coming alongside there was
a sort . of wild cry, and I saw she had suddenly gone to the
bottom. Our little boat was down in an instant, and I got hold
of somebody floating at once, while the men helped in two Eussian
sailors. I found I had hold of a Eussian officer, but he was
evidently unable to help himself. I could not get him in but we drew him alongside and the men carried him up. I then saw
that the poor chap was badly wounded in the shoulder. No
one on board could speak Russian, but we laid him down on
the deck, and my wife threw herself down beside him with her
scissors and began to cut away his dress, while she cried to her
maid to bring her water and linen. It was of no use, however. The
poor fellow was quite unconscious and bleeding to death. It
was all over in ten minutes, and we could do nothing but rever-
ently commit the body to the deep. Our other two Russians were
unwounded, but could not make us understand anything. We put
them next day into an English vessel bound to Revel.

We were eager enough in the morning to see what had hap-
pened, but there seemed to be no ships absent. One of the battle-
ships was, however, evidently very much down by the head, and
in the course of the morning we saw her quit the fleet for the
southward. Everything else was, in fact, in the same position on
both sides, and it was evident that a regular battle was no nearer.

I presently saw a vessel I think it must have been one of
the German Emperor's yachts, from the look of her coming up
fast from the southward, and as soon as she got near enough, she
began making a long signal. Almost directly, the German ships
all turned towards her. They stopped when she reached them,
and after she had sent a boat to the flagship, the whole fleet put
on good speed, and stood nearly due west, as if for Kiel again. I
could not keep up with them, so I am going to Colberg to post
this and hear the news.

P.S. I have learnt at Colberg that the Emperor's yacht
brought news of the declaration of war by France, and orders for
the whole German fleet to return to the Jahde at full speed, to
avoid being caught between the Eussian and French fleets. The
Germans say they sank several of the Kussian torpedo-boats, and
that they had their broadside nets out. Only the Oldenburg
was struck by a torpedo, the one I saw. She got into Kiel all
right, but was badly damaged. It is said that the Eussians are
spread along the whole German Baltic coast, and descents are
expected.
 
THE GERMAN PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.

PROPOSED LINE OF INVASION THROUGH BELGIUM.

LONDON, May 3.

THE declaration of war by France was the inevitable result
of the action of Germany in regard to Russia. Events, indeed,
have marched with a ruthless and tragical directness ever since
the day, barely four weeks since, when Prince Ferdinand narrowly
escaped death from Russian intrigue. In Germany, least of all,
can there have been any doubt as to the course France would take.
The experience of 1870 must have made abundantly clear to her
what would be the outcome of the scenes on the Paris boulevards
which our Correspondent has so graphically described. With
powerful enemies on either flank, Germany cannot afford to adhere
to punctilio. With the double contest on her hands she cannot now
hope to bring into the battle-fields superior numbers, as in the wars
of 1866 and 1870-71 ; prospects of success, as her chiefs well know,
lie for her in promptitude of action, in blows struck in unexpected
places, in carefully planned efforts to bewilder and divide the
forces opposed to her.

To strike anywhere at the eastern frontier of the French
adversary, barred as it is with almost continuous fortresses from
Verdun to Belfort, must necessarily involve prolonged delay, even
if the heavy siege-work which is inevitable should be ultimately
successful. True, Germany will no doubt be able to foil any
offensive on the part of France from the base of the fortified
eastern frontier, but merely to do this would be to confine herself
to that defensive which is intensely repugnant to her military
character. Yet her only opening for the offensive, unless she
were to force or obtain by diplomacy a right of way for her armies
through neutral territory, of necessity must be by that eastern
frontier of France which is coterminous with her own territory,
and through or over the chain of fortresses which loom out sul-
lenly from behind that frontier line.

The ideal line of invasion of France by Germany obviously
lies through Belgium. It would turn and negative the chain of
French fortresses on the eastern frontier, and give the shortest
route through hostile territory to the French capital. Belgium is
neutral ground ; her neutrality guaranteed by the Great Powers ;
but how vain a pretence is this guarantee is already proved by
the latest news from our Berlin Correspondent. It is believed (he
states on credible authority), that Germany has been successful in
exacting or obtaining from Belgium a secret Convention, whereby
the armies of the Empire shall be free to traverse the former State,
and to utilise for their purposes the Belgian railway system. The
advantages of this arrangement may be said to fairly compensate
Germany for the numerical superiority of the French forces over
those which she herself is able to bring into the field.
The German plan of campaign, as explained by our Berlin
Correspondent, is as follows : Seven of the twenty Army Corps
are engaged on the Eussian frontier under the King of Saxony.
To cope with France there remain thirteen corps, with a propor-
tionate number of independent cavalry brigades. The First Army,
under the command of Prince Albrecht of Prussia, is to advance
through Belgium by Verviers, Liege, Namur, and Charleroi, and
cross the northern frontier of France between Maubeuge and
Kocroy, at and about Hirson. The fortresses on the French
northern frontier east of Maubeuge are of little account, and there
are none on the section specified. The Ardennes and Eifel dis-
tricts are regarded as affording considerable protection to the line
of communication as far as the frontier, and a further protection
will presently be mentioned. It is unfortunate that between Aix
and Lie'ge there is available but one line of railway, but the accom-
modation is copious on either side of this section, several lines
being serviceable right to the frontier.

This First Army is to consist of six Army Corps, the Guards,
7th, 8th, 10th, llth, and 16th being those whose respective pro-
vinces are nearest to the region of concentration west of Cologne.
Among its Corps-commanders are such men as Generals Meer-
scheidt-Hullessem, Von der Burg, Von Versen, Albedyll, Von Loe,
all distinguished names in the war of 1870-71. The Emperor
himself, who of course is Commander-in-Chief of all the German
forces in both fields of operations, accompanies this army, after
leaving the eastern frontier with General von Schlieffen, the Chief
of the great General Staff, and a number of the German princes.
The cavalry commander is General the Grand Duke Frederick of
Baden.

The Second Army is to consist of the 9th, 14th, and 15th
Army Corps. The course of action prescribed for this is to
advance from Treves through Luxembourg, with the consent of
the Grand Duke, following the Treves-Brussels railway as far as
Arlon, whence it is to approach the French frontier between the
fortress of Montmedy and Sedan, and in this vicinity, while
covering the communications of the main army, draw on itself
the attention of the French field army presumably lying behind
the northern section of the French frontier fortresses from about
Verdun southward, so hindering it from marching westward to
swell the forces opposing themselves to the main German army
moving by Namur and Charleroi. Having accomplished this
4 holding ' operation, whether with or without a battle, it is to
disengage, move westward below Mezieres, and approach that
army after it has crossed the frontier. In performing this
arduous task the Second Army will have to encounter the
physical difficulties of the Eastern Ardennes, and protect its line
of communication running perilously near the frontier. To aid
in this work, severe at once, and delicate, it is to be furnished
with a strong cavalry force, under the command of Lieutenant-
General von Kleist.

If from behind the curtain of their eastern frontier fortresses
the French are bent on taking the offensive, German strategists,
says our Correspondent, freely recognise the impossibility, owing
to the diversion through Belgium of the bulk of the German force,
of hindering them from over-running Alsace and Lorraine up
toward the left bank of the Upper Ehine, where the German
fortresses would give them halt. Yet such an advance, if
attempted, they will not find quite an unchequered promenade.
In Lorraine, Metz, for instance, will somewhat interfere with free
transport by rail. In the chain of frontier forts the French
engineers have designedly left between Toul and Epinal an un-
defended gap or troufo of considerable breadth. Because of the
fortifications of the second line of defence this specious interval is
greatly in the nature of a trap, but its debouche toward France
nevertheless needs to be watched by a strong field force on either
flank.

Confronting this gap, on the plateau behind the Meurthe, between
Luneville and St. Die, with advanced posts about Ramberville, and
a strong wide-stretching cordon of cavalry still further forward, the
Third German Army, consisting of the 13th Wurtemberg, and 1st

and 2d Bavarian Army Corps, under the command of Leopold,
Prince Regent of Bavaria, is to take up its position. The Prince
is to make demonstrations from time to time to hold in position
the French field-forces on its flanks and rear. If threatened in
palpably overwhelming strength, the army has a line of retreat
across the Middle Vosges open, striking back in the passes as it
retires. Should the gap be judged practical by-and-by because of
the withdrawal of the French field-forces to participate in the
meUe in the interior of France, instructions how to act will, of
course, be sent from the Imperial Headquarters. As soon as the
mobilisation of the active army is complete, the Landwehr is to
be mobilised with all speed to the last man, and got into readiness
to reinforce the armies already in the field, for the Fatherland
will be contending against heavy odds, and will need the devotion
of all its sons. It should be said that the 2d (Pomeranian) Army
Corps is retained in Germany for the protection of the northern
coast.
 
THE FRENCH PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.

WHILE these preparations have been made by Germany, France
has not been idle. According to the latest telegrams from Paris,
the original plan of campaign devised by the French Etat-major
has undergone modification, now that it has become virtually
certain that the main German advance is to be made through
Belgium. The contingency that a contributory stroke may be
made in that direction had, indeed, been in a measure provided
for originally. To meet it four Army Corps were to take up an
initial position in the fortress-bound triangle, La Fere-Soissons-
Laon. Two were to be on the Meuse between Mouzon and Dun
to confront a possible German entrance between Montmedy and
Longwy. Three were allotted to the frontier on the extreme
south-east, since Italy is a member of the Triple Alliance. The
garrison of the Government of Paris was not to move. The
remaining ten corps were destined for the eastern frontier from
Verdun to Belfort.
But these arrangements have been dislocated now that it
has become apparent that a great German -army is gathering on
the eastern frontier of Belgium, with plain intent to strike for
Northern France through that State. General Saussier, who
holds the high position of Commander-in-Chief of all the French
armies, and the chief of staff, General Miribel, have had the
sudden task of planning other dispositions. No fewer than seven
Army Corps, the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 9th, 10th, and llth, all fur-
nished by the most adjacent territorial military ' regions,' are now
to constitute the army to be massed in and beyond the La Fere-
Soissons-Laon triangle, and beyond toward the northern frontier
west of the Givet salient, and this army Saussier himself is to
command. An army of two corps, the 5th and 6th, commanded
by General Carre de Bellemar, is to line the Meuse on the north-
east, as in the original disposition. Seven corps, the 7th, 8th,
12th, 13th, 17th, and 18th, are to constitute the field forces and
garrisons of the eastern frontier, divided into two armies, the
northern army of three corps commanded by General de Gallifet,
the southern of four by the Due de Auerstadt (Davoust). Three
corps, the 14th, 15th, and 16th, all of south-eastern domicile, are
to watch the Italian frontier from Albertville to Mentone, under
the chief command of General Thomassin. The French mobilisa-
'tion was set about appreciably later than the German ; but once
begun, no time has been lost, and the rapidity with which it has
progressed and is being completed has surprised even those who
were most strongly convinced of the regeneration of military
France.
DEBATE IN THE HOUSE.

LONDON, May 3.

WHILE, thus armed and fortified, France and Germany stand
watching each other across the Rhine, we in England remain in a
suspense profounder than we have experienced any time this side
of the Napoleonic wars. The political excitement during the last
few days has been intense, and at the prospect now imminent of
the violation of the neutrality of Belgium has set the country by
the ears. The people, the Press, and the politicians of England are
deeply stirred, and the crowded public meeting, called at a few
hours' notice, which was held yesterday in London is a proof, if
proof were needed, that the Government will be compelled by
popular feeling to strain every nerve to avert from ' gallant little
Belgium ' the violation of that neutrality, to the maintenance of
which Britain stands pledged. The opposition press, ablaze with
zeal for the honour of England now that there seems an opening
for the charge of snpineness against the Government, shrieks in
scathing leaders that the voice of the nation should enforce on the
faineant Ministry its imperative duty of addressing vehement
remonstrances to the Great Teuton power. The journals favour-
able to the Government cannot refrain from addressing strong
representations to the Cabinet regarding the uncertain future of
Antwerp if Belgium is again to become the cockpit of Europe, and
the standing menace to Britain which that great fortress will
become if it pass into other hands than those of the Belgians.
The House, too, appears equally moved, and not a day has passed
but at the question hour a rattle of shrewish interpellations has
been shot across the House at the target of the Treasury Bench.
The inexplicable composure of Her Majesty's Ministers has, how-
ever, at length, broken down before the insistance of the Opposition.
On Tuesday, when the German mobilisation over against the
eastern frontier of Belgium was well forward, and when there
remained no longer any doubt that the army gathering there would
traverse that State, Sir William Harcourt rose in his place, every
eye in the House centred on him, and with portentous earnestness
of aspect and manner, demanded that the Leader of the House
should name an early day for a debate on < the grave international
questions and eventualities connected with the imminent violation
of the neutrality of Belgium, -and the attitude of the ministry in
relation to those questions and eventualities.' Sir William re-
seated himself with, indeed, a brow of care and gravity, as
beseemed a statesman dealing with a momentous crisis ; but the
lower section of his expressive visage mantled with a conscious
complacency which seemed to indicate a conviction that he had
propounded something in the nature of a c settler ' for this apparently
inertest of Governments. ' Take to-morrow, if you like/ drawled
the Leader of the House without rising, and then he actually and
visibly yawned. The smirk faded out of Sir William's face at the
roar of laughter, irrepressible on the part of the Liberals and
Conservatives alike, which followed Mr. Balfour's drawl and
yawn.

The Opposition papers have vied in vituperation of Mr. Balfour's
insouciance, which they described as 'insolence/ 'impertinence/
and 'insult/ One provincial journal congratulates Sir William
Harcourt on his self-restraint in having refrained from pulling Mr.
Balfour's nose, and another, with startling novelty, compares the
latter to Nero fiddling while Home was burning. But yesterday's
scene in the House has shown, at least, that the Government,
though composed, has not been indifferent. It must have been
galling to many of the hot-brained to have observed that when in
the afternoon Mr. Balfour lounged into the crowded House, he
showed no symptoms of being crushed, or even perturbed, by this
avalanche of invective. In opening the debate, the ordinarily
bland and gentle Sir William Harcourt displayed a truculent
aggressiveness which startled all listeners, so foreign was it to his
previously disclosed nature. When he had finished, and the dust
had settled a little, Mr. Balfour slowly rose. He spoke as follows :

' Her Majesty's Government were confidentially informed a year
ago, both by Germany and Belgium, that those two States had
concluded a secret convention, in terms of which, in case of war
between Germany and France, Belgium was to permit German
troops to pass through her territory and to utilise her railways.
It no doubt is a question whether Belgium has any right thus to
permit the violation of her neutrality guaranteed by the Great
Powers, but the question in the circumstances is an abstract one.
Who is to intervene to hinder her ? Not Germany, who has made
a bargain with her for the right of violation. Not France, whe
violated Belgian neutrality with impunity in 1870, and who, if
she now is ready in time, will, in her anxiety to fight the Germans
outside the French frontier, assuredly violate it again if, indeed,
the act can be termed violation when the neutrality is virtually dead
already by Belgium's own act. In eastern Europe there is other
business on hand just now, than solicitude for the protection of
Belgian neutrality. Does the right hon. baronet propose that"
England should undertake this task single-handed, and, inter alia,
force Belgium against her will to co-operate with us in retrieving,
the neutrality she has already surrendered ? We should, and in
hostility to Belgium, stand alone, in an attempt to make good the
guarantee we entered into conjointly with other Powers ; and 1
say frankly that this is not a Quixotic Government. But when
we were informed, in strict confidence, of this convention, we took
measures for the interest and protection of C4reat Britain. Those
measures may give umbrage in certain quarters ; that we cannot
help. We claimed and obtained from Belgium the right to occupy
and garrison the great fortress of Antwerp if the convention
alluded to should become operative, and to hold that fortress
pending the solution of the momentous events now clearly
impending on the Continent of Europe. We recognised the
impossibility of enduring in Antwerp a possibly hostile neighbour
so close to our own street-door, and we resolved and have secured
the right to be our own neighbour over the way in the troublous
times approaching. During the past week we have been quietly
and unostentatiously making some needful preparations. These
are now so forward that I may inform the House that a complete
division of British infantry and artillerymen 15,000 strong will be
embarked at sundry of our ports on the day after to-morrow, and
will land at Antwerp on the following morning, being conveyed
swiftly in steam transports under the convoy of the Channel
Squadron. The division will sail fully equipped with an adequate
supply of stores. Its commander will be a soldier Whose name
and fame are familiar to us all ; I refer to that distinguished officer,
Sir Evelyn Wood. The Belgians hand us over Antwerp as it
stands, with fortress, artillery, ammunition, and all appliances for
defensive operations which we fervently pray and trust that there
shall be no occasion to en^a^e in.'

The cheering throughout Mr. Balfour's short but pregnant
speech had been frequent and hearty ; when he sat down it swelled
in volume and force that seemed to shake the roof. Sir William
Harcourt, with the best grace he could assume, professed himself
satisfied, and the debate collapsed.

Late last night it was reported that "the Government asked and
received powers to enlist 20,000 men, anti to call out for duty a
large number of militia battalions.
 
BATTLE AT ALEXANDEOVO.

DEFEAT OF THE RUSSIANS.
(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Charles Lowe.}

ALEXANDROVO (IN EUSSIAN POLAND), May 2.

As a result of the scouting ride undertaken by a squadron of
Zieten Hussars from this place, as mentioned in a late telegram of
mine, it was resolved at Headquarters here (and the decision was
sanctioned by the Emperor before his return to Berlin en route
for the Ehine) to make another reconnaissance, this time in force
with the view, if possible, of ousting the Eussians from Alexandrovo
and possessing ourselves of that important frontier position ; for
that the best defensive is an energetic offensive is a maxim which
still forms the chief guiding principle of German warfare.

To-day, accordingly, a force consisting of the 6th Infantry
Division, under Lieutenant-General Von Schnabeltitz, a combined
Cavalry Brigade (Zieten Hussars and 3d, or Kaiser Alexander u.
von Eussland, Uhlans), under Major-General von Sabelschlucker ;
and two sections (comprising six batteries each, of six guns) under
Major Count von Donnerkeil; to-day, I say, this force, starting at
dawn, made a rapid march eastward, and was soon across the little
stream forming the frontier, where the Eussian outposts who
seemed to be singularly supine were quickly driven in by a few
shots from our advance guard. From a wounded Muscovite, who was
shot in the thigh and had to be left behind by his comrades, we
learned that Alexandrovo was, after all, not quite so strongly held
as our late reconnaissance had led us to suppose, its entire
defending force consisting of only one Infantry Brigade, under
Major-General Grodnovodsky, with several guns, a few sotnias of
Cossacks, and two squadrons of Dragoons. Perceiving, therefore,
that we were considerably stronger in all our arms especially our
infantry and artillery we made haste to push on towards our
objective, and managed, by advancing at the double, to gain the
rising ground on our side of Alexandrovo before the enemy could
anticipate our design. But it was a close race ; nor was it won
by us without a sharp brush, involving several casualties on either
side, between one of our Hussar squadrons, under Rittmeister Von
Rummelsburg, arid a sotnia of Don Cossacks, who were very
bravely led, whoever was their commander.

Yon Eummelsburg, who was sent forward with his Hussars to
feel the ground in front of our infantry, had just gained the brow
of the acclivity in question when he perceived the Cossacks
making for the same vantage-ground from the opposite side, and at
once charged down upon them in the gallantest style, emptying a few
Russian saddles even before the shock, for his regiment was one of
those that had been experimentally armed with the new combina-
tion lance-rifle the invention of an ingenious locksmith at
Potsdam of which the Emperor became enamoured last year, and
several of the brave Cossacks had thus succumbed to the impact
of lead before they could come within stabbing distance of the
equally fatal German spear a notable feature this in fin de sitcle
warfare, and one that is likely to impress itself still more vividly
in the course of the present campaign.

The Cossacks being thus flung back on their infantry, whose
movements were of an unaccountably slow and confused kind, our
guns dashed up to the top of the bluff, which had formed the bone
of contention between us and the Muscovites, and, unlimbering
like lightning, began to blaze away at the retreating horsemen
with shrapnel which seemed to do further execution amongst
them. Then, laying their pieces at long range and loading with
percussion-fuse shells, Donne rkeil's gunners hastened to rain a
terrific torrent of destructive projectiles on the railway station of
Alexandrovo, behind which Grodnovodsky's infantry had retired
for temporary shelter. His guns planted on a rising bit of orchard
ground on his left, were energetically enough worked against our
batteries, but did us little or no harm, as the Prussian artillerists,
always very careful in their selection of a firing position even in
the tumult of action, showed little more than the mere muzzles of
their guns over the crest of the land-wave, in the rear dip of which
the infantry of the 6th Division were lying prone and scatheless
in eager readiness to rush on as soon as the cannon of the Russians
should be reduced to silence.

Nor had they long to wait for this result, for the furious
artillery duel had barely lasted an hour when Grodnovodsky's
guns were seen to limber up such of them as had escaped dis-
mounting and lumber off; and then our impatient battalions,
throwing out their first fighting line, fanlike, in skirmishing order,
with supports behind and reserves following, all in as machine-like
and magnificent order as at a field-day on the Tempelhof Common,
began to push forward, the guns firing over their heads all the
while as they swarmed down the Eussian-ward slope of our
eminence and across the rye and potato fields, still rather wet
and cloggy from last night's rain, in front of Alexandrovo. The
Russian infantry attempted to debouch from their shell-shattered
position behind the railway station and other adjacent buildings,
and deploy in line of purpose to stem our steadily advancing tide ;
but our guns, which were still able to pound away over the heads
of our own battalions, played dreadful havoc with their shrapnel
charges among Grodnovodsky's out-manceuvred troops, who were
also mown down in great numbers by the fearful fire of our
magazine-rifles, of which the murderous volleys appeared to inspire
our opponents with a feeling of panic as unfamiliar to them as the
effects of smokeless powder ; and, for the first time probably in all

the military history of Russia," the soldiers of the Czar positively
turned tail and fled before superior numbers and unaccustomed
terrors. \

Yet the dead and wounded whom they left behind amply
attested the tenacious bravery with which they had fought ; and
the losses on our side were not insignificant, including, as they did,
the death of Colonel von Degenzieher and Lieutenant Prince Zu
Sonnenwalde-Drachenfels-Schinckenstein, a young man as brave
as he was handsome, both of the 8th Brandenburg (Prince
Frederick Charles's) Infantry Eegiment.

Still, the loss of these two gallant officers, and other brave men
on our side, was more than compensated for by the capture of
Alexandrovo (into which we marched, or rather rushed, witli
colours flying, and drums beating) with its rich accumulation of
railway rolling stock, which will be far more precious to us than
acres upon acres of military stores.

How in the Heaven's name the Russians could ever have failed
to concentrate, at the very outset of this war, a more formidable
defending force around so very important a strategic point as
Alexandrovo, is a bewildering puzzle even to those who have busied
themselves with the systematic study of the Kussian character ;
but, at any rate, there they were and here we are, thanks to the
incredible supineness of our foes, their contemptible outpost service,
the audacity and sudden swiftness of our movements, and the
disastrous surprise which we then sprung upon them.

My courier returns with this despatch to Thorn, where I trust
he will be able to commit it to the wires.
 
OCCUPATION OF ALEXANDEOVO BY THE GEEMANS.

ALEXANDROVO, May 3.

IT is not yet twenty-four hours since the victorious 6th Division
of the German Army occupied this place, and already it is bristling
on the Warsaw, or south-eastern side, with a most formidable line
of earthworks, thanks chiefly to the marvellous exertions of the
Engineer Battalion of the 3d Corps, which was quick to arrive
here by rail yesterday, within an hour of our triumph the first of
the campaign. But, indeed, the spades of all our infantry have
also been incessantly at work since they piled their rifles here, it
being thought certain that the Eussians will endeavour to get a
double amount of work out of their cranky, creaking mobilisation
machine, and hasten to deliver a desperate counter-attack, with
the view of repairing the disastrous error they have committed
an error that has placed us in possession of a railway base of
operations of incalculable price. Among other spoils we captured
123 railway waggons of various kinds, and nine locomotives, which,
added to the rolling stock that is hourly pouring in from the
direction of Thorn, with the remainder of the German Army of the
Vistula, now rapidly massing here, render us certain of the means
of transport in the event of our deciding to carry the torch of
invasion deeper into the heart of Kussia.

It is true that the railway from here to Warsaw consists of
only a single track, but the gauge, unlike that of all Russian lines
on the right bank of the Vistula, is of the ordinary European size,
and that in itself is a tremendous advantage for us. Our Army of
the Baltic, under Count Waldersee, will be hampered in its forward
movements into Eussia, if it decides to push across the frontier
also, by the fact that the line from Eydtkuhnen is a broad-gauge
one, though, indeed, it is understood that the General Staff-
prescient in all things has also made provision for adapting the
axles of German lines to the broader gauge of Eussian ; but, on the
other hand, the Army of Silesia, under Prince George of Saxony,
will enjoy the same transport facilities as ourselves, if it can only
manage to effect, like us, a pied a terre on the Warsaw and Vienna
line, and we are anxiously awaiting news of its movements.
PRINCE ALEXANDER OF BATTENBERG A PRISONER.
(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Charles Lowe.)

ALEXANDROVO, May 4.

THERE is great jubilation among the troops here, for, following
hard on the telegram announcing the Emperor's departure from
Berlin to the Rhine amid an unparalleled scene of excitement and
enthusiasm, came a despatch reporting that Prince George of
Saxony, by dint of forced marches of immense difficulty through
the devious moors and marsh-grounds east of Rosenberg and
Tarnowitz on the Kreuzburg-Tarnowitz line, had also succeeded in
surprising the Russians at Czenstochau, on the Warsaw- Vienna
Railway, and, capturing that important place, after a desperate but
unavailing resistance on the part of its defenders, who, incredible
to relate, consisted of not much more than its usual garrison a
brigade of infantry and two brigades of cavalry. But the German
losses here were much more serious than with us yesterday, one
infantry regiment in particular the 22d Silesian being more
than decimated in its desperate, yet successful, endeavours to drive
the enemy from a clump of wood, surmounted by a battery a
proof that it still continues to be animated by the heroic spirit of
its name-chief, Field-Marshal James Keith, whilom of Inverugie
and Dunnottar, in the Kingdom of Scotland, who, at its head, met
his own death, under the eye of Frederick the Great, when saving
the surprised right flank of the Prussian Army from utter annihila-
tion by the Austrians at Hochkirch in the Lausitz.

These two engagements, then, though on a smaller scale, have
been the Worth and Spichern of the present war ; and it now only
remains to be seen whether we shall be able to improve upon
these initial successes which were due to a great extent, I repeat,
to the exceeding swiftness and daring of our own movements, as
compared with the incredible slowness of our foes, and the faulti-
ness of their mobilisation process, no less than to the fact that
the Russians, imagining the Germans would never dare invade
Poland, but remain upon their guard and form a flanking reserve
support in Silesia to their Austrian allies, directed the main stream
of their mobilisation further to the east, towards Dragomiroff's
line of hostile advance upon Lemberg and the Carpathian Passes
to the south thereof at Stryj.

How Gourko, who is known to be still at Warsaw, though the
bulk of his forces must now be well in front of him, will endeavour
to cope with the situation thus so suddenly created for him, is
naturally the question which occupies all minds here, and it
cannot be very long before his intentions are made manifest.

Meanwhile the telegrams from Galicia, where our Austrian
allies have concentrated the bulk of their forces, are not quite so
encouraging, indicating, as they do, less initiative and promptitude
of action on their part, as well as considerable difference of
opinion in the minds of the Corps and Army Commanders as to
whether they ought to remain on the defensive, or espouse an
audacious policy of invasion like ourselves, and essay to beard the
lion, or rather the bear, in his den.

Count von Schlieffen, who proves to be as amiable a man as
he is an able Chief of the Staff, tells me that news reached the
German Headquarters this afternoon of a tremendous conflict
between no fewer than five Cavalry Divisions, three on the
Russian side and two on the Austrian, somewhere near Brod, on
the Volhynian frontier a conflict which resulted, as it could
scarcely otherwise have done from the relative proportion of
numbers, in the total defeat of the Austro-Hungarian horsemen.
The latter, it seems, were covering the movements of the 3d
Austrian Corps, which had been appointed to head an advance in
the direction of Dubno ; and when they had been overthrown in
a metie which, in its colossal magnitude, recalled the mounted
conflicts of the Crusaders, the victorious Russians, rallying and
reforming line, swept down upon a detached portion of the
Austrian infantry, regardless of the smokeless volleys from the

Maimlicher repeating rifle, and made awful havoc among; the
sturdy men from the Steiermark, taking one whole battalion
prisoners, including, it is rumoured/the colonel of the regiment,
the 27th, who is none other than Count Hartenati, better .known
as Prince Alexander or Battenberg, ex-Prince of Bulgaria a
wonderful piece of luck, indeed, for the "Russians, if the rumour
proves true.

LATER.

Later despatches confirm the rumour of Prince Alexander's
capture by the Russians, and add that, when the news became
known at DragomirofFs headquarters which are said to be at
Dubno there was almost as much jubilation as when the in-
telligence of Napoleon's surrender flew like wildfire around the
German lines at Sedan.

The ex-Bulgarian Prince is to be sent to St. Petersburg, where
rooms are being already prepared for him at the Katherinenhof ,
and meanwhile he has been allowed to retain his sword in order
that his unforgiving and exultant cousin, the Czar, may have the
satisfaction of receiving it from the humiliated captive's own
hands a picture that will eclipse in interest all the romantic in-
cidents which have already marked the Prince's strangely chequered
career.
FIGHTING BY THE ELECTRIC LIGHT ROUT OF GENERAL GOURKO
RETREAT UPON WARSAW.

(By Telegraph from our Special Correspondent, Mr. Charles Lowe.)

ALEXANDROVO, May 7, 5 A.M.

THE German Army of the Vistula has just inflicted on the
Eussians another Plevna, and they are now in full retreat towards
Warsaw. Such, in brief, is the result of the sanguinary night
battle of which I have just been a witness. The Russians were
the first to practise night attacks as a means of obviating the
dreadful losses certain to result from magazine-rifle fire during the
day, but they will long have cause to remember their first serious
application of the nocturnal principle of modern warfare.

By seven o'clock last night the 3d and 4th German Corps
had completed their concentration at and near this place, and,
after extending the lines of entrenchment begun by the 6th
Division on capturing Alexandrovo, had gone into fireless bivouac
on both sides of the railway line, their tents extending for about a
couple of miles in either direction. Several reconnaissances
executed by us during the day had elicited that the Russians
were marshalling in great force at a place called Waganiek, and
were receiving reinforcements from the right bank of the Vistula,
by means of a pontoon bridge which had been thrown across the
stream a little higher up, at Dobrowniki; but, owing to the dense
masses of cavalry which hovered on their front, concealing their
movements as a stage curtain hides from view the shifting of the
scenes in a theatre, it was impossible for our scouts to bring back
more definite information. One item, however, of their intelli-
gence, gathered from a captured Cossack, had a special interest for
us, to wit, that the Russian forces immediately in front of us con-
sisted mainly of the 5th and 6th Corps, with part of the 4th
(including the relics of Grodnovodsky's Brigade), and were under
the personal command of General Gourko, the hero of the Balkans.
On the strength of this information it was decided to attack
Gourko before he got his preparations complete, and for this pur-
pose to break bivouac, and start in quest of him at the dawn of
day, as Prince Frederick Charles had done with Benedek at
Sadowa.

I had spent the evening with a particular friend of mine,
Captain von Jagdkonig, of Stulpnagel's Brandenburg Infantry
Regiment, and was just on the point of setting out with him on a
visit of inspection among the foreposts, when a Uhlan dashed up
with the intelligence that there were signs of a mysterious com-
jnotion.in front, and that something was audible in the otherwise

noiseless night like the distant rumbling of waggon and cannon
wheels. Anon other messengers from the front came spurring in
with similar news, and as the general purport of all these ' Mel-
dungcn ' could no longer be doubted, the bugles were at once set to
work, and presently all the silent bivouacs, taking up the shrilling
war-note one after the other, like the multiplication of a distant
echo, were resonant with the thrilling call to arms ; and thanks to
the severe training in the discipline of ' alarms ' which the German
army has been put through by the present Emperor since his
accession to the throne, the army of the Vistula had all started
from its sleep and was standing in perfect battle array, with its
face to the suspected foe, within ten minutes of the first trumpet
summons.

The night was intensely dark, the moon having just gone
down behind an impenetrable bank of pitchy clouds, and all
fighting seemed to be utterly out of the question. Presently,
however, the inky darkness all around us was pierced, one may
almost say scattered, by a sudden blaze of light, which, appearing
to possess all the illuminating power of the mid-day sun, flashed
lightning-like upon us its blinding beams from the murky fore-
head of the midnight sky. * The electric light ! ' ran from mouth
to mouth, after a moment's bewildered pause, while every one
instinctively shaded his eyes from the glare of this all-irradiating
and all-penetrating lamp which modern Science had thus hung up
to facilitate the work of slaughter, as if the very sun refused to
look any longer upon human carnage. For some moments the
more than mile-long rays of this blinding ball of light, this
detective bull's-eye of modern science, swept round the horizon in
front of it, as if uncertain where to fix its focus now shooting
beyond, now falling short of us. and anon settling on us and
suffusing us with a sea of dazzling light. Presently another, and
yet another such luminary burst forth from elevations of pretty
equal distances in front of us, and the process of their groping
about for our lines revealed to us dense masses of grey and dark-
green coated battalions picking their cautious way down the
distant slopes in front of us. For the electric light has this dis-
advantage, that in flinging its beams about to discover the locality
of foes, it frequently at the same time unveils the whereabouts of
friends. This was the case here, but our gunners were on the
alert, and next time the focus of the light, in its jerky search-
movement, fell on the Russian troops in the course of their
stealthy advance towards us, we opened the concert with a scream-
ing chorus of shells, accompanied by a rattling orchestration of
small-arms. Nor had we long to wait for the antiphone; for next
time the search-light managed to flood us with its blinding
effulgence, the Eussian batteries, which had been planted on the
same elevations, gave lusty voice, and bellowed away at us in
most leonine fashion, though their projectiles, being aimed at
much too long a range, flew high over our heads and left us scathe-
less. Not so, however, the rifle-rain of our enemies, which, first
in intermittent showers, and then in a steady downpour, began to
fall among our ranks with deadly effect ; and the word was passed
from flank to flank for all the infantry to lie down and court the
shelter of our field intrenchments, which crested the ridge of our
line of battle.

Between us and the Eussian infantry there intervened a de-
pression in the ground, a little deeper than that which separates
Mont St. Jean from Belle Alliance ; but what enhanced the value
of this ground to our foes was the fact that their batteries in the
rear, planted as they were on the electric light elevations over-
looking the terrain, could fire over the heads of their infantry till
the latter was pretty well within storming distance of our posi-
tion, much in the same way as the guns of the 6th Division had
been able to do the other day on the occasion of our first engage-
ment, which resulted in the capture of Alexandrovo.
 
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