"THE APPROACHING WAR"

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1779, 29 February 1888, Page 3

"THE APPROACHING WAR"

* Two pamphlet? oa "tho approaching war" hava jaat boen pubHshod — the one ajt^Hanover, the other at Vionna Th.-y both indicato Poland a9 th^ theatre of tho first operations, then Voihyui* and Podolia for the Austrian, and Lithuanfa and White Russia for the Gartnan troopa, Warsaw b^ia* tho objective point of the

allies d'jriuw the first phase of the cainpa ! gn. Supposing this city to be taken by thenij ihe Russians muat fall 3 back on the iiuoc of the Dnoiper. and tho i Dsrirjs. Both pamphlets a.auma thau I Kueßia would take the offensive, and one 1 of them — written m obvious ignorance of the terms of the secret treaty ■- while admitting th.it the Kusmn army i 3 euperhr iv nutnbar to the Austrian, claims that tha la'.tei- could bo mobilised i;i a fortnight, while the former csuM not be pUcsd m tho field under b^x weeks. The following are tho figarea given : Russia could Het m liae 888 batallions of Infantry, 452 squadrono of cavalry, »nd 333 batterips of artillery — comprobendin>? 788,644 r fles 67,000 Babres, and 2688 cannn ; Austria, 676 batailiona, 376 eq-iadron", and 227 batteries — equivalent to 645,623 rifles, 58,000 sabres, aud 1664 cannon. On the ether hand, it ib notorious that some of the battalliona m the Russian army exist oil papev only, and that tho commke&riat tsyatem Is rotten to the core — colonels and contractors conspiring to rob the Government.