The Russian Government has not treated this severity as a
cams belli, probably because it at heart approves of any rigour of military discipline. Its official organ has been instructed to denounce Bulgarian atrocities, and to declare that the Regents had passed the limits of European endurance ; but the papers have now grown calmer, and say that, although the incident shows that Bulgaria is governed by terror, Russia will not depart from her policy, but will await the action of Constantinople, where, of course, there will be no action. The war preparations con- tinue, and as regards the supplies of the Austrian Landsturm, are curiously hurried ; but the great Courts appear to be waiting for something. It may be that secret negotiations are going on, or that the Hapsburgs are again hesitating between defence and partition—there are still signs of this—or that there is a general resolve to allow the ninety-first birthday of the Emperor of Germany to pass in apparent peace. The German Sovereigns and representatives from all the dynasties of Europe will be present in Berlin upon the occasion, the last ceremonial that the great Emperor ever expects to see. He still performs all duties but the tendency to sudden sleep which often marks extreme age alarms his relatives and the physicians.
