The Cologne Gazette, which has an underground communica- tion with
Prince Bismarck, publishes some alarmist "revela- tions " as to the policy now dominant in Russia. General Obrutcheff, Chief of the Staff and head of the Panslavist party, recently, it is said, submitted to the Czar a Report dwelling on the certainty of a Western war, and urging his master to risk financial embarrassment in order to complete the strategical railways to the Western frontier. The Czar, though he recognised the counter-arguments pressed by his Finance Minister, gave the order, and the lines between St. Petersburg and the frontier, Wilna and Warsaw, Wilna and Kovno, and Smolensk and Kieft, are to be doubled by May. The object of this revelation is said to be to facilitate the passing of the Army Bill authorising separate corps d'armee for Alsace-Lorraine ; but it is probable that the German Government wishes its people to be informed of all the occur- rences which threaten them, and also to give the Austrians, who have a habit of going to sleep, an effectual reminder that Russia is awake. The new railways probably do not mean war, but only that the Czar is determined, should events force his hand, to be completely ready.
