A telegram from Rugen, dated August 17th, announces the first
naval skirmish of the war. The ironclad Grille, and gunboats Blitz, Drache, and Salamander, on 16th inst. engaged four French ironclads, a corvette, and a despatch-boat without suffering any loss. No details of any kind are given, nor is there the smallest hint as to the result of the engagement. The Germans may have merely escaped by superior speed, or by running into shallower water. A report is mentioned that the French fleet has received orders to levy requisitions equal to those levied in Alsace and Lor- raine, but it is only published to amuse the Parisians. The fleet cannot get near enough to the German ports to bombard them, and is not in the least likely to try such a plan if it could. Mar-
shals and Admirals do not make war like children, or amuse them- selves with doing mere mischief.
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