The Viennese are in a great, and it would appear,
a just panic about the condition of the Austrian artillery. The Minister of War had ordered a competition between the bronze guns used in the Austrian service, and the steel guns manufactured by Herr Krupp. The trial was a careful one, and it was found that for every seven marks gained by the bronze guns, the steel grins gained 170, the difference being enormous,
not only in range, but in comparative accuracy. The Viennese, therefore, declare that Austria has no artil- lery, an assertion which, if she is going to fight Germany, would appear to be strictly true,—that is to say, the gime might, and probably would be, quite good enough, but the Army would not think so, and there might be another panic like that caused by the rapid fire of the needle-gun. It will, it is said, take £4,000,000 to renew the artillery—a sum which Austria could hardly afford—but this must be an exaggeration.
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