WHAT ZALINSKI SAW.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 163, 12 July 1890, Page 1 (Supplement)

WHAT ZALINSKI SAW.

The Strength of European Powers.

Germany Best Peepaehd k>r War.

The " World " correspondent writes as follows : —The only way I had to get a chat, to say nothing of an interview, with Captain Zalinski, was to jump into the railway compartment with him on the train at Waterloo station and ride to Southampton.

Zalinski was senb abroad by the American Government on a roving commission among the great powers of Europe to keep his eyes wid6 open and ccc how they are prepared or preparing for war. He has seen much and learned much which will be useful to the War Department when he makes his reporb. In every European power which he visited —England, France, Germany, Russia and Italy, to say nothing of smaller nations, like Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Spain—Zalinski found them etraining every nerve and making preparations for war. In most oountries he visited he was afforded every opportunity of observation, though Franoe and one or two other powers seemed disposed to screen all preparations in the atriofcest seoreoy. Singularly enough, it was In Franoe that Zalinski found the strongest undercurrent of antipathy for America and all things Amerioan. In his heart the Frenchman has nob forgiven them for the failure of the Panama Canal eohecno, which ho believes was solely due to American interference, but ib was in Franoe that Zallnski found the greatest number of private enterprises profitably en. gaged in manufacturing numerous munitions of war, In this reapeot bo thinks the great American republic might) emulate her younger eieter. Zalinski does not) think the next European war will be initiated by trouble between Germany and France, Ib ia far more likely that dlffleultleg will begin by trouble between Germany and. liusaii*, Everything seems to tend, in fcbafc direefcion. Aβ a ebraw which shows whjph way the wind blows, ZftUpjki mentioned en lnojd.eßt> bo

saw at one of the great, fairs near St. Petersburg. A. flock of trained pigeons were liberated to select from a row of flags of all nations those of the most favoured countries. Time and time again amid the plaudits of the crowd these pigeons flew away with the flags of France, Denmark and the United States in the order named, leaving the flag 3of other nations untouched. But Russia is not prepared for war yet. Zalineki would not dwell long on this point, but he did go so far as to say that she has made no provision ab all for small armaments.

Germany, he thinks, is at presehb the best equipped for a European war. The superiority of the general staff of the German army and the constant drill of her myriads of soldiers in the details of warfare constitute a force which can scarcely be over-estimated. Zalinski cautiously observed that while he believed the young German Emperor sincere in his expressions of a desiro to maintain peace, still he would not regret an opportunity to show what his magnificent army could do if war was inevitable.

England, in Zalinski's opinion, is amplyequipped to defend by land or sea anything she is likely to be called upon to defend. In the event of a European war England may hold the balance of power. Zalinski has nob much faith in the socalled smokeless powder. He has carefully examined the numerous varieties of it tried by France and other nations which he has visited, but so far no smokeless powder has been made which will stand the exposure inevitable in field service. Strange to say, it was from the smaller nations visited, instead of the larger powers—like England, France, and Germany—that Zalinski received the most useful suggestions. Simply because he was from America he was allowed opportunities of investigation which no agent on a similar mission from this side of the Atlantic could have enjoyed.