THE WAR CLOUD.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1429, 15 February 1888, Page 5

THE WAR CLOUD.

The " Standard's" Berlin correspondent telegraphs :— No explanation of the mas« sing of troops on the frontier has yet come from St. Petersburg, and this fact continues to produce much irritation. That the excitement is greater in Berlin than in Vienna is easily explained by the fact that Austro-Hunsiary has to apprehend, if the worst comes to the worst, an attack from one side only, and knows that Germany will certainly s^and at her side, whereas Germany must always be prepared for a simultaneous attack from two directions. The greatest; anxiety is caused, however, not by the known accumulation, of troops on the Polish frontier, but by what is goiny; on behind that line. It i 3 not forgotten here that at the time of the late Turko-Russian war the Russian Army was massed on the frontier at the beginning of winter, to advance only in the following spring. A repetition of these tactics cannot beendur.-d by Austria, who must know what she has to faca. Meanwhile, there is not yet any imminent danger, and till the first shot is fired hopes will still be entertained in Berlin that matters will be peacefully settled. Germany will certainly not be backward in endeavouring to maintain peace ; but the leading statesmen here, as in Vienna are fully convinced that something must be done, in view of the Kussun frontier reinforcements, in order not t<> be t-iken by surprise. The massing of troops, even on the frontier, is, strictly speaking, an internal affair of the Power iv question, in which another Power c«n hardly meddle unless it means war, which it is well known Austria does not. The simplest measure, and that most likely under the circumstances, would be for Austro Hungary to mass similar reinforcements in Galicia. This is a task by no means without difficulty, for communications across the Carpathians are bad ; but it will be done, if necessary, even under the most difficult circumstances.