The Dawning of the Twentieth Century in Europe [pp. 761-772]

I894.] THE DA WNING OF- THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
other places. The garrisons had been drawn off to swell the
armies massed on the German and Austrian frontiers, and only
detachments were left to man the fortresses. These were easily
overpowered by the eager insurgents, and for the first time for
a century the standard of Sobieski was unfurled over the walls
of the Polish capital.
This movement was totally unexpected. It disconcerted the
plans of the czar most materially. The Cossack advance on
Afghanistan was checked, and, many regiments were drawn off
for European service. But a most unaccountable paralysis
seemed to overcome the Russian forces. Indecision was manifested in every movement; troops ordered to one quarter were
suddenly ordered back to another; every day there was something startling. Rumors of court-martials, and wholesale shootings, and banishments to Siberia began to leak out. At last the
truth came to light-the army could not be depended on; it
was honeycombed with Nihilism.
To crown all, Greece, with the help of the French squadron
in the AEgean, made a successful attack upon Turkey.
For six months the conflict raged all around with varying
fortunes but little substantial results to any of the combatants.
A terrific fight between the French and English squadrons
in the English Channel had ended in the sinking of half-adozen ships, by ramming and by the explosion of torpedoes.
The losses were almost equally divided, and the result was a
drawn battle. Horrified at the vast outpouring of blood and
the frightful waste of material resources, the American people
and press at last began to- ask what was the use of it all.
THE POPE AS ARBITER.
The word "arbitration" was upon every tongue, and all
eyes were turned instinctively towards the illustrious occupant
of the Vatican. His was the only voice in the whole world
which would have a chance of being listened to in that pandemonium of passion and universal horror.
The word was spoken, and was at length listened to. A
general armistice was first arranged, and then a conference of
plenipotentiaries was convened in St. Petersburg.
The propositions of each power were formally submitted,
after full instructions from the home governments, and each
plenipotentiary gave a solemn assurance that he w'ould be bound
by the decision which his Holiness, after three months' dis
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