sian rottenness and corruption. Persistent rumours of
revolutions in Russia were current.

A Vienna telegram published in Berlin[9] informed the German public
that: "News received from Warsaw deny the rumours that a revolution has
broken out in Russian-Poland, but it is true that yesterday the entire
citadel in Warsaw was blown up. Official Russian reports endeavour to
prove that the explosion was caused by lightning. The extent of the
damage is not yet known, but in any case it amounts to hundreds of
thousands of roubles. It is also not certain whether any or how many
lives were lost."

[Footnote 9: _Vossische Zeitung_, July 29th.]

A few days later the German official organ _Norddeutsche Allgemeine
Zeitung_ and the semi-official _Koelnische Zeitung_ published the
following report of the explosion. "According to the statement of the
Governor of Warsaw it was caused by revolutionaries. No proof of this
was forthcoming, therefore it was ascribed to lightning, and as nobody
believed this explanation--there was not a cloud on the sky at the
time--the guilt remained finally with the revolutionaries.

"Now it has been proved, not to the satisfaction of the Russian
authorities of course, that Russian officers of high rank blew the
magazine up, because they would have to supply the troops with
ammunition after the mobilization--and the ammunition was not there. The
money for the same had found its way into the officers' pockets."

On July 30th the _Vossische Zeitung_ announced: "To-day even more
alarming news has been in the air than in the last few days. The _Lokal
Anzeiger_ stated during the afternoon that an order for the mobilization
of the army and navy had been signed by the Kaiser. On making inquiries
in official quarters, we were informed that the 'news' is false. At
three o'clock Wolff's Bureau issued an official _dementi_: 'We have
received an official statement to the effect that the news published in
an extra edition of the _Berliner Lokal Anzeiger_ that the Kaiser had
ordered the general mobilization is untrue.' Great excitement was caused
by the _Lokal Anzeiger's_ announcement, and the public visibly
disquieted."

The above report refers, of course, to incidents which happened on the
preceding day. The 30th of July was marked by the suppression of three
Berlin papers, including the _Berliner Neuester Nachrichten_, for
divulging the fact that the 1st, 5th and 17th Army Corps had been
mobilized. An account o