The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-06-05

| independence VI lEclduus we see Wills plhiuly
enough now, but we we're all blind then.
1t was while we were in this state, with our
ships all over the world, and our little bit of
an army cut up into detachments, that the
Secret Treaty was published, and Holland and
Denmark we're annexed People say now that
we might have escaped the troubles which
came on us If we had at any rate kept quiet
until our other difficulties were settled but
the English were always an impulsive lot; the
whole country was boiling over with indigna-
ton, and the Government, egged on by the
press, and going with the stream, declared
war. We had always got out of scrapes before,
and we believed our old luck and pluck would
somehow pull us through.
Then, of course, there was hustle and hurry
all over the land. Not that the calling up of
the army reserves caused much stir, for l
think there were only about 5000 altogether
and good many of these were not to be
found when the time came but recruiting was
going on all over the country, with tIemeu-
dous high bounty, $4,000 more men having
been voted for the army. Then there was a
ballot bill passed for adding 5000 men to
the militia; why round number was not
fixed on don't know, but the Prime Minis
ter said that this was the exact quota wanted
to put the defenses of the country on a sound
footing. Then the shipbuilding that began
Iron-clads, despatch boats, gunboats, moni-
tors-every building yard in the country got
its job, and they were Offering ten shillings
day wages for anybody who could drive a
rivet. This didn't improve the recruiting
you may suppose. l remember, too, there
was squabble in the House of Commons
about whether artisans should be drawn for
the ballot, as they were so much wanted, and
l think they got an exemption. This sent
numbers to the yards; and if we had had
couple of years to prepare instead of q couple
of weeks, daresay we should have done very
WELL
1t was on Monday that the declaration of
war was announced, and in few hours we
got our first inkling of the sort of preparation
the enemy had made for the event which they
had really brought about, although the actual
declaration was made by US. A pious appeal
to the God of Battles, whom it was said we
had aroused, was telegraphed back; and from
that moment all communication with the
north of Europe was cut off. Our embassies
and legations were packsd off at an hours
notice, and it was as if we had suddenly come
back to the Middle Ages. The dumb aston
lshment visible all over London the next
morning, when the papers came out void of
news, merely limiting at what had happened
was one of the most startling things in this
war of surprises. But everything had been
arranged beforehand; nor ought we to have
been surprised, for we had seen the same
power, only a few months before, move down
half million of men on few days notice,
to conquer the greatest military nation in
Europe, with no more fuss than our War
Office used to make over the transport of a
brigade from Aldershot to Brighton-and
this, too, without the allies it had now.
Of course the papers were not long in get
ting news-even the mighty organization set
at work could not shut out special CORES
pondent; and in few days, although the tsle-
graphs and railways were intercepted right
across Europe, the main facts oozed out. An
embargo had been laid on all the shipping in
every port from the Baltic toOstend; the fleets
of the two great powers had moved out, and
it was supposed were assembled in the great
northern harbor, and troops were hurrying
on board all the steamers detained in those
places, most of which were British vessels. It
was clear that invasion was intended. Even
then we might have been saved if the feet
had been ready. The forts which guarded
the fotilla were perhaps too strong
for shipping to attempt; but an iron
clad or two, handled as British sailors
know how to use them, might have
destroyed or damaged a part of the trans
ports, and delayed the expedition, giving us
what we wanted-time. But then the best
part of the fleet had been decoyed down to
the Dardanelles, and what remained of the
Channel squadron was looking after Fenian
flibusters off the west of Ireland; so it was
ten days before the feet was got together,
and by that time it was plain the enemy's
preparations were too far advanced to be
stopped by coup de main. Information,
which came chiefly through Italy, came
slowly, and was more or less vague and un-
certain; but this much was known, that at
least couple of hundred thousand men were
embarked or ready to be put Ga board ships,
and that the hotilla was guarded by more
iron -clads than we could then muster. sup
pose it was the uncertainty as to the polnt
the enemy would aim at for landing, and the
fear lest he should give US the go-by, that
kept the feet for several days in the Downs,
but it was not until the Tuesday fortnight
after the declaration of war that it weighed
anchor and steamed away for the North Sea.
Of course you have read about the Queens
visit to the feet the day before, and how she
sailed around the ships in her yacht, and
went on board the flagship to take leave of
| the admiral; how, overcome with emotion.
she told him that the safety of the country
was committed to his keeping. You remem-
! ber, too, the gallant old officers reply, and
how all the ships yards were manned, and
how Justify the tars cheered as her Majesty
was rowed off. The account was of course
telegraphed to Lendon, and the high spirits
of the fleet infected the whole town. I was
outside the Charing Cross station when the
| Queens special train from Dover arrived, and
from the cheering and shouting which greeted
her as she drove away you might have
supposed we had already won great victory.
The journals which had gone in strongly for
the army reduction carried out during the
session, and had been nervous and despond-
ing in tone during the past fortnight, sug-
gesting all sorts of compromises as a way of
getting out of the war, came out in very
| iubilant form next morning "Panic-stricken