The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1888-01-08
AUSTRIAN AND RUSSIAN ASSuR-
ANCES OF PEACE.
Negotiations for q Settlement OF
the Balance Of Power.
The Gear Requires the Removal of Prince
Ferdinand and the Election of
New Prince.

| Copyright 1883 by ". Y. Associated Press
| BERLIN, January IA calm which
official and diplomatic circles know to
be deceptive prevails for the moment.
The Austrian and Russian Governments
have exchanged assurances of peace, as
sertions to which nobody attaches the
slightest Importance. The only actual
change in the situation tending toward
peace is the active resumption of negoria-
tions between Count Kalnoky, the Aus
trian Foreign Minister, and Prince
Lobanoff Russian Ambassador at Vienna,
for a settlement of the balance of power
in the Balkan Peninsula. This mitigates
| the crisis and removes the danger of
war, at least for the present, but it does
not modify any of the essential diff
| ferences between the two governments.
sides to end in an exact definition of
their respective demands, such as hereto
| fore has not existed, and from which
may be obtained a valid excuse for war.
THE FIRST STEP.
According to a semi-official dispatch
received from Vienna tonight, Prince
Lobanoff has opened the diplomatic
campaign by proposing as first step to-
ward an entente eordiale the removal of
Prince Ferdinand from the throne of
Bulgaria, under the joint mandate of
the powers, the election of a new prince
by new Sobranje, and reappointment
of Russian officers to the Bulgarian
army. The proposal specifies that the
new prince must be a member of the
orthodox Greek Church, and the So
branje to be so elected as to enable
Russia to recognize it as being legally
constituted.
FOREIGN OFFICE HOLDS ALOOF.
In the meantime the Foreign Office
here holds aloof from negotiations which
are recognized as feelers by Russia
toward other demands. The Cars min
isters already know that Count Kalnoky
will not admit that the Berlin treaty
gives Russia any special right to inter
fere in Bulgaria. They know, also, that
it is impossible to obtain from the pow
ers joint mandate. Baffied on these
points, Russia will not raise a new ques-
ton on the Austrian retention of Bosnia
and Herzegovina. These provinces were
accepted under a purely temporary
title, but are now practically annexed.
Austria will be called upon to evacuate
them, and it is probable that the ques-
ton of their future administration will
be referred to a conference of the pow
ers. An ostensible casus belH, it is an
ticipated, will arise over Austria's re-
fusal to divide the Balkans.
BIsMARK's HANDS TIED.
The lines,o st. Petersburg diplomacy
tend to protracted exchange of views,
thus assisting the plans of the Russian
stzategists, who are unwilling to risk war
until summer. No time would be given
to Russia to complete her preparations if
Bismarck had q free hand, but divisions
within the imperial family are increas-
ing The weakness of the Emperor and
the renewed activity of the anti-Bis-
feeble and retard the development of the
German policy. Only the determination
of Austria can now precipitate war. If
the Kalnoky Government is too timid to
cut short negotiations and demand the
reason for the concentration of Russian
troops on the frontier, Russia can select
her time for rupture.
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR.
Meanwhile, despite semi-official assur-
RANGES to the contrary. war preparations
Tha
arsenal is working day and night, at
Kovno more extensive earthworks and
detached forts are being constructed
and the defenses of Ivangorvel are be-
ing armed with heavy guns. The Cra-
COW papers report that the Russians are
erecting a bridge at the junction of the
San with the Vistula and are forming
report that four thousand ambulance
beds were distributed last week along
the stations ON the Vistula line. That a
military intelligence bureau has been es-
tablished at Piotrkoh and that valuables,
pictures and art treasures in the imperial
residences in Poland are being removed
to the interior of Russia
Another strong coiumn OF troops mas
been concentrated in the Lubin district.
Another division of calvary has left Kis-
cheneff and division of grenadiers has
gone from Riga Both divisions are
bound for Poland. The total force of
| Russians in the Warsaw, wilma and
| Kieff districts, according to military
estimates, reaches 325 900 men with 1a0
guns. Cavalry regiments stationed inn
mediately on the frontier are being sup
Piled with rations on the same scale as
during an actual campaign. The cost to
the Russian treasury is also equal to war
cost Everything points to the concur
sion that the Czar means to inforce his
terms, if not by diplomacy then by war.
ENGLAND's ATTITUDE
The attitude Of England in the event
of hostilities will lie one of friendly
neutrality. This fact is known to the
Berlin foreign officers No overtuies
have ever been made by the German
Government for England's cooperation
in the triple alliance.