The Forrest City times., 1891-07-31
FRANCE AND RUSSIA
St. Petersburg Ostente tiously
 Welcoming Visitors.
THE FRENCH FLEET FITTED
A Practical Alliance of France and Rus- sAa as Agaipst tho Dreibund Indi- cated by an Apparently
 Inspired Editorial.

ST. PETERSBURG, July 29.-A great deal of Fin de Steele history is evidently being
 made up between the port of Cronstadt, where, side by side, ride the friendly squadrons of France and Russia, and the grand structure in this city wherein arc located the officers of NJ de Giers, Rus
 sian Minister of Foreign Affairs No
 moro cordial reception has ever been ac- corded by the Russian Government and people to the representative of . foreign power than the one which has during the past week been rendered to Admi ral Ger vais and his officers and sailors. That fact can not be min nimized by the deprsca- tory tone assumed by the press of Eng land
 and that of the nations composing the trpel alliance. A reference to but one or two of the many significant manifest ations which have markci the occasion as an al | together exceptional one will go sufficient ly far to prove the truth of this assertion. It Is probable that cable dispatches have already informed the American people of some of the extraordinary ovations which
 have constantly greeted the visiting Frenchmen from the moment their war | ships came to anchor in Cronstadt road
 stead until the present hour. It may, | however, even at the risk of repetition, be we'll to refer to tho singing of the Marsel laise bv the famous Slavienski choir, ac compapied by the massed bands of the Russian army and navy stationed at the ''lron Port" How rare a compliment this was will be understood when one reflects that there ara grandfathers in St. Peters burg, lovers of inspiring music, too, who | never before heard the grand revolution | ary hymn rendered by men who wore the | uniform of the Car
 1 There Is another case ia point, and one which we'll illustrates the subtlety of the Russian instinct n ind cating how, under certain conditions, very clever things may Do done As is we'll known, there arc in the magnificent gallery of the Winter Palace few military pictures which attract more attention from visitors than does | Sanerwaid's painting entitlei ''The Taking | of Paris by the Allied Armies in 1874. " l Yet, for the present, this picture is not 1 visible. This has been completely hidden | from view by most artistic intermingling 2 | of the standards of France and Russia. | On the other hand the smaller pictures | which have supported kotzebues Taking | of Berlin, Sept mber s, lseon have been temporarily removed, this causing the | portraiture of Prussian humiliation to
 stand out in bold relief. No other pictures
 have been disturbed.
 | It is not SO much, however, of strains
 of music or bygone victories or defeats
 that Russians and French are thinking | of this morning. Excitement has grown | rapidly since yesterday, when. in care | fully prepared and remarkably virile | editorial article, the semi-of,icial Novoe l Vremya haughtily declared, in effect, that, | not with the Dreibun or Lord Salisbury, l but with France and Russia, rests the | fato of Europe. No Russian newspaper dare utter such menace did 1t not do
 so with the approval of the Imperial Gov ernment The editorial in question has done much to create the impression that the preliminaries of a fnal understanding ng
 have been already agreed upon between NJ. Dc Giers, the Russian Prime Minister,
 and NJ. De La Boulaye, the French Embas.
 sador. assisted by Admiral Gervais; con
 sequently attention is concentrated upon the Peterhof Palace. where today the Car gives . grand state dinner to the
 French Admiral and his suite