nation does not desire war but is ready to make any sacrifice to realize
her aspirations.
RUMANIA.
Feb. 19--There is much uneasiness throughout the nation as Parliament
reopens after a recess.
Feb. 20--Russian Minister to Rumania reports to the Russian Foreign
Minister that, as far as he can gather, Rumania intends to continue her
policy of armed neutrality and that Russia should not rely upon Rumanian
co-operation.
Feb. 23--The nation is alarmed by the revival of the traditional Russian
policy of obtaining command of Constantinople and the straits; Rumania
stands for the internationalization of Constantinople, the Bosporus, and
the Dardanelles, free passage of the Dardanelles being held vital for
her existence.
RUSSIA.
Feb. 2--Six German subjects and two Russians are sentenced to prison for
collecting funds for German Navy; Government issues statement giving
instances of alleged German cruelties to Russians in Germany after
declaration of war.
Feb. 3--Girl who fought in nineteen battles is awarded the St. George's
Cross.
Feb. 4--It is stated that regimental chaplains sometimes lead men in
charges after the officers are killed or wounded.
Feb. 9--Lvov (Lemberg) to be recognized as Russian; Sir Edward Grey may
send British commercial attaché there; Duma opens; Foreign Minister
Sazonof assails Germany and declares that her intrigues caused the war.
Feb. 10--Resolution is unanimously adopted by the Duma declaring that
the Russian Nation is determined to carry on the war until such
conditions have been imposed on the enemy as will insure the peace of
Europe; Prof. Paul N. Milukoff, speaking in the Duma in behalf of the
Constitutional Democrats, says that the principal task is the
acquisition of Constantinople and the straits.
Feb. 13--Duma adopts resolutions asking war relief for provinces
suffering from the war and an inquiry by commission into enemies'
alleged violations of international law; the session is suspended until
not later than the middle of December.
Feb. 20--It is planned to put war prisoners to work.
Feb. 24--Russian Ambassador at Washington presents to United States
Government a "mémoire" dealing with atrocities and violations of the
laws and usages of war alleged to have been committed by German and
Austro-Hungarian armies along the Polish and East Prussian frontiers;
the communication is also delivered to other neutral Governments, and it
is planned to bring it before all the Red Cross societies of the world.
Feb. 26--Consul in London says men living abroad will be held liable for
military service.
SERBIA.
Feb. 15--Prince Alexine Karageorgevitch of Serbia arrives in London with
photographs in support of charges of atrocities alleged to have been
committed against Serbian women and children by Austrians during the
Austrian occupation.
TURKEY.
Feb. 1--There is widespread suffering in Palestine and Syria.
Feb. 3--Abdul Hamid advises peace.
Feb. 6--Archives of the Porte are moved to Asia Minor; Field Marshal von
der Goltz's rule is stated to be absolute; it is reported that
able-bodied men are exempted from service on payment of money.
Feb. 13--The Russians hold a total of 49,000 Turkish prisoners of war,
according to estimates from Petrograd; a strict mail censorship prevails
in Syria.
Feb. 15--Officers who conspired to stop the war are court-martialed.
Feb. 16--French Vice Consul at Sana is freed from detention.
Feb. 20--Jerusalem authorities are ordered to guard non-Moslems as a
result of intervention of United States Ambassador Morgenthau.
Feb. 21--More reserves are called out; bitterness toward Germans is
being expressed in Syria.
Feb. 27--At a Cabinet Council in Constantinople it was decided to
transfer the seat of Government to Broussa in Asia Minor.
UNITED STATES.
Feb. 2--Werner Horn, a German, tries to blow up the Canadian Pacific
Railroad bridge over the St. Croix River between Vanceboro, Me., and New
Brunswick; attempt is a failure, bridge being only slightly damaged; he
is arrested in Maine; Canada asks for his extradition.
Feb. 5--Horn sentenced to jail for thirty days on the technical charge
of injuring property, several windows in Vanceboro having been broken by
the explosion.
Feb. 24--R.P. Stegler, a German naval reservist, confesses to Federal
authorities in New York, when arrested, details of alleged passport
frauds by which German spies travel as American citizens, and charges
that Capt. Boy-Ed, German Naval Attaché at Washington, is involved;
Federal Grand Jury in Boston begins inquiry to determine whether Horn
violated law regulating interstate transportation of explosives.
Feb. 25--Capt. Boy-Ed denies the truth of statements made by Stegler
involving him; Stegler is held for alleged obtaining of a United States
passport by fraud; two other men under arrest.
Feb. 28--German Embassy at Washington issues a statement characterizing
Stegler's allegations about Capt. Boy-Ed as "false and fantastic," and
"of a pathological character," and hinting at attempted blackmail.
RELIEF WORK.
Feb. 2--It is planned to send a Belgian relief ship with supplies
donated wholly by the people of New York State; France facilitates entry
of tobacco sent by Americans as gift to French soldiers; organization is
formed in New York called the War Relief Clearing House for France and
Her Allies to systematize shipment of supplies.
Feb. 3--Russia permits supplies to be sent to captives, but Russian
military authorities will do the distributing.
Feb. 4--Steamer Aymeric sails with cargo of food from twelve States for
Belgium.
Feb. 5--Russia refuses to permit relief expeditions to minister to
German and Austrian prisoners in Siberia; the United States asks that an
American doctor be permitted to accompany Red Cross supplies to observe
their distribution; American Commission for Relief in Belgium is sending
food to some towns and villages of Northern France in hands of the
Germans, where the commission's representatives have found distressing
conditions.
Feb. 7--New York women plan to equip a lying-in hospital for destitute
mothers of Belgium.
Feb. 10--Steamer Great City sails with supplies for the Belgians
estimated to be worth $530,000, this being the most valuable cargo yet
shipped; the shipment represents gifts from every State, 50,000 persons
having contributed; Rockefeller Foundation is negotiating in Rumania for
grain for people of Poland.
Feb. 12--American Girls' Aid Society sends apparel to France sufficient
to clothe 20,000 persons.
Feb. 13--Otto H. Kahn lends his London residence for the use of
soldiers and sailors who have been made blind during the war.
Feb. 14--Rockefeller Foundation reports that the situation in Belgium is
without a parallel in history; Commission for Relief announces that it
is possible to send money direct from United States to persons in
Belgium.
Feb. 16--Queen Mary sends letter of thanks for gifts to the
British-American War Relief Committee; American Red Cross sends a large
consignment of supplies to Russia and Poland.
Feb. 19--London Times Fund for the sick and wounded passes the
$5,000,000 mark, thought in London to be a record for a popular fund;
steamer Batiscan sails with donations from thirty States; Red Cross
ships seventeen automobile ambulances for various belligerents donated
by students of Yale and Harvard.
Feb. 22--Sienkiewicz and Paderewski appeal through Paris newspapers for
help for Poland.
Feb. 23--Rockefeller Foundation's report to Industrial Commission shows
an expenditure of $1,009,000 on war relief up to Jan. 1; food, not
clothes, is Belgium's need, so the Commission for Relief in Belgium
announces from London office.
Feb. 24--Plans are made for American children to send a ship to be known
as the "Easter Argosy--a Ship of Life and Love" with a cargo for the
children of Belgium.
Feb. 25--Queen Alexandra thanks British-American War Relief Committee.
Feb. 26--The American Belgian Relief Fund is now $946,000.
Feb. 27--Doctors and nurses sail to open the French Hospital of New York
in France.
THE GREAT SEA FIGHT.
By J. ROBERT FOSTER.
In my watch on deck at the turn of the night
I saw the spindrift rise,
And I saw by the thin moon's waning light
The shine of dead men's eyes.
They rose from the wave in armor bright,
The men who never knew fear;
They rose with their swords to their hips strapped tight,
And stripped to their fighting gear.
I hauled below, but to and fro
I saw the dead men glide,
With never a plank their bones to tow,
As the slippery seas they ride.
While the bale-star burned where the mists swayed low
They clasped each hand to hand,
And swore an oath by the winds that blow--
They swore by the sea and land.
They swore to fight till the Judgment Day,
Each night ere the cock should crow,
Where the thunders boom and the lightnings play
In the wrack of the battle-glow.
They swore by Drake and Plymouth Bay,
The men of the Good Hope's crew,
By the bones that lay in fierce Biscay,
And they swore by Cradock, too--
That every night, ere the dawn flamed red,
For each man there should be twain
Upon the ships that make their bed
Where England rules the Main.
They pledged--and the ghost of Nelson led--
When the last ship's gunner fell,
They would man the guns--these men long dead--
And ram the charges well.
So we'll choose the night for the Great Sea Fight
Nor ever give chase by day,
Our compeers rise in the white moonlight,
In the wash of the flying spray;
And if we fall in the battle-blight,
The shade of a man long dead
Fights on till dawn on the sea burns bright
And Victory, overhead!