accommodation, and has landed us here in less than six days since we
left England. I am just remaining on board to finish this dispatch to
you, and beyond expressing the satisfaction of all on board with the
treatment we have received from officers and men, and with the
arrangements of the company, I have only one remark of any importance to
make. All who have known the inconveniences and delay which have
hitherto attended the voyage to Canada agree that it is a disgrace to
the Empire that no steamers of the class of the _Teutonic_ are available
to complete the circle of our connection round the world. I have just
been on shore and seen the accommodation which is provided for us by the
Canadian Pacific Railway. Nothing can be more perfect than the
arrangements for the convenience both of officers and men. If only
passengers could start from England and sail here through the splendid
scenery of the St. Lawrence up to this quaint old town, and thence pass
by this excellent railway, there can be no doubt that travellers, to the
East at all events, whether for China, Australia, New Zealand, or even
India, would come this way rather than by New York, or any other line.
As it is, numbers now cross to New York, join the Canadian Pacific by
way of Montreal, and complete their journey in that way to the East. I
can only hope, and I express the wishes of all, that no time may be lost
in establishing, with the aid of a Government subsidy, a really
effective line of steamers from England to Quebec. Here the trains were
drawn up by the side of the steamer. The men marched straight into the
carriages, the baggage, for the transhipment of which large gangs of men
were at hand, was put upon the trains within five hours and fourteen
minutes. Precisely at that interval after the steamer had come
alongside, the first of the three trains employed steamed out of the
station amid the cheers of the crowd which had gathered to see the men
off.
It must be remembered that when the party of Marines and Blue-Jackets,
who were the pioneers of this line among the military forces, came here
in December, they necessarily landed in Halifax. We have, therefore,
saved on that expedition three hundred miles of dreary railway travel by
the Intercolonial Railway.
VANCOUVER, _June 5_.
We have finished our journey across the continent, and are all as
thoroughly content with our railway trip as with our voyage to Quebec. I
enclose you several sketches which will show you the accommodation
provided for the men, and some of the scenes on the train. What has
interested us most, both in what we have seen and what we have heard at
the different stations that we have stopped at, is the amazing
development which is taking place throughout the whole of this country.
The old Ontario farmers appear to be all on the move farther westwards.
Splendid as is that province they appear to prefer to sell off the farms
they have made at the best rate they can, and to move on to the rich new
lands which are available in the north-west. One hears of men here, who,
with their own hands, having three horses with all sorts of improved
machinery, but no other assistance, have actually sown a hundred acres
of wheat this spring. It is said here that in a very few years this
region will be able to supply a surplus grain crop for England equal to
the surplus product of the whole of the United States.
[Illustration:
TOMMY ATKINS BARGAINING WITH THE INDIANS ON THE CANADIAN PACIFIC
RAILWAY.
]
We were naturally a good deal interested in making inquiries about the
prospects of the great railway itself, which has done so much for Canada
and become such an important link between different parts of the Empire.
I came over it with the Governor-General’s party which went down to
British Columbia, soon after the railway was opened. The development of
the country itself, of course, is the first thing that strikes me. Green
fields of corn and comfortable homesteads as far as the eye can reach,
where there was nothing but wild prairie! The trains loaded up with corn
of last year’s crop are still travelling eastwards to Quebec, because it
has not been even yet possible to transport it all, so great is the
accumulation. But no less remarkable were the trains travelling
westwards which we passed at the several stations in our rapid transit,
full of farmers, commercial travellers, and others engaged in the
rapidly developing commerce of the country. Great piles of agricultural
implements and household stuff going westward showed that even in those
parts of the line where the land near the railway has been bought up by
speculators, so that cultivation recedes to some distance from it, rapid
development is taking place.
[Illustration:
OUR NEW ROUTE TO INDIA: RATIONS ON THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY.
]
The next thing that struck me was the immense improvement that has been
steadily effected in the permanent way of the line. Steel bridges
substituted for temporary wooden structures, embankments that have taken
the place of mere tressels, are visible all along the route; and one
sees the work steadily going on. Then gradients have everywhere been
eased and curves lessened, so that the traffic facilities have
marvellously improved. Of course the improvement is most marked over
that part of the line where traffic is heaviest. The great stretch
between Ottawa and Port Arthur is now in most excellent condition. The
work proceeds steadily westward as the traffic necessities call for it.
We are now just about to embark on the _Empress of China_. The
Government had insisted upon two of the Empress steamers being detained
at Victoria for fear accommodation should not be sufficient. But, with
the adaptations made by the company, the _Empress of China_ alone proved
ample, and as it was much more convenient to have the whole party
together, we are all embarking on her.
CALCUTTA, _June 29_.
We sailed before midnight on the 5th, and have just arrived after a most
successful voyage. The only regret of the captain, which was by no means
shared by any of us, was that at this time of the year he had no chance
of letting us see what a fine seaboat the _Empress of China_ is. He
boasts that the way she weathered some very bad typhoons last year was
splendid. No doubt, from a seaman’s point of view, that may be very
desirable; but we are quite content to have had a June passage over
smooth seas, and with never anything much more than an occasional fresh
breeze. The mail is just leaving, and you will know much more than I do
of what has been going on out here. I hear the siege of Herat is making
little progress, the Russians having had great difficulties in getting
up any heavy artillery.
CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES—FRANCE AND GERMANY.
_December 31, 1892._
The Great War has come to an end. The preliminaries of peace have been
signed. We have, therefore, now only to record the events in different
parts of the world which have brought this about. In the first place,
during that lull in the conflict on the Continent which we recorded in
our last reports, for many weeks an almost complete silence fell over
the centre of Europe. Commercial relations, in their modern sense, were
almost entirely suspended.
The German Government, recognising the impossibility of cutting off the
sources of news as long as the telegraphs were used at all, had, for a
great emergency, paralysed all the communications of Europe by stopping
all telegraphic messages along a broad belt extending from the Vistula
to the Rhine, and somewhat beyond those limits. No one knew what was
going on; till suddenly the French forces advancing into Alsace-Lorraine
became aware that the German Armies in their front had almost doubled
their strength.
The Italian Army, warned of the great reinforcement which had taken
place, began to show a formidable and renewed activity. The English
Fleet, completely superior at sea since the victory of Sardinia,
vigorously enforced the blockades of the French Ports. The Belgian
Government now maintained a rigid line of observation along the whole of
its frontier. Similarly Spain exercised a vigilant guardianship over all
communications through the Pyrenees. France, isolated, suffering greatly
from the enormous disturbance caused by the war, and finding her
Generals unable to pursue the successes which had appeared for a moment
to attend her arms, was becoming restless and discontented. The
statesmen at the head of affairs, by no means anxious to see a
successful soldier emerge from the war as their master, far from
interfering with the growth of the popular impression that any further
success was exceedingly problematical, encouraged it secretly in every
way. The Prefects, in fact, had orders to allow no news to circulate
which did not tend to discourage further action. Reports of the
overwhelming strength with which the Germans had inundated the
Reichsland, of the consequent danger of the force at Belfort, were
accompanied by suggestions that France had been betrayed by Russia; that
the great gathering of German troops against France could not have taken
place if Russia had acted with proper vigour on the opposite frontier.
It was thrown out, at first covertly, afterwards more and more openly,
that the moment was not opportune for France to engage Europe
single-handed; that the consequences of any serious disaster might be
fatal to France, and that it would be better to be content with the
laurels which had already been gained, and which had restored the honour
of the French arms. Strasbourg, Metz, and the great fortresses in rear
of them, were represented as likely to prove dangerous obstacles to the
advance of the French Army. As the Generals were obliged to delay
action, this feeling grew, till France on her part was quite in a humour
to make peace if it could be concluded on reasonable terms.
The longing for peace in Germany had also become intense. The great
increase of the force against France had been secured only by the
transfer by rail across Europe of the greater part of the army that had
been employed against Russia. For the moment this was a perfectly safe
operation; the Russian Army was in no condition to act effectively, and
the Austrian Army—with the support of the newly-raised Polish troops,
the Roumanian Army, and the Bulgarians, who, having disposed at length
of the troubles in Macedonia, were ready to lend effective aid to their
allies—was fully competent at least to keep the Russians in check, if
and whenever it should again attempt to advance. Nevertheless the
consciousness in Germany that virtually her whole forces were engaged
against France, and that there was little to spare to resist any
movement that might be made by the Russians, kept up a continual feeling
of anxiety. There appeared to be every prospect that Russia might be
seriously crippled, and prevented from again disturbing the peace of
Europe, if peace could now be speedily made. All these considerations
were for many months telling upon the two chief opponents in the
struggle, during a time when no very exciting events were taking place.
ENGLAND AND RUSSIA.
ADJUSTMENT IN THE EAST.
In Asia Minor during the same period decisive events had occurred. After
all the preparations at Trebizonde and in the neighbourhood were not so
purely imaginary as the descent of the English Army on Bulgaria had led
us all to suppose. It appears that ever since the beginning of the War a
vast number of labourers, under the direction of English engineer
officers, had been employed in improving the communications between the
neighbourhood of Erzeroum and Trebizonde. Under the protection of
Moukhtar Pasha’s Army, these preparations had gone on from Erzeroum even
during the time when the Black Sea was temporarily abandoned by the
English Fleet. As soon as it was possible to do so, landing-stages had
been multiplied, and other steps taken to improve the facilities for
disembarking at Trebizonde. By the time that the English Army had
finished its little campaign in Bulgaria, all these improvements were so
far advanced that a light railway had been constructed almost throughout
the whole distance, giving the greatest possible facilities for the
accumulation of supplies. Huts had been built, and a series of stations
arranged for the advance of the English Army in successive bodies as
soon as it landed. The landing itself, however, even with all the
improvements made, could not be a very rapid operation. Thus it was
that, as soon as the surrender of the Russian Army was secured, the
portion of the English Army nearest to the coast, and such troops as had
arrived from England too late to join in the campaign, were at once
dispatched direct to Trebizonde. These were followed by others in
regular succession.
The actual disembarkation at Trebizonde occupied about a fortnight,
being interrupted for about four days by a very dangerous gale, which
obliged the troopers to put to sea. During all that time, however, the
movement inland proceeded rapidly, thanks to the arrangements which had
been previously made. The English Army advanced by rapid stages towards
the neighbourhood of Erzeroum, into a position where it was able to
concentrate within half a day’s march of the left flank of the position,
towards which, in a short time, the Turkish Army slowly and deliberately
fell back. The front of the English Army was at right angles to that of
the Turkish, and withdrawn from it some four miles, but there was ample
telegraphic communication between the two forces. A few Turkish scouts
under English officers covered the front of the English. The Russians,
in advancing, drove in such of these scouts as they saw. These retired
as if upon the Turks. Others, withdrawn behind the features of the
ground, were not observed.
The Russians made a mistake not very different from, but much more fatal
than, that which they committed in 1877, when they advanced against
Moukhtar Pasha, ignoring the force that was threatening the
communications of their left wing. In that case Moukhtar had designedly
fallen back in order to facilitate the operations against them of the
Van force. In the present instance he similarly retired in order to
facilitate the aggressive movement of the English Army, of whose
presence within the region of operations they were as little aware as
they had been in 1877 of the approaching arrival of the Van force. They
had much more excuse in the present instance for not knowing of the
existence of the English column, both because all its previous doings
had been completely concealed from them, while the movements of the Van
force in 1877 were known in every intelligence department in Europe, and
also because the English Army had only recently and very rapidly arrived
at the prepared rendezvous. The Russian Army, therefore, finding
Moukhtar Pasha in a position apparently open to attack, and presenting
facilities especially for the turning of his left flank, towards which
all his dispositions tempted them, committed themselves boldly to a
movement in that direction, employing a very large portion of their
force in an extended movement round his left. According to an agreement
between the Turkish Commander and the English General, the Russian Army
was allowed to involve itself for nearly two hours in an apparently very
successful attack upon the centre and left of the Turkish position.
All its movements had been well reported, by help of the dirigible
balloon which had been captured from the Russians in Varna. Lord
Wolseley was therefore able to determine with some accuracy the right
moment for making an attack with his entire strength, first upon the
flank and rear of the right wing of the Russians; and when the latter,
completely surprised and attacked on all sides, because of the
simultaneous advance of the Turks, were broken and thrown into hopeless
disorder, he was able by simply advancing his front to drive the
fugitives in upon the hitherto untouched centre, which in its turn,
assailed in flank by the English Army, and in front by the left wing and
centre of the Turkish, was crushed. Thus the left wing was left a
helpless prey to the armies which now triumphantly occupied the field.
The English Government, made anxious by the protests which had been
directed against a campaign in Asia Minor or the Caucasus, had ordered
Lord Wolseley not to remain more than a month on shore unless in the
very heat of operations at the time. As the crushing defeat of the
Russian Army had left Moukhtar Pasha in absolute command of the whole
field of operations as far as Kars, and as it was exceedingly unlikely
that, after such a defeat, the Russians would be able, in their
exhausted condition, to place another army in the field against him, the
Turkish General was well content to carry on the war for himself. The
English troops, therefore, were simply placed in healthy quarters until
instructions for their future disposition should be received. The
immediate object with which England had engaged in the war having been
secured by the relief of Bulgaria and the defeat of the Russians in Asia
Minor, it was decided to recall the army home. It was considered that a
victorious force, easily made up again to 70,000 strong by home
reinforcements, might become an important element in assisting the
Belgians to bring that additional pressure upon France which might be
necessary in order to ensure the acceptance of satisfactory terms of
peace.
This further blow in Asia Minor, and the exhausted condition of his
country, induced the Czar to make the preliminary proposals for a
general peace. It was very soon found, however, that practically Russia
was isolated—France was thoroughly disenchanted with the alliance.
Russia had attempted too much and too many things at first, and had
consequently suffered everywhere. It was evident that, if on the merits
of the question either of the two allies was to suffer, it was Russia
who would have to pay the piper. The Austrian and German Governments
were too deeply pledged to the Poles, and had too much interest in being
secure from Russian aggression, not to insist definitely upon the
creation of Poland into a buffer State. Though Russia demurred to these
terms as long as she could, the unanimity of the allies in insisting
upon them, and the secret sympathy with Poland of a large proportion of
the French people, obliged her to give way.
THE SERVICES OF ENGLAND.
England insisted as a preliminary to all discussion of peace proposals
that the Russians should vacate absolutely all the territory of
Afghanistan, and retire to the previously deliminated frontier. The
services which England had rendered to the Alliance, even as they appear
on the surface of the story, were sufficiently considerable. The
original purpose of Russia had been to attack Bulgaria. Thanks to the
facility with which her fleet had cut the communications of the Russian
Army that landed there, and had limited the force which Russia was able
to employ, it had fallen to the lot of the English to do what no other
army could have done with equal facility, that is, render the necessary
assistance to the Bulgarians, occupied as they had been by the
Macedonian troubles. The facilities for striking right and left
presented by the command of the sea has enabled her to deliver the
second deadly blow in combination with the Turkish army in Asia Minor.
But, apart from the enormous general value which England’s command of
the sea conferred upon the Central Alliance, these were by no means the
only or the most important services which England had directly rendered
towards strengthening the land forces of the Continental powers. Up to
the time of the battle of Sardinia it would have been impossible for the
Italian army to advance against France at all. Her whole coast line,
without the defence of the English fleet, would have been at the mercy,
not only of the French Fleet, but of an expeditionary force of the
French Army; and the Italian Army, in order to be able to meet such an
attack wherever it might be made, must be all kept at home. Now, at the
critical moment, when Germany was hurrying up every man that she could
to the frontier to check the advance of the victorious French, it was
precisely the fact that the whole Italian Army was available to join her
in moving against France, which created that excess of force that France
was not able to resist.
Moreover, it gradually came to be known that, without being aware of it
at the time, the English Fleet in the Baltic had conferred another
all-important service upon Germany on land as much as at sea. It
appeared that the object with which the French and Russian fleets were
endeavouring to clear the Baltic of all German men-of-war was twofold.
In the first place, if they had succeeded, the Russian Fleet was
intended to co-operate with the Russian Army advancing from Kovno in an
attack upon the German defences on the Baltic—Memel, Königsberg, and
Dantzig. But this was not all. There was a considerable Russian force
available at the beginning of the war for which it was impossible to
provide transport and supplies towards the German frontier. This had
been gathered along the Baltic ports of Russia, with a view to its being
transported into Denmark. The Danish Army had been gathered along the
fortified frontier of the kingdom, Denmark having declared herself
neutral in the struggle. As soon as the Russian force had landed and
advanced towards the frontier, the Danish Army would have joined the
Russian. At an opportune moment a declaration would have been issued
simultaneously by France and Russia, setting forth the wrongs which
Germany had inflicted upon Denmark, and declaring that Russia and France
were resolved to see justice done her. A French expeditionary force
formed of troops which could not, in the blocked condition or the
railways (already filled with ample numbers of troops and stores), be
transported from west to east of France, had gathered in the western
ports. This was to be transported as rapidly as possible to reinforce
the Russo-Danish Army. Thus, a large army would have been collected
within the frontiers of Denmark, where it would be completely in rear of
the general line of German defence along the frontier. It might even
threaten, at a time when the German forces were pushed out east and
west, to move upon the unguarded capital of Berlin; or at least to break
up and destroy railways and telegraphs essential to the forces gathered
on the French frontier. All these dangers had been removed by the action
of the English Fleet, which, when joining the German in the Baltic, had
given command to the Central Allies of the sea communications.
Under these circumstances it was not difficult for the English
Government to insist that, as a preliminary to all discussion of peace
negotiations, every Russian soldier should evacuate the territories of
Afghanistan. If the Indian bazaars had been fluttered by the temporary
advance of the Russian Army to Herat, the compensation was ample. The
ignominious withdrawal of the Russian Army was not the less effective
because it was in exact accordance with the proclamation which had been
made at home and in India, at the beginning of the war. Nor did it tell
less on the native mind, because two English officers had alone appeared
to be directly opposed to the might of Russia; while the whole English
Army along the frontier had remained intact, and had not had occasion to
put forth its strength.
GENERAL EFFECTS OF THE WAR.
In order to explain our negotiations with France, it is necessary to
give an account of the fate of the Australian expedition against New
Caledonia. The French, fully aware that the expedition had been tardily
sanctioned from home, and forewarned by the noisy preparations which had
preceded its departure, had ordered a powerful fleet, gathered from all
quarters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, to rendezvous in the
neighbourhood of New Caledonia. The force thus gathered was so superior
to any which the colonists could muster that, in order to avoid being
simply blown out of the water, the expedition had to beat an ignominious
retreat. It was a first point in the negotiations with France for the
Home Government to secure arrangements in reference to Caledonia
satisfactory to the Australian colonists. Indeed, so far as we were
concerned, the restoration of Sierra Leone, and a final and definite
settlement of the Newfoundland Question, were all that we had to demand
in addition to this settlement of the Colonial question.