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EUROPEAN WAR DEVELOPMENTS. The people of Herliu were aroused to enthusiasm by the otlleial announcement of a great Austro-German victory over the Russians in Poland south of the Vistula. Hunting was displayed everywhere.-Petrt.grad admits the loss of 120.000 .men in the lighting around Lodz. The lirst intimation of th2 nature and extent of the Russian defeat was received at Herlin Wednesday evening and circulate! in official quarters, but nothing was known of U generally until the otlicial bulletin was published Thursday. It is known now that thousands ot Russians have been taken prisoners. The Lokal An-zeiger, commenting on the news of a German victory in Poland, says: "Never since this old earth has had a history has such a gigantic battle been fought. Seldom iu centuries lias there been an vent of such decisive importance. The battle of Poland will be classed in history among the victories of the first rank. It will be mentioned In the same breath with the battle of Salamis and Iipslc." The Germans are pressing the Russians bard on the river Hzura," says a London Daily Mail dispatch frpni Petrograd. "The mobility of the German forces gives them a superiority over numbers. They are making the most strenuous efforts towards Warsaw, with troops aggregating 750,000 men." "Persistent attacks by great masses of German troops have compelled a regrouping of our army west of Warsaw," says the Russian Army Messenger. "The enemy is suffering heavy iosses in Ills offensive against the Kazunpolski-Teresiu-Skierniewice front, where our artillery is repulsing his massed attacks." This statement by the ollicial organ of the Russian military establishment confirms the German announcement that the czars troops have- been driven bnck iu Poland. The German war office gave out an ollicial statement as follows: "The lighting in Nieunort continues favorable, but no decision yet has been leached, The French attacks between La Biissce and Arras and ou lwth sides of the river Somme have resulted in failure, with severe losses to the enemv. On the Somme the French lost 1.200 men in prisoners and at least 1,800 in dead: our own losses were under 200. In the Argonne forest our successful attack resulted in the capture of some 7.500 prisoners iu addition to war material. There have been no important developments elsewhere on the western front." The French war office gave out an official communication as follows: The day of Dec. 17 was marked, as we said yesterday, by an advauce on our 1 i part in Belgium, where every, counter attack undertaken by the enemy failed. -.In the region of Arras a vigorous offensive made -us masters of several trenches. These are located M Auchy, La Bassee. St. Laurent and Blangy. At the last mentioned place we occupied a front more than one kilometer long, almost all the first line trenches of the enemy. In the region of Tracy-le-Val. ou the Alsne, and iu Champagne our heavy artillery won- distinct advantages. In the Argonne the -Germans blew up one of our trenches to the north Of Four de Paris and endeavored to move out from their position with three battalions of troops. This infantry -attack, as well as the one they undertook at St. Hubert, was repulsed. To the east of the Meuse and, iu the Vosges there is nothing to report." A short, fierce battle was fought in the fog off the Yorkshire coast between a mosquito fleet of British light cruisers and destroyers and the powerful squadron of the German licet which was tieeing from the wrecked cities of Hartlepool, .Scarborough, and Whitby. Soiner of the liglisllliipSsWere damaged and their wounded have been landed. No official information of the extent of the casualties has been given out at London. Aii official dispatch from Berlin says that during-the sea fight following the raid on the British coast the German cruiser sahl: two British destroyers and that others were badly damaged. On his arrival at Ityirie, Prince von Bulow, the former imperial German chancellor, and now ambassador to Italy, was informed of the lxnn-bardnient of the English coast by German ships, but showed no surprise. He said this achievement had been arranged for prior to his departure from Berlin, and added: "This is simply the prelude to what the German fleet is soon to undertake, whicu may astonish the world." It is officially reported at Berlin that the German vessels which bombarded Hartlepool. ScarlKtrough, and Whitby were hit several times by the coast batteries, but that the damage was slight. The German cruisers sent to the bottom off the Falkland Islands on Dec. S were taken unawares by the British at a time when neither side was expecting an encounter. It was a formidable British squadron which faced the Germans. Included in it were the battleship Canopus, the battle cruisers Invincible and Inflexible, and the cruisers Kent. Cornwall, Carnarvon, Bristol and Glasgow. It far outmatched in strength the German squadron, consisting of the five cruisers Scharnborst, Gneisenau. Leipzig. Nurnberg, and Dresden. After the battie the British picked up 194 Germans, including a few officers. Of these survivors 100 were from the crews of the two German colliers. An opportunity to surrender was offered the Colliers, but it was refused and they were sunk. The cruiser Cornwall was damaged slightlv below the water line. None of the other British warships was damaged. On Dec. 10 funeral services were held for the eight British sailors who were killed, in the presence of the commanders and crews of the squadron. The London Dailv Chronicles Dover- correspondent savs the allies advanced to Ostend after the shells of the allied warships made the German position there untenable. Long range fighting in Belgium has been replaced by hand to hand conflicts. Bayonet charges on the part of the allies are numerous and bv this manner of fighting they have driven the Germans back. That the fighting is severe is Indicated by the number of wounded reaching tne hospitals of both the German and the allies. Correspondents report that the hospitals are again filling up, while along the Dutch border continuous firing can be heard. The German and French official communications do not disclose much of what is going on, but it is known that the- ullfes are still on the offensive from the coast to La Bassee and at various other points along the front: An official Vienna announcement says the Russians are retreating along the entire front in Galicia and Poland. Another otlicial communication says: "The latest news permits of no further doubt that the resistance of the Russian main force has been shattered. After the defeat of the southern-wing in the battle of Limanovo, which lasted several days, our allies also gained a victory .near Lodz. The Russians are now completely routed on the river Hzura. Threatened bv our advance across the Carpathians from the south, the enemy begau a general retreat which they are trying to cover by stubborn fighting in the regions before the Carpathians. Our troops are attacking on the Hue of Grodno-Zakliczyu. Along the other parts or the front the -pursuit has begun." There will be a number of einpty seats in both houses when the French parliament meets on Dec. 22. Those of Senator Emile Raymond and Deputies Pierre Gougon, Edouard Nortter and Paul Proust, who were killed In battle, Will be draped in crape. Tbere are a number of senators and deputies iu the territory occupied by Germany and the French government has been trying to communicate with theai through the Spanish embassy In Berlin,; but so far unsuccessfully. In Antwerp the Germans are preparing for a great influx of troops. Seventy thousand men are expected. The landwehr men say they , are leaving U: be replaced by young volunteers. The Germans also are conveying large quantities cf ammunition to tbs reconstructed forts at Waolhatn and Brasscholct. Belgium. Refugees at Rotterdam froni Heyst state the Germans wnrned them to leave for the Netherlands, as something serious was imminent; The long expected proclamation bringing an end to Turkish suzerainty over Egypt and the establishment of a British protectorate over that country was otlielallv issued at Loudon. The lust straw doubtless was the action of the khedlve, who was the sultans representative iu Egypt, but with littl" or no power, in taking sides with Turkey against Great Britain. 4 The sinking of the German cruiser Frjcdrich ICari during a recent sortie in the Baltic Sea was officially announced at Petrograd. The Friedrich Karl struck a mine. About 400 members of the warships crew perished. Two hundred were saved. Th Friedrich Karl was a cruiser of S.S5S tons and was built in Hamburg in 1902. General Louis Botha, premier of the Union of South Africa, considers that thei rebellion, apart from the rounding up of a few stray bands, is at an end. Accordingly lie has gone for a short vacation on ills farm before undertaking a campaign against German Southwest Africa. Tokyo reports that certain British warships have captured those members of the crew of the Germnn cruiser Enidcn who escaped at Cocos island when the cruiser was destroyed Nov. 10 by the Australian cruiser Sydney. The German sailors went to sea in a Cocas island schooner named Ayslia. Assurances have been given the British govern ment by the state department at Washington that the bill introduced by Senator Hitchcock to prohibit entirely the export of munitions of war and arms and war supplies to belligerent countries was not fathered by the administration. According to a Copenhagen dispatch the government there lias ordered all Danish importers of foodstuffs from . America to deposit. w:ith. the government bills of lading and orders, showing, the disposal of these cargoes with a view of preventing any export of food tor Germany?"""- . - Official notices have been Issued at Hull, Eng., calling on patriots to lire "at any person seen signaling with lights, or using lights that can be seen from the sen, whether in the form of a signal or not. on the shore cliffs. According to the Dusseldorfer General Anzeiger, General von Hissing, the German governor general in Belgium, has levied a war contrilmtion of 0, 000,000, payable in twelve monthly installments. Emperor William has completely recovered from his illness and will return to the front this week, according to an ollicial Berlin announcement.
