THE DANUBE AND WINTER WARS.
[TO THB EDITOR OF THB"SPECTATOR.']
Sin,—At the present conjuncture of military affairs, many news- paper readers are watching with keen interest to see whether the Danube will be frozen over, and if it be, what effect that meteoro- logical fact will have on the campaign. Already the bridge at Sistova appears to have gone, and it seems reasonable to suppose that ice in the Danube will for some weeks to come be a disturb- ing element of some magnitude in the calculations of Russian Generals.
It is curious to observe that what is now, in these days of heavy artillery, a hindrance, was once a help to invasion. The Gothic waggons in the fourth and fifth centuries seem often to have left their mark upon the frozen later. Claudian says :—
" Mil per terga ferocis
Danubii solidata num% expertaque remos, Frangunt stagna rotis."
(rn ii., 26-28.) And Rome sometimes returned the blow. "Stantemque rota sulcavimus Istrum," Theodosius says to Stilicho, " Cons.
Honorii," 150). And I believe other passages might be found to the same effect. I apprehend that the Danube is much oftener frozen over than the Rhine. If this be so, can any of your readers inform us of the cause ?—1 am, Sir, &c., THOS. HODGKIN.
Benwelldene, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, December 31.
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