On the 20th of April, 1916, a number of transports arrived at Marseilles carrying a large number of Russian troops for the support of France. The troops had come by water through the East. Russian troops continued to arrive in France for some time afterwards. [Illustration] _THE DEATH'S HEAD HUSSAR AT VERDUN_ * * * * * In short, with ever-ebbing vigor, the German Army is smashing its head against the walls of Verdun. The weight and vigor of the blows decrease, but the suicidal mania continues. Two months have passed since the early success of the German attack ended with the capture of Vaux village. Each resumption of the attempt to take Verdun since that time has been a cause for increasing wonder. What is there about this enterprise that has turned it into a fatal obsession, from which the German high command cannot escape, however great the cost of continuance? _From the Paris Figaro. April, 1915._ [Illustration] _SIR JUDAS CASEMENT_ * * * * * On April 24 Sir Roger Casement, a former Consul General, was captured in the act of trying to land German arms on the west coast of Ireland. He had been conveyed thither in a German submarine, with two Irish soldiers from German prisons. A German auxiliary cruiser loaded with 20,000 rifles and ammunition was taken and sunk at the same time. The vessel was sunk by its own men, and the twenty-two German bluejackets on board were made prisoners.... Casement had last been heard of in Germany, where he had attempted to induce Irish prisoners of war to join an anti-British expedition to Ireland. Testimony at his preliminary trial in London subsequently showed that on Good Friday he had landed near Tralee from the German submarine U-19 with a soldier named Bailey and another named Monteith. In "McKinna's Fort" he was seen to drop a paper containing a code and the words: "Await further instructions. Have decided to stay. Further ammunition and rifles are needed. Send another ship." The small collapsible boat in which he and his companions had landed also helped to betray them, and Casement and Bailey were arrested before they could get away in the automobile which was waiting for them. _Current History, New York._ [Illustration] _GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND_ * * * * *