That the Dardanelles and Galicia had been offered by Berlin to Petrograd; that Egypt was asked for Turkey, and that the mediation of the Pope was desired on the basis of the restitution of Belgium, were some of the reports which gained currency between Aug. 5, the date of the fall of Warsaw, and Aug. 12, when the Novoe Vremya of Petrograd confirmed the rumors of German overtures for a separate peace with Russia. Almost simultaneously from Petrograd and from Milan announcements that, after the capture of Warsaw, Germany was seriously engaged in preliminary negotiations for the establishment of a peace were published. Besides Galicia and the Dardanelles, the Novoe Vremya said, Germany would guarantee the integrity of the Russian frontiers, at the same time stipulating for Egypt on the pretext of ceding that country to Turkey, and for a free hand to deal with Russia's allies. The report declared that these offers were rejected by the Czar's Government. "_Current History_," _New York._ [Illustration] _THROWN TO THE SWINE_ * * * * * On August 5, 1915, Miss Cavell, an English woman, directress of a large nursing home at Brussels, was quietly arrested by the German authorities and confined in the prison of St. Gilles on the charge that she had aided stragglers from the Allied Armies to escape across the frontier from Belgium to Holland, furnishing them with money, clothing and information concerning the route to be followed. * * * * * We reminded him (Baron Von der Lancken) of the burning of Louvain and the sinking of the _Lusitania_, and told him that this murder would stir all civilized countries with horror and disgust. Count Harrach broke in at this with the rather irrelevant remark that he would rather see Miss Cavell shot than have harm come to one of the humblest German soldiers, and his only regret was that they had not "three or four English old women to shoot." * * * * * The day brought forth another loathsome fact in connection with the case. It seems the sentence of Miss Cavell was not pronounced in open court. Her executioners, apparently in hope of concealing their intentions from us, went into her cell and there behind locked doors pronounced sentence upon her. It is all a piece with the other things they have done. HUGH GIBSON, _First Secretary of the American Legation at Brussels._ [Illustration] _THE MARTYRED NURSE_ _William_: "_Now you can bring me the American protest_" * * * * * Even when I was ready to abandon all hope, Leval was unable to believe that the German authorities would persist in their decision, and appealed most touchingly and feelingly to the sense of pity for which we looked in vain. HUGH GIBSON, _First Secretary American Legation at Brussels_.