RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXX, Issue 1799, 8 April 1904, Page 3

RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.

KOREA. Mr Angus Hamilton has published an interesting book Settling with travels in Korea, the kingdom that seems likely to be made a battleground by Japan and Russia. In Korea, it appears, all mountains are personified, and every village oilers .sacrifice to the mountain spirits. The impression prevails among the natives that people are born in accordance with the conformation of the hills upon which the tombs af their ancestors are situated. Hough and rugged contours make for militant men, smooth surfaces and gentle descents breed scholars, and peaks of singular charm and position are associated with beautiful women. Naturally, therefore, there i.; considerable competition for burial places on suitable liills. The Koreans have a fine disregard for microbes. Iy Seoul, the capital, the jewellers' shops hung above one of the main sewers, the cabinetmakers occupy both sides of a thoroughfare fringed with large anil exceedingly filthy cesspools, and the meat shops are adjacent to the main drains. Women occupy a curious position. It is regarded as a scandal if a woman of 120 years is not married, and while women of tile upper classes may practise medicine, conduct wineshops, teach, and do sundry tilings for a living, tliey may on no account sell fruit or vegetables or mnnu fncl nre lace or cloth. The administration of government is theoretically in the hands of the Emperor, but in practice it is under the control of local authorities. Justice is certainly not tempered with mercy in Korea, 'the customary punishment for treason, which may mean merely the adoption of a disrespectful attitude towards authority, is the decapitation of the olTender and all his male relatives to the fifth degree. Incidentally, his mnther, wife, and daughters are poisoned or reduced to slavery. A murderer is decapitated and his wife poisoned, but his relatives do not suffer except in very special cases. The punishment for arson or counterfeiting is the poisoning or strangling of the offender and his wife, and the penally for llio de- *

serration of graves, a most heinous oll'enee, is the same as for treason, except that the wife has not tho option of slavery. Happily for the Korean malefactor, the authorities may as a rule bo moved to mercy by a quite moderate bribe.

CAN* JAPAN CONQUER? .Many weeks ago I'r Morrison, the Times correspondent ut I'ekin, made no secret of his belief in the capacity of Japan to win the conflict. He said to the correspondent of a Japanese paper.- llie '.Vsahi: "If Japan sends her troops 'lito Mai-ctiuiia from Northern Korea by land, takes possession of Harbin, and bombards Port Arthur with her lleet, Russia would lie obliged to sue for peace, us she (lid at Sebastopol. The war would not go on for years, as many people pi edict. Supposing that Russia, after the fall of Port Arthur, asks for an amicable settlement, what conditions will Japan propose that Russia wiil be reliictantly compelled to accede to'.' Japan will take Russia's place temporarily. To give details, Japan will, under any circumstances, occupy the Liaotung Peninsula, and hokl all the right, which Russia has claimed, while the administration of .Manchuria will be* returned to China, and a limit will be imposed on the Russian naval force in the Pacific. Thus Russia's aggressive policy in the Far East will bo checked for years or mare, as her activity in Eastern Europe was checked for f!0 years by the Crimean war. Would France and Germany help Russia in the peace negotiations if llu-y kept back from interfering in the war? Now, if we suppose that the force of Krunce and Russia combined is equal to that of (ireat, Britain and Japan, yet Russia, having once been beaten by Japan, would be unable to make headway against Japan and (Ireat Britain, even with the help of an ally. It is certain, thm, that no Power under these conditions would embark in an armed interference."

Hi; SSI A IN MAKCHCIUA. .Mr JI. I 'ulfortl llush recently made a remarkable speech to the Liverpool Chandler of Commerce. In referring to Russian designs in Muifchuria, ho said:— The world is indebted primarily to Great Britain f«r the opening up oC Manchuria, for it is due to the independent action of the first British consul appointed to the port and a British naval commander that the port holds its present advantageous site, as the Chinese authorities ut J'ekin, with their usual cunning reliance upon our official ignorance, had designed Niuehwang proper as the treaty port, Niuehwang propeil lying some 40 miles from the bar, and the depth of water in the river at that spot being inadequate for vessels drawing more than 7i't. Upon learning the true, slate of affairs, these British pioneers indicated as the treaty port the excellent narbouragu 10 miles above the bar, now known as Niuehwang—the correct Chinese nume being Yingkow, or Yingtzu. Thanks to their action, Niuehwang was opm (I, and the Hritish merchants gained the confidence of tike native traders of the part Mi'd province. Principally, ij. is owing to Hritish enterprise, capital, and unremitting exertion that the port has attained its present position of fourth in commercial importance, as shown by revenue returns, of all the treaty ports in China. In 1805 Niuehwang was captured by the Japanese. Hut Japan was not allowed to hold it, for Russia, saw her great chance of getting another outlet to the sea: that has always been Ihe kernel of her policy. When she started lifts as an empire, she had scarcely any outlets. Bit by bit she has crept unswervingly, with no sot-backs from potty party politics, towards the sea. Sho had had hue eyes qa Manchuria fa uuttut^