PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1904, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

* Yet another naval disaster to Russia off Port Arthur— tho Poresviet sunk by Japanese- deshoyers, with, her Admiral and cntiio ship's company, and a second battleship and fivst-class cruiser disabled .Ws» need not* repeat tho details published elsewhere, but the 'Aplendid organisation which enabled Togo'.Avith all. his available ships to so quickly confront his enemy will extort the admiration of all naval critics. The special value of the achiivcment lay in the infliction of so groat an injury at so Mnall a cost. Tho terrible Togo might have held off until tho lUnsifin fleet had pub to sea, and forced a n.ival batlie, which according to appearances he limit have won, % but at this juncture tho price would almost certainly havo been too great to justify eveu signal victory. But for the timely warning and tho equally timely aupoaranco of the Japanese fleet, 'the Russian ships might . havo been avoll under way to VludivoHock to first try conclusions with Ivainimura, with reasonable hope of victory, and if successful fll'ecl a juncture with the sm.tll but powerful squadien of the northern foitro&s. Js'oav, crippled and demoralised, the Port Aitlnir lleofc is again driven baok to the shelter of its port, to further discourage by its defeated presence the besieged defenders. As there woie five battleships in tho outer hiU'bouri it seems certain that the Cesaicvitch and Rctvizan have been undo again effective. Isow that the Percsviet lias been sunk, there remain iv addition to the two ship-s just mimed the Poltava and the Seb'usfcopol. Kuropatkin, we are told trom St. Petersburg, will not give battle to the combined armies near Kaiping- Does this mean that ho cannot pull out the cornered Staekelberg, avlio by now should be bard pressed by Kodzu from tho cast? The wir« is susDieiousLv silent ;us to the uro-

givss of Stackelhcrg's fortunes, and if Kuiopatkiu's column had junctioned and secured a «sfo retieat- it would be strange were the news held back. It i.v in thia direction we may look for further dofeat, if not difcavstw, to tho Ruwsian arms. The decision of Kuropatkin to fall back — and if lie does he wiil not stop until he reaches JJaichong — will mean the abandonment of tbp entire peninsula — excepting, of courho, Port Arthur, which is shut up — including Kiuchwang. 'With secure'posferHJuon of the latter place, the Japanese will obtain an immense advantage iv gainnig an I'ji.sily accessible base, «nd* an assured and perfect lino of communication. As compared with Kuropatkin's base and conumimca'ions, the advantages in these great essentials are enormously m favour of the Japanese. "Apparently only two divisions are left to besiege Port Arthur," so run« a message of to-day. Thi» announcement is signifinml. It implies that the southern fortress can be safely held with 10,000 men, thud leaving three armies representing 216,000 men free- to operate against Kuropatkin, who must be outnumbered by more than two to one, and excepting as to Liaoyang — which inaj', after all, prove an elaborate trap for the defenders-.-has apparently no tenable position to fall back upon. The 216,000 Japanese, it must be remembered, refer solely to field troops which arp available for the battlo line. Communication troops are organised separately, hence the field troops do not have their s>tivngth drained by the arduous duty of keeping open lines of communications, and, Avith Niuchwang ;>nd the Avholo of the peninsula in possession, Japanese communications will not for many weeks to come be a matter of great concern. It will be rioted thnt tho Japanese have not mkved one great lesson of tho Boor war, they hay: "learned to shoot." Had the Bom learned in time so much as the little brown men noAv know, the Transvaal of to-dey Arould not be beneath the fe?t of the Robber Barons of tho Rand. Is it not time that our own men "learned to shoot" on tho large scale? A Bish>y team would not help us much.