PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 70, 20 September 1904, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

♦ General Kuropntkin's entire army is reported to-day to bo heavily engaged southwards of Mukden, and apparently a tremendous series of battles, a« at and beyond Liooyang, with their dreadful accompaniments of slaughtei and suffering, havo begun. That a Russian reconnaisance in force has resulted in the occupation of several villages in the direction of Yontai, 15 miles north of Liaoyang, argues that Kuropatktn ia attacking, aud if so thp morul effect upon Jm men should increase thoir efficiency. We are told that the Japanese present a front extending over 25 miles, und tho Russians but half that distance The trip of 'Japanese generals aro placed w before, ituroki being on the extreme right, and charged with tho task of outUanking tho enemy. There is no word of the relative strength* of tho opposing armies, or of tho relative positions in relation to the contour of the country immediately occupied, but sluco we have been told that the Japanosp have been heavily reinforced of lalo, it is to be inferred that thoy are in sufficient strength to so prolong their front with safety. Further, it would seom that Kuroki will, on moving north, have the advantage of the foot-hills that trond north-westerly to Mukden, while Kuropatkin is apparently operating on the alluvjttl plam in the angle of country formed by the railway on the west &ad the- low foot-hills on the northeast, with Mukdeji as tho, apex. The combatants should know each other's strength, and be familiar with the configuration of the country, while tho initiative of Kurqpatikin presupposes a confidence thut 'points to a stubbornlyconfofilod and probably tremendous batUe.' Already Kuropatkin reports, in tho direction of Yontai, heavy fighting with many casualties. Yet auoCher invitation has been mado by Nogi for surrender of thp Port Arthur garrison, "*#ith the result that Rtomsel refused to sec the 'messenger. Reading the horrible details of wild-beaqt ferocity diaplaved towards each other by tho wounded before the besieged city, as brought to Cliefoo by Princo Radziwilt, Nogi nwiy well bo oppressed with th* thought of wirnt wtll happen if his men get out' of hand when tlte last barrier to entrance to tbo town has been swept away. Radziwill states that tho temper of the. belligerents is absolutely merciless, and that btoeswel has warned tho garrison that they must resist, to tho last, since they will undoubtedly bo massacred. Our fear is that history may repeat itself, and that the Japaiiceo, mnd with blood fury, will Again eater upon tho work of indiscriminate- slaughter. Tho Samuraj, the traditional fighting caste who were retainers of tho ancient Dainuop, or feudal chiefs, of Japan, revert readily — write* a contemporary — to old methods, and in thp general slaughter after the first fall of Port Arthur, which went on for days, there was no distinction between sex or Age, the very old and the very young Buffering wjtu tho able-bodied. It was a torribfe ciceno, but the English correspondents pre : sent on the occasion agreed thut the Japanese got put of hand in the first instance through finding the bodies of some of their own soldiers headless and horribly mutilated by the Chinese. It is a curious commentary on tbo Japanese churucter and their code of honour that a commission which enquired into this massacre at Port Arthur afterwards dared not issue a. report, not because of a Qesiro to hush the matter up, but for the reason that had their Government expressed any strong opinion on the matter it was feared that the whole of the officers of tho regiments concerned, would have immediately committed suicide. If Radxiwill m to be believed, the Japanese have nlread witnessed enough without the walla of tho doomed city to impel tho Asiatic in thorn to "get out of hand" whon they are , victors wifHiu. Btoesset may bo quite sincere in what ho hns told his men, and lit? must bo a man of iron will as .well as desperate valour to accept such *a fate that ho may for a little while hold off his besiogQrs from joining the great army arrayed against his chief at Mukden. But whatever nn»y be- px store for tho luckleaa people of Port* Arthur, wo trust that both mdos will unite to protect the devoted nurses who Ikwo so nobly refuse*} tp abandon the crick and suffering who aro thp objects of thoir «aro. Marshal Yainagttta, somewhat Iwfc© in the day, will now extend every possible consideration to attaches uud' correspondents. Had those representatives of tlio West been allowed in tho fighting line wo should havo hud better ovldenc© than hn« been vouclusafe4 aa to whether tbo war hn» been conducted wholly on Western or Asiatic lines^