PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 107, 2 November 1904, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

"The garrison has lost all hope of relief." So runs a message of to-day regarding Port Arthur, where the girdle of the besiegers' fire seems to be steadily contracting. An even more sinister statement is that "many men and some | officers wish to surrender, but General Stoessel has declared by proclamation that he will fight while there are enough men to man a gun." That is a splendid spirit, but of what avail when the game is vp — not that we think it is yet C[uite played out — to sacrifice tho remaining lives in a final alid useless massacre? So long as the besiegers can be held at bay, so long is Stoessel holding off some 50,000 additional troops from attack of Kuropatkin, and until the second Battle of Shaho is fought, and it is near, the Russian flag will, we fancy, float above Port Arthur. It will be noted that the source of the -news above quoted is not given, ana it is therefore impossible to appiaise its value. There is, however, indirect evidence that the Japanese are confident that the place must quickly fall. The Russians report that Oyama has been reinforced to 'the extent of a division and a half from the besieging army at Port Arthur. This' means that Nogi's effective force has been reduced to some 40,000 men, and yet with this greatly lessened force he is pressing the attack by constant and costly assaults. This argues confidence that the fall is near, and that it can be compassed with reduced numbers, else passive siege would b6 the order of the day. In Manchuria, the "greatest battle oi 'the war" is pending. Kuropatkin announces what he terms "a significant movement of Japanese from west to east." Can it bo that the movement of General Fukushima up the Liao is developing, and that he is approaching the Russian right wing? Tliere does not appear to.be any advantage of poartion to either side on the lines occupied south of the Shaho River, and if the Russians' statement be true that their opponents now outnumber them by one-third, the chances of victory are, on mere numbers, as three to two on the Japanese.