RUSSIA AND THE WAR.

Evening Post, Volume LXIX, Issue 55, 7 March 1905, Page 4

RUSSIA AND THE WAR.

Tho great battlo on tho Shnho has now developed nil along the. line, and it looks as though a great victoiy is lo crown the Japancso anus. Tho position us nd vised yesterday haa so expanded that it is dillicult to understand how Ivnropnlkin can extricate his army without tho loss of guns and impedimenta that apart fiom casualties would amount lo disaster. At St. Petersburg thcie aro feais th.it the guns on tho wide fiont of the Sluiho have been abandoned, ami that the retreat i 3 gcueial. So far as we know this is but fearful anticipation, but it is a fear that looks within measurable distunco of justification. Already Mukden is within rango of tho Japanese guns, and tho right wing of the Uussiau army wems completely beaten — mostly, it would seem, us Iho result of a suilt, nnd to (he enemy quite \mexpected, march by Xogi. On tho Japanese right Kuroki maintains his advantage, and at the centie Kuropatkin hns been forced to gi\o ground. Fiom tho west and noi lll-west .Japanese troops seem to be unexpectedly emerging to tho aid of Nogi in hifl rapidly-converging movements, nnd it is reported at Mukden that a strong foice of Japanese is moving from Ftikuincti south-enst towards Thieling. Tho distance is only 30 unlcH, ho that this force should be .ihlrido tho Mukden-Thie'.ing-road before Kuropalkin leavey tho capital behind him. Already some of his t loops li.tve been two days without food, and for tho ictreut tho soldiery may have but little time and opportunity to replenish their haversacks at Mukden. If hignally defeated and compelled to beiit a liasty retreat, the Ru.«binu army will, in all probability, hnvo a harder tinie than when it turned its back on Linoyang. But it seems pretty clear that Kuropatkin, if ho luvo elbow-room for renrgunrd actions to cover his retreat, will have saved his best rcgimonts for that woik. Tho efliciency and inaction of that rcservo was ono of tho reproaches of Uriponbcrg, wlio thought it sliould have been sent to his lescuc, when in deh'anco of orders ho got out of bouiuls. The danger to Kuropatkin seems to be that tho extraordinary celerity of Nogi, combined with the rapidly-con verging forces from the west, will make retreat ill good order impossible, if it docs not inflict disaster.