NOTES ON THE WAR.

Evening Star, Issue 12167, 11 April 1904, Page 6

NOTES ON THE WAR.

' [Bt Kasuqa.] —Die Cruiser Jemtchug.— Die cable referring to the supposed treachery on board the Russian cruiser Jemtebug shows incidentally that the vessel Is now ready for her trials, and throws a little light on the rates of naval construction in the Baltic yards. The Jemtchug is a second-class cruiser of 6,000 tons, and it is expected that as soon as the ice melts in the Gulf of Finland, and she is put ou her trials, she will develop something like twenty-four knots, and will therefore be but a shade slower than the little Novik, which, thunks to her speed, lias already distinguished herself at Port Arthur The Jemtchug, together with a sister vessel, the Izumrad, was laid down at the Neva yard about the beginning of November, 1902, and has thus taken something like eighteen months to complete. For a second class cruiser such a rate of construction is not very great—for a British yard it would be accounted slow—but it shows that remarkable activity lias prevailed in the Baltic yards since the war broke out. At the beginning of February the Jemtchug was neither engined nor gunned, but now, two months later, she is practically ready for sea The rate of -Russian construction set up during February and -March augurs well for the completion of the battleships now building, and they ought, one would think, to be ready for sea by June or July, always provided that they develop no serious defects on their trials.

—'flic Russian. Propagandists.— -As for the damage, if any, which, was done to the Jemtchug, it would appear that the sea-cocks had been opened, besides which the pipes in the engine room had suffered harm. If the story be true, the thing was uo doubt the work of members of some of the numerous bodies of propagandists who make themselves unpleasantly felt bv the Government of Russia from time to time. There is not wanting evidence to show that preachers of revolution, anarchy, and kindred doctrines have got a fair footing in both the Russian Army and Navy, and some students of Russian life and government appear to think that in the event of serious reverses in the East these people would bo emboldened to inc>,ke trouble at home. Against this, However, may bo set the tact that the. corrective machinery at the command of the home Russian Government is very powerful. It is not as though Russia had stripped the home governments of troops. She has done nothing of the ■sort. The only European trooops which have gone to the seat of war are a corps or two from the Moscow and Kiel! districts. The Caucasus troops have been moved on to replace the Turkestan forces which have gone to the front, certain drafts from the Kasan district have gone to Turkestan, and that is practically everything. To all intents and purposes the Russian Army is still at home, and civilian propagandists may yet look for a ba.d time. As for military ones, there are always the disciplinary battalions ready to hand! The Ekhaterhidar and Bobruisk battalions have a dreadful name among the Russian soldiers, and the Russian proverb “ Better a month in hell than a day among the devils at Bobruisk,” speaks for its-df. It would therefore seem that though occurrences like the injury to the Jemtchug and the firing on the railway official at Tomsk may occur from time to time, there is very little ground for supposing that, the Russian prosecution of the war will be impeded by these causes, unless, of course, Russia suffers very heavy reverses in the field. Even, then it remains an open question whether a sense of national danger might or might not serve to knit the propagandists to the common cause.

—Japanese Clan Jealousy.— While this subject is under mention it should he noted that much the same sort of danger has been apprehended as threatening Japan. Writers on Japanese life and i>olitics have frequently endeavored to jpoint out that clan jealousy is extensive, and that the powerful SaUurna and Choshu dans are the objects of widespread detestation. In plain words, the object of these writers is to •show that if the Japanese suffered great reverses in the field they would fight among themselves. The best evidence obtainable on this matter—and it is not very much—does not seem to point that way. The grievance against the Satsuma dan is said to be that its members predominate unduly in the navy, while in the army every second officer is a Cboshu man. This is certainly not true, as English officers who have taken the trouble to go through the Japanese Army and Navy lists state confidently that neither in one branch of the service nor the other is there anything more than a fair representation all round. Many of these, on questioning Japanese officers and men as to the alleged Satsuma and Choshu feuds, were surprised to find that nobody, except, the writers of boots on Japan, seemed to know anything about it at alb —The Brave Little Varyag—

and the action which she fought off Chemulpo are mentioned at length in the detailed accounts of the war which are cqming to hand. The main features of the action are quite clear, despite the inaccuracies of the correspondents. One account states that the vessel was steaming twenty-three knots when she emerged from the harbor - and turned her head to sea. A moment’s reflection will show that she could not have been doing anything of the sort. Twentythree knots was the Varyag’s best trial gait, but she had been months at sea, and at the time of the fight could not perhaps have managed more than twenty knots. The maximum speed of the Korietz was only 13.5 knots, and as both vessels west

together keeping proper station, the speed of the two vessels was, of course, that of the slower^ one. There is a vast difference between 23 knots and 13.5 knots, and no doubt we win not be far wrong in assuming that something like twelve knots were all that the Varyag was doing. This little point will perhaps serve to show how carefully even accounts by “eye-witnesses” and “ experts ” must be scanned before being received as truth. As for the fight, a vessel like the Varyag had no chance whatever. It appears that the Japanese vessels which were waiting for were the Asama, Chiyoda, Naniwa, ISTutaka, Takachkho, Chiycoda, and Suma, with nine torpedo boats, or ..sixteen vessels in all. —The Asama as a Fighting Ship.— Of these the Asama is about the best fighting cruiser afloat, and the fact that she could knock out our own big cruisers Powerful and Terrible may give an idea of the punishment which she can both give and take. As a matter of fact she is' a cruiser which could easily “lie in the line” with battleships. AH the fire was on the Varyag, and her seems to have been the She fought on, her propellers, harbor been hardly hit at tain, and the her sea-cocks. As the band of the French the Russian Russian sailors Poor fellows, they Fad of which they needed not to be in anyway ashamed. The fact that both vessels gni b;tck to port explains the action of the neutral vessels in taking them aboard. They had brought themselves back out of the battle, and were not in any sense prisoners. For the kindness which was shown them by the British bluejackets they seem to have been deeply grateful. As for “lessons of the war” as drawn from this action, I notice that some of the experts are at it already, contending that it has been proved ftaf we want 7.5 Q.F. guns for our second class cruisers instead of 6in Q.F. guns, which constitute the primary armament of British second class cruisers just now. To my mind the principal lesson appears to be that one ship cannot fight sixteen, especially when the one ship is only “protected” and two of her opponents are armored. If there is any other lesson it must be that lately pointed out by the London ‘ Times ’ —namely, that naval Powers should have some ready means of warning commanders at sea whenever a period of political tendon has reached the acute stage.