THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1679, 4 May 1904, Page 60

THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.

LONDON. April 25. The Russians- are guarding the Yalu from Ta-tung-kaiu (ajt the mouth 'of tike river) to Chang-seng (about a hundred miles north). ; Renteria Agency reports that the Japanese lines extend to Yongampho, ten miles above Wiju, Western Korea. The Russians are in the greatest force near Anitung, on an island above Wiju. The two- inlands below are regarded as the keys of the position. * Military* circles at Kieff assert that there are ten thousand troops in the ■Manchurian hospitals, suffering chiefly from typhoid. The military attaches at'Tokio have been warned to be ready to proceed to the front. ‘The Chinese propose, for greater security. to remove the Shanghai arsenal to Wuhu, about 175 miles inland. LONDON, April 26. General Kouropatkin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian forces in the Far East, reports that two Japanese companies of infantry _ 'and some_ cavalry crossed the Yailu river near Siamopussiklie, above Wiju. General Sassulitch has reinforced the Russian outposts. ! . The Japanese forces are preparing to cross the Yalu near Pyok-dong, in Korea, about sixty miles north of Wiju. Yesterday the inhabitants of an unprotected Japanese colony at Gonsan (on the east coast of Korea) were alarmed at the arrival of three cruisers and two torpedo craft belonging •to the Vladivostock squadron which sank the 371-ton steamer Goyo Mam. The cruise is interpreted as being intended to in- , teroept unprotected transports. Recent reports of the presence of Cossacks between Gensan and Pukcheng, in eastern Korea, for the purpose of creating, a diversion on the Japa-_ f nese right flank, are discredited. The reports were never officially confirmed. A -message received at St. Petersburg reports that Japanese warship® are off .Yladdvostock. . Thfo Japanese disguised as Chinese beggars approached General Kouropats ■ bin at Newchwang. While speaking, \ one was observed to put his hand inside hist drees, whereupon a Cossack felled him. Knives were found upon _ both of the Japanese, indicating their intention to assassinate General Kouropat- /• bin. Admiral Skrydloff, who has been appointed to succeed the late Admiral Makar off as naval commander at Port ‘Arthur when starting for the Far East, " told the Czar that his task was “almost impossible,” but he would do his utmost- " ; ; Russia has negotiated through a Pans syndicate a loan of £32,000,000 sterling for.s per cent. Treasury bonds at. 98. The syndicate guarantees . £16,000,000. It is reported in St. Petersburg that a million and a quarter of Government * specie was lost in the Petropavlovsk when she was blown up. The Russian battleship Borodino, built at St. Petersburg, draws 26ft, • while the canal leading to Kronstadt is only 22ffc deep. Eight inches of armour is being removed to enable the battleship to make the passage through the canal.

LONDON, April 27. The “ New York Herald ” states that retreating Russians laid a mine in a mountain pass south of Wiju (Northern Korea). Many of the Japanese infantry in crossing the pass were killed and wounded. * - A telegram from Port Arthur reports that experiments with a submarine vessel were a brilliant success. Some English newspapers consider this “bluff,” but a correspondent at St. Petersburg declares that Russia bought at the outset of the war three French submarines, and dispatched them by. train to the Far East, with a Ruslian submarine. It is also stated that three others fol- ' lowed.. . . News of the Petropavlovsk disaster ' was withheld a day at St. Petersburg. The windows of the residence of the Czar’s uncle, the Grand Duke Alexis, were smashed. He is considered to he partly responsible for the disasters \in the. Far East. <• • The captain, of a Japanese warship -mustered hi® officers and crew and informed them of Admiral MakaroiFs death. All decided to forego drink and amusement for the dajy in honour of the deceased" Admiral. A battleship, which is being built at Neva, has been seriously damaged in a , mysterious maimer." Russia has- chartered twenty ships chiefly British, to convey seventy thousand tons of coal to Chinese' ports. There is a secret charter clause in tho

agreement- which concedes extravagant freights if the vessels make a dash and 'succeed in entering Dalny, Port Arthur, or Vladivostoek. : Tho battleships of the Baltic fleet go via Suez. The colliers which are to be •f used to supply the ships* with coal are fee proceed under aoatrong escort via the Gape, and they will rendezvous in the Indian Ocean, ii

Mr It, Jft'Kman, Radical member for Smith Wolverhampton j' after an ftiutienoa with the Czar, declares that England ought to understand that Riusftia is absolutely determined to emerge victorious from the war at any cash.

At the Czar’s instance, Prince Khilkoff, Minister of Railway®, is arranging to duplicate the Siberian railway within two ye airs. By way of t preparing for Admiral Alesdeff’s retdirement without humiliation, General Kouropatkin will shortly be appointed military and naval Com-mander-in-Chief. Admiral Skrydloff has expressed his willingness to act under his authority. Forty thousand Russian troops occupy fortified positions on the Yalu, and twenty thousand, are stationed at Tabu-shan, about seventy-five miles west of the Yalu. General Nishchanko commands the Russians on the right of the Yalu, and General Kashtalin'ski on the left. At Kinlienclieng forty-five thousand Japanese troops, with 108 guns, are ready to participate in a frontal attack ' fifteen thousand troops, with thirty-six guns, operating on the left, and an equal number on the right. The artillery includes twelve batteries, of 6in howitzer®. - . _ ' Riusisfian cavalry and light artillery occupy the towns along the Tumen river, also positions stretching to the sources of the Yalu, and at point® on the east of the Korean coast. Rennekampis Cossacks,, with a few "mountain gun®, have crossed the upper reaches of the Yalu. The cavalry westward of Ain is moving to join them. 'When united they will number two thousand, and will then threaten General Inouyef’s right flank. LONDON, April 28. The preliminary . crossings of Japanese forces over the Yalu river south of Wiju were not seriously opposed. fl The Times ” computes General Kouropatkin’® total force available for field operations at 135,000. Two Riussian torpedo boats sank the transport Kinshu Maru, which a landing party refused to surrender. Admiral Jeszen cables regarding the incident that -on the night of the 26th. two torpedo boats encountered a seaarmed transport of 4000 tons, laden with coal, military stores, and troops, intended as a landing party. Seventeen officers, 20 privates, 83 coolies and 65 of the crew surrendered. The rest obstinately refused to surrender or go aboard a. Russian cruiser, and were sunk with the- transport. The Japanese on the 26th inst. ’mobilised tlho fifth, tenth and eleventh divisions constitiiting the third army, numbering 75,000 men. A Russian General Staff officer declares that the Japanese attempts to cross the Yalu are feints, and that the real objective is Port Arthur. Paris telegrams declare that General Kouropatkin has recalled the troops south of the Yalu river. LONDON, April 29. Further detachments of Japanese forces have crossed thei river Yalu north of Wiju. The Russians .are withdrawing, hoping to attract the Japanese into* more open country. Captain Mahan, *the well-known writer on naval matters, in a contribution to “ The Times,” says the Yalu is destined to become the centre of the struggle. The Japanese plan is to strike on shore before the Baltic Meet appears, or before Russia can add materially to her army, which is still inferior to* the force® which Japan is able to place in the field. The Japanese are determined to capture or close' Port Arthur, and to land at Newchwang at the earliest possible moment. They will then make their main attempt from the Yalu. There 'is reason to believe* the position between Mukden (the Manchurian oapital) and Newchwang (at the head of the Gulf of Liaotung) may be turned from either side. Admiral Jeszen reports thsit lie sank the 220-ton steamer Nakamura* Maru, and resciured the crew. Two hundred persons perished by the sinking of tho Kinshu Maru. Mr Bennefc Burleigh, correspondent of tho “Daily Telegraph/’ reports that Admiral Jeszen passed the Japanese* squadron and regained Vladivos'toek. Commenting on. previous news, “The Times*’ does not believe the Japanese officers left two hundred men in the lurch aboard the Kinslnt Maru, or that tho latter resisted after the officers surrendered The newspaper expects this is* a slander oh the officer®, ditto to the misinterpretation of a despatch. The Russians explain that Admiral Jeszen was unable to spare a prize crew or to hamper his fewift squadron by taking the Kinshu Marti, which is of slow speed* . ; BERLIN. April 27. It is stated here that the Kaiser eofi : d*emned ( three first-elftss SffilSeM which Were being completed iti ii German dockyard. They were then . disarmed find sold as transports,- Riissiaii bffiebts taking them over,- together tritit a shuftlCf cruiser* ADMIRAL »I(TiYDLOFF. It was Admiral Skrytltoff , § ft cent writer, who dedarert early in the campaign that Aloxioff had bhrrttlerad at Port Arthur. A strong-willed man and a bora fighter, hie transfer from the Black Sea squadron to the Pacific was mentioned as probable when Makaroff was given the command. While not holding the enemy so cheaply as some of his compatriots, his estimate of the respective naval strengths was, like

all other Russian conjecture®, much atstray. After the first attack on Port Arthur ho expressed very flattering opinions of Japan and the Japanese. Among other things, he said that the country possessed an excellent navy, consisting of ships built in British yard®, with all the latest improvements in the science of naval construction,, and provided! with the most modern, artillery; and that her troops were most courageous *and knew how to fight;. Nevertheless, he was convinced that, in the event of war, Russia would beat Japan both on sea and land. Russia would have in Japan an adversary who, if not dangerous, was at least worthy of her. AD AURAL ALEXIEFF. Dr E. J. Dillon, writing in the .“Contemporary,” has no hesitation in placing the responsibility of the war on the shoulders of Admiral Alexieff, exonerating both the Russian diplomacy and people. He quotes the Czar’s manifesto, in which it was stated that the elaboration of a project for a new arrangement with Japan was confided to the Viceroy, and taken out of the hands of the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Alexieff, lie says, is the ambitious son of an Armenian father and a Russian mother, who owes his elevation to Rezobrazoff. His fundamental mistake was that Japan Would not go to -war. Witte’s policy was one of peace. “Let us safeguard the peace of Europe and Asia, and all things else will be ours in time,” was his device, and nobody was more astonished than the peace-loving monarch who Convened the Congress at The Hague by the sudden and sanguinary culmination of the five months’ negotiations. As it is, the writer’s conclusion is that Alexieff’s name will be coupled by the.historian with one of the most disastrous blunders of modern times.