RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVII, Issue 8563, 18 August 1904, Page 1

RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

(Per Press Association.) Received August 17, at 11.56 p.m. London, August 17. The Port Arthur vessels liave returned t-6 port. No battle was fought. Japan is raising an additional loan of a million and a half yen, not bearing interest, to cover the expenditure on the Seoul-Fusan railway. Lord Lansdowne's protest deals with the inclusion of legitimate cargo under contraband, and the refusal to limit the zone for the pursuit of contraband, thus hampering even coastal shipping. He declares that Russia's claim to sink neutral vessels charged with conveying contraband would dispense with prize courts, inasmuch as the officer in command would personify the court, witnesses, and the executor of the sentence. The demands preferred compensation for the heavy losses caused by the seizures.

Received August 17, at 9.52 p.m. London, August 17. The Novik has passed southward of Kiao-chau.

Admiral Kamimura reports: "The Rurik, being the slowest vessel, became a frequent target. The Rossia and Gromoboi, after returning our fire, gallantly attempted to protect the Rurik. The three united and repeatedly advanced. We had the advantage of pouring in a fire from a formation in the shape of the letter T. Much damage was caused to the Russians by the outbreak of fire. Finally the Rurik was disabled, and her fire slackened. She began to settle, listing to port, and was abandoned by her consorts. As Admiral Drill's fourth detachment was attacking her, our squadron pursued and fought the Rossia and Gromoboi for five- hours, the two vessels eventually escaping. Our damage was not serious. The squadron returned to search for the Rurik, which meantime had sunk. We steamed along saving the crew." A shipment for the East of two million pounds worth of merchandise has been suspended in Britain pending a settlement with Russia regarding contraband. Received August 17, at 10.11 p.m.

London, August 17. The British protest has reached St. Petersburg. It embodies the sense of the statements made by Lord Lansdowne and Mr Balfour, in the 'House of Commons, regarding interference with neutral shipping and the treatment of conditional and unconditional contraband. The protest is couched in emphatic and menacing language. Received August 13, at 0.5 a.m. London, August 17.

The Taotai of Shanghai is still wobbling concerning the dismantling of the Russian warship. This is interpreted in Tokio to mean that China is unable to enforce neutral rights. A Russian note accuses Admiral Sail, the Chinese commandant, either of cowardice or treason in connection with the seizure of the Rechtelni, and demands his severe punishment. Received August 18, at 0.5 a.m. Sydney, August 17. The Japanese residents in Sydney made an enthusiastic demonstration on the arrival of the Yawata- Maru. Received August 18, at 1.3 a.m. London, August 17. The Japanese have demanded from tho commander the surrender of Port Arthur.

RUSSIA'S CRIMES. (London Daily Express.) If any -one has any lingering doubts as to the justice of Japan's cause or as to the appalling state -or Kussia, he should read the latest book dealing with the country of "Tho God on Earth" —"Russia- as it Really is," by Carl Joubert. This bcok is the record •of nine years spent, by an Englishman in Russia-, during which he visited every government in the Empire, associated with/every class ; was the guest of princes and the companion of peasants; feasted in the palaces of St. Petersburg, and sat at the feet of tho greatest thinker and philanthropist in Russia. He acquired the languages of the country. Russian and corrupt Russian, Polish, Lettish, Lithuanian, and Yiddish. He lias no political object to serve, writes for no- party o<r nationality, and speaks without fear and in such bold and vigorous English that his words carry conviction, although the things he has to tell almost pass belief. Carl Joubert is the pseudonym of an Englishman who, it must be stated, is not a Jew, hence Ins remarks on the persecution to which the Jews in the Czar's dominion are subject carry much weight. The main ideo. of the purpose of the book can best be gathered from the "Open Letter to- the Czar" with which it concludes. It is safe to assume that neither tho letter na-r the book will ever reach the Czar, but if they did they would assuredly cause him much mental strain.

"I have seen the smoke issuing from the crannie of your Majesty's house," says Mr Joubert in his letter. "Since I was an inmate of the structure I can also speak to the fact that the beams are rot-ten- as tinder, and they wil bum fiercely when the -fire reaches them. . . .

"Let me direct your Majesty's attention to the state of the pillars of the edifice. The Church, which boasts Christ as its head in Heaven, and your Majesty as its head on earth, teaches superstitioni to the people, and fosters ignorance. "At the doors of the Holy Russian. Church lie the massacres of the Jews in Kishineff and Kieff, and many other places within your Majesty's dominions. "The Church is the strongest pillar in your Majesty's house, but it is rotten and corrupt. "Turn, then, to the pillar of justice. It is ornamented with carvings of grotesque design. Here a drunken judge slavers over the "Bcok of Rights, while his learned brother pockets the bribe which the liti--gant offers him ... . , ~ "The capital is ornamented with the thongs of the Cossacks knout—the emblem of law and order throughout your Imperial Majesty's dominions. The pillar is crumbling with corruption, and some day it may fall on your Majesty's head. _ "The fourth pillar of your Imperial Majesty's house is a mighty structure. It is built up -of 5,000.000 armed men, of <runs and lately battered ships. The strength of this pillar is being subjected to a test at this moment. "How does it stand it, your Majesty? Are all the stores and munitions of war complete? Is your Majesty satisfied that none of his officers has sold information to the enemy '! "The.pillar has a formidable appearance, but, for all that, it is crumbling with corruption within. . . . "May I venture to direct your Majesty's attention from the pillars to the walls of the house? For on the wall is something written which has possibly escaped your Majesty's notice in the darkness of the house. I am re Daniel, but I can read the AV ,;*;, 1 „ ...,, wall, for it is only one word —Revolution. The smoke, your Imperial Majesty, is issuing from the eaves of your 1 house, and I have taken the liberty of warning your Majesty of the fact." Could any indictment be more scathing than this? Could any Nihilist or Anarchist hurl more terrible accusations againstthe Emperor of All the Russias? Yet, in, Mr Joubert's startling book there is amplematerial to justify the charges. _ Here is a part of the many things he has to sav about the army : "The rank' -and file of the Russian army are illiterate. Not 10 Per cent, -of tbem can read and write. It was the greatgrandfather of the present Czar who issued a ukase that all generals on. the active list must know how to read and write ! The patient, apathetic ignorance of the Russian soldier is the only quality that makes life bearable to him; and it is also the officers' opportunity, for the Russian officer is a bird of prey, and his men are carrion. "Poor Ivan has been taken for a soldier, and his parents at home rock themselves to and fro in the extravasanjoe of their grief, and blubber prayers to the ikon in the corner of their ho\ el. father brings home his meagre wage to his wife, and a | few feopecks are put aside for Ivan. _ | Hoi&'oi fa>peeksb-ig4n-,.

creased, -until a rouble 'has bc-eu collixtcl and a few kopecks over for postage and lemuneration to the poor clerk who is to write the letter. It is a proud day for tho old muujik and Ids wife when that, letter is at last posted. "Then what becomes of it? It is delivered at the barracks, where it falls into the hands of the company officer. .Now, Ivan ii illiterate, and it is, therefore, obviously the duty of the ollicer to- open and lead his correspondence far him.

"So the lieutenant semis for Ivan, and reads as much of tho letter as ho considers good for him to hear. It is even possible that ho gives him a few kopecks of the. money. Then tho captain interviews tho lieutenant, and there is a further division of the old moujik's rouble. . . .

"I havo seen officers strike their men in the most savage manner without reason or provocation. I havo seen an officer kick a private soldier in tho .stomach and suite him three times with his clenched list in the face-, because the man was momentarily in tho officer's way." "Justi.-e- is blind" has another meaning in Russia, if what Mr Joubcrt says is correct

• - I havo visited the High Court and Law Courts .of all the government in Russia," ha says. "I do not propoGe- to deal here with the minrar cases which are tried before the Prislny. A sugar loaf or- a rouble will always satisfy him as to 'the justice of 'your case. You can bring it into court with you, and he. will tell you wheie to put. it. "But the Supremo Court is de-evviiu of notice, for in this court there h trial Injury and a full bench of judges, attended by advocates and counsel. On the return of the judges to court- I have frequently seen them drunk, one learned brother supporting his neighbor to tho bench. A verdict in this court costs sonic thousands to the judge. Trial by jury is an absolute farce."

The chapter on the aristocracy shows tho "upper ten" of Russia to. bo drunken and dissolute; another on literature and tho censor describes how no writer dares to write the truth, except Tolstoi and perhaps Gorky—how most of the literary men havo "mortgaged their brains for life and liberty." Yet another on science states that tho study of practical sciences in Russia is so discouraged that on her railways, in her manufactories and laboratories the engineers and experts are almost- without exception French, Belgians, Britishers, or American®. "Russia As It Really Is" is a remarkable—indeed, a sensational—book ; but making every allowance for tho enthusiasm of the author, which might conceivably have led him into exaggeration, it contains incontrovertible proof of the rottenness and corruption, the weakness and senility, of that vast but tottering structure—Russia.

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