THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2664, 5 April 1905, Page 26

THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.

THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.

VHt-^LDEXT KOOSIiViLLT CHOSEN

MEDIATOR

THE JAPANESE ADVANCE.

EXPELLING THE RUSSIANS.

THE PEACE TALK

BASELESS REPORTS ABOUT

MEDIATION.

ST. PETERSBURG, March 29

Many Polish nobles are fleeing the country,- owing to anonymous threats of death unless they subscribe to the revolutionary funds.

LONDON, March 23.

The Japanese have ascertained- that 200 Cossacks and 600 hired Chinese irregular cavalry during the battle of Mukden attacked the Japanese at Ta-shi-chiao, westward of Mukden. After a few rounds the Chinese fled northwards, and tli3 Cossacks shot many of them in the backs.

The Daily Express states that Admiral Rozhdestvensky diJ surprisingly well in Madagascar, transforming his undisciplined and rebellious men into good sailois. Drunkenness was stamped out.

General Sukhomlinuff has succeeded General Sakaharoff as Minister of War ; General Gripenberg has been relieved of his command of the Second Army, to which General Kaulbars has been appointed ; and General Batimoff lias succeeded General Kaulbars.

The demand for the new Japanese loan by small investors is great.

A feature of the American share of the loan is the heavy French subscriptions that have reached New York.

March 29

General Linevitch telegraphs from Harbin that no reports have been received from the armies. This, together with the entire absence of private or press telegrams, evokes fears at St. Petersburg that communications have been cut, the Japanese having turned the Russian positions.

Reuter's St. Petersburg corresponJont says that owing to the United States ?nd France's good offices Russia is prepared to negotiate peace, and has outlined her conditions.

The civilians and Chinese are abandoning Harbin.

The Russian First Army reports that the Japanese have not moved for a week.

General Batianoff told an interviewer that tlie war would be fought to an end in accordance with the will of the Czar.

The Liao River is now free from ice, and Japanese transports and' merchantmen have entered Niu-chwang.

The Daily Express's St. Petersburg correspondent says that General Linevitch is losing a thousand men per day by surrenders or desertions, besides 400 daily through skirmishes.

Twenty thousand prisoners from Mukd-en have arrived) in Japan.

The revised estimates of Japanese casualties at Mukden and Tie-ling give the numbers at 57,000.

The Japanese newspapers publish details of the fighting at Li-twun-pao on the 7th, when two Japanese regiments were annihilated excepting 100 men, who successfully withstood a Russian turning movement.

The news that- the-. whole- -of -the Baltic fleet had left Madagascor on the 16th is confirmed. There are various indications that probably it will next be heard of off the neighbourhood of Chagos, a British possession in the Indian Ocean, where coal stores will be sent.

There is a tremendous rush for prospectuses of the Japanese loan. In London the issue is quoted at a premium of If, and considerably higher in New York.

The Daily Chronicle asserts that Japan will stipulate for an indemnity of £100,000,000.

March 30.

Thirty warships and 14 colliers were sighted on the 19th, 250 miles north-east of Madagascar, steering in an easterly direction.

There are over 200,000 British applications for the Japanese loan. It is believed the loan has been subscribed tenfold. The American share has been many times oversubscribed. One applied for three millions sterling and several for a million.

It is officially announced that Russia has ' proposed no conditions of peace. | The Figaro states that in overruling M. i de Witte anS Count Lamsdorff the °Czar ; sided with the minority of the Finance I Committee and the Grand Ducal party, I who favour a continuation of the. war. I The hope of the Grand Dukes centres in ; Admiral Rozhdostvensky. | The Times' St. Petersburg correspondent learns from unimpeachable sources that ' Russia and Japan have selected President j Roosevelt to act^as mediator and* that peace |

negotiations are aheady in progiess. An early suspension of hostilities is expected. President Roosevelt was se^cted upon the Jap;:npvj initiative. While technically true that Russia has not formulated conditions of peace, y.et she indicated conditiors she cannot accept — namely, an indemnity or the cession of territory.

The Advisory War Council, consisting of Generals Grodekoff and Komaroff and the Grand Duke Nicholas, reported to the Czar that a successful issue of the war could not be expected. Count Lamsdorff communicated to France Russia's negative conditions. Franco prompted Russia to begin the negotiations.

There is an impression in high quarters that if the internal situation improves the prospects of peace will recede. It is thought that if Japan's conditions are incompatible with dynastic considerations the Government will be compelled to convene a national assembly to decide on peace or war.

Russian official and private telegrams show that the Japarwe are 65 miles from Kwang-cheng-tsze, along the railway. The whereabouts of the flanking' columns is still a mystery.

The Japanese main army is 30 versts from the Russian outposts.

A Japanese column is 27 miles northeast of Ki-ping-kai.

The Russians are reported to have evacuated further stations on the railway in the d'hection of Kun-su-ling. French St. Petersburg advices state that the Japanese have cut the Harbin-Vladi-vostock railway.

A fourth Russian squadron is preparingto sail in April. **

March 31

General Lirevitch exhorted the army to manfully accomplish its sacred duty to the Czar and the Fatherland. Already it had repulsed many serious attacks with enormous losses. He was confident the Japanese would be unable to resist Russian valour. He declared) that reinforcements were unceasingly arriving, and added : '"' May God help in the coming battle."

The Times states that the Japanese loan was coveredt twelvefold.

General Linevitch has stopped the exodus from Harbin of all persons except women and children.

French messages describe the Czar aS an obdurate member of the war party. • April 1. A Japanese column lias arrived at Tannea, 50 miles nc-rth-f-r.st of Fa-ku-men. marching by way of Fenga-wa.

Another column expelled the Russians from Tien-hua chics, 55 miles north of Tie-ling.

The Japanese, from Shin-king, reached Shan-cheng-tzu, 105 miles north-east of Tieling, after routing small bodies of Russians.

The Times' Paris correspondent says ifc is believed Admiral Rozhdestvensky is making a bend south to avoid the Japanese warships and to reach cooler water to clean the foul bottoms of his ships.

Nothing is officially known at Tokio or St. Petersburg re President Roosevelt's selection as mediator between Russia and Japan. Washington declares, on the highest authority, that the statement is baseless. Apparently President Roosevelt was c-nly informally acquainted with th© outlines of possible terms. President Roosevelt starts immediately on a six weeks shooting expedition to Colorado.

The Times' Paris correspondent states that the fleet will try to reach Vladivostock.

Five Russian warships were sighted off Perim (Arabia) on Saturday.

April 2. - A Japanese official report states that the Russians and Chunchuses are retreating from Hsi-lung and concentrating at Kirin.

Ten trains of provisions and war materials leave St. Petersburg daily for Vladivostock.

Many Russian mines near Yladivostock, owing to gales, became detached and di-ifted on to the Japanese coast.

Fifty Japanese prisoners in Novgorod committed suicide. Some of them committed hari kari, and the others took arsenic.

A commission presided over by Professor Maartens sits at St. Petersburg to examine into the claim for the sinking of the steamer Hipsang.

April 3,

There are indications that the Russian position in the direction of Petuna is vulnerable. The • Russians are destroying the railway more thoroughly than hitherto.

Dr Moirison reports that th.c best opinion: in Pekin considers that, instead of Russia, proposing negative terms, it is for Japan to dictate, the terms to be unconditionally accepted in remembrance of Russia's negotiations prior to the war. He suggests that she is seeking to gain time and delude Japan into relaxing her military advance. He a&ks why, if Russia is earnest, she does not recall the Baltic fle.et?

Generals Sakaharoff and Stack elberg are returning, the former owing to a differences with General Linevitch and the latter on health grounds. General Harkvitch lias succeeded General Sakaharoff as War

Ministei\

BRISBANE, April 5. The steamer Eastern, from China, iras

Stopped by a Japanese cruiser off Moji, shots being fired across her bows. She "was examined and allowed to proceed. In a letter written by the Rev. James I)ale, missionary in Korea, received by Mr James Adam, of Bon Accord, the writer says: — "You will be interested in Russia and Japan, and, like everyone, your sympathies will be with the Japanese, who have made such a world-beating record for themselves. They certainly are great fighters. I see by the accounts in Collier's Magazine that the way they captured Port Arthur was by digging a covered tunnel 18 miles long, and big enough for horses and cannon to pass through. What a stupendous undertaking ! Men of such pluck and .perseverance may well be held in honour by the greatest nations on the earth."