THE Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 1904. THE WAR.

Temuka Leader, Issue 5099, 7 June 1904, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 1904. THE WAR.

The Russo-Japanese war still continues to be all but a one-sided ad air. The Japs have had some bad luck, but their mishaps have been the result more of accident than anything else, and the same good fortune which attended them at sea has so far followed It hem on land. In the beginning we expressed the opinion that the -laps would strike hard and elieclhe]y at first, but that Russia after many reverses would win in the end. We came to these conclusions because of the season of the. year and the then position of affairs. It was the winter season, and the seven or eight thousand miles over which Russia had to send her army as well as food tor the soldiers was impassable owing to frost and snow. Japan, on the other hand, had a narrow strip of sea to cross, and consequently had a groat advantage. Then again their recent war with China showed that the Japanese were really good soldiers, but of course we concluded that in the stolid Russian they would have a dif- . ferent class of men to deal with. For ' those reasons we did think that tire Japanese would get the best of it in .the beginning, but we did not, and we'do not suppose anyone else did anticipate such a complete annihilation of the naval power of Eussia in the East. She has been practically swept oil the sea without inllieting but very , slight injuries on her antagonist. She fell almost under the first blow, and the chief damage done to the Japan esc vessels was the result of an accident. Wo did expect, of course, that Japan would be successful at sea. Russia lias never in her whole history distinguished herself as a naval power ; her sea victories are few and far between. Japanese, however, are like the British ; islanders to whom the sea is a home they showed their great superiority in their war with China a few years ago, and it was expected that they would beat the Russians, but no one expected, and in fact no one could expect that they would strike such a crushing blow in such a short time. The position now is that Japan is mistress of the sea in the East, and that even if Russia succeeds in driving her oh' the laud, that must end the victory. With such naval power as Japan possesses, and her other fortifications, Eussia has no more chance of conquering Japan than she has of Hying to the moon. But the same spirit of enterprise and energv which characterised Japans action by sea is witnessed in her cllorts on land. it is nut superiority of numbers which appeal' to have enabled her to inflict crushing blow after blow and drive her enemy before her like a Hock of sheep; it is superiority of intellect ; superiority of scientific know lodge of the art of war ; superiority of strategy and resourcefulness, in fact, better generalship, better soldiers, and bolter everything. It is hard to realise that an Asiatic people who fifty years ago were practically slaves could inflict such crushing defeats on a western nation which hither to was supposed ' to be a first-class Bower, but there it is, and judging from present appearances it is not at all impossible that Russia will sustain a final defeat. For several weeks it has been asserted that the Russians contemplate retiring to Harbin, and if they do so it is ten to one if they ever come back again. Harbin is a town on the boundary between Russia and Manchuria. It is on the junction of the railway which branches off to Port Arthur from the groat Siberian railway, which runs from St. Petersburg to Vladivostock. Now, if the Japanese succeed in driving the Russians out of Manchuria, she can thou call on the Chinese to defend their own territory, and without a doubt they will do it. Until three or four years ago Manchuria belonged to China ; in fact, in theory it is still a Chines© province. It was only then that Eussia took possession of it to hold it as a guarantee that the massacre of Christians in China should J _ 1 .-vrl i +

cease. She was to have occupied it for three year's, after which she was to give it up, and it was because she did not give it up that Japan went to war w th her. If, therefore, the Russians are routed out of Manchuria by the Japanese nothing can be more reasonable than to belier e that the Chinese will assist in. not allowing them to re-enter. The country is Chinese territory, and the Japanese have said over and. over again that they do not want to hold the country as 'their own, and that they will restore it to China if they .succeed in conquering the Russians. That being so it will be no breach of the laws of’neutrality for the Chinese to oppose the re-entrance of Russia into Manchuria, and if the Chinese do this the Russians would never be able to visit Fort Arthur again. The Chinese are more numerous than the Russians: they could plant several millions of >ncn on the fence, who under Japanese generalship, would keep back any force that Russia could possibly bring forward. There is, we learn, about 200,000 or 300,000 Japanese on the battlefield now, and others are landing there every day, and there can bo no & doubt that these can defeat an equal,if not double, the same number ■ of Russians. Besides, all Fas tern peoples are easily fed. Give them rice, and fish, and they arc satisfied. The Russian soldier is not an epicure, but he cannot live on the same food as the Japanese and Chinese. It will cost Russia four times as much to main- ,

tain her army as it will cost Japan ; that is, Japan could keep in the field 400,000 men for less than Russia, conic} keep Ul() v 000, and this makes a groat dilierenee. But Japan apparently has better credit than Russia. Recently the cable news informed us that the Japanese Joan was oversubscribed 30 times in London, and five times in Now York. That shows that Japanese credit is good, and as a million of money will be more to Japan than four millions to Russia there are good grounds for expecting that she will win the battle in the end.