SCIENTIFIC SLAUGHTER.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12458, 21 March 1905, Page 8

SCIENTIFIC SLAUGHTER.

THE STORY OF THREE MONTHS BEFORE PORT ARTHUR.

(By. B. Fletcher Robinson.

Mi' YiMieiig tells us_Ms blood-stained story with great simplicity. For three •months tthe veteran correspondent sat on the ihill-tops and watched - valour meet -wMi death ib&fore the girdle of.the Port Arthur forts.- Being of the old soluoioi, foet objects; to the florid in description. It is plain that he is- in fear, of 'being considered "yellow.' 5 Yet, mucjh as his book is.to be admired, the reader may >be t pardoned if he thinks in silent •regret 'of..what G. W. Steevens would have-made of that-heroic struggle which held "the eyes ©f. ia,ll the w0r1d.... Tine .Japanese were drawing in. on the outer circle' of 'forts, when, Villiers was pernii'tted to join the .besiegers. Climbing la 'high (hill h& saw the pianoranm of attack and defence spread^oufc before him". A faii* and genitle landscape it seemed, at first, sight, a country; of verdant hills and golden valleys, rich with the ripenine corn; and millet. Hamlets nestled in the folds of the land, and through the gapsjof ltbe hilfe peeped the' "Wine-dark blue" of the. ocean.

Yet t'ho cuiitiaitt had already risen on tthejftrsfb act of thte tragedy., ..On. the •outer" lioriiz'on lay the dark smudges of Togo's •'battleships, while iiea.rer the red eartli off ■.fresih-itupiied' trenches eoarred the green slopes, and the flicker of bayonets filled the (hollows. Then,, as 'he ■watched' that soimmer moi'ning, there oanne firom the Goldeii Mount, tiie. g,nelat ssla fortress. sittaindimg oitt "in a' yelliow Maze tof sunriight against the- qu£et with the road of the heavy smoke. And witifi. ■ the ri&a of the heavy gun the smiling pa,raddse" broke into the inferno of the caoiitoiDade. '■••.;•.

PINE FIGHTING MEN. . Mr Villfers passed up and down among the troops. He saiw them in, camp and under fire,and in the hopsital. Never. he. -writes, "did I see a finer spirit displayed toy fighting men in, the whole course of ihy campaigning -career-." The! grim glories of the night attacks •libiusa Mr Villiers to an ope,n, enthusiasm. ■He speaks,of the star shells falling froim th© heayens like ' inciandesceiit petals:" •Inidieed,'; "itJi© colour of this night wai'fare is what Whistler would have revelled in. -The deep purple of the mountain against the mocturnal blue, the paJ^ lemoa of the mboai, the white raiys of the cajiiuoiis* anouths, and the yellow fliaislh fa-osm ttihe explodiing shell, all tempered to a mellowness 'by la thim. haze of smoke" created 'a sbnangely dmpressive picture. '

The assiault. oil Batrasian, the -first wnpavbamti. outlying /fo>rt to. 'be captured, xgst ibh© Japaaiesfr som© 15,000 in; killed and Wounded. . Fifty.-men—the reminiant'of.:ia regun-eoit—'had madfe tjhear may to the trench ibeifdr© the fort, and lay fcheaiei in the 'mud for taro dJays, living o.n.fragomenits of ric© and Woiody water foam the ditoh. Then tiheir leader, witlh his desperate half hundred, -ruishied out, unsupported, and very nisarly took the fort above them. Indeed, their uhexpeoted iassault ended in its capture, -for, olbserviinig what wias goiaig forward, regiments from the trenches (rushed to their_ aid. and .in, ith© end drove out the Russians."' .

Seventeen of this heroic: band- were a)fterwards seen ;by Mi" Vil'liere iat head-. quarters. Gemeral' Nogi told' him that he. •■would norb .-semdi them,-to. the front iagain. '.'■:..' They^ .jfche onilyVsuryivoi's' of a•.'f'ajmO'US regimient;v h&ud ,<lo!ne (enough of Vfigjlitiiis;.-.' .Biit "it woujd not. do .'to let -them Icnbty it,, oa*. rthey" woutd commit Isriiicide^?':',,.^. ..'.:.^. ■ ;/;- ; g-- ■:■■ . ' ■'.' '■ ■■

'^^'■"^'tJffl&tiLX. TKEN&H;-- ■ .'■■■■ ■": . '• ■;l^t^['*siitl ::^yil!iiiers; , a .:.treojeh ' lat^Ke iretac <?if ■ '•".•fclids fo^t, which:''faced iWi:' Russian sharpshtootera. pjoy'deed * ooii|d. .b£' Mi fX^i-f ■ *iid: vih© sfce^ofc^'%as 'davi&dfu?'.";'"'".* Tlio, weri&S'^&lieved jffrejpy 'lialf;'hourT 'Mesh, ' ey^in .TrVliiGin:., Japan oouldj stund^^ie''.:cr;itJie]il- ;iAp iarxger.. lit .wai^f.nckin^ined "the ; tKiirty-niinut^ stench" for this; :,reasori.v 'M.eii.;sliink about liko !beasltb:-;:,!tJie isSng-" 'fiiiig '''icpT- 'bulLstis inever ce®&e&. -jtfae;:. ■deA'd; spnaiwled evei'ywher©. ; • It.,is a . drea-d----fyj" picture.' ■. : '■'--,■ "'■ . ~ Yet, whiile AgJut; 'wenit" foi*ward, the: stolid 'MamchuTian husbandmen, well 'within iiange of the great guns, wena b-eaiting out tihe yellow cor-n, and naked cfhildreca laughed lat the passintg shells, land learnt to imitat-e the hammer of the machine guns. ■ .. Both men Bind animal's became in:idiffevent ■to shjeHr-fee', says Mr YxUiei-B. -^''A-doinkey wUl'.-take the final shriiek of ■a; she'll for the bray, of a oonnradi.e, ■.land ?<jhipf in :■ m&rriiy ; , /himself; ja. 'horse . will Sdiiiagine dlfc ithe ■ke'yniote of a: friemd, aiid will accoirn'Rahy it wiith a shrill nieig^; whale. la-Sap- solilier .will^ti-oat them ias !ha weiuld a :b1lueibot1?l'& or' mos.qmto.'" . ■ ■■-'; "..... ■~ . ;Pf the assault on lEalst Kilw'an he gijvea a. fine desKjriptiori. One- himtfi'ed 'great guaus were 'aiti the Japa.lieseliftes. "If all this iron foundries ojf the'^widie 'World we^ concentrated ■and. going iat full iblast it might give eoitina idea of .tKb ceiaseless din jand earsplitting noise." ' On, the curtains of TedouWs thb soil and.rocks ar© tossed 'a'bo'ut.lby the 11-inidhl shMls iiifce an; ocea,n' in a gale_ of wiind." Holes were iblow-n by the 500 ib projectiles ■; "biig enough1 for the foundation) of. a house." The attackers took shelter in these, jhioles as if they were so many <rifle pits. - The slaughter-*--well, it was as might flbe imagined.

Mr Villiera' book-should have a,'wide -voguei It^de a clean1 and graphdc description of",the ;first great "siege conducted , Iby it;he aid tpif .model'n. science.. Ai'Bjd feonrors will he. the, best texit dm the Vorld for thois© wh<J work for peace." • ■ • "