RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 78, 6 April 1904, Page 3

RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

AN ELUSIVE FLEET. LIES LOW IN VLADIVOSTOK HARBOUR. LONDON, April 4. Le Temps' St. Petersburg correspondent says lliut. Admiral Kitzbstemos' sqjuadron was in Vladivostok when the place was bombarded. The Japanese did not perceive them, and continued their ellorts until lately, but were unable to ascertain their whereabouts. RUSSIAN THANSPOUT CAPTUR--101). (Received April 5, 10.10 p.m.) LONDON, April "i. Two Japanese cruisers captured a Japanese transport flying Chinese colours, and carrying a cargo of tinned meat for Vladivostok. THE HACK FOR THtT*YA-H;. LONDON, April 5. Five hundred Cossacks have occupied lin-san, forty miles north of Wiju, forestalling the Japanese, who are advancing from Chong-ju. ReuterV Shanghai correspondent, states that Japanese, scouts entered Wi-ju on the -till irist. The Russians apparently retreated beyond Hie Ya-lu. ALEX'IEFF AT POUT ARTHUR. LONDON, April o. Prince Alexieff has inspected Port Arthur. lie considered everything highly satisfactory, the damage being insignificant. The Admiral returned to Mukden. JAPANESE AKMY MOVEMENTS.'

LONDON, April 5. Japanuso accounts slate that two hundred and sixty thousand •liipaneso troops are in motion, besides sixty thousand in garrison. It is believed that Japan intends to operate three armies of one hundred thousand each, the first in north-west Korea, a second at the mouth of the Ya-lu, anil a third east, of Niu-chwang, co-operating in a turning movement against the main Russian positions. The general thaw which h'as set in renders the immediate extension of operations impossible. PORT ARTHUR AGAIN BOMBARDED. (Received April 6, 1.30 a.m.) LONDON, April 5. Ohe-foo reports state that Port Arthur was again bombarded on Sunday. A Patriotic Outburst. | REMARKABLE AWAKENING oi? THE RUSSIAN PEOFLI4. EXTRAORDINARY SCENES. (From the Daily Mail.) St. Petersburg, Sunday, Feb. 14. The demonstrations of patriotism have not been without manifestations against the Government. There was one such yesterday at lhe cemetery oi' the Wolkuwokirchhof church at the funeral of M. Kikolai, Miehailovski, the well-known historian of Russian liLerature. Many thousands of the most talented Russians steeped in the literature of Western European thought, followers of Spencer and Darwin, made strong speeches against the Government which has plunged the country into a war that will cost untokl wealth and blood. As the crowd was very great, strong forces of police were not able to prevent these inflammatory speeches. Very great demonstrations of patriotism were made here yesterday. Huge crowds singing the National Anthem presented themselves at the palace of (he Czar and C/.ure witch, and from there they marched to the Anitchkoff Palace. Afterwards an enthusiastic body marched to the l*i erich iMnbassy and sang national songs.

A number of additional battalions from each guard regiment have entrained at tlie Nicholas Station on their way to the Far East. As the .soldiers marched to the station pas-sers-by poured out the contents of their purses into their hands ; ladies gave them jewellery that they were wearing; and tradesmen swarmed out of the shops and slioweied tobacco arid provisions upon them. GI{EAT DEMONSTRATIONS. St. Petersburg, Huturduv, l''eb. J3 (Midnight) —Now, like u flash, the whole Empire seems to have been lashed into fury by defeat, and is thoroughly prepared to carry on the fight to the bitter end. The dreamy Russian character has been stirred to its depths, and a degree of resentment has been aroused which it would Ire almost difficult to realise abroad. Patriotic demonstrations have been witnessed here almost continuously during the last three days. I hey have been entirely spontaneous, and some of them have been extraordinary in character. To-day the schoolboys and students of the city, numbering thousands, marched bareheaded for hours up and down the Ncvsky Prospect carrying flags shouting and singing patriotic airs' An enormous crowd followed them. As on previous occasions, the nroPn?' 0 " T " rKI lh " AniichltoH Palate, where the crowd cpmpletelv surrounded the Winter Palace where m response to enthusiastic 'cheers' thou .Majesties appeared (he Cz-ir' ina blowing kisses lo the lads The shout, which wenc up stirred echoes across the Neva.

At the French Hmbassv, j„ f]„. absence of the Ambassador Mine Jtompard was <:t>,n|..-lU-rl i„ appear oil (ho balcony to acknowledge (lie "\ ivas" lor Hussi!i-s ally. ivfciro (lie barracks (he regimental bands played the .National Hymn ( 0 the cheering crowds. 'I u-nighL similar demonstrations took place outside (lie liieatrcs. The performance was slopped while thorcliestrat came outside and played national airs, soldiers inarched through the stree(s Hinging, and the poorest house porters gave their last kopeck for extra editions of the papers, while the droshky drivers made no charge for military men. All this shows how profoundly the national spirit has heen moved.

Telegrams from almost every iown in European Russ-ia (ell the same s(ory. At Moscow (here were manifi'slations in front of the palace, the residence of the Grand DukJ .Serge, also before the Jberian Chapel. when! stands Ore sacred image Of Oar Lady of Iberia, before which the Czar always invokes a blessing when lie enters Moscow.

Thousands knelt, for hours in the snow praying lor vislory. The mobilisation ol the European and .Siberian military reserves has been resolved upon. Thin ( |,vision calls .lOli.UOii men to (lie colours. Ml (hose who have serv,,! f„ r ( j M , yom . s mid are under forly-i|,ree vcars of age must report themselves, which will amount, to one in every tive •able-bodied men, 'Phe disorganisation ol daily In',.. (hus caused in this portion of the Empire will have a serious elied upon every profession and calling in life. This morning the Government for the first lime gave the Russian papers permission to publish the accounts received from abroad of the te;h't at Chemulplio. Numbers of vaii'.,.,. stuieiu:,, anil workmen Lo-day enrolled themselves at Ihe ollices of tho General Stall as volunteers ior .the Fas East,

why; japan is winning, Japan has prepared for this war ever- since the Russians turned her out of Port Arthur ; she lias lived for it ever since then. From the day that the battleship Mikasa arrived in the Far East she has been in a position to commence hostilities at, a moment's notice. Full dress rehearsals of the attack on Port Arthur have been frequent ; and almost daily surveys have been made of the battlefield of Chemulpho. Four times every year has- every Japanese ■torpedo-boat and 'destroyer filed live torpedoes at rocks, so as to use men to handling the real thing. The immense expense was not undertaken for nothing. .No other navy lias attempted such a full-dress rehearsal, the nearest approach to it being our own. Quite recently the British, as a wonderful novelty, lime tired two or three live torpedoes ; but each event Iras been a red-letter day. To Japan it was ordinary .drill. Japan is winning because she alone was ready, ilow long she will go on winning i.s another matter. She has never yet tasted defeat, ami till she has experienced a repulse it is not possible to calculate her exact worth, ller soldiers, too, have not the stamina of the Russian ones ; while both by sea and by land the Japanese "light by book." They have fought strictly "by book" so tar, and they have succeeded because the book has been right, text books and the doctrines of Malvan carried them triumphantly through the war with China, and llahan is their god in this war also. .Malum does not g'o tor much in Russia, except as the historian of Nelson. A life of Nelson is in every Russian ollicer's library, and most Russian officers are dilligent students of him, Farrugut, too, they study. Ami the best of them study hint and Nelson for one particular characteristic of both, their magnetic power over their oilicers and men. The secret of sea victory is, they think, there. .Japan will go on, for she has neglected nothing 111 her preparations, and in all the accessories of war she is far uhvad of her rival. And her lleet is the bigger.

RUSSIAN METHODS. It is interesting to observe tho identity of tho methods by which Russian diplomatists work out their political ends. Some years ago, says a London Times coiTespomlent, Russia began to cast longing eyes on the island of tSaghalien, the most northerly island of the Japanese group, and, taking advantage oi its detached position, utilized it as a convict station. The Japanese very 'naturally raised objections to this appropriation of their territory, and in reply Russia brought, forward a proposal that the two empires should enjoy a common possession of the island, just as she now proposes that they should enjoy a common possession of Korea, only, in this instance, s'he substitutes "spheres of influence'' for "comimm possession." They mean the Fame thing in the Russian sense.

When Russia made* this proposal Japan was in her callow days, and yielded the point, only to find shortly after that "common possession" meant "full possession by Kussia." Again, in 1867, Japan had occasion to protest against the continued encroachments of her northern neighbour in the administration of the -disputed land, and Russia answered her protest by the suggestion that in exchange for the full possession of Kaghalieiv—an island containing 47,500 square miles she should accept four 'insignificant islets in the Kurile group. This suggestion Japan refused to entertain, and the two rowers returned to the preexisting arrangement.. Matters., however, did not work smoothly, and in 1875 Russia came forward with a more liberal offer. She proposed to yield to Japan, in exchange for Saghalien, the eighteen islands which form the Kurile group, stretching between Kamtchatka and the Japanese island of Ye/.0. To this transfer Japan deemed it wise, in the existing circumstances, to consent, and Russia thus became legally possessed of Saghalien, just as she would surely become the owner of Korea, if Japan were weak enough to fall in witli her present proposal. Hut Japan has learnt her lesson.