The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1904. THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 96, 27 April 1904, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1904. THE WAR.

The eyes of tlio world are turned towards thu scene of military operations in the east of Asia, where the war is being waged between two nations so dissimilar in every respect, so vast on the one side and puny on the other as to make it seem almost impossible for Japan to hold out the vast kingdom of Russia. The Otago Daily Times says the whole world is peering eagerly through the mist of secrecy enveloping theatre of the war amd is listening with strained ears for every scrap of news that will throw light on its progress. Tile various phases of the conflict have been discussed and re-discussed till the momentous issues at stake are in danger of becoming obscured amidst the mass of contradictory and confusing opinions emanating from all sources atjout the cause of the war, the relative strength of tho combatants, and the probable outcome of the contest. Writers viewing the matter from widely different standpoints not unnaturally come to equally divergent conclusions, and one with the utmost confidence anticipates the humbling of Russian pride in the dust, while another with eqiual assurance expects to see .Japan disrated to a nonentity amongst the Powers while Russia tightens her grip on Asia. Unquestionably, the war represents an international struggle for the survival of the fittest, which lius its counterpart in every aggregation of organic life from the humblest to the must complex forms. There is this difference, however : Warfare -on the Titanic scale which ensues when nations grapple with each other is sometimes brought about by other causes than the eltort to sustain existence, aud, such a war may lie precipitated by the lust of conquest, and passion for expansion of dominions,and the desire to be sole arbiter of the world's destinies. Territory may be acquired by confluent or absorption, and in ancient times flic former was the invariable method employed, whereas the modern method, illustrated by the history of England, America, and Russia, is a process of absorption. Alexander of llacedon and Napoleon were conquerors pure and simple, and while tho methods of a country like Russia are of a less sanguinary character, they are none the less relentless in thu accomplishment of her purpose. Seven centuries ago Russia a vanced to the Ural Mountains, and then added comparatively little to her territory for 800 years ; but by tho middle of the seventeenth century she had spread out over the whole of Northern Asia to ISehring Straits, and during the past Jot) years her boundary has been pushed out to the extreme southern shore of the Caspian Sea aad to the Himalayas, while latterly the invasion of China has h/.-gun. As she by-gati to press down on the more thickly populated countries of Southern Asia it was only natural that there should be collision with another Power 11, would now appear that European history is to have a parallel in Asia and that the island Empire of dapan, like our own, is to be called upon to withstand the shock of continental aggression, which threatens its national life. The events which led up to the war have now bec.omo matters of history, but a very instructive article reviewing the position appears in the March issue, of the Contemporary Review. Dr. E. .1. Dillon, the author, is struck by the paradox that the nation which posed before the civilised world as the exponent of the doctrine of peace should be the first to become embroiled ill international warfare, and he susUnits with a g-ood dond of lcjijio that such a contingency was never anticipated by the Czar's Government. He throws the entire responsibility for it on the shoulders of Admiral AlexielT, and says that up to the recall of the Japanese Ambassador from St. Petersburg the Viceroy never dreamed that Japan would not give way. -Now that .lapan has thrown down the gauntlet, Russia is n> danger nf losing the fruits of a long succession of diplomatic victories, which she might, 'have enjoyed liaid s-he followed the plan of tile less ambitious ex-Finance Minister, M. U'itte: "Let us safeguard the peace or Europe and Asia and all thing's will be ours in due time." Had Russia been content to proceed nrore slowly with tile colonisation of Easier;]. Siberia and jrar.cliuria her position in the process of time must have become unassailable, and tio Power in the world could have prevented her absorption of till Northern China. ISut, Hushed with power, she emlvarked on a course which forced an ordinarily peaceful 'nation into arms against, her, and l>rou'gbt about a war with an historic significance not dissimilar from the t'eniusular war, which culminated in Waterloo. And yet this crisis in t.'lie destiny of Russia was induced, ■according-to ih\ Il'illon, the unswerving 'belief entertained by Admiral Alexielf that J'alpan wuuld be afraid to lake tin 1 fiel'd. During (he whole of the six months of parleying and temporising which- preceded the war liie misguided Viceroy never got rid of tile idea that Japan was only 'Vi'liidm-g," and that she could il*. "bluffed out" if lie only held on. The 'diplomatic history of Russia seems to show a very consistent record of siiii'cessful illhlT." -hpt, a* often happens t.j the huWitual "'bluffer" at, the card table, a rude awakening awaited Admiral AlexeielT, and prolAibily no one knows better than he does to-day the ultimate futility of "lilul'f" that is not backed up by a strong hand. It is argued by Dr. Dillon that Admiral Alexeieff, while trying to frighten Jupan into.suMnission, had a scheme of his own, which, briefly, was to concentnaite on the Korean ■frontier such an overwhelming force

as would render tirmed resistance on the part of .Japan tantamount to national suicide.- At Uie Maine time tho expense involved in this displacement of vast bodies of troops would have created an umiuswern<ble title to the; permanent annexation of Manchuria and a dominating influence in 6 KoHm. It is, Or. Pillon points out, futile to aitetnpi at this stage to forecast the result ol tho wall'. At the present time a

large portion of the Russian fleet is reduced to scrapiaon, and is rusting at the bottom of the sea, surrounded the bonds' of its commander and his brave men. Pestilence stalks grimly among her land forces, and will pnlhuvbly take 100 lives for everyone that "(ties by a | Japanese.bullet. Away at the oth'er en.t of her far-flung empire a , domestic revolution is simmering, 'which threatens to overthrow the despotism of the past and to build up a new Russia with a constitutional government, under which the rightsiof the pooplc*\yrill eome before the lust of territory. Viewed in any light, the position of Russia to-day r is a singularly unhappy one. Jf she is beaten in the present war, defeat must necessarily mean much less to her than It would to .Japan, and the worsti she can sulYer, apart iVom her loss of prestige, is-injury to her ,credit. Dr. Dillon contends.that the day on which public conli'ddncc in Russian solvency is shattered will witness an economic disaster unparalleled m financial Jiistory, ami- jwstiflcaiion of his opinion m*ay be found to some extent in the fact that France alona has 11 milliards of francs invested in Rusis l i'a;ji securities. On the other hand, if Jupan is victorious she may yet lirnl it (lilhcult to cult the fruits of fpt»r victory. The fall of Sevastopol 'deeply wounded Russian pride, but nvade little difference to her in any other way. The fall of Port Arthur and Vladivostok and the retreat to llanUin—which is the worst that can befall her in the present campaign—will be humiliating indeed ; but it cloi-s rmt follow that she will then be prepared to make peace, however much Japan may desire it. It will simply mean that the theatre of the war lias been removed farther from the .Japanese base, and that Russia can renew the contest when the conditions are most favourable to herself. It may be taken for granted that nothing short of a serious disarrangement of internal aliairs in Russiia, such as might bo caused a revolution, will leave J'ajpan absolute Master of Eastern Asia.