THE WAR IN MANCHURIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7740, 16 February 1905, Page 3

THE WAR IN MANCHURIA.

RUSSIAN PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE.. ACTIVITY OF JAPANESE» CAVALRY. TOGO GOES TO MEET ROZ'llDESTVENSKY.

LONDON, Feb. M. I A visitor to Mukden slates that the army's discouragement has been intensified 1)y the knowledge that General Kuropatkins heaApiarter's train is ready for letreat, aJso that evteiutve piepaiatious have been made to give battle at Tiding. I Vladivostok has been declared in a tslate of siege. Many of the inhabitants are leaving. I The Dutch East Indies authorities In exercising neutrality, detained two Hamburg-American colliers, the coal from whit* was landed and s o kl by auction, •>

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| General Kuropatkin reports that three hundred Japanec cavalry attacks the bridge at Fcngtseteng, damagllng thirty yards of thxj railway, which has since been repaired the Russians are energetically extending the defensive works on their right, and heavily fortifying Momtapan.

| Japanese surrounded a detachment of Russian cuvtlry at Hei-cheng, killing three and wounding eleven. I Ihe steamer Eastry has been refeased.

A JAPANESE RAILWAY RAID. French papers state that .li.-pniiese cavalry destroyed the rai!.\n>-!)i:.:yc-at Ftnsftaeteng, between Harbin and Mubden, inarching through Chinese territory iike Mfetchvnkos raiders ' Geneeai Sakaioff reports that three ompanies of Japanese attacked his Chasseurs at Nanshinpu on the 13th lAft'er a desperate fight the Japanese were repulsed, leaving manydead. I A member of the Japanese naval staff states that colliers accompanying the Ualtit Fleet will be sunk regardless of nationality.

FAMOUS SURRENDERS

The tragic element underlying every great surrender in history is not wanting at Port Arthur. Since the beginning of the bombardment last February, the trend of affairs has been almost imbrokenly to the advantage of the Japanese, and it only remains to conjecture the spirit ii ( iwhich the gallant defenders of the [lortiess conveyed to the triumphant enemy (heir inability to continue an uneven struggle. The final act of the drama has been played out again and again in the world's records of capitulation, the curtain has been rung clown repeatedly upon a heartbroken commander, a suffering and dejected garrison, a generous but in-,] flexible conqueror ; the story of one siege differs from the story of another most essentially In the matters of detail, and yet in the spirit of the | surrender lies' a world of insignia- i cance.'

Take the two disasters in the Franco-Orman War of Sedan and Mctz, and compare the genuine cry . of despair from Napoleon 111., who, . " betrayed by fortune, had lost all' and had placed in the hands of his conqueror the. sole thing left him his liberty," with Hazainc's pompous address to his soldiers : " Vanquished hy. famine, we are compelled to submit to the lnws of war in constituting ourselves prisoners. At different epochs of our military history, brave troops, commanded by Massena, KTebcr, and Gouvion St. Cyr, have experienced the same lot, which detracts not from military honour, when, like you, they have so gloriously performed their duty to the extreme of human endurance." |This when surrendering a fortress garrison of the lirst order to a besieging army only slightly superior lin numbers, while guns and aminunijtion were plentiful, and food supplies were at least sufficient for another week's consumption ! Napoleon, jon the other hand, made no attempt I to conceal the finality of his disaster , as he lingered in the garden of the ' Helgian weaver's cottage, where negotiations had been held, n broken, ' despondent figure, dressed in a jaunty red cap with a gold border, a black paletot lined with red, red trousers and white kidgloves. | The note or inevitability was struck perhaps as full by General Lee in the American Civil War, although he had been saved the mortification of proposing a surrender by IGeneral Grant's letter :—" The result of the last week," he wrote to Lee on April 7, 18fio, " must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the [army of Northern Virginia in this struggle." Two days later a meetling was effected at Appomattox, and this surrender, of which the victory [of Five Forks was the prelude, practically ended the war, the remaining .armies of the Confederates laying I down their arms one after the other. [Lee knew -when the, end had come. jNot so Napoleon 1., -whose letter to j the Prince Regent consequent on ] Waterloo can only !*■ regarded as a I diplomatic attempt to gain time for ] a fresh rally of forces. " Exposed i to the factions which distract my country," he wrote, " and to the I enmity of - the greatest Powers of j Europe, I have closed my political career, and I come, like Themis to- | cles, to throw myself upon the hospi- I tality of the Hi-itish people. I put | myself under the protection of their faws, which I claim from your Royal Highness, as the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of my enemies."

A manly confession of defeat was that made hy the Duke of Gordon at the capitulation of Edinburgh Castle in 15(59 to -the Earl of l.even.' " Gentlemen and soldiers," ho said, I know not wherein I have been unkind to any of you, but if T have ever wronged any man in your ranks let him speak 'ere we part for ever. Do not brawl with the newcomers, for you are too few to conquer and ■too many to sacrifice." CJeneral Gordon's message of defiance was : " When you, Mahdi, order the Nile to dj-y up, and walk across with your troops, and come into Khartoum to me timl take me, then T will .surrender the town to you. and not before." Little as we know of the details accompanying the fall of Khartoum, it may be safely assumed I that when the relief expedition reached that cjty to find it had fallen into the hands of the Mahdi two days previously, Gordon had surrendered nothing but his life.

An unsatisfactory capture wa.« that of Sebastopol, since the eneinv had fled, leaving behind a smoking | mass of ruins. /.ntphen fell through a ruse, soldiers being introduced into the town apparelled as Finnish I country women, their baskets filled ' with swords and loaded pistols One I of the most bloodless capitulations | considering the importance of the i fortress surrendered, was that of Gibraltar, wrested from the Spaniards ' in 1701, our total loss in gaining this important acquisition to the crown being (50 men killed and 21(5 wounded. On the other hand. Lucknow was the scene of dreadful bloodshed when the siege was raised by Sir Colin Campbell, no quarter being given. It was said that after the massacre of Cawnpore the soldiers divided among them the tresses of a murdered girl, and swore tfiat for every hair of her head one sepoy should die. At the surrender of the Has'ti|le in the French Revolution there was no lighting, the Oov T ernor, Dp Lummy, after making a hesitating defence, capitulating on a promise of safety for all the garrison, A picturesque surrender was that of Cetewayp, who was raptured on the 29th of August, 1H79, by Major Marter during the Zulu war.' Troops had been pursuing the Chief since the 13th of the month, and he was finally tracked to a deserted kraal in the Ngomi Forest. Major Marter himself rode to the entrance of the hut and called upon Cetewayo to yield. " Filler," was the reply ; " 1 am your prisoner." From motives of prudence Marter refused, again .summoning the Zulu Chief. Thereupon the unfortunate Cetewayo, weak, weary, footsore, and very sick at heart, came forth from tin-'kraal, and repulsing, with a remnant of dignity, the jlrugoon guardsman who ventured to lay a hand on him, said " White soldier, touch me not—T surrender to your chief." The capitulation of Cronje and his four thousand men on the anniversary of Majuba (lay, 1900, will be remembered aa long as- any incident of the rtocr war. An onslaught made by the Canadians, who had entrenched themselves eighty yards from the Hoer position in the river bed at Paardeburg, was greeted not by a storm of musketry, as had been I expected, but by the appearance of three white Hags hastily thrust above the parapet of the Doer tre,n>

dies. Then a horseman appeared i carrying another white flag, and in-r tent on arranging a meeting between the generals. Forth front the laager came presently two men, one mounted on a white pony, in his hand a sjambok, wearing a brown felt hat, and a huge overcoat, nothing of his face visible but a fMcket of hair and two glowing sparks for eyes. This was Cronje, who had kept the llritish Army at bay for ten days with no better shelter than could be afforded him by a deep river bed. " I am glad to meet so brave a man," said Lord Roberts, but he re- , fused to accept anything short of unconditional surrender. Cronje's reply to the terms of the capitulation was short but effective: " Ja,'' i he blurted out.