Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-07-27

and adding that JapaneSS u1N1sAoh had moved on Haicheng.
 FORMAL PROTEST ENTERED.
 Washington. July 27.-The state de- partment has finally received formal protest against the action of the Rus sian navy in seizing American goods, and as the result of preliminary study of the law and precedents on the question, it is prepared to act energetically and promptly. This pro- test relates to the seizure of an Amer ican cargo on board the Hamburg American seamer Arabia. bound from Portland ito Hong Kong, China. J. H.. Mitchell, an attorney of Portland, stated that he represented the Port land Mills Co. which shipped on Arabia for Hong Kong 99,OOO sack
 flour valued at $1O0O00. He declared that the flour was in no way contra band for 1t was not destined for Ja- pan and it was part of the normal trade of the company and was not q. war order MT Mitchell requested the state department to take the necessary steps to secure indemnity for the own CTS of the flour and also to prevent at tacks on neutral trade in the Red sea or elsewhere. The department otf1c- ials positively decline to say what steps will be taken.
 ! CONDITION AT PORT ARTHUR
 Liaoyang, July 27-A Russian cor respondent of the Associated Press who has just arrived here aftar two months stay at Port Arthur gives an important and interesting narra- tive of the situation at the beleaguer- ed fortress when he left there July .. which shows that the Japanese opera tions till then had not advanced so far as supposed Several Russian successes are chronicled, but the re- port of Japanese reverse, with the loss of 3O,0O0 men, is definitely dis posed of. not being even mentioned by the correspondent, who says:
 ''When put to sea in junk the land position on the Russian right flank, surrounding Green and Sema- phore hills, which the Russians had lost, had been recaptured by assault. The heights of Huinsin, which the Japanese defended desperately, alone remained in their hands But I am convinced that this position also has since been taken The very morning of my departure, July 14, the position was being bommbarded by six-inch howitzers and shells were falling repeatedly into the Japanese
 ITO sum up, by the fighting of July third, fourth and fifth when evidently the Russian forces were acting on the offensive, the Rus sians regained on the land side the po- sitions they had held in front of the fortress previous to the battle of Kin chou.
 ''The main force of the besiegers are, on the average, at distance of twenty miles from the perimeter of the fort ress on the Russian right, but the Jap anese have approached to within twelve miles on the Russian left So far as Inchentse station (fourteen miles from Port Arthur) the railroad is working. Over fourteen miles of Japanese, be- tween 10000 and 50,00O men, are op- erating before Port Arthur. The troops maintain a constant exchange of skirmishing fire, but the field or other guns are usually silSnt. The Japanese apparently are conducting a slow, engineering advance Often in the morning the Russians discover fresh . s ] 4 4
 trenches. The Japanese are compelled to abandon this work in the daytime as the Russians regularly open fire on them as soon as daylight discloses the
 work The activity of the Japanese at sea is confined almost exclusively to
 nocturnal raids on the part of the tor pedo boat destroyers and torpedo
 boats, and the sowing of mines and the attacking of guard boats. Sel- dom does a night pass without firing from the shore batteries. The at tacks on the guard ships are easily discovered by the Russian 'searchlights
 and so soon as fire is opened on the
 Japanese they make off. There are l also occasional cannonades by day,
 when the proteced cruiser Novik and the guard ships put to sea to recon l noitre."