The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-08-19
Heroism in War.

Heroism in War.
,,e. Lieutenant General Stoessel, the
Russian commandant at Port Arthur
Is reported to have received the terms
sent by Japan for his surrender of the
fortress with burst of wonderful
profanity, his habitual taciturnity de-
sorting him. declaring that eff the
Japanese proposition was a joke, it
was in bad TASTE
Nobody, of course, doubts the cour-
age and staying power of Stoessel and
his men. They have stood a siege to
which the siege of Sevastopol was but
child's play. The Crimean fortress
was but paper barricade compared
with the concentric Notifications at
Port Arthur, grinaly encompassing the
inner citadel of extraordinary strength,
the whole fortress declared by the
Russian government and military en-
gineers Of the czar to be absolutely
impregnable. Yet the ingenuity Of
man has forged artillery and missiles
with which the military genius of the
nations was unfamiliar at the period
of the Crimean war. 1t looks now as
ship of the Gibraltar are numbered,
and as if Stoessel, with his mo sur
render" bulldog spirit, is getting
ready to die within the mighty tomb,
with his men. Like Macmahon in the
.Malakoff tower at Sevastopol, he
shouts: II am here and I will stay
here!" Macmahon stayed and won.
Stoessel's doggedness means suicide.
The taking Of Port Arthur will be
severe blow to the Russians, if it is
not decisive as a factor Of peace. Yet
If there is delay, there is a possibility
that the eleven warships of the Baltic
squadron, about to proceed to Port
Arthur together with the four or five
which have left for that point, may
bother the brave little brown men
badly.
Sieges such as that of Port Arthur
have not infrequently wrought effects
which entitle them to be numbered
among the decisive battles of the
world The destruction Of the be-
sieging Athenian fleet at Syracuse in
Alb B. c., prevented Greece from ex-
tending her power and influence over
western Europe and Africa. The great
disaster at Syracuse broke the COM
bination of Greek states and turned
back the Athenian career of CONQUEST
In the words of the historian Arnold
Syracuse was "a breakwater which
~ Gods providence raised UP to protect
4 the yet immature strength of Rome
{ Athens dream Of universal empire
vanished.
The Russian dream Of a might,
slavonic empire, which set on fire thu
ambition Of rough old Peter thu
Great has been dinmed several time
by the jealousies Of Europe. Witt
only seaport on the frozen sea o
Archangel, and a western windov
looking out upon the Baltic, closet
by Ice most Of the year, and restricted
in the use Of the narrow channel from
the Black sea to the Mediterranean
thru western hostility and jealousy
Russia turned her face eastward t
reach the warm, ice-free waters O
the Pacific. On her way thither sh
annexed khanate after khanate thr,
many fierce fight frightening Eng
land en- route by feints at India an
Afghanistan. Reaching the Pacii
littoral, she prepared for easy posses
sion Of Manchuria and Korea, menac
ing Japan in the process. Thereupo
she stirred up hornets nest, and tn
little men Of Nippon came upon ther
like the host of Apollyon in the visio
of the Seer Of Patmos, with scorpio
stings and power to hurt"
Prussia fights a Trash and vic
oriental civilization, adapted potential
ly from the best western civilization
confronting her with all the latest i'm
provements in the art of war. TIL
promoters Of the rehabilitation Of tn
Slavonian dream Of universal empir
have received a decided check. Rus
sian civilization is finding it's mate
and more than it's match In tn
achieving civilization of the 'land O
the early dawn Is the somnolen
orient to be awakened to intelligen
activity thru the self-assertion o
Japan rather than thru the infuenc
of power which has, up to date
shown itself the most backward coun
try in Europe, the most determine
enemy of human freedom, of ordinar
iHolNloQdl llDSIIy ARE the JdpS [
fight one of the great, decisive battle
of the world?
LEIPZIG broke the power Of Ma
poleon; Waterloo gave him the cou
de grace and changed the social an
political condition of the civilize
world, as did such battles as Maratho
and Janikau, the latter, where tn
great Swedish "thunderbolt" forster
son. fought the most brilliant hattl
Of his remarkable campaigns an
opened the way for the negotiation
looking to the peace of Westphali;
which brought religious freedom I
the Teutonic race, the future trump
Of Prussia. and the establishment {