The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-04-04
JAPANESE KEEPING IN
 TOUCH WITH RUSSIANS
FURTHER SKIRMIsHTNG IN RE-
 GION OF THE YALU.


 parentIy, Is Awaiting the Develop msnt of the Second Japanese Move ment-The Main Russian Concentra- tion-EarIy Capture of Port Arthur Expected.
 London. April 4.-Reports of further skirmishing between the Russians and Japanese in the Yalu river region are reaching London, but no reliable details are given.
 The correspondent of the Times at Wei-Hai-Wei telegraphing under date oe April 2, after he had returned from a cruise, gives an outline of the present situation and says:
 General Kurolzi's army is now in ! position to attempt to force the Yalu I whenever and wherever he may decide, a but, apparently having secured strategic position he is awaiting the l development of the second Japanese \ mobilization before making a decisive < move. This development is already un- N der way, but am precluded from de- < tailing it.
 ..The country which the troops are now operating in has been studied with 4 a view to rendering the operations of < the Cossacks less valuable than those x of well trained infantry. In outpost af- E fairs hitherto, honors have been more or sg less equally divided.
 Latest trustworthy reports show I that the main Russian concentration is on the line from Liao Yang to Hai & &Cheng. south of Mukden, and that ar rivals srom the north and depletions from Port Arthur garrison are concen- \ trated there at a convenient point for dispatch to the Yalu. There is also a mobile force in readiness to meet anoth- l fer threatened Japanese advance or Handing.
 Ut is not easy to form a correct esti- mate of the naval situation
 The Daily Telegraph's Shanghai cor respondent gives an unconfirmed report that Japanese army of 105,O00 men has handed opposite Taku-Shan. in southern Manchuria, and is marching north and northwest: that another army of 40,000 has landed in northwestern Corea and lis marching toward the Yalu river, and that a third force has disembarked in northern Corea and is marching west ward.
 The Daily Telegraph's $ Seoul corre- spondent believes that the defenses of Port Arthur have been so weakened that the early capture of the port is to be expected. There is little doubt, the correspondent says, that only a narrow passage is left, and that at the first Favorable opportunity the Japanese will block the channel The Russians have taken many twelve-inch guns out of their ships to arm the old and new de- lenses of Port Arthur.
 N A correspondent of the Morning Post K at Yin Row says that the position there Is daily becoming stronger. A fortnight ago the Japanese could have landed with comparative ease, while now they would experience great difficulty The correspondent says he has received Trustworthy information that the con- eentration of troops along the railway has been so rapid that it is now impos- ible for the Japanese to carry the war nto Manchuria with any hope of suc- eess, and that the most they can do is c isolate Port Arthur and possibly Vladivostok.
 Tokio, April 3--7 D. m.-The advance guard of the Japanese army in north western Corea occupied the town of seng Cheng yesterday afternoon with put opposition. Seng Cheng is on the Pekin road, eighteen miles west of Cheng Ju and about forty miles south if Wiju.
 When the Japanese drove the Rus ians out of Cheng Ju last Monday the Russians withdrew in two columns, one oing over the Koak San road and the ther over the Pekin road. The Japan SC advance from Cheng Ju was made cry rapidly. It was anticipated that he Russians would resist this advance, ut they failed to do so and now it is ot probable that there will be any urther opposition south of the Yalu iver.
 Cheng Ju, because of it's superior nat ral surroundings, is the strongest lace between Ping Yang and Wiju. Besides these natural advantages there an old Corean fort there, which, had
 been defended with spirit, would have cen hard to take. The Japanese are ratified at the comparative ease with fHlCH tley uIUpt tIS RuSSlduS LTOIl his port.
 A dispatch to the Associated Press rom Tokio, dated April 1, said informal on had been received there from a pri- ate source that the Japanese after dis pdging the enemy at Cheng Ju had ad- anced to Yong Chun (45 miles west of heng Ju), from which place also they rove the Russians after brief en- hgement. It is possible that the many ifferent spellings given to Corean hmes in gazetteers and on maps has
 q to confusion and that the Sen Cheng (entioned in the above message and
 ong Chun referred to in the dispatch
 April 1 should be the same place. he two towns, however, are quite dis nct, being about twenty-five miles bart.
 STILL POURING INTO CoREA.