The Somerset reporter., 1904-11-03
The Hull Incident.

ouie puoilshed the following dispatches
from Admiral Rojestvensky:
The North sea incident was caused
by two torpedo boats advancing to at
| tack without lights, under cover of
darkness against the vessel leading the
detachment. " hen the detachment
turned on its searchlights and opened
fire the presence of several small steam
boats resembling steam fishing boats
WAS discovered The detachment en-
deavOred to spare these and ceased fir
ing as soon as the torpedo boats were
out of sight
THE English press Ia indignant be-
cause torpedo boat left by the de-
tachment on the spot until morning did
not aid the victims Now there was
not single torpedo boat near the de-
tachment and none were left behind
consequently the vessel remaining near
the small steamboats, was that torpedo
boat which was not sunk but only dam
| aged The detachment did not aid the
| little steamboats, because we suspe cted
them of completely on account of their
obstnately cutting into the order of the
| positions of our vessels. Several of
them showed no lights and others only
very late"
"Having met several hundred fishing
boats the squadron showed them every
consideration except when they, in COM
pany with foreign torpedo boats of
which one disappeared while the other,
according to the fishers own evidence
remained among them until morning.
They supposed it was Russian and
were indignant because it did not aid the
victims, but 1t was foreign and remained
until morning seeking the other torpedo
| boat, its consort, either to repair dam
age or through fear of botraying itself
| to those who were not its accomplices.
| If there were also on tho spot fishermen
| imprudently dragged into the enterprise
beg in the name of the whole squadron
to express my sincere regret to the I'M
fortunate victims of circumstances IN
der which no warship, even in time of
deep peace, could have acted otherwise ="
On Saturday il was conceded at Lon.
don that all danger of war between Rus
STA and Great Britain has been averted
and the settlement of the only points In
dispute regarding tho attack by the Rus
| sian Baltic squadron on British ira wleTs,
| October 81, has been referred to an in
ternational commssion uuder The
| Hague convention.
Premier BAlfour, speaking at a meet.
| ing of the National Union of Conserva
/ tive clubs at Southampton, Friday night
broke chat silence which had been sc
long preserved and had brought the
people of the United Kingdom to a con-
dition of almost desperate irritation AND
given rise to misconceptions which MT
Baifour exposed.
THE Russian ambassador" said Mr.
Balfour, "has authorized = statement tC
the following effect:
"The Russian government on hearing
of the North aea incident at once OK
pressed its profound regret, and also
promised most liberal compensation
The government has ordered the deten
ton of that part OF tho feet which wa,
concerned in tho incident, In order thai
the naval authorities might ascertain
what officers were responsible for 1t
that these officers and any material wit
nesses would not proceed on the voyage
to the Far East; that inquiry would be
instituted into the facts by an interna
tional commission as provided by The
! Hague convention"
That, Mr.. Bslfour interpolated, had
nothing to do with arbitration 1t was
the explanation Of an International com
mission in order to find out he facts
and any persons found guilty would be
tried and punished adequately The
Russian government undertook that
precautions would be taken to guard
against recurrence of such Incidents
Special Instructions on this subject
would be issued
preliminary to this court" said Mr.
! Ralf frui1 ha hn AT
at Hull over the dead fisherman, a board
of trade inquiry and an inquiry by Rus
sian officials at Vigo The board OF
trade inquiry would be specially con-
stituted by the British government to
! include representative men. The Rus
sian embassy had been asked to send a
preventative and give assistance.
Apology and compensation having al
ready been offered, nothing now remains
| but to determine which account Is cor
rect, Rojestvenskys or the trAwlers'o
Mr. Balfour plainly said that, Thurs
day evening, Russia and Great Britain
seemed to be on the brink of war, and
yet gave the frankest praise to the atti-
tude preserved throughout by the EN-
peror and the Russian government.
" lille the premier was unable to praise
INC pdClHC httlluuo VI tuo government
too highly he bitterly assaulted Rojestven-
ky's report, declaring that it was an in
suit to Great Britain as a neutral nation
and ridiculed its probability.
The immense audience received Mr.,
Balfour's announcement of the settle
ment of the affair with unbounded en-
thusiasm which echoed throughout the
kingdom when the evening extras came
out and set suspense at rest.