The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-11-06
PORT ARTHUR.


II is altogether probable that on an
other page of this mornings paper will
be found news dispatches telling of
the fall of Port Arthur. But wheth-
er the news appears in to-day's pap
er or not. 1t seems morally certain
that the loss of the Gibraltar of
the East" by the Russians is only a
question of a few hours or days at
most; it can hardly stretch into weeks.
Two or three days ago 1t was stated
author1tatively that the Japanese had
taken and occupied positions that gave
them unquestioned command OF the
situation. so that it only remained
for them to select their own time for
the ending Of the long and severe
siege.
That Port Arthur has been heroical-
| ly attacked and as heroically defend
| ed is a fact that will be recorded in
history. Tens of thousands of lives
have been sacrificed on both sides,
and both besiegers and besieged have
demonstrated that they are soldiers
of the highest order of merit. The
Russian general. Stoessel. in COM
mand at Port Arthur, may be said to
have won the highest honors of the
war, so far, on the Russian side. Some
weeks ago he sent a message of fare
well to his family and his emperor.
saying: Port Arthur will be my
tomb" He had determined to fight
while life lasted, and to die at his
post under his country's flag. His in
trepid spirit and fine example will be
long remembered by those who adj
mire bravery and loyalty.
The moral effect of the fall of Port
Arthur will be considerable, though
some experts claim it viii have lit
tie if any military effect on the sit
uation. The Japanese will. of course,
be elated and the Russians correspond
ingly depressed. The Russians have
claimed Port Arthur to be impregna-
BILE. To take this "impregnable" posi-
ton is a feat in which the Japanese
will take just pride. and their success
there will spur them to renewed efforts
elsewhere.
Assuming that the fall of Port Ar
thur is Immediately at hand, If II has
not already occurred, comparisons with
other memorable sieges are interesting
The siege of Port Arthur began about
the last Of July of the present year.
In the American war between the
states, Vicksburg was invested on May
10, 1862 and capitulated on the Fourth
of July following. The siege of Pet
tersburg began July IL, 1864, and end
ed on April 2, 1866. In the Franco
Prussian War; Paris held out for 131
days, though the bombardment of the
city continued only thirty days. The
siege of Sebastopol QS54-55), lasted $40
days, during which the besieged were
heavily reinforced. The longest siege
of antiquity was that of Ashdod by
the Egyptians. According to one au-
thority it lasted nineteen years. An
other fixes 1t at twenty-nine years.
Tabled Troy was besieged for ten
years. The siege of Jerusalem by III
tus, A. D. 70. though not the longest,
was the most sanguinary on record.
Syracuse. 214 B. c., held out against
the Romans for three years. and
Carthage resisted them. LAT B. c., for
two years. Famous among sieges was
that OF Parma, which capitulated in
1885 after years investment. Can
dia, in Crete. surrendered to the Turks
in 1869, after a siege Of twenty-four
years, during which, 1T is said, zoe, 900
were slain. Gibraltar successfully re-
sisted the Spaniards and French from
July 16, 1779, to Feb. s, 1888.