The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-05-30
SCHEME TO KEEP
HIM IN THE NORTH
Activity in Manchuria Merely to
Prevent His Aiding in De-
Tense Of Port Arthur.
Japs Lost Army" Heard From
Russians Abandon Other
ToWns-Their Plans.

st. Petersburg, May 80, 2IS
p. m.-According to information re-
setxsd by n.t the ASSOCIATED Press
news regarding the Japanese plan
of campaign which has reach
ed the Russian authorities since
the battle of Kin-chau cOmpels the
conviction that the advance Of Cen
eral Kuroki and the activity Of his
scouts northwest and southwest or
Feng- huang- cheng are parts of a we'll
executed feint to prevent Gen. kuro-
patkin from detaching a strong force
to hamper Gen. Oku's operations on
the Liao-tung peninsula.
Under cover of General Kurokps
screens, It is added. part Of the Jap
anese army landed at Takushan will
be moved southwark into the penin-
sula while Kuroki attempts to make
Kuropatkin believe that he intends to
force a decisive engagement with him.
This information would tend to prove
that the primary object of the Japan
csc campaign all along has been Port
Arthur and that once that fortress Is
in their hands, unless an exceedingly
favorable opportunity offers to attack
Kuropatkin, the Japanese plan Ia
simply to make their tenure secure
and force the Russian commander to
assume the offensive.
Moreover, there is information to
Ll1S GllSCL lIidI Lie JdpdilSSC pIOpOS0
to storm Part Arthur with the brief
est possible delay after having first
closed the harbor to render the egress
Of the Russian ships impossible at
| the last moment thus forcing the
Russians to destroy them without
subjecting the Japanese to the inev-
liable losses which must occur If tho
| Russian squadron get out for last
fight before going to the bottom.
oPfo ~ a
Japanese to cork the harbor have
been as much with the view to thia
ultimate situation as for protecting
landings.
Nothing is known here Of the Chi
fu reports of fighting at In-chen-tse,
fourteen miles from Port Arthur, but
the general staff hardly believes the
enemy could have advanced so rap
idly:
the loss Of two Russian topedo-boat
/! destroyers while laying mines which
Il destroyed the Japanese battleship
/ Hatsuse. The officials, say Port Ar
i thur has been heard from since the
/ Hatsuse was blown up, and If the re-
port Of the loss OF the torpedo boat
destroyers was true, they would have
known It
! No surprise is expressed at the adj
Emiralty at the Toxic report Of the ev-
i idence contained in intercepted RUS
sian dispatches that the Hatsuse was
blown up by Russian stationary
mines. The officials decline, how
/ ever, to comment on the subject ex-
lcept to reiterate their denial Of the
IScharge that the Russians used float
ling or driving mines, which the
officials have insisted on from the
outset.
In this connection naval attache
OF a great power declares that his
i government Is in possession Of the
best information to the effect that the
! Japanese used proving mines.
4 punching them to drift below the sur
face and thus causing the loss of the
Russian battleship Petropavlovsk. A
l prominent diplomat said:
i "The Russians are fully justified In
using mines to repel the enen1y's in
3lvasion Of their coasts. There is no
i law to prevent that country from do
ing anything it pleases to keep off the
I enemy from it's shores. If Great Brit
Il ain were at war and she chose to fill
i the channel with floating mines fol-
the defense Of her coast no power
could raise any objection"
i Owing to it's being atholiday 1t Il
i Impossible to obtain official opinion
regarding the report that. Russia will
i finally evacuate Niu-chuang provided
China grants concession for a rail-
road across Chinese Mongolia, and
i that Russia will evacuate Manchuria
/ outright If China leases the Lii OF
i KOoldja territory to Russia. But II
. diplomatic circles the report Is re.
tgarded as absurd.