The San Francisco call., 1904-09-05


berg's corps had succeeded in rejoinlng
the main army.
After seven days of terrific fighting.
in which the japanese losses are. ad-
mftted to have been enormous, the net
results are the occupation of Liaoyang,
which has little strategic value. and the
destruction of the stores that Kuropat-
kin could not take with him in his re-
treat With the entire Russian army
out of the trap set by Field Marshal
Marquis Oyama and well on its way to
Mukden, the Japanese must begin all
over again.
1t is doubted here if the Japanese will
continue the pursuit of Kuropatkin
much farther. j. 1t is not unlikely that
they will remain at Liaoyang and
strongly intrench, against the time
when Kuropatkin, reinforced, shall take
the offensive and sweep down fromrthe
north in an attempt to regain the
ground he has lost. By following the
pursuit farther, the Japanese would be
playing into the hands of Kuropatkin
by the consequent lengthening of their
line of communications, while the Rus
sian force is drawing nearer it's own
base.
Within the past six weeks large
number of troops have left Russia for
the front, and these soon will be added
an equality with or making it superior
to the combined Japanese armies.
Should the Japanese continue the
pursuit of Kuropatkin, the next great
battle probably will be fought very soon
at Mukden. In the meantime there
may be a series of guard actions.
At Mukden, Kuropatkin in all proba-
bility will make another determined
stand, retreating again if he should
nd h in To- nf o
rounded. His army will be strength
ened by the addition of the garrison
at Mukden, whose exact number is not
known.
That the japanese, with superior
numbers and the choice of time for
aggression, would infiict severe losses
was taken for granted here. The oc-
cupation of Liaoyang, with enormous
Russian casualties and the evacuation
of fortified positions, are regarded here
as merely incidents. Though 1t is rec
ognized that the weeks battle must
take its place as one of the bloodiest in
ancient or modern history, yet if Kuro-
patltin reach Mukden with a potential
lremnant of his army Oyama s effort
Twill, in English eyes, be regarded more
or less as ffuitless sacrifice.
The bravery of both the opposing
forces excites here thrill of admira-
ton mixed with awe. Steeped as Eng
lish military critics are in the histories
of their own wars for centuries past,
the combination of fanaticism and sci
eDce displayed under modern conditions
of warfare around Liaoyang strikes for
them a new and almost terrible note.
'All we know says the Daily
Graphic, lis that the battle of Liaoyang
has been fought and won by the Jap
anesc. We have yet to learn the extent
of the defeat of the Russians"
Kuropatkins position is generally
held to be still desperate, but, as the
Daily News says, the latest cablegrams
point to the fact that the Japanese
have ''lost the chance of achieving an
uneuuivocal triumph"
The Morning Post pays a high trib-
ute to Kuropatkin's genius and to the
traditional morale of the Russian
troops under the disadvantages of de-
feat. 1t believes that pause will now
follow events that even in themselves
would mark the century with grand
tragedy.
Such a keen supporter of the Jap
anese as the Daily Telegraph this
morning rather regretfully admits that
Oyama failed to achieve his strategical
object"
Rejecting the British Governments
views, the Daily Telegraph comments
solely upon the point that nothing has
been. accomplished unless Kgropatkin' s
force is put out Of action.
THE Russians immense losses in
men and guns and their supreme eX-
ample of discipline and determination,
concentrating with unshaken firmness
for another fight. count" according to
the Daily Telegraph. for no more than
superhuman prodigies of courage and
tenacity performed by the japanese
unless something more has been
achieved than is shown in the late dis
patches.
The Standard characterizes Kuropat-
kins transnort of his army across the
wide and flooded Taitse River, in the
face of a pursuing enemy. as re-
markable feat. and voices the general
belief that the Russian commander,
having temporarily extricated himself.
will still continue on his retreat with
an "arYny il being"