The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-01
How VIII the Japanese Victory Affect
Russia.

The battle of Isu Shima having viz
tually annihilated Russias sea power,
40 far as the present war is concerned,
and all hope of cutting communications
between Japan and the Asiatic mainland
being thus rreparably lost, the soldiers
under Marshal OYAMA will naturally
be 'elated, and the troops under Gen.
LINIEv1TcH correspondingly depressed.
We may expect, therefore, to hear pres
emily of new Japanese victory on land,
more decisive than the battles of Lao
yang and Mukden
Why, then, should Russia continue to
fight ? In France where no doubt a
majority Of the people have wished well
to the Russian cause, and where the
Government has faced great risks by
straining it's neutral rights for the bene-
fit OF it's ally, the newspapers are now
unanimous in urging the Gar to make
peace forthwith, and similar advice ia
given him by impartial onlookers all
over the world.
1t cannot be taken for granted that
tine Gear is not still controlled by the
war party, which is made up of his most
reactionary relatives and Of the chiefs
Of the bureaucracy, and which even
after the fall of Port Arthur and the de-
feats Of Liaoyang and Mukden repealed
every suggestion of peace. Russia s
honor and dignity, it was said, demanded
that a victory for her standard must
precede negotiations. The time has
gone by when the Russian people could
be gulled by such magniloquent asser-
lions. He would be creduous indeed
who could be persuaded that the au-
, thors Of the massacre of January % are
actuated by nice regard for the honor
OF their nation or their dynasty. Their
real motives are sufficiently patent
So long as the war continues their
opportunities Of practising fraud and
embezzlement with impunity will be
undiminished. With the conclusion of
a peace, the hour of retrenchment and
economy will strike, especially as the
terms are now almost certain to include
demand for a pecuniary indemnity,
which some months ago might have
been waived.
Nor is this all that the infle1ible up
holders and greedy beneficiaries of an
autocratic system have to dread. They
SILVER when they look forward to the
sullen homecoming of the subaltern
officers and rank and file of LINIEvlTcH's
army, who, mishandled. ill equipped
half starved, robbed of the clothing
the comforts and the medical SUP
plies contributed by sympathetic fellow
countrymen, have been exposed to the
frightful hardshps and privations of a
Manchurian winter. The soldiers who
returned to Russia after the war against
NAPOLEON had relatively little suffering
to COMPLAIN of, but they had learned to
think for themselves. and the Deem
brist Instruction in which they bore a
leading part, brought the Government
to the brink of ruin.
The decision, therefore, of the confer
ence called at Tsarskoe-Seo is no fore.
gone conclusion, and it may be that the
sovereim's evil ccunselors will, with 4
display OF mock heroics, insist that Rms
STA ought to emulate the stiffnecked atti
tude maintained by Rome after her an.
palling defeat at Canna, when the land
on winch the victor was encamped was
put up at public auction in the forum
The peace party, on their side, however
are likely to pronounce the time i'll chosen
Tor dealing in sham parallel and rhodo-
montade, and some of the arguments