The sun., 1905-12-31
SOME NEW BOOKS.
A Retrospect Of tho War in the Far East

the materials Indispensable for the produc-
tion Of such work cannot be secured with
out free access to the records of the Japanese
and Russian general stats. 1t will be
recalled that before an official and a wholly
satisfactory account OF the contest between
France and Germany was forthcoming,
many of the actors therein we're dead or
old, and so many subsequent events had
occurred that public interest had been in
part diverted to some other stage and to
other players Nevertheless, while interest
Is still fresh, onlookers cannot repress the
desire TO see at least tentative description
OF startling events, and a provisional esti-
mate Of their actual and ultimate signif-
canoe. Many attempts to crafty the wish
have been made in the case of the conflict
between Russia and Japan by far the most
adequate and trustworthy Of which is en-
bodied in volume of some $40 pages en-
titled The War in The Far East, by the mill
tary correspondent of the London Times
(E. P. Dutton 4 Coz. This capacious and
uluminative work is based on the articles
contributed to the Times during the course
of the contest and the fact that when
translated into Japanese and republished IN
book form at Toxic they met with favor
able reception on the part of eminent officers
Of the Japanese army and navy has not
been without influence in encouraging the
author to reprint them with many excisions
and revisions, in the volume before us.
He is under no illusions concerning the sum
of knowledge. judgment and accuracy. not
81 Fn1 fnr a M
treatment Of the moving story Of a great
campaign, But he has thought that, after
eliminating from his contributions to the
Times a great deal of matter no longer
germane to the narrative, he might be justi-
fed in Offering the residue as a prelim-
mary study of a momentous war.
1t is clear, indeed, that the campaign
In Manchuria is of SURPRISING and per-
haps lasting interest to the British people.
For the first time in nearly century. on
lockers have seen an island empire in
death grappe with a first rate continental
Power. For the first time the new ma
chinery with which science and modern
invention have endowed the navies OF
the world has been put to the practical
test of serious war. For the first time
almost in the history of the world, we have
seen naval and military forces, directed
by master hands, cooperating in close
and cordial fashion to impose by their
united efforts nations will upon its enemy.
Innumerable questions relating to the con-
duct of martial operations by land and sea,
which have divided opinion in the past
have received definite answers from
tribunal to which all must defer-the bloody
assize of war prosecuted on the grandest
scale. Even if there were no more lessons
TO be learned, no more circumstances to
be pondered than those arising from the
mere clash of arms on sea or land. the war
would far exceed in didactic interest all
the contests between continental armies
which have taken place since the close
of England's great struggle with Napoleon.
The purely military interest Of this war,
however, on it's technical side, important
as that is, is not the greatest and most
absorbing of the questions that arise
In connection with it. The author of the
present book points out that the com
batants have become woven into the his
tory Of modern Britain in peculiarly
close and inextricable fashion Russia,
for the last fifty years, has been the terror
of English statesmen and the nightmare
of India.
England like continental Europe, has felt
the menace of her expanding sway. Her
steady, stealthy advance across the wide
continent Of Asia has often been compared
with the onward march of destiny. while
the numbers Of her population, and the
size and general impregnability of her
territory to the blows of an enemy have
impressed the imagination and dominated
81 Il hafN anr,lna
of other lands Now the whole course of
Russian diplomacy within the memory of
living man had been either openly or COW
ertly hostile TO Englands interests. On
the other hand, the agreement between
England and Japan, signed on January 80,
1902, was document which could not fail
to stand out wildly before the eyes of every
statesman and every publicist in the United
Kingdom so long as the war lasted. That
agreement was the tangible outcome of a
previously existing sentimental bond which
united England and Japan in mutual dis
trust of and opposition to the Asiatic
policy of the Russian Government. 1t is
easy to see why that convention necessarily
influenced and colored all contemporary
criticism in England upon even military
events. II was obvious that at any hour
Of any day while the war continued Eng
lishmen might become automatically in
volved in the struggle by reason Of the
participation of a third Power in the hos
tilities, a circumstance which was beyond
EnRland's control to foresee or prevent.
Thus on the one side was arrayed Power
whose entire policy through long series
OF years has been calculated to arouse
Englands hostility; and, on the other,
Young nation with which England had con-
tracted an alliance Of the most binding
and comprehensive character, so far as
the affairs Of the Far East were concerned
We should add that, although the United
States had not joined in the written agree
ment of january 80, 1902, it is matter of
public knowledge that she was at one with
England and Japan as regards the purpose
Of that treaty. England the United States
and Japan have stood, and stand, for the
open door and equal rights for the com
merce of all nations in the Far East AS
the United States was the first Western
Power to arouse Japan from her long sleep
and to lead her along the paths she has
since trodden with such giant strides, so in
every other country which borders the
Pacific Americans display, and must