Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-15
TO SAVE VLADIVOSTOK
RUSSIANS ANXIETY IN CASE OF
PEACE
specIal c. rrespondence Of The Star.

Special c. rrespondence OF The Star.
ST PETERSBURG. July 4.-Judgins
from the spirit of the Russian press ths
Russians are not anxious for peace neSotia
tons unless Vladivostok can be saved. One
of the Russian ministers who mas the ear
of the ear said this week:
Suppose the very worst that can happen.
We can abandon Manchuria, Iiau-tung
Port Arthur the Kharbin railway and
agree to pay war indemnity, but what we
will refuse at all costs is the dismantling
of Vladivostok and the surrender of SAX
hahn. Not that Sakhain is intrinsically so
valuable. but it's possession is invaluable to
US If we intend that VladtvoStok shall re-
main what it always has been, namely the
outpost OF Russia in Siberia. We have
never had any national existence in Man
churia. Port Arthur is an accident. Let
them take both If they Ike-take both away
from us. let them ask for money. but lie,
them go farther. If Japan is bent on
asking for the dismantling of Vladivostok
and the promise not to maintain fleet In
the far eastern waters it is futile to lose
time in vain talk
Asked what would be the Russian policy
if peace negotiations fell through this au-
thority said that the following plan had
been adopted. After the defeat of the Rus
sian armies in Manchuria Russia would fail
back to the Siberian frontier leaving Via
divostok to its fate Birleff is there. and it
is figured that he can hold out for at least
one year. This will give Russia time to
mass on the frontiers a million men after
putting down all instructions within her
own borders. Neither men nor money Will
be lacking, for it VII no longer be CO.
lonial war. but a giant struggle between
two peoples, Il war rendered national by
the cara war which VIII become as much
a struggle for existence when Napoleon
inv. dCI ID
burned Moscow rather than submit to for
eign foe
Money will there be in plenty and it is
believed that money in this event will be
the last of the Russian anXieties. for If need
be the monasteres will be called upon.
AS illustrating the sentiment regarding
giving up one single foot of Russian soil or
the cesS!on of any Siberian territory, no
matter what happens to Manchuria Russian
papers are calling attention to the foolish
ness of the surrender of Russian Alaska.
1t Is pointed out that the sacrifice did not
even win American friendship since America
is regarded as unfriendly today. If Rus
STA had kept Alaska and had fortified it it
Is argued that the nation would not be In
the plight in which it finds itself today
Rojestvensky' fleet could have found there
many harbOrs of refuge. could have Oh
tanned coal and other supplies. and by re-
manning at a port like Sitka could have
threatened and harassed the entire eastern
coast of Japan. Yet for tenth of what it
cost to build the Russian fleet the Russian
government parted with a territory rich in
minerals and furs, q land of untold pros
pective wealth, and upon the occasion of a
war like the present 9. land of the greatest
strategic value from a naval and military
point of view From this II Is argued that
the traditional land grabbing policy of
Great Britain should be adopted and that
when land once falls into the possession
of Russia, Russia ought never TO part with
it in the future, no matter what may be the
temptations.