Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-10-06
Collapse of stoessers Reputation.

~
long ago it scems-the world in gener-
| Il which had watched the scige and
ASSAULTS with intense interest praised
Geueral StoesSel fo- the heroic ard
stubborn defense which it vas believed
lie had made. The glory which went
TO the victorious Japs was but little
greater than that accorded the van
uuishad Russians. and the general es-
innate of General Stoessel seemed
confirmed when his reports to the Car
were published showing in detail his
terrible losses and the desperate con
dition of his lcrder and ammunition
chest. The reports of the Victors as
to the number Of Russians captufed
land as to the great supplies OF 100"
and ammunition found i'll the CITY
aroused doubts. however, and the hi-
g, stic,tiors of correspondents soon
began to dim Stoessers reputatioi''
| The work of running it see ms coHipiet-
cd nv George Kennan, the famous trtV-
el,r and writer, who is now The Out
looks correspondent in the Eas;.
Writing months after the event an''
having a larger perspective than those
writing at the time, Mr.. Remnants arti-
Gle is Of great historic value.
Nr. Remnants method is to compare
-, ~
ana statements to various correspond
,nts with the cold statistics in General
Eoei's reports. Mr.. KEENAN, says that
"One Of the most noteworthy charac-
teristics OF the Japanese in time Of
war is tho painstaking accuracy with
which they tabulltc and enumeratc the
things that fall into their hands on tho
battlefield or IN 4 captured fort" lie
Therefore las no doubt that General
NoSls reports constitute Il correct
standard Of judgment. Measured by
this standard, Mr.. Kcnnan reaches the
following cOnclu sion:
The extraordinary discrepancy be-
tween General Stoessers statements
.ni General Nogi's reports Is suScenti-
lie OF two explanations. l; may be
supposed tliat the Russian c"mman'itr
was ,gr"ssly ignorant Of all the essen
tistl facts of the situation, or, Oil the
other hand, il may i" assumed that hc
knew the facts. but consciously arG
:.clib"ratcly miSrcpreScnted them IL
ORDER IL .xcuS,. his own weakness ana
incompetence. | TO not know which
Cf these suppositiors is true: but
either of them is fatal 10 General Stn-
eSscl'S reputation as an officer. ana the
second one is ruinOus To- his character
as Il man. Wherever the truth may
lie, 50 far as he personally is concerned,
II is, reasonably certain th2t Port Ar
thur might have been held for another
:nonth-pCssibly two months. 1t hau
a garrison of seventeen generals. thir-
teen hundred other officers, and twen-
ty-five thousand able bodied men, and
it's supply of food and ammunition. if
used carcfrlly and judiciously, would
Fave lasted at least sixty days. e.
In my Judgment the surrender on the
Ist 01 January was justitiable. because
the capture OF the forts which made it
fopclrSS was the direct RI suit Of weak
css. lack of intelligence. and lack Of
foresight on the part of the general in
command OF the fortress. The sur
render was discreditable only rs the
final outcome of military incapacity.
III 4 way, ana certainly III compari-
son With those who had to write on the
basis Of tclrgrarhic reports Mr.. Ken
ian in this matter is writing history.
His juISmt Mt, however. is substantial
ly the same as that given at the time.
1t does not seem possible for real his
tory. no matter when it may be writ !.
ten, 20 iUdg" 6 neral S;ocaScl differ
entity. Late reports make him out ID
l." u broken down man rhysically. for
which we are all sorry. His is a case
where /" haV" been killed during the
s"is" world hav" been u blessing -
blessing 10th /" him :nh his friends
and family.