The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-08
The Peace Conference at Portsmouth.

As the conference at Portsmouth
draws near the feeling of doubt con-
Serning it's outcome is deepened rather
than allayed. 1t is true that not one Of
; the Japanese or Russian plenipotentiaries
has disclosed by word or, a look the
intentions Of either of the Governments
concerned isgiving is in the air, how
ever, and, if we should trace it to its
source we should probably find that it
originated in the seeming irreconcil-
ability Of the unofficial statements made
by Mr.. SATo, who accompanies the
Japanese ENJOYS, and Mr.. BRIANTcHANI-
NoFF, the correspondent Of st. Peters
burg newspaper which is sometimes
described as Mr.. WHITES organ.
Before marking the difficulty OF recon-
cling these statements we may do we'll
to glance once more at the preliminary
question whether the conference rs not
premature. Normally, war comes
to an end when one of the combatants
recognizes that he has been beaten
and believes that he has more to dread
from a continuance of hostilities than
from the conclusion of peace on any
terms that his opponent ia likely to i'm
pose. Having reached this conviction
he makes. through a neutral Power, a
proposal OF negotiations. This was the
course pursued by Spain in 1893. Had
not the overture which was made
Through NJ. CAMBoN, the French Am
bassador at Washington, resulted in
the signing Of a protocol Spain would
have lost not only the Philippines, Cuba
and Porto Rico, but also the Carolines,
tho Canaries and the Balearic Isles,
and the seaports of the peninsula would
have been subjected to bombardment.
To cite another example, in the spring
OF 1871, when preliminary treaty Of
peace was arranged with Germany,
France possessed no military force
qualified to make sturdy resistance,
very large part Of her territory was
occupied by the German armies and the
conquest of the remainder was only a
question of short time.
1t would be absur to say that at the
present time Russia is in an analogous
position. 1t is true that she has lost
Port Arthur, which she should never
have tried to keep, and the island of
Sakhalin, which she had merely used
for a penal settlement and valued chiefly
for its strategic relation to the estuary
of the Amur. She has also lost most
of her warships, but she never had any
reason to suppose that she could cope
with Japan at sea. Russia's fight was
to be made, as it always had been made,
on land, and for military operations in
northern Manchuria she now is, or
pretends to be. better prepared than she
has been at any previous time in the
last eighteen months. Vladivoetok is
untaken, and there has been ample
opportunity to strengthen its works
and its garrison. The army under
Gen. L1NIEvITcH, which is covering
Hardin, Is variously computed at from
800 900 to 1000 men. Under IT, former
commander it suffered two or three
reversee, but in no ease did the defeat
become a rout, and the greater part
of tho Russian forces retreated for only
q moderate distance. The losses suf-
fered in artillery at Liaoyang and Mukden
are understood to have been made good,
while the infantry, and cavalry have
been receiving reenforcements almost
daily. Under the circumstances, the
st. Petersburg Government is in much
better position now than the French
Second Empire was while it still had the
armies of IMAGINATION and BAzAINE in
the field, for the fighting is on a remote
frontier, instead Of on the soil Of Russia
proper. Had Vladivostok. fallen and
not only the Ussuri district and the Amur
basin. but the whole Of eastern Siberia
as far as Tomsk been conquered by
Marshal OYAMA. and were a Japanese
feet under Admiral TOGO known to be
already far advanced on its way to the
Baltic, Russia would still be incompar-
ably better fitted to defy tho invader
chan the French were at any time be-
tween the surrender of MACMAHoN's |
army at Sedan and the capitulaton at |
Metz. Still more absurd would it be to |
liken Russias present predicament to
the panic into which the Sultan ABDUL |
HAND was thrown by the arrival of a
Russian army within sight of Constan-
tinople, the panic which caused him to
sign the Treaty of San Stefano.
Such being the actual state of things,
We repeat what W, have formerly said,
that the conference is premature, pro-
vided the Japanese are determined, AZ
Mr.. SATo intimates that they are, to
exact bJth cession OF territory and a
large pecuniary indemnity. 1t is true
that the Russian autocracy :s in such
imminent danger at home that it might
conoeivably be tempted to purchase
peace at almost any price in order to
use the army under LINIEvITcH as an
instrument Of repression 1t is also
true that Russia is generally believed
to have reached the end of her tether
as regards the borrowing Of money for
the further prosecution of hostilities,
though, doubtless, she could get the
funds required for an indemnity. The
of the .SIOpo. however