Warren sheaf., 1905-08-24
LITTLE HOPE LEFT
FOR Ending WAR
INDICATIONS POINT STRONGLY
TOWARD FAILURE OF PEACE
NEGOTIATIONS.
Stumbling Block Comes When Japs
Insist on Indemnity, Cession Of
Sakhalin and the Possession of
Interned Warships.

Portsmouth, N. H., Aug. 19.-At Fri
days session the peace plenipotenti-
aries were unable to agree upon Article
II, relating to the limitation of Rus
sias sea power, and it was deferred.
Article IL, providing for the grant of
fishing rights on the Russian littoral,
was unanimously agreed upon. The
articles which were passed over did not
come up Friday. The protocols will
be drawn up during the three days in
terim and on Tuesday the final strug-
gle will come. The next sitting of the
conference will be held at three p. m.
Tuesday.
Pessimism in Portsmouth.
Black pessimism reigns at Ports
mouth. The prevailing view is that the
fate Of the peace conference is already
sealed, that it has ended In failure
and that all that now remains is for
the plenipotentiaries to meet Tuesday.
to which day they adjourned Friday
upon completing the seriatim consid-
Grafton of the Japanese terms, sign the
final protocol, go through the conven-
tions and bid each other farewell. In
other words, that the meeting Tuesday
will be what diplomacy calls the
"seance d'Adfeu."
Still Room for Hope.
But there Is still room for hope Of
a compromise. Neither President
Roosevelt nor the powers will see the
chance Of peace shipwrecked without
final effort, and that pressure is be-
ing exerted, especially at Toxic, to in
duce Japan to moderate her terms is
beyond question. Just what Is being
done or is to be done, has not trans
pired. King Edward is understood to
be now lending q helping hand and the
.fnanciers of the world are known to
|be exerting all their influences. At
Toxic and st. Petersburg the final is
sue will be decided
Japs Have Yielded Nothing.
The Japanese have been implacable
Throughout the six days sittings. They
have listened and explained, but they
have yielded not an iota of the sub
Stance of their original demands M.
IWitte accepted outright seven of the
twelve Japanese conditions, one in
principle and four, including the main
issues, indemnity and Sakhalin, he re-
jected The other two, limitation Of
termed warships, might have been ar
ranged had there been any prospect of
agreement on the two points upon
which the divergence seemed irrecon-
cilable.
In the oral discussion of the terms,
but substantially the result of the 13
.sittings of the plenipotentiaries has
only been to emphasize the position
taken by M. Witte in the written reply
he presented last Saturday to the Jap
anese terms. And now both sides turn
to home for the last word before the
cards are thrown face upward upon
the table next Tuesday, for the inn
passe reached Friday by the plenipo-
tentiaries is recognized to be only
diplomatic friction. II in the interim
fresh instructions are received by
either side compromise is yet possible
But the chances are recognized ito be
slim. So far as the Russian plenipo-
tentiaries are concerned, there never
was a chance of their yielding both in
demnity and Sakhalin. The cession Of
Sakhalin without indemnity was, ac-
cording to the best inside information,
the extreme limit to which M. Witte
would ever consent to 60, and the en-
peror has not yet given the word even
to concede that.
Death Of an Editor.