The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-06-14
NOTE OF PESSIMISM IN
 THE PEACE DISCUSSION
RUSSIA MAKES CONDITION THAT JAPAN EXPRESS DESIRE
 FOR MEETING.

OficiaI Statement Issued by the For
 eign office at St. Petersburg--Diplo-
 mats in Washington Admit that Until
 the BelIigerents Meet on Common
 Basis of Understanding the Possibii-
 ity ofla Hitch Must be Taken into Account-Japanese Minister Intimates
 Negotiations Are Proceeding Smooth
 Iy conferences at White House.
 st. Petersburg. June 13.-The foreign office tonight issued the toiiowlns communication:
 .sThe president of the United states instructed his ambassador to the lrl- periaI court to request private audi enca in order to convey directly to the cameron assurances of the unfaillnS friendship the United States entertains fo., Russia, and to express President Rooseyelt's personal desire to contrl- bute as much as possible, in the inter- est of the whole world, towards the ces- sation of hostilities in the far east. The ambassador was instructed to add that the president was making simultaneous 
 s.The emperor was pleased to receive the American ambassador on June T. and gave benevolent attention to Pres fdent Rooseyelt's initiative, which had, moreover, met an entirely sympathetic reception on the part of friendly pow CTS. ~-1
 Russia being convinced that Japan was equally disposed to accept Presl- dent Roosevelt's proposal, which was transmitted through the intermediary of the representatives of the republic at St. Petersburg and Tokio, tosthe in1- perial as well as the Japanese govern ment, received favorably the official communication from the ambassador and notification to this effect was pub lished in Washington.
 Tn reply to this communication the foreign minister, acting under the em- peror's orders, informed the American ambassador in note dated June F that the emperor, deeply sensible of the sentiments expressed by the president, was pleased to see therein a fresh mark of the traditional friendship uniting Russia and America, and precious proof that President Roosevelt was in complete accord with the views the emperor held on a general settlement so essential to the good progress of the whole of mankind. As for an eventu- al meeting of Russian and Japanese plenipotentiaries charged with ascer- taining how far 1t would be possible for the two powers to elaborate condi- tions of peace, the imperial government would have no objection in principle to such an attempt if the Japanese gov ernment expressed a desire therefore" :" such an attempt if the Japanesc gov ernment expressed desire therefore"
 It is not unlikely that if any hitch or delay has occurred in the negotia- tions 1t might be from such an ex- pression as contained in the official Russian dispatch above, as follows: If the Japanese government expressed a desire therefore" In the light of Ja- pans attitude heretofore, and her pres- ent dominant position in the war, it seems hardly reasonable to suppose that she would express such a desire, as it would put her in the light of suing Russian before Russia had ex- pressed desire herself for a meeting pression occurs in the czar's note to Roosevelt, the text of which has not been published, it is quite reasonable to suppose that Japan would object, as she has always maintained that the first word for peace must come from St. Petersburg, and that she would not be unwilling to receive it. Tn other words it is for Russia to express the desire for peace, and Japan the willingness. In the above official statement she says she has not objection in principle" to Roosevelt's proposition, but wants Ja- pan to desire" it.