The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-08-17
WITTE YIELDS SEVEN
 ARTICLES THUS FAR
MORETHANA ANY OTHER RUSSIAN STATESMAN WOULD
 DARE.


 and an Indemnity Still the Rub-Ces- sion of Chinese Eastern Railroad
 Agreed Upon.
 Portsmouth, N. H., Aug. 16.-The prospects of peace are distinctly bright CT tonight. The plenipotentiaries are now laboring with a seriousness and earnestness which leave not the slight est doubt that both are anxious to con- clude treaty. Though the main points remain to be tackled, and the plenipo- tentiaries of each side outwardly speak as if unless the other gives way the conference will go to pieces, the spirit of compromise is in the air. When he returned to the hotel tonight M. Witte, who was tired out with his hard days work, said:
 T am doing all can for peace. Of the eight articles we have already con- sidered I have yielded seven. No other statesman in Russia would have dared to do so much, and I have done what have done upon my own responsibil- ity."
 The following official statement was issued by MT. Sato this evening:
 At the afternoon session of the con- ference articles and were discussed. Article ' was settled in principle and article accepted unanimously. The conference at 6:S0 adjourned until $50 tomorrow morning.
 E 1t was officially explained that there remained not a difference to 'be adjust ed on article ', but only the elabora- tion of a single point.
 From an authoritative source it is now possible to forecast with fair de- gree of accuracy that the crisis will come on next Monday. Articles and dealing with the fate of the Chinese Eastern railroad having been disposed of to-oay there remains in addition to the cession of Sakhalin, which was passed over, agreement being impossi- ble, the question of indemnity, which comes up tomorrow as articles g, the limitation upon Russia's sea power in the Far East, the surrender of the in termed Warships, and the grant to Ja- pan of fishing rights on the Littoral north of Vladivostok. To all except the latter, to which Russia will agree, a negative answer has been returned ab- soltlte in the case of indemnity and Sakha1in. Perhaps both the others may be modified and yielded by M. Witte, in order to strengthen his insistence upon Japanese concession upon indem- ity and Sakhalin. To yield on either of the latter it can be regarded as prac- tically certain that M. Witte would con- suit the emperor.
 Articles and were disposed of to- day, the former "in principle the lat ter unanimously according to the of- f1cial bulletins Articles provides for the cession to China of the branch of the Chinese Eastern railroad running south from Harbin to Port Arthur and Dalny and with branch line connect ing. at Newchwang with the Shan-Hai- Kwan- Tientsin road. Article 8 provides for the retention by Russia of the line through northern Manchuria, which forms the connecting link of the main line of the trans-Siberian and the Us- surf railroad with it's termini at Vladi- yostok and Harborovsk. From both sides the Associated Press is informed that the acceptance Gin principle" of article only means that certain points remain to be elaborated, not that a dis pute still exists, but this may possibly be only a convenient method of post poning until the final struggle the &C., ceptailce of an article which could be Csed in the ultimate compromise. Rus sia by the acceptance of these two articles in connection with articles 2, 8, 4 and 6, surrenders every vestige of her ambition in Manchuria. She closes the door to the warm water, ice free port of Dalny upon which she lavished her millions and retains only as commer- cial, not as a military road, the link of the railroad connecting her European possessions with the maritime provinces upon the Pacific, as the right to police it with Russian troops or railroad guards is given up and it's protection will become the duty of China. The Chinese Eastern is T shaped. The stem runs from Harbin south. The top runs from the station Manchuria on Amur to Pogranitchania, where it connects with the government-owned Ussurri road to the coast. It was this "cut off, which more than anything else paved the way for what is known as the s'Manchurian adventure" changing the whole plan of M. Witte while minister of finance. His obpect had been only to make the Talienwan or 'Dalny,' a commercial entreport for foreign trade but with the strategic railroad behind them, the "war party's" aggressive pol icy began. The original intention had been to build the trans Siberian entire Iy in Russian territory north of the Amur river, which makes a great lool northward forming the Manchurian boundary. When the concession for the "cut off, was obtained from China through Lii Hung Chang, the Chinese Eastern Railroad company was formed by M. Witte, then minister of finance to build it, and later another conces- sion was obtained to connect it with Port Arthur and Dalny. The shares ot the Chinese-Eastern company consist of 5,0O000O roubles which, in the form ot 0 single certificate, are held in the cof. fers of the Russo Chinese bank as trus. tee. The per cent. bonds issued iron time to time for it's construction were guaranteed by the Russian government and amount to over 0o,00O,O00 roubles