The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-01-05

was to be takeE before the rainy seay son began. In September, assisted by the third army, Mukden was to be at tackled and captured. The Japanese were then to hold the line of hills for the winter against a Russian advance, and divert a large part of their force to invest Vladivostok.E It was hoped that i Russia then. in order to save Vladivos- tOk, would ask for peace.
 l The plan has misearried. The mis- carriage has not been the fault of the Japanese soldiers ane sailors. for never have men fought better than they. But their generalship was too slow, and at every point where bold taking of risk was wanted, caution ruled.
 It took us ten weeks. to advance from : Seoul through Northern Korea, dis tance of three hundred miles. with only a few Russian cavalry squadrons op- posing us. at a. time when every week was worth a kings ransom to the Rus sians. After the battle of the Yalu, when the amazed Russians were on the run, we pursued them less than forty miles, and then sat down and en- trenched and waited again, from the first week in May until the latter part of June. General Staekelberg and his army came south, and were defeated. Our army moved up and was ready to strike across his rear, and would have captured his entire force. But when i the blow should have been struck we paused again. The thing looked too | tfAarnI a trap, and before grand headquarters was treasured Kuropatkin had thrown fresh forces along our front, and our opportunity was gone. So we waited again, while Liao-yang was being fur ther entrenched, and while fresh troops were being nlobilized in Russia and brought against us.
 Why these long pauses? The SUI preme commanders of the Japanese campaign are old men, and were trained in old methods. The Oriental contempt of time still fingers in their minds. To-day, tomorrow, next month, next year, what does it matter when the thing is done, so long as it is properly done? they seem u ask, Old age always shrfnks from risks, and the rule of the old man has been the one great weakness of the Japanese fight ing forces. r
 Of the regeneration Of Russia's fight ing force, he says: g.z. 1 Even the sloWest witted private is waking up. We no longer see the pro- sessions of Russian prisoners, so fa- miliar ill the war. The gunners never had ammunition practice in peace time, but they are getting it in war, and | their aim is steadily improving. De, feats do not seem to discourage them, and after their most severe punish Inents they come back for more. A few days after the battle of Liao-yang I woke up one morning with amazement to hear the renewed sound of shelling. The Russians had come down again to see what we were doing.
 The severe discipline of Kuropatkin i is eliminating the hopeless officers from his service. and the men who six months ago were swilling in the news of Newchwang or Liao-yang are to-day seriously doing their duty. Japan has now to face not the careless, inefficient mobs of the spring time, but thorough I fighting men,
 Continuing his story, the correspon- dent says among other things:
 The question inevitably arises, How far can Japan stand this drain of men? The toothconib of the conscription has already been drawn very fine through l i4.L F H the country. The younger men have all been called to arms. The troops now going to the front are mostly older reservists, who have been longer from the colors. A hundred thousand men may fall in the next two battles around the shabo. Russia will feel such loss heavily. Can Japan stand the strain? ? Each battle now grows bloodier than the last, A decisive battle, properly followed up, is worth any loss, but bat l ties such as the last two to the north are tremendous price paid for noth- | ing. ST. &&,
 The early land victories of the ,Japa. nese> were mostly gained by splendidly executed flank attacks Time after time these took the Russians complete I ly by surprise. "The Russians know all about flanking movements now" one Japanese general recently said to me. We must find a new way of dealing with them" The alternative to the f1anking movement is to break the en- emy's center with a Wedgelike attack. This, however, has one great drawback. It can only usually be done by enor- nous sacrifices of. men. This was proved when it was tried at parts of the early fighting around Liao-yang. If it is continued, the slaughter of yester- day will be nothing to the loss of to- morrow. r *., f-
 i Korea has, for the moment, largeIy faded from the public gaze But the Hermit Kingdom may soon again be a center of great interest. A Russian in vasion of northeastern Korea, from I Yladivostok, is one of the possibilities of the coming spring. Some malign fate seems to follow Japanese attempts to administer Korea. The terrible blum der of ten years since, when the Ko. rean empress was murdered under the direction of the then Japanese minister, is not yet forgotten. The Japanese government repudiated 1t, and pun ished the minister, but the memory lin gers.