The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-18
Neither Side Will Yield
 Point.
LOOKING TO ROOSEVELT
President Seems Only Card
 Left For Peace.
M. wftte and Baron Komura Give Un- derstnnding That Hopes of Peaee are Rspfdly Dieing--Teaay
 May Tell

May Tell Portsmouth, N H.. Aug. 17.--The crisis in the peace conference has been
 reached and pessimism Is again the note. But the darkest hour fs just before the dawn and there is still hope. Predictions of q final rupture tonlor- row will not be justified unless Baron Komura figuratively picks up his hat and announces that 1t Is useless to pro- ceed further. M. Witte at least will not be precipitate. At tomorrow's ses- sion after Article II (the limitation Of Russia's sea power in the Far East) and Article 12 tishing rights on the Russ sian littoraD are disposed of he will favor an adjournment until Monday to hear the last word from St. Peters, burg.
 The pessimism tonight is based upon the fact that no progress was made today. The exchange of views at the
 morning session on Article fremun- eration for the cost of the war) show ed at once that the .plenipotentfaries were far apart as the poles. and 1t was passed over. Article 10 (tffe surrender of the interned Russian warships), was also passed. not in the opinion of orle of the plenipotentiaries when the As- sociated Press correspondent saw him tonight because 1t could not have been arranged. but because with the shadow of the two main points in dispute hang ing over the conference, both sides were cautious and preferred to post- pone 1t to the end. Article II fimifa- tfon of sea power}. is also adjustable after modification and Article i2 will present no difficulties, So that tonight
 the situation was practically what if
 was when M. Witte last Saturday pre- | sented the Russian reply with it's non possumus to Articles 5 and ffndern- nity and Sakhalin.)
 The only chance now is compro- l mise-Russia to yield sakhaIin and Japan indemnity Neither will yield
 both and perhaps Japan at the final show of hands will yield neither. Mir. lWitte, under the imperial instructions given him before he left St. Petersburg | can agree neither to pay war tribute
 nor cede foot of Russian soil, St tPetersburg, therefore. in ther last re-- lsoft remains to be heard from. Doubt
 less this is the reason why he favors | a postponement over Sunday. Baron
 Komura probably will welcome an ad.
 tournment of two days in order that
 he also may lay the situation before
 his government for its final decision. 1 Then We VIII Dine. The sudden revival of deep pessimism I tonight was induced by the report given out when the plenipotentiaries
 returned to the hotel that no progress had been made today. But to those on the inside that was not surprising. Things have gone smoothly enough
 only the impossible had been reached.
 And the few words M. witte said to the foreign newspaper correspondents
 was as usual, not encouraging. He
 looked tired and said nothing had been accomplished.
 Tomorrow" he said, I've will finish articles Il and 12.''
 What then?" he was asked
 Then we will go to dinner" he re- piled as he excused himself to go to
 dinner at Assistant Secretary Peirce's. No very great hope was vouchsafe6 in the Japanese camp. We are moi
 buffers" said MT. Sato and from an authoritative source the Associated .
 Press correspondent received a dis.
 tinctly bad impression regarding the
 outlook. It was coupled, however. with
 an expression of the hope that if it de-
 veloped that the conference was going
 to pieces, President Roosevelt might
 again step in.
 We have heard that the President
 having brought us together. had
 washed his hands of further responsi.
 bility. But he is resourceful. He
 might do something
 ''WhatT
 That I cannot say"
 The Japanese view was explaineds
 We came asking only what we wanted.
 Our terms were moderate. The world
 thinks so. It looks bad. I say so. ] believe so. But the conference may yet
 be saved from shipwreck. Mir. Wftte
 has been gracious. He has done what
 he can. but he has n future at home to consider"
 very important conference oc-
 cured in Mir. Witte's rooms shortly be- fore midnight There were present
 Baron de Rosen and the other Russian
 plenipotentiary. and Messrs. De Mar
 tens, General Yermafoff, Mir. Pokcttloff,
 MT. Shipoff and Captain Roussin, the
 five Russian delegates.
 It Is the first time a full meeting of
 the plenipotentiaries and delegates has
 been held since the conference besan< The preliminary discussion of the Jap-
 anese conditions Is already virtually ended. It Is not improbable that the
 final report and recommendations of
 the Russian plenipotentiaries was passed upon and transmitted tonight
 to the emperor at Peterhof
 It can be stated that the individual
 views of the members of the Russian mission differ as to what point should
 be yielded If a compromise Is to be of- fered Some favor the surrender of Sakhalin, others an indemnity. None are ready to give up both points.