The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-22
MT. Roosevelt is Still
 Working. N. WITTE IS UNADVTSED
Washington Conference May
 Break Today.
Indications Are Thnt Cxar VIII Give Envoys Instructions Not to Pay Indemnity or Cede sakhalin
 Island.

Portsmouth, N H., Aug 21.-The re- suits of President Roosevelts efforts to save the peace conference from fall ure remains in suspense. No direct re- ply to the Presidents proposition com nunicated to MT. Witte yesterday has come from Emperor Nicholas tonight but other advices received from St. Pe- tersburg indicate that the Emperor and his councillors are unshaken in their determination neither to cede terfs- tory nor pay war tributes.
 What the president is doing on the Japanese side remains a deey mystery as ever. Little light Is shed upon the visits of Baron Kaneko to Oyster Bay. The Japanese do not even admit that he is their medium of communication with the President. They go no furth- CT than to reiterate that MT. Roosevelt knows their position and that they have the fullest confidence In him. They show not the slightest indication their position or are prepared to yield more than they were last Fri to yield more than they were last Fri day when the plenipotentaries adjourn ed until tomorrow.
 If Mir. Witte does not receive fresh instructions before o'clock tomorrow afternoon when the conference Is re- sumed the situation will be exactly what it. was when the adjournment was taken on Friday.
 Both sides will present their pro- tocols for signature. one side or the other must then make a move or all will be left will be brief final protocol certifying that they have reached the parting of the ways and to bid a farewell. But such an abrupt termination Is hardly anticipated. Baron Komura, if Mir witte has noth- ing to propose, might present Japan's irreducible minimum empodying the final concession she is prepared to make, if she is prepared to make any. or formally propose collective consid- eration of all the articles still in dis pute. Any move on either side would Involve another adjournment or such nn adjournment might be frankly pro- posed by Mir. Witte as he would not De guilty of the dfscourtesy of allow ing the conference to go to pieces be- fore receiving reply to President Roosevelt's proposition. It Is safe to assume therefore. that in the absence of such a reply the conference will be prolonged beyond tomorrow and every q delay, in the opinion of the President s friends means hope, faint though 1t may be. MT. Roosevelt's object was officially described today as being this:
 "Prolong the negotiations"
 witte FRvors Proposition.
 There is t.arrant for the statement that M. Witte personally sympathizes with the Presidents proposition, no matter how it may be regarded by his imperial master and the latter's advis- CTS. It is a mistake to suppose that in considering such proposition, the Elm. peror consults a regularly ordained council Throughout the conference he has been calling in counsel such ad- Visers as he deemed wise. some If his relatives, the Grand Dukes, members of the court and certain chosen ministers. The Grand Duke Nicholas Nieholaie- witch, one of the most powerful of his relatives, is known to be absolutely op- posed to yielding an iota beyond what M. witte has already conceded.
 As an alternative, he favors the con- tinuation of the war
 The spirit of all the advices received has been such as to almost preclude hope of an eleventh hour change, Tho general belief here is that President Roosevelt, while he has the moral sup port of one of the neutral powers, has not received the active aid he expected. Englands declination to offer advice to Japan Is disappointing. though the motives that actuate her in refusing to do anything that might be construed as an attempt to exercise pressure upon her ally, tending to prevent her from securing the fruits of her victory, are fully appreciated.
 There are evidences here that CO., operation by Great Britain would have been resented by Japan.
 Among the Japanese tonight, no note of hope is sounded. With genuine re- luctance, they seemed almost resigned to the shipwreck of the conference They declare that their position is un- changed and they speak of renewing the war with a snap of their black tyes when the word is given to advance.
 Want Lasting Peace.
 we have fought for a lasting peace" said one of the attaches closest fo the chiefs. We have been victo- rfous. If Russia came to Portsmouth unprepared to pay the price Of defeat all Is over We don't believe that the President thinks our terms unreasona- ble. He knows Japan's position as accurately as does either of the Japa- neee plenipotentiaries. We do not be- lieve he will even ask us to weaken al the last moment and yield. even to save the negotiations. Heartily as the world desires peace. Japan believes the neu- tral powers would prefer that war should continue for a year or even two wears longer than that Japan. for the aake of immediate peace should make concessions now and be forced perhaps a decade hence to reopen hostiltties.
 The pIenipotentiaries and members of their suites apparently had little to dc today. Those of the latter who were not engaged in completing the flnaI drafts of the protocols joined in the festivities of this pleasant summer re- sort But when the subject of the ne. srotIatIons was mentioned their answers were almost invariably pessimistic and Eome of them openly predicted that the end would come tomorrow. Baron Ko' mura and Mir. Takahira came dowr stairs this afternoon to sit for photo graph la a group of newspaper cores pondents and then retired to be seen nc more today. M. Witte in the morning took occasion to show himself in thu lobby of the hotel as if to contradict the stories that he was i'll. In the af' ternoon he and Baron de Rosen wen out for a spin in an automobile.
 Rnninn Professor Arrested.