The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-29
THE PUBLIC
 PESSIMISTIC RuSSia'S Previous Attitude
 Reversed. ANXIETY OF NICHOLAS He and His Officials in Breath
 less Suspense. Poring Over Charts and With Members of the Admiralty Gathered Around Him, He Inpatient
 Iy Awaits Result.

St. Petersburg. May 29-(2.15 a. m.)- In this momentous hour the Emperor the Admiralty and the Russian people are waiting breathlessly for the Ja- panese to furnish authentic news of the fate of Vice-Admiral Rojestvensky's fleet, In which the hopes of the Rus slams are centered. The official dispo- sition is to construe 1Tokio's silence fa- vorably, but at the same time the strategic reason for such silence IS recognized.
 The public. after the premature jubi- lation of Saturday night, Is inclined to reverse its attitude and to become pcssimistic.
 The report sent to Washington by the American Consul at Nagasaki of the sinking of five Russian warships. in- cluding a battleship and repair ship. was accepted as the most definite and the most authentic piece of news re- ceived up to midnight and undoubtedly produced a bad impression. The fear was expressed that the battleship sunk might have been Rojestvensky's flag ship, the Kniazsouvaroff. on which the Japanese undoubtedly would concern trate their fire The sinking of the TO- pair ship Kamichatka. which was filled with the most modern machinery, might. it was thought. prove later to be a more severe loss than that of war ship, but at the admiralty, where crowds congregated afternoon and evening. the opinion was expressed that if Rojestvensky has cleared the gate way to the sea of Japan with no great CT loss than that reported by the Amer lean Consul, tho passage had not been dearly purchased, especially if later re- ports should prove that the Japanese losses were anything like equally pro- portionate.
 Emperor's Anxiety.
 Probably no one In Russia displayed such intense anxiety as the Emperor. Early Sunday morning he summoned Grand Duke Alexis. his admiral; Admi- raI Avellan. head of the Russian ad- miralty. and Admiral Wirenius. chief of the general staff of the navy, to Tsar- skoe-Selo and remained closeted with them up to a late hour last night, im- patiently awaiting information and DOT ing over charts
 The only news received by his majes- ty from Russian sources was despatch ed from Russian agents and consuls at Chinese ports, which could give noth- ing but current rumors. The only time the Emperor left the members of his cabinet was to attend service In the chapel of the Alexandria palace, when the chaplain prayed for Rojestvensky's success
 The Emperor was greatly distressed when the Washington dispatch contain ing the information sent by the consul at Nagasaki arrived.
 The newspaper dispatches naturally created the widest speculation. Some of the officers of the admiralty who on Saturday were inclined to take the view that the ships off Woo Sung were empty colliers, sent to the rear to avoid hampering tht warships unnecessarily or that IL was n division of little fight Ing value dispatched to confuse Iogo and to throw him off the scent. thought on Sunday that 1t was possible that Ho- jestvensky might after all have dlVlded his fleet and that the Japanese were awaiting the arrival of the second Rus sian division before making general an- 
 The majority of the naval authorities, however. continue to believe that ho- Iestvensky could not risk a division of his fighting ships. Those or an opti- mistic turn hope that RojestvenskY dld throw Togo off the trail. ana escaped him, as the French heet eluaeu Nelson and that they encountered only tornedo boats in the Straits of Korea.
 This opinion, though. is not generally shared and the great majority think that Togos scouts were able to keep Tn touch with the fighting division, and that the Japanese laid in wait TOT ho- testvensky in the narrow waters where a. battle Is reported to have taken place.
 Nevertheless, practically nobody oe- Iieves that Togo offered open battle, the consensus of opinion being that the Japanese favored by a stage of the moon. which was at three-quarters full, waited and delivered a series # tor pedo attacks Saturday night with such aid as their heavy ships couId oHer without running too much risk. Mines may have played an important roie ana perhaps been responsible Tor the 4arse share of the losses reported At any rate the result Is not fully satisfactory to the naval authorities
 It Is possible that a running hght at long range took place Sunday, from which better results are anticipated, as the naval authorities generally do not believe that torpedoing could De re- newed Sunday night in the open sea.
 The cruisers Gromoboi and Russia of the Vladivostok squadron probably have sailed south to afford Roiestven- sky any assistance in their power. If Rojestvehsky gets clear of the Straits Sunday night he should be close enough to Vladivostok Monday to communi- cate.
 No light has been thrown on the identity of the four cruisers reported from Tokio as passing the Kuiles Straits and the only explanation is that possibly another division of con verted cruisers has been detached for the purpose of confusing the Japanese.
 At 1 o'clock this morning Admirals Avellan and Wirenius, on returning from Tsarskoe- Selo were shown the latest dispatches to the Associated Press. Admiral Avellan said:
 "Practically all the information in the possession of the Emperor or the admiralty Is contained in the Associat- ed Press dispatches. Like the general public, we are now dependent on them for news but we hope to be able to re- lieve the general suspension by dis patches containing authentic :nformA- ton from Vladivostok this evening"