The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-16
Crucial Questions Not
 Taken Up.
ALL HOPE NOT ABANDONED
The Envoys Will Endeavor to
 Agree to Last.
Article Referring to Action ef Chinese Railroad May Prove . stun-
 bling Blsek During To-
 dayss Deliberations.

Portsmouth, N. H.. Aug. 1s.-The crisis in the peace negotiations upon which the eyes of the world are fAs- tened is approaching rapidly and the end of this week or the first of next at the latest should witness the deadlock and the end if the conference Is to go to pieces Two of the twelve articless Nos. and 6. were disposed of today.
 Article { consists of mutual pledges to observe the integrity Of China and the policy of the "open door" for the commerce of all nations, and article covers the surrender of the Russian leases to the Liaotung peninsula, Fort Arthur, Dalny and the Blonde and El- .liott Islands. To article 4 both par- ties rave ready assent and the official statement of the adoption of that artt- cle took care to state that 1t was agreed to ''unaniomusly."
 Article 5, the consideration of which was postponed until later, provides for the cessfon of the Island of Sakhaiin- Discussion appearing useless at this stage on account of the firm negative given in the Russian reply 1t was de- cided upon the motion of the Japanese to defer its discussion. thus revealing the Japanese intention of postponing to the end the life and death struggle
 This is the usual procedure followed in diplomatic negotiations. enabling sha negotiators to come to an accord upon all possible points before tackling the crucial isues and the fact that the Russians acquiesced in the proposition shows that they. too. are as careful and as anxious as are the Japanese that the world should not accuse them or being responsible for precipitating the break. and wrecking the conference. tm Ne [Exsy s~fe zm sides, by postponing the burning ques- tions to the end the psychological mo- ment for bargain and compromise arr rives.
 Then hurriedly the last trump cards and the game is done. And there Is growing hope of compromise To the closest observers the final solution be- Hins fo erystaliize duiSe Baturaliy -the Russians yielding, the cession of sak- haiin, Japan foregoing "the cost of the war" but taking compensation in the money to be refunded to Japan by China on account of the transfer to her of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which Russia contends belongs to q private corporation and therefore un- confiscabIe by Japan.
 .Japan's Rich Harvest.
 The Russian government property in Port Arthur and Dalny and remunera-
 
 Russian prisoners in Japan. According to the Russian view Japan also has se- cured all or more than she dreamed of claiming before the war. To insist on q foe who has still half million men confronting her in the field footing the bill for tho cost of the war as the price of peace would, the Russians say, change the character of the military struggle hencetorth from one for cer- tain principles to one for the exaction of blood moncv." All questions re- latinR to Korea and Mancbnria except the cession of 70 .hinese Eastern rail- road and the main Siberian line rum ming through Northern Manchuria from the station "Manchuria" on the Amur via Harbin to Vladivostok are settled in the five articles already adopted Some confusion has arisen about those articles and the following resume can be accepted as absolutely accurate:
 First-Recognition of Japan's ''pre~ ponderating influence" in Korea. etc.
 second-Mutual obligation to evacn- ate Manchuria. Russia to retrocede to China all special privileges. etc.
 Third-Japanese obligation to re- store the sovereignty and adnlinistra- ton of China in Manchuria.
 Fourth-Mutual obligations to re- spect the territorial and administra- tive integrity of China and the princi- pie of the open door.
 Fifth--The surrender of tho Russian leases to the Liaotung peninsula, in- oluding Port Arthur, Dalny and the Blonde and Elliott Islands.
 Tho remaining seven articles (not given in numerical order) are: The the cost of the war: the cession to China of the Chinese Eastern Railroad: the article relating to that portion of the main line of the Siberian railroad running through Northern Manchuria which includes provisions for policing the road by China and not by Russia; fishing rights of the Siberian coast north of Vladivostok to the Rehring Sea: the article affecting Russia's na- val power in the Far East and that providing for the surrender of the Rus sian warships interned In Far Eastern waters.
 Russia's Objections.
 To all of these Russia has more or less objection. Besides indemnity and SakhaIin, M. Witte will strenuously oppose the surrender of the interned warehips the limitation upon Russia's naval power and the cession of the Chinese Eastern Railroad to China The article relating to the Chinese Eastern Railway is No. and comes up at the session tomorrow morning. The Russians are prepared with docu- mentary evidence if the article is not passed over to show that the railroad is a private corporation owned by the Russo Chinese bank. Mir. Pokotiioff. one of the Russian delegates. was man ager of the bank iE St Petersburg un- til few months ago. when he was sent to Pekin as minister upon the death of MT. Lesser, MT. Bergen, the attorney for the bank, is also here and the fight upon this article Is sure to prove extremely interesting and possi- bly, prolonged as Russia will contest the Japanese convention that the Rus sian government is the real owner of the road and that it was built for purely strateZical purposes
 The only jar in the sessions of the conference today occurred at the morn ing session when c rather spirited con- troversy occurred over the question Of the publicity of the proceedings. Each side manifested disposition to charge the other with being responsible for inc leaks" and 1t was settled by re- newed pledges to observe the stricteet secrecy henceforth regarding the pro- ceedings. As a result the correspon-
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