The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-01-02

The impregnable Gibraltar Of the orr,
sent has fallen, has fallen!-
Port Arthur Surrenders.
Port Arthur has fallen. Alexief 8
impregnable city is in the hands OF the
" pagans'' General Stoessel has not
found his grave, but is taking lively
interest in the terms of surrender. What
this fortress has cost Japan in men may
never be known. The slaughter has been
SO enormous that the Japanese may
never wish to tell the story. They may
not be able to tell it, for in many of the
desperate assaults men were blown up
IN regiments by mines. In other hand
to-hand attacks the Russians and Jap
anese fraternized in death, their bodies
rotted where they lay and on neither
side can there be any record, except
CHASTITY roll of 'missing or killed in
action"
The Japanese invested Port Arthur
from the north soon after the war be-
gan, having already blockaded it on the
ocean side. They have pushed their
lines forward steadily and relentlessly
and have been resisted step by step with
desperate valor that reflected great
credit on Russian arms The Japanese
never wavered, tho often repulsed from
bloody assaults, and their advance shows
steady progress. The capture Of High
Meter hill was the beginning of the
end. From it's summit the Japanese de-
|liberately turned heavy guns on the
ships in the harbor and in few days
sent to the bottom all the survivors of
the Port Arthur fleet. Now the news
is that the Russians want to, surrender
the town and forts and get out. They
are without proper food, cut off from
new ammunition and worn to shadows
with constant fighting. Everything that
men could do, short of dying, the Rus
slams have done to Justify the boast Of
Alexieff that Port Arthur could never
be taken.
The capture of this great position,
estimated by military engineers to be
equal to six Sevastopols, reflects the
highest credit on the military genius
of the Japanese. They have been ac-
, cused Of savage fanaticism in their as
saults; but, on the contrary, there is
evidence of the most consummate mill
J tary tactics, and, so far as possible, a
tendency to spare lives. The Japanese
have not run amuck against Port Ar
> thur, but have drawn their lines about
= it with the fatal precision Of boa
a crushing it's prey. -
s What effect this great event will
>f
q is fair question for speculation. The
. whole world wants to restore peace, but
! the whole world is powerless to end
t the war SO long as Russia is determined
: to fight. The Japanese have been at
s all times ready to accept peace on the
+ basis of their proposals of just a year
j. ago, namely, the evacuation Of Man
!. churia by Russia and proper guaran.
a tees for the future Of Japan. Very
a recently Japan let it be known that
l. she would not insist on money in.
d demnity, nor did she suggest any ma
q terial amendment of her program OF
v 1903 The act Of the mikado in cabling
J. his victorious general to. accord mill
q tary honors to Stoessel is not only gen
erous, but it shows that Japan appre
!. ciates the Importance Of soothing Rus
r. sian pride at the hour Of her deep dis
,f tress. Japan is certainly doing all she
70 can, both in military and diplomatic
10 way, to make the way Of peace easier.
is A second element that may assist i.
a. the anxiety Of France for her ally
e. With Russia reduced, like Dagon, I'd
10 .
. in Europe. AS naval ally Russia il
in already gone; as borrower she ha
N laid a heavy hand on French resources
in Before Russia is made any smaller
c. France will do what she can to saw
IL the situation. England is ins NOR
is pacific mood toward Russia than sh
al has been for years, but the real activ
movement for peace will probably hay
r to come from the United States
r; Whether the internal troubles Of Rus
on STA would be quoted or accentuated b.
er giving up the war, nobody outside o
or Russian official life can pretend
nd say, but certainly they are sufficient
ry acute already to be factor in the dc
ly cision. .*"'~ '.-,~. 9,a -. = s.
te- Meanwhile it is glorious to be abb
IN, to record that Russia has been whippe
in fair fight. The claws of the bea
Ia have been clipped for a quarter of
tn century to come. The world owes thi
ID service, not to a Christian nation, bu
m to one which, under pagan forms, ha
ee shown more Of the spirit of Christianit
IN than the bureaucracy which. rules Ru
ge STA. #sta
,ss Is. = ~ - ---
i Port Arthur fell and Mike Breslaut
surrendered. The world do move.
Y.
Two More Unfortunates.