The Washington herald., 1907-04-28

wheImiug hosts from the north The
proper place 10 meet these, II field ARIA
les prove unable 30 check their advance
down the Liaotung IS at the lNinchcw
isthmus. and nowhere eIse-the aarIow
strip which IS commanded by the Nan
shan. and which the Russians proved so
incompetent TO defend.
Only the sea-forts of Port Arthur wiz
be restored, because the. are necessary as
an insurance for the dockyards. Already
an order has gone forth from the Japa-
nese admiralty prohibiting photography
along tie sea front; in l905 Port Arthur
I'm its new guise as a secondary naval
base win be complete.
AS result of this last look at Port
Arthur Mr.. Weale is FIRM in his condem-
nation of Gen. stoesseL Writing about
the fan. he says:
And the surrender. Wen there is lttle to sd3 TO
what has already been written IN a dozen volumes
b Was quite unfastifable, it brought abJut the
downfall of Russia iu South AlanelgF8 and st0es-
5ei deserves G. be placed lu tLe same category as
Bazaine. Everything demanded defense TO the
Deaths glorious defense. q defense continued uo
matter SO what elst St0essal shUld have
handed over Tie mMand on the 2sth of becemh1ri
f1r Immediately after the final council II var. al
Though It had been decided 10 continue fighting.
eTe-y enc knew that stoessal would surrender oH
the very first 0TncTtUnity. and the result was that
bv the morning % tle 18th the fighting spirit A1d
fled \ Reckless discharge Of ammunition bgan all
around the lines informing the japanese that some
thing gave had happened Ih1J almost guessed
that she end was coming Under slch ciTellIn
[ stsuces. Gen Stoess5 merits the death sentence
The last lessan Of Port Arthur Is That the
u0-surauder spirit q the japanese Is one which
must become universal il the white man Is TO main
/ tain hls sllIrcInacy
It is easy now TO see how important
/ Port Arthur was 10 the Russian cause
/ Had it been defended 70 the last cartridge
+ it could perhaps have held out until Feb
ruary. and thus have entirely prevented
the battle of Mukden being fought under
/ conditions so favorable 10 Japan. Had
I the Russians under kuropatkin beet
: forced only to retreat oEe step 10 Tieh
ling. the war would not have ended u
{ the unfayorablc way ia which II did. TIT
! belligsrents might really have become eX
hausted and "A true peace, accompanied
! by the entire evacuation II MauchaT IA
would have followed.
In spite Of all that the world has hear'
about the inability of Russia to ngh
abroad because of her troubles at home
Mr. Putnam Weale has a chapter in thi
book on Prussia, the Unbeaten Power.
/ He shows that at the time the peac
was concluded she had in the Iield I2,oo
officers, 81, coo men. g70,000 horses, and &c
guns, as great an army as had ever bee
gathered on an actual battlefield II
shows that Russ,a's losses in Inc IA
East have not in reality been very great
She has lost the Insignificant martin
i province at the extremity of the Lilac
Jung. WnIca never lid her any goCd
and she has lost a strip of the Contra
AIanehurian Railway. about $50 miles
I length; a1d .astly. sac has los the / Is
sbllity of dominating one province g
Manchuria, Fengtien. because the BATH
Of Mukdea drove her armies bats on tn
4ne of the native towns which lie on th
; boundary OF the Sc sgud province Of hiriT