New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-10-15
London. August 30.

',,,u,elr, der Crosse was his cheerful
He was on his way TO make
~rsatv Of Peace at Portsmouth with a
- which had beaten Russia TO a
..o,dstill as most people thought and
accent such terms as japan might see
:. 81, inpose. But he himself had never
- air Of beaten man. I understood
No. the President at oyster Bay had
len not a little surprised to find him
ENC and apparently confident Ger
.a,,lv the American public. prone at that
tive 10 believe that its Presidents will
.,pst prevail, had looked upon the con-
.,,siop of the Portsmouth negotiations
% foreeone. There would be discus
.,ons of course. There might be con-
.essions bv Japan on minor points. But
.se main issues had been settled on the
bsttlefelds Of Asia. and Portsmouth was
only 10 register the results.
when we arrived at Portsmouth the
o,e hundred and twenty journalists were
rsarlv all OF that mind, and we were all
a. many barometers whose minds were
made ND for us by the atmosphere we
b-esthed. All. or almost all the first dis
matches from this queer little seaport
watering place were written in Japanese.
r the language was not Japanese the
shirt was The American Press was
raranese. and Of course the English.
since England was the ally of Japan and
the Treaty between them, already ten
wears Old had profoundly modified the
poltics of the East Within a few days
change came The atmosphere of
Portsmouth had changed. The barom-
eters no longer stood at Set Fair or at
what the japanese considered Set Fair.
The American Press itself had changed.
cannot say whether Count Witte
went there with the fixed purpose Of
converting journalists and Press to his
.ide. He was, at any rate a man with
a.. extraordinary quickness and hexi-
bility OF mind. He understood the situa-
ton as nobody else understood it. He
understood the American people, and
how they we're TO be Influenced When
h. was appointed Plenipotentiary men
said Of MIN.
YES. an able man, but no diplomatist.
Re has had no diplomatic experience.
They said Of Count Komura, the Jap
anese Plenipoteniary:
Yes. great diplomatist with great
Diplomatic experience. Count Witte will
be a child in his hands
These opinions had 10 be revised al
most M once: and for two reasons. 1t
VS. seen that the Russian was using
such means Of conciliating American
orinicr as lay ready 10 his hands and
that the japanese were not. The jour
raHsts found themselves welcome at the
Ppssiar headquarters. and the doors
shut in their faces by the japanese.
Then. though the proceedings at the
Conference were secret and no jour
7s8st admitted. it became known as
soon as the formalities were over that
the Russians did not seem 10 be in
Yielding mood. Now. a journalist in
search Of news is rather apt 10 think
nothirc but news matters, and his per
a1aI good will-for even journalists are
human-g0es out TO the man who gives
hin what news he can, and not 10 the
man who withholds what he might give.
Tie conditions Of secrecy were just as
scruuuIorslr observed by the Russians
as bv the japanese. vet within a week
he Russian view had been put before
he world IN such a way as TO unsette
American sympathies with Japan.
Count WHITE might not be able 10 say
much about the proceedings Of the Con-
ference. and did not. But he talked
freely on matters Of common knowledge.
He stated the Russian case. The trained
journalists who found him so ready to
receive them were equally ready TO pre-
sent his statements to their distant pub
les. II only because they had little else
10 present. Count Witte was far too
sarewd % argue or % let il be seen that
be was making an appeal to America
snd 90 the world He let fall a sentence
Uh it had slipped unawares from his
mouth IL might be a fact or a sugges-
ton II might touch the business Of the
Conference or il might be a reminiscence
-..r IorLs ne DLAN4tA IL ~ t"N+ 49,
for want of something better, with re-
Tet that the Obligations Of secrecy for
tade him % tell you what had happened
that day at the Conference. Tho journal
st. or group of journalists, TO whom he
said it caught at it eagerly, spread II
On the w.res-perhaps "a little fuller in
form than when uttered-and next morn
ng some millions Of people in two hem
spheres were reading IL.
Presently t came back 10 US in print
and in print il seemed more pregnant
saying than il had seemed when hurried
written out for the telegraph or the
cable. Some Of these dispatches TO
european journals were sent in duplicate
70 American journals, so that they were
al soon back again in Portsmouth.
Unit Of course, from this account the
dispatches 10 the Japanese papers. They
Ns'e wholly Of japanese origin, or the
: 'Spanese correspondents supposed they
'se Whether even the little brown
'otners entirely escaped the influence OF
we atmosphere in which they lived may
y doubtful. 10 was. l believe, thought
TOXIC and other Japanese towns that
Ue news supplied 20 them was meagre'
a. was.
NI'er this process had gone on day
Jay for a week or more 1 took
--s'e series Of dispatches and read them
over. / confess 1 was astonlshed az
u" how much ground they covered
-O On what broad lines the Russian
mad been built up. / began TO