336
PORT ARTHUR.
[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]
Port Arthur, 18th October.
IMPORTANT DEC«EES.
Several important decrees of Admiral Alexieff have recently been issu. On», issued a few days ago, declared that the Russian War Agents" (military attaches. I suppose) in Corea, China, and Japan are under his orders, and must send reports to him at qace; and another dated 24th September (7th October), and just now published, declares that the Russian diplomatic agents, and agents ofthe War Office in Manchuria are also to obey him in fulare. The latter decree runs as follows:--
"Whereas the establishment in the Man churian provinces of offices of our War Com. missary and the appointment of officials by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first being subordinate to the War Office and the second, through the Russian Minister at Peking, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs there have been, as might have been expected, occasions in which these and other official bodies have involuntarily gone out of their own sphere and entered the sphere of action properly appertaining to other bodies. And whereas since the establishment of a Viceroyalty in the Far East, all the branches of the administration have been placed in my hands and all diplomatic intercourse placed under my direction. therefore, that the above mentioned duality must of course be discontinued. For attaining this object, it is strictly necessary, above all, that the commissioners of the War Office as well as the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confine themselves to their respective spheres of duty in accordance with the decree "establishing | Russian Government superintendence over Manchuria, A.D. 1900 The instructions I shall issue for their direction shall be henceforth precise and infallible-Signed The Viceroy, Adjutant General E. I Alexieff."
Ba it known,
Port Arthur, 22nd October.
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE VICEROY.
On Monday last I had an interview with Admiral Alexieff. The Viceroy is not, inaccessible, but he is extremely busy, so that it is no easy matter to see him; and I was very much pleased in consequence on being informed last Saturday that I could call on him at 8.30 on Monday morning. The Admiral's house is in Old Town, and stands on a gentle eminence above the little Park (or Boulevard as they call it), commanding a good view of Golden Hill, from which it is separated by the smaller of the two basins composing the harbour. It is a two-storied edifice, new, built of stone, with a gravelled court in front, and a naval flag with two anchors waving overhead. It has something of the air of au Indian bunga- low about it, with its verandahs in both stories. Only that the second sto y verandah is shut in by glass and the lower story one is not so open as in India. For a man whose position 80 nearly resembles that of the Tsar, the Viceroy is not strongly guarded. At the gate there are two soldiers who seem to let anyone in unless, as the notices in some public buildings in Japa 1 put it, they are "drank or insane." These soldiers are accommodated with white sentry. boxes traversed diagonally by a large number of broad black bands. At the door there is no guard, but in the entrance-hall a few unarmed soldiers in the usual top-boots and loose white blouses fastened at the waist by à leather belt assist visitors to struggle out of their great coats and into them again, and relieve them of
their hats and sticks.
THE ANTE-CHAMBER.
The Vic regal antechamber is always filled with people waiting for au audience. Two officers of the Viceroy's suite are also in attendance, one a young naval officer, the other a military man. At the end of this room is a large desk piled with documents; on the walls are maps and plaus, old notifications with new notifications placed over them, and lists which look like time-tables; while bundles of newspapers are scattered about. One baudle contained the Temps another a miscellaneous collection of Russian papers, a thiri the Hongkong Government Gazette:
At the time of my visit this room was filled with a number of the biggest meu I ever saw in my life Most of them were generals or
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
high militry officers, one was a neval officer, two were civilians, two were clergymen. The clerg, men wore long fil wing robes like lawyers, and around their necks were suspended crucifixes of gold. I think one of them was a Lutheran clergym u who bat arrived in town the pre- yous day from Vadivestock to atte d to the religious needs of the few hundred Let's mour the Ru sian soldiers and civilians in Port Arthur. my here remark that there are five R ssian churches h re, mostly for the use of the military; one Jewish synagogue, and no Roman Catholic or Prote tant church. I hough iu Po t Arthur and Dalay there are about 4, 00 Roman atholics, mostly, I suppos`, Poles.
I said that the ante-chambr contained a collection of the biggest men I ever saw in my life. Some of them were giants and their enormous beards, swords, and uniforms made Most of them wore them look striking. decorations,
very large number of decorations. Two of them were asked to go upstairs at once to see the Viceroy, the rest of us waited about half-an-hour and then went up in a body. We drew up in line along one side of a sumptuously-furnished drawing room, evidently connected with the Viceroy's private apartments.
Rome ก
THE VICEROY.
of
I must says that I waited with great interest the coming of the Tsar's r presentative in the Far East The
of extraordinary extent bis power and the reports I had heard of his ability, tact, and endurance excited my curiosity to an unusual exteut. I felt that I was about to see an historical personage, a man destined to I make history, bloodstained or the reverse. had been told that during the Boxer troubles some time the Admiral bad worked for twenty boars a day, and that at present the amount basiness-aaral, military, civil. etc.-that he gets through every day would make the average man break down in a week and would make the average British workman go on strike in half that time. And his business does not consist merely of siguing papers. He thinks for himself. An American man of affairs once asked him, for instance, why he established his headquarters in Port Arthur and not in Dalny. "I want to buy the stores for thy fleet in a large market," said he, "I don't want to pay more for them than is necessary. Now I would certainly hava to pay more for them in Dalny than in Port Arthur."
This practical answer might have been made by the first Napoleon. It shows that solicitude for the fighting man which is the foundation of victory. On the whole that American of whom I speak was profoundly impressed by the Admiral's common sense and grasp of detail. He came to the conclusion that he had no mere martinet to deal with, that Admiral Alexieff could cope with matt rs far beyoud the ken of the average naval commander.
THE INTERVIEW.
The Admiral kept as waiting about two seconds. Then he came in, a man of medium height, pleasant eye and smile. slightly upturned fac (perhaps on account of his having to speak so much with abnormally tall men) and short beard. He wore a simple naval uniform and his manner was very quiet and natural. Everyone was standing up, and the Admiral walked down the line, shaking hands with e ch and conversing with each a few moment. When my turn came, he asked me what I thought of Port Arthur, and I candidly confessed that it was a somewhat rough place, adding, however, the saving dlause (and not out of mere compliment either, for I thoroughly believe it) that I thought the city would be a fine one in about two or three years. He thoroughly agreed with me on this point, but as this is not an important matter I shall I asked him about the Russian opera. pass on. tions at Yong- mpho, said that it had been distinctly stated the Russians were constructing a fort there, that they had officers and soldiers there, that they had landed cannon during the night. The Viceroy emphatically contradicted not "We have no fort there," he said,' a single cannon, not a single officer, not a single soldier. All reports to the contrary are false. They have been fabricated with the object of creating a sensation."
this.
THE U.S. COMMERCIAL TREATY.
$4
His Excellency did not seem to be alarmed by the opening of Moukden, provided by the
į
[November 7, 1903.
with
United States Commercial Treaty. “Oh, there's nothing in that," he said hastily, "that will be
right. We'll arrange that all
America.
withont interrupting our friendship with the United States. International commerce must have its way.'
t
MANCHURIA.
Then I gently approached the meat ticklish subject of all--the evacuation of Manchuria. The Viceroy did not say right out that his troops would remain in Manchuria nutil the Greek Kalends, but indirectly he gave me to understand that Russia would as soon think of We have much trouble evacuating Siberia still." he said, with the brigands in Manchuria especially in East Manchuris between Harbin and Vlad rostock.
Many unfor- tunate incidents occur in the railway zone there."
+4
many
I asked him if he had not received miny petitions from the Chinese inhabitauts of varions districts in Manobaria begging that the Russian troops be not withdrawo, and pointing out that such a withdrawal would expose the petitioners to the wrath of the bandits. He confessed that such as the 0180; " Aud I be had received many such petitions. should have received many more," he said, "if it were not for the mandarins—the mandarins in Manchuria itself. They terrorise the people. They prevent them sending us as petitions
as they would otherwise sen Then, Your Excollency," said Į, I suppose that on account of this lawless s ate of things, you will not evacuate Manchuria just yet?
His answer was short, but full of meaning. 'We'll arrange that matter with the Chines" This phrase sottled it. This apparent he said. forgetfulness of the fact that Japan is moving heaven and earth to make Russia settle the matter with her, this implication that no out- sider bas any right to interfero, and that if he did interfere he would gain nothing by it- this, I say, was enough It was unuecessary now to ask how the negotiations with Japan were getting on (especially as I felt sure that I would not get an answer to that question), or if there was any probability of a war between Russia and Japan. My interview with Admiral Alexieff convinced me that the Russians will remain in Manchuria.
NOTES FROM THE BOTANIC GARDENS.
The Poinsettias are beginning to make & show with their brilliantly coloured bracts; for it is not the flowers which are so conspicuous, but the crimson leaves which surround them. These bracts, often near y a foot long, are the distinction on which the genus was tounded, as it only differs in this respect from Euphorbis, and at the present t me the plant is known as It is a native of Euphorbia pulcherrima for about 70 years. There are many specimens Mexico, and has been in cultivation in Europe in the gardens, iu pots, beds, and shrubberies.
Three specimens of a fine araliaceous tree, Heteropanaz fragrans, are standing near the fountain in the old garden and are in flower, but the flowers are, comparatively speaking, inconspicuous, the large, glossy, dark greeu leaves, which are often nearly a yard across, and are pinuately decompound, make the tree at- tractive. Formerly there were several specimens growing in proximity to those now remaining, but the successive typhoons of the last ten years or so have wrought havoc amongst them. genus is monotypic, and belongs to the ivy Malaya and Fiji. family, and the species is found in China, India,
The
The plants in the rockery at the west end of the No. 3 house, which were planted towards the end of last year, have become established, and the variously coloured leaves of the different species make a very pleasing effect.
The rainfall for October amounted to 1.71 inches only, and for the year 93.09 inches have been registered.
The 8.8. Doric, which arrived from San Francisco on Thursday, reports slight plague in Yokohama, and slight cholera in Nagasaki.