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39-4
PROGRESS OF THE WAR.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
I down to Kiachow. More significant still is the Russian story that the retreat on Harbin (Daily Press, 21st May.)
is threatened. The astonishing report Lovers of sensation--and modern news-
reached us just too lat: for publication in paper-readers in all parts of the world are Thursday's issue of this paper that a Japa- supposed to be such-cannot complain that nese force had reachel a point thirty miles during the past forty-eight hours they have north-east of Moukden, coming from what not been abundantly supplied with excite-direction we do not yet know; it might ment. The war in the North has moved he from Fenghwangcheng in the South, with tremendous rapidity and has left in- or possibly from the East.
No confirmation effaceable marks. The horrors of warfare from Japanese sources has been published, have been demonstrated in their most vivid as was only to be expected, seeing how well hidden have been the land tactics of Japan, General KUROPATKIN was stated to calculate that the Japanese would take six weeks to reach Harbin, supposing them to have 225,000 men in Manchuria. But now it is actually suggested that the Russian
from retreat
Moukden to Harbiu may be interceptel. A curious commen. tary, truly, on General PFLUG's criticism, telegraphed from Moukden to S. Peters- burg, that "Japan's advance to Liaoyang is characterised by indecision"! We might almost expect to hear soon that General PFLUG has been superseded, following Admiral STARCK, Viceroy ALEXIEFF, and General SASSULITCH into the disgrace which has punished want of foresight on the Russian side in this war. Japan's indecisiou," at any rate, seems to have been a very effective manoeuvre if it has resulted as well as Russian reports seem to make out. But that the Japanese should already be in a position to threaten the retreat from Moukden to Harbin seems
light. The news which reached the Colony yesterday, and which we reproduce in our own correspondent's and the Japanese offi- cial telegrams in to-day's issue, comes with a shock of startling intensity. Early in the week we learnt that the Japanese cruiser Miyako, while cugaged in destroying Bus- sian mines in the neighbourhood of Dalny, touched one of them and sauk, happily with very few casualties. It was not until yesterday that it was known here that, on the very day following that first serious disaster in the war to Japan's Navy, two far more cruel blows followed, one of them of irreparable extent. The latter is, of course, the sinking of the great battleship Hatsuse, flagship of Rar- Admiral NASHIBA, which came in contact with a Russian mechanical mine ten miles
away from the Lotishan promontory below Port Arthur and sank in half an hour's time, drowning nearly 450 men. This magnificent waiship is nearly the finest in the Japanese fleet and represents one-sixth of the battleship squadron. A month ag the world was startled at the loss of the Russian flagship Petropavlovsk, one of Russia's strongest naval items. The Hatsuse's fate was only less appalling be cause less sudden than that of the Petro- pavlovsk; but the Halsuse was a vessel of 4,000 tons more displacement. Further,
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[May 30, 1904.
To these may be added perhaps the Bayan, armoured cruiser, reported wrecked at Port Arthur in February, and Boyarin, protected cruiser, claimed by the Japanese to have been wrecked at Dalny ou 12th February; and the following dainages of a serious nature :-
Pobieda, battleship, struck by mine of Port Arthur on 13th April;
Poltava, battleship, struck by sbell at Port Arthur ou 9th February;
Retvisan, battleship. torpedoed at Port Arthur on 8th February;
Tsarevitch, battleship, torpedoed at Port Arthur on 8th February;
Askold, protected cruiser, struck by shell at Port Arthur on 9th February;
Diana, protected cruiser, struck by shell at Port Arthur on 9th February;
Pallada, protected cruiser, torpedoed at Port Arthur on 8th February.
The case of the Novik, protected cruiser, is doubtful; she has done a lot of hard fighting and has several times been reported injured.
Turning now to the Japanese fleet, the following losses are certain :-
*
Hatsuse, battleship, blown up off Port Arthur on 15th May;
Yoshino, protected cruiser, sunk in colli. sion off Shantung promontory on 15th May;
Miyako, unarmourel cruiser, blown up off Tali nwan on 14 h May.
No record of lesser Japanese casualties can be furnished. The Russians have re- almost incredible. It will be well to await pentedly claimed to have sunk destroyers confirmation of the news. Already some-and torpedo-boats, but, apart from the what conflicting rumours are abroad.
NAVAL LOSSES OF THE BELLIGERENTS.
(Daily Press, 23rd May.) Russia has not been slow to suffer also at the hands of Nature a similar disaster lo that which afflicted Japan on the 15th instant, when a fog caused the loss of the cruiser Yoshino, The Russian cruiser Boyatyr, in a fog, has now sunk outside Vladivostock. In the case of the Yoshino, it was one of her fellow cruisers which sank her; the Bogatyr was lost through striking
as if this disaster were not grievous enough, ou the same day, in a. fog off Shantung promontory, the newly-purchased Japanese cruiser Kasuga ran into another cruiser and sank her, drowning 200 men. Japan's new cruiser has done her country indeed an i1 service early in her career. The Yoshino was fairly large, but not very new, and her loss is, of course, in no way comparable to that of the Hatsuse. Still she was "nland. effective part of Japan's fleet. It may well he imagined that grief pervades Japan at the loss of three good ships and between 650 and 700 men in the course of two days. After nearly three months and a half of naval war in which the Japanese injuries were infinitesimal in comparison with the damage inflic'ed on the foe and the greatness of the task accomplished, two days have turned exultation into sorrow, and accidents have dealt a wound which actual fighting could not deal. The sympathy of Britons, and of many others as well, must go out to Japan in this hour. The triple catastrophe may not affect the course of the war, but it is nevertheless of cruel intensity. Japan con- tinues to cominand the sea, but in less preponderating strength, and the events of the 14th and 15th instant may decide Russia to attempt to carry into execution the threat of sending out her Baltic fleet, "scratch pack" though it may be, to chal- lenge Japan's weakened naval power. The awful import of submarine mines has truly been well illustrated in this war.
On land the Japanese are fortunate in being able to point to very distinct successes to counterbalance, in some degree, their naval disasters. Newchwang is in their hands without a struggle (involving the destruction by Russia of the hardly valuable gun-vessel Sivoutch), and the Liaotung peninsula is theirs from Tashihchiao right
The result has been the same in both cases, that the unfortunate vessel is out of the war, even if not permanently out of existence. The Russians were able to save all the crew, it seems, in th's more happy than the Japanese. But, on the other hand, the Bogatyr was a far larger, more modern, and better armed vessel than the Yoshino, and the loss to Russia is pro- portimately heavier. At this time, when disasters have been overt king both belli- gerents' navies in rapid succession, it may not be uninteresting to give a list of the actual losses, as far as can be made out from the various accounts. Taking the Russian fleet first, we have the following:-
Petropavlovsk, battleship, blown up off Port Arthur on 13th April;
Bogatyr, protected cruiser, wrecked off Vladivostock last week;
Varyag, protected cruiser, gunk at Chemulpo on 9th February;
Koreetz, gunboat, sunk at Chemulpo on 9th February ;
blowing up of torpedo-boat No. 48 at Talienwan on the 12th May, the Japanese admit no losses. As the Japanese official news has beeu so correct we must be in- clined to believe their actual losses no more; but, with regard to minor injuries it is known that they have decked so me vessels from time to time. Whether the Kasuga was injured in the collision on the 15th instant remains to be heard.
In total losses, therefore, we may certainly set one Russian battleship, two protected cruisers, two gunboats, three destroyers, and a mining vessel against ons Japanese battleship, one protected cruiser, and one unarmoured cruiser. In addition the Russians have four battleships and at least, three protected cruisers practically hors de combat against unknown but small Japanese casualties. The discrepancy is not a little startling; or at least it would have been, could we have foreseen it at the beginning of the war.
HARBOUR
IMPROV MENT AND THE I.M.C.
(Daily Press, 26th May,) In our issue of the 13th April we drew attention to the seeming contempt into which Clause X'. of the Protocol of 1901, providing for the more effectual control of the harbours and harbour-approaches of China, had been permitted to fall. It was difficult to say what were the influences at work; changes had taken place in the personnel at the ports; the Consul-General of the United States at Shanghai, who had been elected Chairman of the local Board of Conservators, had gone home temporarily to consult his Government on the political aspect; and it was well known that the Foreign Inspectorate of Customs, jealous as ever of outside action, was by no means in- disposed to rejoice over the apparent wreck- Portage of the entire scheme; while, probably chiefest of all, the Foreign Ministers, dis- concerted by the continual intrigues of the reactionary Powers, were only too glad to
Sivoutch, gun-vessel, destroyed by Rus- sians at Newchwang;
Bestrachni, destroyer, sunk at Port Arthur on 13th April;
Vnushitelni, destroyer, wrecked off Arthur oa 24th February;
Port
Sterequstchi, destroyer, sunk off Artbur on 10th March;
Yenisei, mine or torpedo-transport, blown up at Dalny on 11th February.