i.
May 7, 1904.]
bave for weeks past been throwing up entrenchments and strengthening them, so it was said, with barbed wire entanglements after the South African model. Moreover, they concentrated a considerable number of guns, though these seem to have been much inferior in range to the Japanese artillery. It was plain that they did not mean to let the Yalu be crossed without a severe struggle. The Japanese, however, made their disposi- tions wisely, and after occupying the islets in the Yalu Riveron the 26th April they brought up naval assistance, in the shape of six small vessels, before taking their main body across. According to a Russian despatch, quoted by REUTER, some Japanese troops had succeeded in crossing before the 26th ultimo. But it was not until Saturday, the 30th, that their Army is stated by the Japanese to have crossed to the further bank and advanced on the Russian position. The principal assault began on the 1st instant, the Japanese starting to cannonade at daybreak, and at 7.30 a.m. cominencing an attack which, in the space of an hour and a half, left them masters of the heights. The names of the places-probably villages -mentioned by General KUROKI are diffi- cult to identify, but it would seem that the whole Russian front was shattered, for the defeated troops fell back ou Fengh wang- cheng, one of the principal points in Russia's second line of defence, the Japanese being leit in possession of twenty-eight Russian guns and over 300 prisoners. In the meantime a naval attack had been delivered on Antung, where the small Japanese flotilla seems to have found 400 Russian infantry and cavalry, whom they compelled to abandon the town, bu ning it as they left.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
THE WHANGPOO CONSERVANCY.
14
64
64
(Daily Press, 5th May.) There are some nations and Governments which, like individuals, can never learn. of these China is a foremost and conspicn- ous example. No matter what rebuffs she may receive, no matter what losses she may sustain, she profits nothing by experience and gains naught by counsel or advice. The sad experiences of the closing year of the last century would, we had hoped, do something to enlighten Chinese Ministers and show them the folly of attempting to set back the clock of progress and of op- posing an unreasoning resistance to all reform and improvement. questions dealt with by the Final Protocol Among the
between China and the Eleven Treaty Powers in 1901 was that of the conservancy of the river Whangpoo, which was provided for in Article XI. as follows:- "A Con- servancy Board, charged with the manage ment and control of the works for the straightening of the Whangpoo and the 'improvement of the course of that river is hereby created. This Board shall con- "sist of members representing the interests "of the Chinese Government and those of foreigners in the shipping trade of Shang- hai.
The expenses of the Board are then provided for, and details are embodied in Annex No. 17 of the Treaty.
Several years have passed, and the Chinese Government, with their characteristic love of procrastina- tion, have been persistently putting off the, to them, evil day when a body shall be form- ed whose duty it will be to render the approach to Shanghai free from obstacles and to remove the so-called Heaven-sent barrier" from the waterway, Government have no wish to either clear The Chinese the river of obstructions or to render its navigation easy for shipping. They do not relish the expenditure, and they are far too obstructive to desire any improvement in the river channel. According to a native contemporary, the British Minister at Peking has been urging this matter upon the Waiwupu and the Viceroy of Nanking, and offered on behalf of Great Britain even to bear half the cost, if only the work be seriously taken in hand. wupu was not to be tempted even by the But the Wai-
offer of pecuniary assistance. said the
They work would be carried at the cost of China alone, and that at pre- out sent she could not raise the necessary amount. Not quite to be done, Sir ERNEST SATow is stated to have proposed to the Waiwupu the appointment of a commissioner whose duty it would be to take charge of the work, but that body replied that the Government could not at present find an official sufficiently capable for the purpose. Chinese mandarins are always ingenious, and if they can at the same time manage to assume an air of superior virtue they do not fail to seize the opportunity.
The net result of the operations is that the Japanese have crossed the Yalu and destroyed the first Russian line of defence, at an expense of 1,000 men. The victory is one of which they have every reason to be proud. For if the Russians did not stake all on holding the Yalu they cannot, at any rate, have desired to retreat so hurriedly as to leave twenty-eight of their guns in the enemy's hands, to say nothing of the pri- soners. The fact seems to be that the Japanese artillery was too good for them and that the infantry completed too well the work begun by the guns.
With a large Japanese army Dow in Manchuria, the Russians find themselves in a very different position from that of last month, when the Japanese were still confined to Corea. Japan can shortly land troops direct, if she desires, on the Manchurian coast, at some point between the Yalu mouth and Taku- shan, for the Russians can no longer hold posts along this coast with the Japanese in great strength on their flank and
rear,
#8 well as in command of the seu, Nor is it certain that their Fenghwangcheng position will be tenable long. The line between there and Liaoyang, as we have pointed out before, faces wrongly to oppose an advance from Corea. We may expect constant skirmishing now, but it seems problematical whether the Russians are going to make a desperate effort yet to yield no further before the Japanese advance. The superior Japanese artillery will come into play again very soon, we may be sure. We have been told before that Moukden will be the spot at which the Russian retreat will stop. The Russians may be at Moukden before they expected.
Complaints about the scarcity of water even on the low levels are still numerous. On
Sunday. Wanchai and East Point residents were unable to get enough for cooking purposes
and had to have water carried in some cases from the centre of the town.
Here was one.
China had undertaken a duty; she must therefore bear the cost. But at present she could not afford the luxury; ergo, the work must be deferred. It is ever thus in China. As in Spain, there is always a to-morrow; why therefore do to-day what can be de ferred to a more convenient season? The British Government has been steadily sup- ported in the attempt to compel the Waiwupu to take up this question of the Whangpoo by the United States and Japan, but some of the Powers are apparently indifferent in the matter, or think to find some advantage by playing into the hands of the Chinese Government. It is to be hoped, however, that the British Minister will not grow dis-
heartened in the task he has set himself, and that by pertinaciously insisting upon
351
the performance of the Treaty stipulations he may eventually succeed in bringing the Waiwupu-which seems a worthy successor to the defunct Tsung-li Yamen-tu a sense
sent barrier" at Woosung and the effective of its duty. The removal of the "Heaven- conservancy of the Whangpoo river have been strenuously fought for and insisted upon by the British and American com- munities at Shanghai for the past forty years.
decades of striving, and when the point has It seems hard that, after all these
at last been secured by Treaty, it is still impossible of attainment. Surely there Government to book on the subject! must be some means of bringing the Chinese
THE
PRESS, THE PUBLIC, AND
THE WAR.
com-
(Daily Press 6th May.) In the last number which appeared in March of the Naval and Military Record there is to be found an interesting article entitled "Some Lessons from the Far East," which is at times amusing, if not always just. The
anonymous author mences by saying that perhaps the most salutary lesson which the war in the Far East is teaching to Europe in general, and to England in particular is that which shows that two Great Powers can engage in a life-and-death struggle and yet keep their own counsel. to allude to the fact which was utterly lost He goes on, rightly enough,
sight of dar ng the Boer war, namely "that it is quite possible to glean most valuable information from the newspapers of your opponent if he is only fool enough to keep on printing all that he can possibly find out troops." That the Boers were very largely concerning the movements of his own helped by information telegraphed to Eng- land and thence transmitted again to South Africa, we imagine that no one will deny; conduct of those who acted as did many nor is the charge of folly too strong for the
British correspondents in Squth Africa. So far we have no reason to quarrel with the writer in the Naval and Military Record. But he proceeds to assert that it is high time that a check be placed upon the energies of the daily Press in time of war, and to "disabuse this section of newspaperdom of the idea that the Public (with a big P) response to this, says the critic whom we insist on knowing all about the war." The
the Press which insists upon knowing, and are quoting, is that it is not the Public but
it can find out. not only knowing, but publishing all that "We want to know-of course we want to know as much as pos sible when our own country is engaged in war-but if an ukase were proclaimed that no correspondents were to accompany our "army or our fleet in time of war, the probability is that the inhabitants of these "islands would take it with a degree of "calmness and philosophy which would amaze the Fourth Estate. In fact, the special correspondent magnifies his own importance, the writer thinks, and the newspaper man, recognising only two enti ties, the Press and Public, allows his judg- ment to be led astray by "much catering to the many-headed." Then, referring to the way in which people are apt to quote the particular newspaper which they happen to read, the Naval and Military Record critic concludes his lesson to the Press thus: -- "JOB remarked to his friends upon a
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memorable occasiou, No doubt but that "ye are the people, and wisdom will die "with you,' and, perhaps, Japan and Rus- "sia might nowada s quote that pithy "saying to the distinct disadvantage of
European civilisation when they compare
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