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Show THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR. Xo fight like that which took place when thv Japanese Jap-anese crossed the Valu and attacked the liussians near Antung marked the progress of recent events in the Asiatic war, although dispatches give ac- , counts of engagements at points that arc misleading mislead-ing to a person seeking them with his index finger waltzing over the map. From now on two objects will be of special interest. in-terest. First, the siege of Port Arthur, and, second, sec-ond, the struggles between the Russian and Japanese Jap-anese armies. Port Arthur, accordinir to the Rus sian reports is strongly fortified and well provisioned. provis-ioned. It has a garrison sufficient for defense and. therefore, not unnecessarily large. The Russians declare the fortress to be impregnable; but there is no fortress that cannot be taken, if those attacking attack-ing be given sufficient force and sufficient time. A story conies that the Russians tried to send into the beleagured city a carload of balloons, but this plan was frustrated by the enemy. On top of this story comes another about balloons which the Japanese Jap-anese intend to float over Port Arthur and from which dynamite will fall upon the beleagured city. If such is' done,, it will be the first battle i:i midair mid-air ever fought in history. Russian refugees at Chcfoo report that during the bombardment of Port Arthur on Monday a Japanese cruiser and battleship struck mines and sank. Xo more importance should be attached to these refugee stories than the reports that came to Paddy , O'Day during the Fenian invasion of Canada. "First news we heard," says Paddy, "was O'Xeill had taken Toronto; and next, that Billy Boland had stormed and taken Quebec. Sorra a place was taken at all, at all." The question a few days ago was whether General Gen-eral Kuropatkin would be able to muster sufficient force speedily to enable him to make a successful stand at Liao Yang, after evacuating Xcw Chuang. That is not the question now. The Russian commander com-mander has decided to avoid a decisive combat with the Japanese at the present stage of the game., and is makincr Drenarations to fall back on fnl-. mm pitpaiaiiuns io ian oacK o.u jiuk- den and then on Harbin. AVhilo the superior numbers num-bers of the enemy compel a retirement, it does not follow- that General Ivuropatkin will not strike a stinging blow should a strategical mistake be made which will enable him to throw a stronger army upon one of the advancing columns of his antagonists. an-tagonists. The most exposed portion of General Ivuroki's command is that which has moved directly northward, evidently with the intention of gaining the road to Mukden, down which it will march as soon as the other columns are within supporting distance. Unless caution, heretofore the conspicuous conspicu-ous feature of the Japanese, is observed, this column, col-umn, it is believed, will fall the victim of its temerity, as General Kuropatkin. is known to be holding.it especially under close surveillance. The general belief among military experts in England, Germany and the United States is that the Japanese will succeed in capturing Port Ar- 1 1 t 1 : 1 r tnur belore Kussian naval reinforcements can be sent from Europe, and that the Japanese will be justified in paying a high .price in lives, if necessary, neces-sary, to secure this important advantage. Since the above got in type, the report that two large Japanese battleships collided in a fog off Port Arthur,' May 15, seems to be confirmed. Admiral Ad-miral Togo sent the dispatch. The Kasuga rammed the Yoshina, sinking the latter in a few minutes. Xinety of her crew were saved. The admiral adds: ''The same morning the Hatsuse, while cruising off Port Arthur, covering the landing of soldiers, struck a mine ten knots southeast of the harbor entrance. She signaled for help, and instantly in-stantly struck another mine. She sank in! half an' hour. " Three hundred of her crew were saved by torpedo boats." i. . . |