Show POUT ARTHUR HAS FALLEN NOW IN THE HANDS OF THE LITTLE BROWN MEN amter a heroic defense of many months general stoessel decides to surrender to the gallant besiegers at last port arthur has fallen into the hands of the japanese exhaust ed by months of almost constant fight ing decimated by disease and casual ties and hopelessly sealed in its rocky fortress the gallant garrison has yielded ta its besiegers and the end Is now written to one of the most dra war incidents of modern times at 9 clock sunday night general nogi commanding the japanese army of invasion received from the russian general stoessel a note saying that he found further resistance useless and asking for a meeting to arrange terms of capitulation the no e was timple and direct and the japanese general immediately named commis eigners to confer with representatives df the russian commander they met at noon monday jo arrange the condi alons of surrender the nature of the terms agreed upon Is not yet cnown but dispatches from tokio indicate that they will be of the most magnan amous character the emperor of japan himself through the chief of the imperial staff has given public bis expression that general stoessel has rendered commendable service to his country in the midst of difficulties and that it Is his wish that military honors be shown him A dispatch from boklo quotes mill tary opinion as believing that the entire garrison will be allowed to march out under arms and may be eat to russia on parole late dispatches from japan have shown that the gal lant defense of stoessel and his men has nowhere been given a finer appreciation than in the land of his foes and it Is more than likely that japan will embrace the opportunity to show her magnanimity and admiration of the gallantry of port arthur s defend ers by allowing them all the honors which war permits a victorious army to bestow upon the vanquished the siege and the defense of hus sias stronghold in the far east have been marked by bravery gallantry and desperation unequaled in modern wa fare and hardly excelled in mill tary history the story of the operations around port arthur Is one of repeated fight ing both by land and sea of the most ie sperate and thrilling character iso instances of heroism that would have set the world ringing under less overwhelming circumstances have been dwarfed by the generally mag conduct of both forces by sea there have been torpedo dashes of superb recklessness and big ships have ploughed through mine fields with heroic disregard to give battle or in wild efforts to escape by land the japanese have hurled themselves against positions declared to be impregnable they have faced and scaled rocky heights crowned with batteries and crowded with de tenders suffering losses that military experts say would have appalled any european army in the doomed fortress its people have lived under a devastating rain of shell and shrapnel scanty ra eions besieged on every side biow ing that hope of succor or escape was vain the garrison has fought with a stubbornness that has evoked the ad mi ration of the world they met the untiring assaults of the japanese with a grim valor that won even the eralso of their toe and the fighting has been waged with a relentlessness that often refused truces to bury the dead and collect the wounded over corpse filled trenches men have fought hand to hand with cold steel and clubbed guns and at short range have hurled at each other hand grenades filled with high explosives what port arthur has cost in hu man life and in money no estimate of even approximate correctness can be made the losses have been appal ling it has been reported that in some engagements leading up to the recent capture of meter bill the attacking force lost as high as 40 per cent of the forces engaged while the garrisons losses of which no word has come must have been frightful the defense of the position which fell to her as a heritage after the achl nese japanese war has cost russia practically her entire fleet in those waters her ships lie from port ar thurs inner basin to in korea and along the shantung penin sula battered hulks of once proud ves als or ignominiously dismantled are interned in neutral chinese ports save the three or four cruisers and some large craft that lie in the icebound refuge of vladivostok not a warship now files the russian cross in the waters of the northern orient and japan too has had her losses in the long drawn out operations mines have struck from admiral togas fleet list many fine ships and smaller vessels since the morning of february 8 when he hurled his fleet at the russian ships in port arthur s roadstead the siege of port arthur properly dates from may 27 when after en the first army landed by the japanese at stoessel was forced back from the neck of the Kwan tung peninsula the japanese landing was begun on may 5 ad the russian corn mander elected to give battle at his northernmost line of defenses the engagement was a severe one and drove the russians back to the first of the main defenses of the position A few days later on may 30 the jap anese occupied dalny and on june 1416 general Sta kelberg advancing to the relief of the port arthur army was defeated by general oku at the battles of and telisse with bogos ships lying like watch dogs around port arthur s side and nogi advancing slowly but relentlessly by land the famous stronghold was under siege and from then on until general stoessel on new years day sought terms of capitula alon the operations have been marked by almost cea seles fighting bombard ments by the fleet alternating with desperate attacks by land or assaults by the combined naval and military forces when stoessel and the remnant ot his devoted garrison march out of port arthur the flag of the rising sun will once more float from the ramparts of the position japan won when she first sent her new fleet to give battle and drove china from the seas |