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Show THE JAPANESE ACCEPT RUSSIA'S ULTIMATUM I "Wc Pay Not a Kopek of Indemnity; We Get I Half of Sifchalin"-Dc Witte Puts it in a Nutshell. J Portsmouth. Aug. 29. Peace between Russia a lid Japan was practically concluded at this morn- s ing's session of the peace conference. In the final I -struggle the Ilussians achieved the victory. For the sake of peace the Japanese, with a magnanimity worthy of their heroic; achievements in this war, met the ultimatum of the czar and abandoned their demands nut only for reimbursement for the eost of the war but for the repurchase of the northern half of Sakhalin, Russia at the same time agreeing to a division of the island. The Japanese withdrew ar-I ar-I ticks 10 and 11 of the peace conditions originally I proposed (demand for the surrender of the interned warships and limitation of the Russian naval power " ' in the far east). The delegates of the respective , missions will be called in at the afternoon session and the actual work of formulating the treaty of I peace will begin. e The news that peace had been agreed upon i caused, the most intense excitement at the hotel where the envoys have been staying. Everywhere there was a delirium of jubilation. s An armistice will be arranged this afternoon. ! A scene of great excitement followed the receipt s of the news in the lobby of the Hotel Wentworth. the official bulletin was telephoned from the eonfer-I eonfer-I ence room at the navy yard by Mr. Sato, and like , an electric :hrill flooded through the room. There ere screams of joy. Men threw their hats aloft, women actually wept. Then there was a rush for ihe telegraph office and in an instant the news was speeding to the remotest corners of the earth. J--- M. Witte, accompanied by Baron de Rosen, came j. to the hotel or luncheon. There was a wonderful demons! ., upon. their arrival. A great crowd i hud coll: 1 .. ;er the porte cochere of the annex, I and when '.. ,r automobile drew up. the air was I , torn with iran'-'e cheers. Hats were thrown aloft, f M. Witte, at L? stepped out of the motor car, seemed quite-- overcome. Too full for utterance, he could only grasp and shake the hands that were ex-r ex-r tended to hinu Baron Rosen also was equally - moved aid received the congratulations of the crowd. Tor about rive minutes the two were kept upon the porch listening to incoherent praises of the hotel guests. "Pas Un Sou" Indemnity . "Do you pay indemnity i'' was the universal inquiry. in-quiry. "Pas un sou'' (not a cent), was M. Witte's response. re-sponse. " . . The two envoys have respectively proposed to their emperors the conclusion of an armistice. The details of the armistice will be discussed at the aft- ernoon's meeting, and immediately the question of ;' - release of Russian prisoners. . The Associated Press correspondent accompanied accompa-nied IT. Witte to his room. The envoy had been quite overcome by the great ovation he had received, re-ceived, and the intense strain he had been under He threw himself into his armchair and after a few ; minutes to "pull himself together,'' he began to I speak, slowly and deliberately almost as if he were talking to himself, i I "It seems incredible," he said. "I don't believe ; any other man in my place would have dared to 1 hope for the possibility of peace of the conditions I to which we have just agreed. From all sides, from . '. President Roosevelt down to my own friends in Russia, I received up to the last moment, even this morniii"- very urgent representations that some thing should be paid to Japan." At this point M. Witte. who was still laboring under excitement, almost lost control of himself. He pr used a moment. Then he went on : "The Japanese wanted to take our interned war-f war-f ships, and I have not consented. The Japanese wanted to limit our naval power in the far east, and I have not consented. The Japanese wanted war indemnity or reimburse ment' ot the cost ot war; aye, demanded it, and I j have not consented. The Japanese wanted the Chi- i nose Eastern railroad south of Harbin, but I gave ' them only the railroad in the possession of their I troops south of Chautaf u. The Japanese wanted Sakhalin and I refused it, agreeing at the last moment mo-ment to cede the southern half, and then only because be-cause I was commanded by my sovereign to yield. Xot only do we not pay so much as a kopeck but we obtain half of Sakalin. now in their possession. At this morning's meeting I presented my written proposition which was the Russian ultimatum. It i was accepted by the Japanese. I was amazed. Until I was in the conference room 1 did not. think what would happen. I could not anticipate such a great and happy issue." ! Forcing his way to the door, M. Witte eneouu- ; tercd the members of the Russian mission, who rushed forward to his hand. Briefly, in Russian, he gave them the joyful tidings. Then, as he started up the stairs, the newspaper correspondents clamored clam-ored for information. "What have you done '. How is it settled V they cried. - Agreement in a Nutshell. "We pay not a kopeck of indemnity,'' he replied, as he turned at the landing half way up the stairs. "We get half of Sakalin. That is the agreement in a nutshell." - "Jt was a psychological crisis. 1 had made up my mind not to strike out all of the ultimatum I submitted. So far as I was concerned it was ended, j But I could not tell how it would work on the Jap 's anese mind. It was a complete victory for us. "At this afternoon's session all the delegates will participate. Now that the general lines of the peace have been agreed upon, the details will have to be considered and discussed by the competent persons who have accompanied the plenipotentiaries. plenipotenti-aries. Although a question of detail, they include matters of great importance. Chief among them is ihe armistice which Baron Komura and myself have already proposed to our emperors. The release of ! j prisoners will come up immediately." M. WiUe. continuing, said that he should like to Continued on Page 5.) i . 1 THE JAPANESE ACCEPT RUSSIA'S ULTIMATUM (Continued from Page 1.) explain the visit of Mr. Vanderlip last night in order or-der to prevent false statements regarding it. "Mr. Vanderlip." he said, "came to see me not only to speak of the situation in general, but also of money matters and of the possibility of Russia floating a loan in the United States. I told him two things : If Russia must continue the Avar there is at the command of the treasury a reserve fund of one billion roubles in old which I accumulated when I was minister of finance. If I make peace, I told him, from everywhere in America, in France and in Germany would come a flood of offers of money. Therefore, if peace comes it would become only a question of whether Mr. Vanderlip's offers Avere preferable to others." M. Witte expresses the opinion that some time will be required to complete the details of the. treaty. He does not approximate the period, but it is apparent that several Aveeks will probably elapse before the treaty is ready for the final signatures. The Japanese correspondents express great dissatisfaction dis-satisfaction with the basis of the peace treaty. President Receives News. Oyster Bay, Aug. 29. President Roosevelt received re-ceived the news that the peace envoys at Portsmouth Ports-mouth had reached an agreement, in his library at Sagamore Hill. He was engaged at the time on some matters with Secretary Loeb regarding the peace negotiations. The intimation of the agreement agree-ment came to him from the Associated Press in the form of a bulletin announcing that the envoys had agreed on all points which hitherto had been the subject of difference. While the president had been hopeful that such an agreement Avould be reached, he was surprised that it had come to-day. His belief be-lief had been that the arrangement, if made at all, would not be made before tomorroAV. He expressed to his family his gratification that a peaceful solution solu-tion ol the differences had been reached. He excused ex-cused himself, however, from making any statement formal in nature regarding the action oi the conferees con-ferees until he should have been informed officially of that action. - President Roosevelt received official confirmation confirma-tion of the Associated Press' bulletin concerning the peace agreement at 2:20 this afternoon. The official confirmation reached him in the form of an official cipher dispatch from Portsmouth. It was sent at the instance of Baron Komura. The telegram tele-gram said that the plenipotentiaries of Japan had withdrawn their claim for reimbursement of Avar expenses and that an agreement hacl been reached as to a partition of the island of Sakhalin, that all the main points had been definitely settled, and that the envoys will now proceed with a discussion of details. - |