| Show ff f s he will advise arbitration if envoys cannot agree on the questions of indemnity and the ceding of sakhalin Sak halin AWAITING developments oyster bay L L aug 24 president roosevelt Is awaiting developments in the pending ne for peace his direct appeal to emperor nicholas of russia he does not feel that he can go at this time there are reasons for the statement that the president has made some representations to the boklo government but whether they were made direct to the japanese diaries is not known no confirmation fir however Is obtainable assistant secretary harnes said that ambassador meters report of his audience with emperor nicho las cabled yesterday from st pe kersburg burg bad not been received assistant secretary of state pearce at portsmouth is keeping the president advised constantly of the developments of the conference portsmouth N H aug 24 den Roosevel ts moves to save the peace conference are following each other in quick succession he Is now believed to have taken a new step possibly the final one in the shape of a last appeal to both sides to leave the question of the purchase price of the northern halt of the island of sak halin to of a board or commission finally arbitration has been in the presidents mind from the beginning this however Is an inference from what Is actually known to have taken place last night and this morning he sent to mr witte during the night a long message without the new step he bad resolve dupon presumably this mes sag ewas prepared after the president had received the account of ambassador meyers audience with the emperor at peterhof Pe yesterday it would seem to follow logically that mr meyer s reply was not satisfactory and therefore necessitated another appeal not to allow a mere question of money to stand in the way of peace and to suggest a new form of compromise tor the point still in issue the presidents lessage reached assistant secretary peirce and was placed in the hands of baron de rosen early in the day after the baron had consulted with mr witte the proposition was placed in russian code and dispatched to peterhof Pe A reply to the president was delivered to assistant secretary pearce at this morning whether it was a response from pe is not known it may only have been a message from mr watte giving his views of the now step proposed by the president at any rate the summons to mr pearce to receive it was an urgent one mr pearce was wah mr witte and baron de rosen minutes the message given him was implied in the department cipher and it should reach oyster bay athla afternoon mr roosevelt in fact if not in name Is acting the part of mediator portsmouth N H aug 24 the personality of president roosevelt becomes larger and larger la the crisis he stands between the wan ring countries insisting that the peace conference shall not tail had be not stepped into the breach the conference probably already would have gone to pieces such hopes as remain that it alir end in peace and k treaty rest upon it the strength of the presidents petition is that he commands the con of both sides hennas already accomplished much in using ills good offices to impress upon each side the necessity of mutual cession and both bides have listened a goad deal to tats persuasion mr Roosevel ts compromise proposition ion baron komura formally presented at yesterdays meeting in which japan agreed to entirely withdraw articles 10 and 1 1 surrender of interned warships and limitation of dussias Rus sias naval force in the east and to substitute for articles 5 and 9 cession of sakhalin Sak halin and indemnity a number of articles provided for an arrangement by which apan should get legal title to the southern halt of sakhalin Sak halin which she possessed before the treaty of 1875 whiled russia should redeem or repair her title to the northern halt of the island for yen or it is president Roosevel ts proposition in substance the assoil is informed that as of yesterday it varies slightly from the text of the compromise as eug to both sides in exactly what particular it cannot be ascertained russia it can be stated while rejecting the compromise because it included a remuneration athe cost of the war under another name was willing and indeed offered to divide the island of sakhalin Sak halin by not only restoring the status quo existing before the treaty of 1875 but agreeing to limit the frontier and forever renounce all claim to the southern half with articles 10 and 11 out of the way by japanese ri and article 6 set tied by compromise the only thing which remained was the indemnity which has been a stone wall across the path of a complete agreement russia offered to pay liberally for the maintenance of the russian prisoners in japan her cession of the chinese eastern railroad also will place a tidy sum in the japanese exchequer but further than that mr watte has as yet no instructions so the situation stood yesterday when the conference adjourned till sal arday but the president did not surrender he tried his appeal for peace to the czar ambassador meyers three hour audience with emperor nicholas yesterday during the very time when the plenipotentiaries at the navy yard were exchanging with each other their irreconcilable differences may have proved the deciding factor there is yet 10 clue to the response air meyer received from emperor nicholas but it Is already in dent Roosevel ts possession and he Is in a position today to define his next step it the emperor declined absolutely to yield there may be still time to turn to tokio for a last appeal to forego or rather than to protract the war indefinitely at the cost of millions and millions and thousand of lives with no surety that she will ever be able whatever her military success to force tribute from her adversary it can be stated now with absolute that it was the presidents message to emperor nicholas yesterday delivered to his majesty in person by mr meyer was communicated munica ted to mr watte and baron rosen tuesday afternoon at tho navy yard the president desired that the bussian plenipotentiaries should be apprised of the step he contemplated and the fact that they as Is understood approved of it Is significant in the extreme president roosevelt until tuesday had confined himself to communicating with mr witte and baron kameho his role was unofficial he had not put himself in direct communication with st petersburg and boklo now he has made his appeal officially personally as the head of one state to the head of another to emperor nicholas it it has failed there still remains a last appeal to the emperor of japan today superficially at least there is a pause mr watte and baron de rosen were off at 10 in an automobile announcing noun cing that they were going to magnolia to lunch with baroness de rosen at the russian embassy they expected to return tonight but might stay over until tomorrow A little incident occurred just before they left which may or may not be significant mr pearce the assistant secretary of state was hastily telephoned for and came to the hotel at he was with mr witte tor 25 minutes when they left mr pierce dismissed the visitors with the explanation that it was only to make arrangements about the trip of mr watte and baron de rosen but 25 minutes Is a long time and there Is suspicion that mr watte delivered a communication tor the preal ent there Is a report which cannot be absolutely confirmed that late last night baron komura and minister takahara lra were at the navy yard it this be true it Is possible that the president had some communication with them it seems that the protocols signed at yesterdays session were not protocols in the proper sense of the word they were what in diplomacy ara called the prices verbal or minutes of the meeting in russian they are called protocols and as the russians had made the announcement the word implied led to a misunderstanding As the conference had eat seven days when gaven protocols bad been signed tour yesterday and three the previous day the hasty conclusion was drawn hat he meant the protocols of seven had been signed |
