Show A URGE LANDED AT i troops being thrown into korea As rapidly As possible russian fleet bottled up in port arthur russia sinks her own boats washington feb 15 information has bed here that nearly troops were landed at yesterday the first division of a largo number which will be thrown into korea as rapidly as possible in an effort to thoroughly occupy the strategic points in the hermit kingdom while the russian fleet Is bottled up in port arthur by ono conversant with the japanese plans it ia said the repeated attacks on fort arthur are not for tho purpose of seizing the place at present unless an unexpected weakness in the fortifications should develop they are part 0 a well defined plan for the L harassing of tho russian fleet until abrea can be occupied the bottling up of the fleet there enables tho landing of troops in korea without the convoy of a large number of warships the reports of disorder in various parts of korea hastened the operations of the japanese that they might obtain possession before anarchy became prevalent and foreign interests menaced in consequence the taking of port arthur will form he second number of the war program first however it is learned that the japanese propose to cut the line of communication well up on the railroad running from alu chwang to port arthur it as expected a large japanese force will land at new chwang shortly for purpose the navy department denies positively that any american naval officers were aboard the japanese in the lighting at port arthur it is said that our government requested permission ot both russia and japan to place an officer with each of the fleets not as a combatant but purely in tho capacity of an observer power refused the request outright they did not accede the war department Is having equally bad luck in trying to place a military verith the land forces of hussla anA Japan eight of ficera were selected for flats Sut yand requests were made that they be permitted to accompany tho forces in the field but a favo rable response has not yet been received and it ia feared it will not be mr Taka bira the japanese minister called on secretary hay and it ia understood der stood the reported detention of about japanese subjects in port arthur was under discussion there seems to be lack of positive information on the subject and until the facts are known the department Is inclined to go slow in representations to russia it Is said large license is accorded by international law to military commanders in such cases as those and they freely use discretionary power as to tho ingress and egress into and from towns practically besieged like port arthur of iier sons who might carry damaging information to the too new york feb 15 martial law has been proclaimed here says a world dispatch from by way of shanghai russians having provisions enough to last eight months may stay york feb 15 the popular demonstrations of patriotism have not been without manifestations against the government says a world dispatch from st petersburg one has occurred at the funeral o nikolai 0 the well known historian many thousands of talented russians attended and there were several speeches against the governments course che foo feb 15 A reliable authority bays that three russian torpedo boats have been sunk by guns from tho borts torts they were mistaken for japanese vessels paris feb 15 M jaurez leader 0 the socialist party which holds the balance of power in parliament until recently vice made a declaration contemplating the immediate denunciation of the franco russian alliance has attracted a great deal of attention in diplomatic circles london feb 15 the correspondent at SL petersburg cables as follows st feb 15 the first unofficial account ct the battle off port arthur on tuesday last has been received in a telegram dated port arthur february ath it Is as followay fol lowa at half past eleven tho squadron ot began the bombardment bar dment of port arthur our squadron and tort replied and the battle last edt orty minnei minu ei the squadron could nob stand the wl placed first fire of our fleet and particularly 0 the forts and bagan a rapid tho japanese flagship wag seriously damaged and according 10 lothe testimony of an eyewitness eye witness other japanese ships considerably injured boats bo to thy port report that they saw two japanese ships sinking at sea our losses afloat two officers wounded aasi so slightly that ho continued lighting elx hilled and 51 wounded jn two men were slightly wounded tho bombardment of tho forts an tha town did no damage but frightened the at intervals during the i prang was apa i the abal the temper 4 t of the army and navy Is excellent and that the bulletins circulated by tha Kovi eral have begun to tran the people no attempts have been made by the japanese to land on the kwang tung peninsula the repairs to the ships damaged by the torpedo attack are proceeding rapidly london feb 15 minister lansdowne announced in the house of lords today that received a cable message from the commander in chief of the chinese station giving an absolute denial of abo report that the japanese fleet had been allowed to use wel hal wet as a baso of opera eions against port arthur tho commander in chief added wel hal we did not know operations were proceeding until I 1 notified them in fact wel hal wals first direct knowledge of belligerent proceedings was the visit of abo steamer to report the circumstances of her being fired on when leaving port arthur the air Is full of baseless rumors obviously deliberately concocted port arthar via saturday feb 13 in answer to the demand of the british government for an explanation of the british ships which were held up by the russians at port arthur viceroy AIex leff replied that the vessels were detained because they had japanese on board the shots fired at the british steamer by the russian at port arthur as the leaving that port last Tuesday were the viceroy says due to a misunderstanding on the part of the officers of the new york feb 15 the russian gunboat mandour Mand jur before tha war began was preparing for sea has now gone several miles up the wu sung river where stalls likely to re unless are oy th chinese authorities says a times dispatch from shanghai the viceroy has telegraphed instructions to the officials under his jurisdiction to observe ni tralley and to take measures to prevent anti christian and other |