p. 7 | Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Mar 31, 1904

Note and Comment

From the press reports we know that war is going on between Russia and Japan, but a conception of the character of the scenes that are being almost daily enacted comes but faintly to the minds of those around whom the grim echoes of the conflict are not heard. In the following description from a press report of March 20 the veil is momentarily lifted, and we get a view of the details which are usually passed over in the general record of military events. It calls to mind General Sherman’s terse description of war. The account, speaking of the capture of a Russian torpedo-boat after a fierce fight, says:—

The Japanese lieutenant who boarded her to make fast the tow rope said he had never seen a more horrible sight. Thirty dead, terribly mutilated by shell, were lying on the deck. As the Japanese approached, two Russian bluejackets rushed from the conning tower, and locked themselves in the cabin. Two stokers jumped overboard, and were picked up by the Japanese. These, with two wounded, were the only survivors of the complement of fifty-five.

After two hours’ towing, the Russian vessel sank, the men who had locked themselves in the cabin going down with her.

THE Omaha World-Herald of March 13 printed the following regarding the apparent “lining up for a general war,” which is in progress among the nations to-day. It considers the question from the standpoint of some European observers:—

Will England and France become embroiled in the far Eastern struggle?

A dispatch from Paris, which tells of the arrest of a French traitor who attempted to sell French naval secrets to the Japanese, makes revelations which indicate that a great war, with Russia and France on the one side and England and Japan on the other, is again being seriously considered in military circles during the lull in the receipt of important news from the far East.

The secrets which the traitor tried to sell to Japan, it is said, had particular reference to joint naval action on the part of France and Russia. It is positively stated that such plans exist, and the treaty obligations of Great Britain toward Japan in the event of any power joining Russia are so well known that the discovery of the alleged plot has created a sensation on the Continent.

The Tageblatt, in Berlin, asserts that the conviction prevails in Russia that war with England will be the inevitable outcome of the war with Japan, and that active preparations are being made for such a contingency by Russia, including measures for the defense of the Baltic coast. Russia, meanwhile, is straining every nerve to overcome the advantage against her in the East. There is an ominous note in the notice which she has caused to be served upon the Chinese government by her minister at Peking with regard to the activity of Chinese troops along the Manchurian frontier. Viceroy Alexieff, it is understood, has been entrusted with the work of formulating repressive measures if the depredations spread to the extent of endangering Russian interests.