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RUSSIAN ARTILLERY PLUNGING THROUGH MANCHURIA.

THE moving of the Russian artillery through Manchuria to the Yalu River, in the dead of winter, was one of the terrific feats accomplished by the army of the Czar. The terrific part of the task in this case fell on the horses.

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learned that diplomatic correspondence had passed between Japan and Russia leading naturally to wår in the far East unless one or the other abandoned a policy it had followed for years and to which it stood firmly committed. It is not known what various turns this tedious correspondence took, handled, as it was, by men understanding well the value of secrecy in state affairs. Every answer, every note, every ultimatum was the forerunner of myriads of prophecies of war, while the civilized world waited impatiently praying for peace.

Peace, however, was not to result. The opposing interests of the contending nations were too close together, too extensive and far too intimately wedded to the future of both countries to enable either to recede until driven back by superior force. As a matter of fact, the far East is too small to gratify the ambitions of both nations. To recede was not a part of Russia's policy, and to Japan the points at issue seemed to threaten her position as a power in the Orient, if not eventually her very independence, unless she boldly asserted herself and battled for her principles.

To Russia this has been a long, slow waiting game; to Japan it has seemed an enterprise demanding progressive acquisition. Delay has ever been the policy of the Great White Bear, a delay during which her grasp has strengthened. Japan appreciated this, hence the impatience at Russia's dilatory tactics. She knew that an immense population accompanied by correspondingly great resources backed up the slow, stolid, sturdy men from the North, and she long appreciated the fact that to dislodge them from their already firmly intrenched position she must act with audacity and dispatch.

This feeling was as firmly rooted in the minds of the Japanese population as among her leaders. Months before the opening of hostilities the populace of the Flowery Kingdom clamored for war, while the citizens of St. Petersburg and Moscow went about their daily business, reading of the far Eastern outlook with some enthusiasm, it is true, but with such vague, indefinite interest as the Londoners manifested in the negotiations preceding the Boer War, or as we of the United States received the spasmodic escapades of Aguinaldo in the Philip

pines. In short, Japan was on the scene. Her interests were near at home, and her people felt that they were fighting for their country's national existence, while, on the other hand, the Russians, nearly 10,000 miles away, viewed the conflict as a part of the annoyances of great colonial possessions—an important fact, indeed, but still only a part.

WHAT DOES RUSSIA WANT OF KOREA?

The master minds-and for ages the highest Russian ministers have been such—who planned that gigantic undertaking, the Trans-Siberian railway, probably mapped out, step by step, the movements that have followed. Page after page might be covered with interesting narratives of this great project, for it certainly is one of the greatest things ever attempted in the world's history, including as it does the various ramifications into diplomacy, conquest and commercial activity, both on land and sea.

The great railway is a fact; it extends from St. Petersburg across the plains of Russia, over the mountains, through the dense forests and over the rolling steppes of drear Siberia; over gorges, around morasses, crossing rivers and lakes, winding through Manchuria to cover the best land, and circling at its extreme eastern end in order to cover the summer port of Vladivostok and the winter port of Port Arthur, and thus reaches the tributaries of the great Pacific.

An answer may be found in the declaration of an American statesman that Russians count time by centuries, not by days. Their empire is not fitted to support a very great population, but still they now have enough room and to spare. But the Russians, counting time by centuries, not by days, months and weeks, are always figuring up the future. They have a population now of 140,000,000, or more than one-twelfth of all the people in the world. They are growing by the natural process of reproduction at the rate of 3,000,000 a year. Without taking into consideration the increase by geometrical ratio, in ten years there will be 170,000,000 Russians, and in fifty years there will be 300,000,000. Indeed, the Czar will need more than Manchuria to house them.

Korea is like the hind leg of a rabbit, with Vladivostok at its top and Port Arthur at the gambrel joint, and the most important part of Japan at the toe. The broad and deep Yalu river separates Manchuria from Korea. The Russians found the Yalu river necessary to them. Vladivostok is isolated from the main terminus of the great Siberian railway. The coast line of Korea, intervening between Vladivostok and Port Arthur, if Russian, would make the Czar supreme on the western side of the Pacific. If Japanese, it would menace the usefulness and military and naval value of both great ports.

Such are the stakes that tempted bear and ant to the desperate game of war-such the issues left for battle to determine.

BULLIAN-
JAMNESE

WAR

American Interests enough for Uncle Sam.

CHAPTER VII.

NEUTRALITY OF THE UNITED STATES.

The President's Proclamation-Warning to the Citizens of the United StatesRights of Belligerents-Occupancy of Posts-Rights of Neutrals at SeaMisconduct at Peril.

S

CARCE had the report of the nocturnal onslaught upon Port Arthur reached the startled world before the United States declared its neutral stand in the great struggle in the far East. There was ample reason for this seeming haste.

DIVISION OF SENTIMENT.

At home feeling ran high. There was a marked division of sentiment. The average American, always with the "little fellow" in a fight, hastily declared himself favorable to Japan. Many deep thinkers were equally emphatic in expressing marked sympathy for Russia.

Russia's aid to the cause of the Union during the Civil War was not entirely forgotten. Another reason for pro-Russian sympathy lay in the dread with which the so-called "yellow peril" was viewed by

man.

Greater than all other considerations, however, was the possibility of misuse of American ports near the scene of hostilities. While the organization of military companies or privateering expeditions at home was only a remote possibility there was reason to fear for complications in the far-off Philippines-for it could not be overlooked that the United States was a great power in the Pacific with a mighty empire close to the scene of war.

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