NEWS OF THE WEEK
THERE has been a sudden revival in the rumours of peace, based, we fear, on insufficient grounds. The Russian Government, it is said, has asked President Roosevelt to inquire of Tokio what terms would content the Japanese. As the Mikado's Government has already refused to treat until directly approached by the Government of the Czar ; as the Japanese are convinced that they can destroy Einevitch's army, which is suffering from scurvy and depression ; and as the Japanese are well aware of the Russian feeling against the war, it is unlikely that this tentative will come to anything. General Trepoff has been invested with supreme power over the police throughout Russia, and his first acts have been to prohibit any dis- cussion of the war by the Zemstvos, and to circulate a report that if peace is made the "Sober" will not be summoned, the object being to warn the intellectuals that the continuance of the war is better than peace for the realisation of their hopes. The Czar, no doubt, is irresolute, but it is absurd to suppose that General Trepoff is acting without the consent of his master; and the probability is that the Government will make one more effort for its twofold object, which is to win a victory and to baffle the popular uprising. That is the regular way when a despotism draws near a revolution.
