T HE latest newifrem the front seems to show that a
great battle is imminent somewhere in the neighbourhood of Liaoyang, Friday's telegrams indicating that a Japanese force is attempting to, turn the Russian right by moving to Sai-ma-tse and Neatening Mukden. Meailtime, fuller details of recent ac on by land and sea are 'Coming in. The accounts of the attempt to "seal up" Port Arthur on May 2nd represent the success of that operation as due to the heroism of the Japanese officers and sailors, who, believing escape to be impossible, bitake the boom, steamed into the channel, and went down as they had intended cheering for Japan. The eight steamers sunk were manned by volunteers, and it is said that every man in the fleet was eager to be chosen for the work. The courage exhibited on land was of almost as high a quality, the soldiers who made the final charge which carried Kitt-lien-cheng going down in swathes under the terrible fire without their advance being arrested. The Russians exhibited an equally stubborn courage, the 11th Regiment of three thousand men losing more than two thousand men before they broke, a proportion most unusual in war. The experts of the Continent condemn the tactics of the Russian generals in severe terms, and the Japanese say they have learned little from modern experience; but there seems no reason to believe that the courage of the men is less than it has always been found. If there is any change for the worse in the Russian Army, it is in the relations between the men and their • officers. The order issued- by General Stoessel on assuming command at Port Arthur seems to point to fears of indiscipline, and there are stories current of great discontent at the insufficient food, and at orders for- bidding the consumption of vodka, the Russian spirit. There may be nothing in all these stories; but it is possible that a new consciousness has spread into the Russian ranks, and impairs the old spirit of absolute, if rather passive, obedience upon which their tactics are founded.
