T HE news from the Far East this week is, on
the whole, unexciting, the Japanese marking time in their land advance till their plans are fully matured. On the 15th, how- ever, Admiral Togo suffered his first serious disaster. Early in the morning of that day the battleship Hatsuse ' struck a floating mine some ten miles south-east of Port Arthur, and was blown up with the loss of the greater part of her crew. On the afternoon of the same day, during a dense fog, the cruiser Kasuga; which was one of those purchased from the Argen- tine Republic six months ago, rammed the cruiser Yoshino,' which foundered in a few minutes with the loss of all on board save ninety. The total Japanese loss of life seems to have been about seven hundred. The Hatsuse ' was one of the four most modern battleships belonging to Japan, being built after the 'Majestic 'pattern, and its destruction is undoubtedly a blow to a Navy which has no great fadilities for replacing its losses. The sunk cruiser dates as far back as 1892, but in spite of its age was a fast and useful vessel. There is, of course, no great seriousness for Japan in the disaster, and the mining of seas ten miles out, where the weather is apt to be foggy, will be as great a danger to Russia if the Vladi- vostok fleet should by any chance manage to sail round to Port Arthur. One report attributes the laying of the mines to Chinese junks in the Russian service, but it is more probable that the Russians have merely borrowed from Japanese tactics, and are trying their luck in an expedient where luck is everything.
