The prospects of peace in the Far East are no
better than they were. The plenipotentiaries are to meet at Washington, but not till August 1st, and there is no fresh proof that the powers granted by the Czar will be sufficient, or that he yet understands that the victors must dictate the terms. 1fe is vexed by the dictatorial position assumed. by Germany in Europe in consequence of his defeats, but still refuses to be "humiliated" by Japan. There is no evidence for the rumours of an armistice ; and meanwhile the war continues, the latest statements showing that Marshal Opine is completing a vast enveloping movement which perplexes as well as alarms the Russian generals. Their right and left wings have been driven back, and a great effort to break with Cossack cavalry through the enveloping Japanese lines has been foiled with heavy loss—rumour says five hundred men—to the assailing forces. Russians within the Empire appear to be bewildered, and to accept these defeats with a sort of fatalism ; but it is impossible to perceive clearly the limits of the popular ignorance. To the average moujik Manchuria is a sort of distant planet whither Russian troops ought not to have been sent.
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