T HERE is very little to record from the seat of
war. Friday's telegrams, however, based on reports of Chinese refugees from Port Arthur who have landed at Chifu, go to show that fighting has been going on around Port Arthur during the whole of the past week. They speak of every soldier having left the fortress for the front—i.e., for the outside chain of works—and of repeated bombardments both by land and sea. Whether these reports indicate that the final assault is taking place it is hard to say. A fact which supports this view is that the Japanese allow no messages in regard to Port Arthur to come over the cable which they dontrol. On the whole, however, we are inclined to believe that the Japanese are still only creeping up and preparing for their grand assault, which may not take place for several days. Meantime the Russians report somewhat mysterious movements on the part of a Japanese squadron which has been bombarding the west coast of Liaotung. On land there has been continued skirmishing between the opposing forces of Generals Kuropatkin and ICuroki on the Liaoyang road. One of these encounters which took place on June 7th appears to have been on a somewhat large scale, as General Kuropatkin reports over a hundred Russian casualties. His detachment, he says, was driven out of Sai-ma-tse by a Japanese brigade.
