A S if to prove that the war continues, the Japanese
have taken the island of Saghalien, which has been Russian since 1845, and has been used as the Russian Botany Bay. The "capital," Korsakovsk, fell on July 8th, and other points were occupied on the 10th and 11th, the garrison, which is -very small, making scarcely any resistance. The event has made some impression in St. Petersburg. the island, from its use as a penal settlement, being very well known by report. Its importance to Japan is mainly strategical ; but, in spite of a cold and foggy climate, it is not without value of its own, having an area of twenty-four thousand square miles, equal to that Of Holland and Belgium together, important fisheries, and extensive coal mines. The Japanese have always reckoned it part of their ancient Empire, and it secures to its owners a hold over Vladivostok and the mouths of the Amur.
