NEWS OF THE WEEK.
IT is stated that last Friday week a Japanese fleet sailed to the mouth of the Gulf of Peohili and attacked the two great Chinese arsenals, Port Arthur and Wei-hai-wei, which guard the entrance to the Straits]Port Arthur on the northern side and Wei-hai-wei on the southern. In the case of the attack on the Wei-hai-wei Forts, some fifty shots were exchanged. Neither the fire of the forts nor the ships was, however, well directed, and little damage was done. There was the same absence of result to the attack on Port Arthur. It is believed that serious action was not intended, and that the Japanese merely meant to ascertain the position and strength of the enemy's guns. In neither instance did the Chinese fleet put in an appearance. It is said that the ships were absent, "their position not being known." It looks as if the Chinese were doing what old maids are accused of doing at whist,—hoarding their trumps. They made a similar mistake in the war with France. What is the good of ironclads or trumps unless they are played boldly P
