A week previously Admiral Vitoft, in command of the Russian
Fleet in Port Arthur, made a great effort to escape. By assiduous labour he had got his wounded ships in some sort of repair, and had exploded the Japanese ships sunk in the channel, and on June 23rd the whole Fleet drew slowly outside the harbour. According to the detailed account forwarded from Tokio to the Times, the ships at once steamed for the Shantung Promontory, but were met by Admiral Togo and his fleet, who offered battle. By evening the Russian Admiral's "heart failed him," probably because he knew the bad con- dition of his ships, and he ran back to harbour, expecting that the guns of the forts would be sufficient protection. He could not, however, in the dark re-enter the harbour, and anchored outside in a long line. Admiral Togo thereupon commenced a series of attacks with his destroyers, which ran in close, blew up the battleship 'Sebastopol' with torpedoes, damaged the battleship'Per esviet,' and probably inflicted other injury on smaller vessels, thereby inducing the Russian Admiral next morning to retreat to his old anchorage. The blow is a terrible one, for the Russians hoped to reach either s, neutral port or Vladivostok; and it is supposed to be fatal to Port Arthur, which, it is reported, was attacked by land on June 26th by the Japanese in force. The assailants carried a line of hills whence, when their siege guns are mounted, they can fire direct into the harbour. This latter report, however, still requires fuller confirmation. If it is true, the fall of the great fortress cannot be long delayed.
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