The attacks on Port Arthur continue, and the Japanese, by
pouring out their lives like water, carry position after position. Some of their assaults, nevertheless, have been repulsed, and they clearly have not yet made the fortress inde- fensible. There are stories that the Japanese have carried the parade ground, have seized the works which supply water, and that they are shelling the fleet in the inner harbour; and there are also stories that the Russians have regained many positions, especially a rather mysterious Fort No. 5, and are confident that they can hold out for two months more, —an improbable exaggeration. But the attacks do not cease, which proves that the Russians have attained no great success, and Tokio is silent, which proves that the Japanese do not consider themselves victors yet. The populace of Tokio have twice prepared illuminations to celebrate the fall of the great fortress ; but the Japanese "man in the street" is no wiser than his rivals in Europe, and the "fall," the signal of which will be the blowing up of the warships in the harbour, is still delayed. The great
