On May 30th Dalny, the port and residential city of
Port Arthur, was occupied by the Japanese, who found that, although evacuated by the Russians, it, had been only partially destroyed, the quays, in particular, being intact. The possession of this place, besides bringing the Japanese much nearer to Port Arthur, enables them to convey their heavy guns to the front 'by rail, and to land munitions and reinforcements much more easily. Moreover, it brings home the progress of the war to the great people at St. Petersburg. Dalny was built at the direct 'command of the present ,Emperor; its buildings, qtiays, piers, &c., cost five millions ; it was carefully described by the Press ; and it was held by all educated Russians to be unanswerable evidence of the security of their rule on the Pacific. Its surrender, therefore, has convinced them that Port Arthur itself must be in 'desperate straits, and that, unless relieved from the north, which seems impossible, it must speedily be taken. The blow is the more severe because the Government has minimised every disaster of the war, and the Press of St. Petersburg has always been ready to suggest "explana- tions," which, if the masses do not quite believe them, still enable subordinate officials to refuse to confirm the accounts of defeat which come in from outside. Even now it is stated in St. Petersburg that there was no intention to defend Nan-shan, and that' the guns taken there, which wrought such execution among the advancing Japanese, were only guns captured from the Chinese, and of quite an inferior description.
