Incessant telegrams are received from the Far East as to
warlike preparations and plans, but we confess to a deep distrust of them all. That the Japanese censorship is most severe is admitted, and we do not believe that the Russian Viceroy, Admiral Alexeieff, would be less discreet. The most important of them all has been the report that the Russian fleet at Port Arthur sailed out on what was probably a reconnaissance, returning on Thursday. Such manceuvres may mean very little, and it is far better for Englishmen to wait quietly and observe, remem- bering always that the first object of the Japanese must he to clear their seas, and • then to seize the month of the Yalu, and spread along the course of that river. Their position in Korea will then be safe, and they can arrange for the struggle for Manchuria at their own dis- cretion. AU depends, however, as in a war between an island Empire and a land Empire it always must depend, upon the mastery of the sea. If Japan loses that she will be debarred from effective invasion even of Korea ; if Russia loses it, elie may be attacked at many points at once. Port Arthur is pronounced impregnable ; but that word is apt in the case of a great port to refer mainly to attack by sea.
