The Standard publishes, as "from an authoritative quarter," a sketch
of the terms of peace which Japan, in the event of victory, would demand from Russia. Whether they are semi- official or not—and officials are seldom willing to prophesy— they have evidently been carefully thought out. According to this account, Russia would have to cede Saghalien, and evacuate completely the three provinces of Manchuria, which would be temporarily occupied by Japanese troops, and then restored to China, with the exception of the Liao-tung Peninsula, including Port Arthur, and perhaps the whole territory ceded by China to Japan in 1895. This included the whole of the Manchurian coast from the Yalu to the Liao. Korea must be placed under the sole protection of Japan without annexation, but with the right of "ensuring the safety of Korea by building fortifications, and establishing garrisons and naval bases on Korean territory." Finally, Japan will refuse the claim of Russia to an ice-free port on the Pacific, and will demand an indemnity for the expenses of the war, to be settled according to its duration, but to be in no case less than £100,000,000 sterling. The clause which, in the event of total defeat, will be most bitterly felt in Russia is that relating to the indemnity. Russia may even prefer a retreat to Kharbin, or beyond it, without any written terms of peace, thus embarrassing the neutral Powers by a long con- tinuance of a technical state of war without actual operations.
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