only trustworthy news being that General Kuropatkin is turning Tie-ling
into, as he thinks, an impregnable position, in which, if he is beaten before Mukden. he can reconcentmte and renew his shattered forces. At Port Arthur a furious attack was made by the Japanese on September 19th and the three following days, during which, as General Stiissel admits, they destroyed the reservoirs, but they were at last repulsed with a slaughter which he estimates at ten thousand, and which was certainly very large. The Russians, whose endurance must be pronounced superb, retook the defences on High Hill, using hand-grenades filled with pyroxiline, which in exploding spread death all around. The use of high explosives on both sides—for the Japanese, it will be remembered, fill their shells with a new and more explosive powder—is a feature of the war, and sug- gests that science, which is supposed to be so benevolent, has not said its last word as to the manufacture of new methods of destruction. It is affirmed that the new law extending the term of service in Japan will give the Mikado six hundred thousand more trained men, while the completion of the Circum-Baikal Railway—a great engineering feat—will facilitate the transport of Russian soldiers and munitions all through the winter. As yet there is not a glimpse of peace, though we see signs on both sides that the consumption of officers begins to be severely felt.
