Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 133, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1904 — STRUGGLE FOR PEACE. [ARTICLE]

STRUGGLE FOR PEACE.

Jtpaa Making Desperate Efforts t* Force Russia to Cry “Enough.” A Tokio report declares that the Japanese people are anxiously awaiting the coming of the Baltic fleet, so that Togo may crush it. Confidence of this sort has its home in Japan. What Togo did to the Port Arthur squadron will be repeated upon the arrival of the Baltic fleet, Tokio believes beyond a doubt. London encourages this belief. Moreover, the view is largely held in America that Japan will preserve her naval supremacy. The reason that Japan is a favorite does not lie in the number and superiority of her ships, but in the excellence of their manipulation and in the greater effectiveness of Japanese gunnery. The M-orld at large has a small opinion of the Russians as sea fighters. The North sea incident hurt Russian naval prestige almost as seriously as the dismal show of the Port Arthur sqnadron against Togo and the Vladivostok fleet against Knmimura. Moreover, the Baltic fleet will arrive in Asiatic waters in a fouled and racked condition, and, from- all we know, at'a time of year when it will be impossible to make Vladivostok for cleaning and repairs. And yet, says a correspondent of the Chicago Daily News, Tokio is wrong to regard the destruction of the Baltic fleet as certain as its arrival within striking distance of the capable Japanese admiral. Togo himself has been weakened by the hard service of the year, and his losses, while small in ratio to the damage administered, ace at the same time greater than the world has been given to understand. He w r ill have to face a preponderance of battleships and a sea force that has everything to win and no shores threatened or armies cut off if it lose —a force that has the example of its predecessor by which to profit and a prize of incalculable value for victory. With Togo, on the contrary, rests the life of his nation. A thousand junks will rush into Port Arthur if he lift the blockade. If he is whipped the Japanese army is cut off; the shores of the island are left unprotected and commerce, the vitality of Japanese finance, is destroyed. Togo is the pericardium of Japan. Tokio believes that the destruction of the Baltic fleet will .put Russia in a frame of mind in which she will gladly listen to proposals of peace on terms satisfactory to Japan. The Jiji Shimpo, highly representative of the Japanese press, urges Japanese arms to push the conflict with such fury that the enemy will have to sue for peace. Tokio prays that the continuation of the battle of the Shakhe river will result in the complete shattering of Kuropatkin’s forces, so that Russia will be forced to desist from hostilities. Japan wants peace badly. She is terrified as the game unfolds, mile after mile. The monster that sh» has driven and pummeled will not stay Mhipned, but quietly and without nerves or noise, augments and returns to the fight. Japan perceives the unsubstantiality of England’s support; that it is of the press and not of the treasure house. English bankers make her pay exorbitant interest for the money she borroM’s. England is not yet in her dotage; she is for England still. Japan is fighting for peace, and fighting magnificently; but her enemy, unless rent by civil M r ar, will not be the one to cry “enough!” This is not Russia’s M r ay. She knows that years will crush Japan if her troops cannot. She realizes vividly that if she lies down to Japan now the integrity of her domain will not long survive China’s. dr