Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 January 1905 — WAR IN THE ORIENT. [ARTICLE]

WAR IN THE ORIENT.

COLD WEATHER PREVENTS ACTIVE OPERATIONS. Both Armies Occupy Substantially the Positions They Have Held for Weeks —Progress of the Baltic Fleet—Next Battle May Be on the Sea.

A Mukden dispatch says that “the extreme cold keeps things quiet along the front.” When the thermometer is below zero one cannot look for active and continued military operations. There are reports of movements of Russian and Japanese flying columns, particularly on General Kuropatkin’s left flank, but both sides occupy substantially the positions they have held for weeks. If it be the intention of the Japanese to take their time henceforth about the reduction of Port Arthur it will be in their power to send Marquis byama a strong re-enforcement. The lowest estimate of General Stoessel’s force is 4,000 men. That probably is too low, but if he should have three times as many the Japanese can safely send away a considerable portion of their Port Arthur army. In the opinion of the Chicago Tribune, if Marquis Oyama, after having been re-enforced from that quarter, does not take the offensive speedily he probably never will. His army will have reached the highest point of efficiency after the arrival of the trained soldiers who have been fighting under . General Nogi. The men whom he may receive from Japan will not be of so good quality. On the other hand, the troops now reaching General Kuropatkin are drawn from the garrisons on the western frontier of the empire and are superior to many of those previously sent to him. before long General Kuropatkin should have at his disposal all the troops the carrying capacity of the Transsiberian railroad will permit him to keep supplied with provisions. The road is constantly being made more efficient by the construction of new sidings and the substitution of iron for wooden bridges. It would not be surprising to hear that the Japanese have given up the plan of assuming the aggressive for a policy less prodigal of the lives of the soldiers. In that event Marquis Oyama could choose between holding his present position after fortifying it more extensively, or he could fall back upon some point nearer his base and await his enemy there. It is admitted that the Russian ships at Port Arthur are destroyed, or are so badly damaged as to be unserviceable. The Japanese ships which have been blockading Port Arthur have gone home to refit and get ready to meet an advancing Russian fleet, which, though superior on paper, certainly is inferior in personnel. Naval officers of all nations have turned their eyes to the orient and are waiting eagerly for the result of the impending contest between great fleets of armored vessels. They have a professional interest in the matter aside from the general interest felt by all. General Stoessel has given General Nogi a map showing the positions of the hospitals in Port Arthur, so that they may be safe from Japanese fire.

Progress of the Baltic Fleet. It is almost three months and a half since the Baltic fleet was officially declared to have sailed from Cronstadt for the far East. However, the fleet lingered at Iteval and Libau for over a month after that, and the real beginning of its voyage must be dated from Oct. 10. It covered the first 2,200 miles of its 17,500-miie journey at the average speed of about four miles an hour. Then, at Tangier, it divided into two squadrons, one of which, under Vice Admiral Rojestvensky, started around the Cape of Good Hope and the other, under Rear Admiral Voelkersam, went by way of the Suez Canal. Rojestvensky’s squadron Is now coasting along German Southwest Africa. In forty days, since leaving Tangier, it has covered about 5,200 miles, at the average speed of five and a half miles aai hour. Voelkersnni’s squadron has left Jubutil, in French Somaliland, with a speed record up to date of about three miles an hour. The Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean are generally assumed to be the rendezvous for the fleets. At the present rate of speed Admiral Rojestvensky should be there about the 15th of January, the distance he has to cover being something less than 4,000 miles. Then, assuming that the second squadron has arrived and that a’third squadron which left Libau in November has caught up, he will be ready to take up the serious part of his adventure. It is 0,000 miles from the Chagos Islands to Vladivostok by way of the Tsugani Straits, or, for a fleet averaging five and a half miles an hour, about fifty days’ steaming. The fleet ought to cover this distance, It is true" in thirty to forty days, but experience up to date is sufficient to show that if It ever approaches Vladivostok nt all it will not be till the month of March at the earliest.