Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1905 — A WEEK OF THE WAR. [ARTICLE]

A WEEK OF THE WAR.

WORLD HAS AWAITED A GREAT BEA BATTLE. Ruaaian Armada Has Becu Threading: Its Way Northwurd—Little Known as to Wtiereubouts of Admiral TogoV Fleet—Minor Land Operations. The week ended as it began, with the attention of the world fixed on the China-sea, through which the Russian armada bad been threading its way northward, doubtless in hourly expeesighting the grim ships of Togo's fleet. The Russian fleet, after passing through the Strait of Malacca, steamed past Singapore in well-ordered battle formation, and boldly entered the China sea, certainly' making no effort to escape observation. It was announced that Rear Admiral Dewa, with a fleet of twenty-two Japanese cruisers, was in waiting at Horstburgh light, twenty miles east of Singapore, but not a Japanese ship was sighted in the China sea. When Admiral Rojcstveusky sailed past Singapore his full fleet was reported with him. The next day positive assertions were made that his four strongest battleships were not with the fleet. It needed much Ingenuity of the strategists on land to explain why he had divided his fleet at the critical moment. If the simple explanation had been accepted that the reports merely meant that the Russian consul at Singapore was trying to drag a herring across the trail much of the hard thinking would have been saved. We have now the positive assurance from Lloyds and from the Associated Press representatives that the full Russian fleet, battleships and all, is acting as a unit. After passing Singapore, Rojestvensky spent a day or two at anchor near the Anambas Islands, and then sent a hospital ship to Saigon, tyhere it remained thirty-six hours before departing to rejoin the fleet. From the Anambas Islands the admiral sailed to the north, *but whether he is attempting to make his way through some passage among the Philippine Islands and so gain the open sea, whence he can sail straight for the Tsugaru straits and Vladivostok, as one rumor has it, or whether he is continuing north along the Asiatic coast, wo do not know. Admiral Togo is supposed to be in the neighborhood of Formosa. The Japanese have closed two ports—Kelung, on the north end of Formosa, and Makung, on one of the Pescadores Islands, between Formosa and the mainland. If Rojestvensky takes the latter of the two routes mentioned above, the big sea tight of the war should soon come. If he takes the former route, it is a question whether Togo will intercept him till he approaches Japanese shores. However vague our knowledge of Itojestvensky’s movements may be, it is probable that Togo, through his swift cruiser scouts, has continuous information. It seems reasonable to assume that a decisive naval engagement will not take place until Togo can attack with his battleships and heavy armored cruisers supporting his great fleet of destroyers. He cannot operate his destroyer flotilla at any great distance from a coaling base. Therefore, if this assumption be correct, the battle will take place as soon as Rojestvensky comes within striking distance of Formosa. If he can get past Formosa without a battle, the combat must take place at some point near tae coast of Japan. Operatioua on Land. The operations' on land during the week have consisted only of inconsequential outpost affairs. It Is announced that the main part of Liuevitch’s army has reached Kirin. If the Japanese armies are making any progress in the great enveloping movement that is supposed to be taking place easfand west of the railroad, the Russians have not discovered the fact, neither has the war office at Tekio revealed It. The internal situation In Russia seems to be developing from bad to worse. Strikes continue at most of the Industrial centers, and the agrarian outrages keep troops in motion in all parts of the empire. There are indications that the Czar and his immediate advisers are not a little perturbed over the outlook. This is evidenced by the imperial rescript issued Thursday appointing a commission to draw up a scheme of land reform by which the peasant may be given increased holdings, with an opportunity to purchase his land outright by a graduated system of payments. The Russian Minister of Finance has promised the workmen that a commission is at work upon a scheme for the betterment of their condition, to Include State Insurance against sickness, the right to form unions, and the removal of criminal liability for strikes. These reforms are promised for the Indefinite future. There is danger, however, in the procrastinating habits of Russian officialdom, and while “commissions” are dallying with the problem of discovering the minimum of reform needed to calm the storm, the people themselves, with less study and less procrastination, may be devising the maximum of reform they propose to exact from a government that has kept them out of their own so long.