BRITISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1904, Page 9

BRITISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

SPECTATOR SUMMARY. THE BATTLE OF SHAHO. LONDON, 15th October. During the past week the greatest battle of modern — perhaps of all times, if the area of operations and the number of combatants are considered — has been waged near Yentai with a fierceness and stubbornness as great as even that shown in the American Civil War. The operations began on October 9th by the Russians -advancing on the extreme of the Japanese left ; and this advance proved to be no mere piece of tactical linesße, but the beginning of a general attack by Eairopatkin. The object of this attack has been stated to be the relief of Port Arthur, and it has been asaerted that as soon as the last reinforcements arrived at Mukden, the Tsar issued positive orders that the Japanese must be attacked. In our opinion, however, it is far more likely that K.uropatkm attacked because he was obliged to—because he found that) if ,he did, not do .so, he would be enveloped by flic Japanese armies, which were gradually creeping round bis flanks. His alternative wa& another retreat ; and holding, as he did, the interior lines, and noting the Japanese tendency to make the meshes of their neb very wide, he may well" have held that the least risk' would be run by striking a hard blow at Oyama before the Japanese Marshal's encircling movement was fully developed. KUEOPATKIN'S POSITION. Whatever was the motive>-force behind him, Kuropatkin pressed his attack haid on October 9th and 10 th, and on those days the Japanese fell back before him. On the 11th, however, the Japanese again took the initiative, and recaptured some of the positions lost on the l'jth. On the 12tn— -that is, Wednesday— it would appear that the forward mt-veinent of the Japanese was maintained, and that the Russians had in their turn to fall back, leaving twenty-seven guns in the hands of their enemy. Of Thursday's fighting there are as yet no details, but Marshal Oyama s>peaks of the pmsuit of the reUeatiug Kuj>&ians being pressed home succeosfuuy at ail points, while General Kuropatkin in a brief despatch connnns the loss of the guns and tlie rotreat of his army. General Kuropatkin's position is a very serious one. li his airuy has had its morale destroyed, it is difncult to see how he wiil be able to escape irom the .Japanese armies which avp now gathering round 'him — unless, which is conceivable, they have received such heavy punishment as to have been for the time rendered immobile. It is, however, useless to speculate further on this point., Time will show whether. 'we have 'been witnessing this veek one of tho decisive bathes ot the world, or only a gr'eA slaughter, which hUs but postponed tixe final decision. " ' ' GENERAL STOESSEL. v The news from Port Arthur during tho v/eek adds little to our knowledge oi v hat is tho true situation within the fortress. It is e'ear, however, that in Ueiieml Stoesseil the Russians have just the soldier required to command in a besieged town. He is a man not only of magnificent courage, bub of gicat resource, and he manages to inspire the ganioon with his own undaunted spirit. The manner in which he contrives to send his almost daily messages through to St. Peleisouvg is most remarkable. But hi spite of the pluck with which Port Arthur is being defended, the end cannot be long delayed. While death, wounds,- and disease 'are constantly reducing the numbers of 'the besieged, the numbers ot tue besiegeis 'afij'as constantly augmented by reinforcements from Japan. The next attempt of the Japanese to .storm tho forties will in all probability be successful. THE -RUSSIAN REVOLUTION. The Paris cone&pomlent (J?T!ie Times, who has sometimes information outside his particular department of news, ends a letter about the relations oi Germany ■with. Russia with the following remarkable sentence: — "Unless all the information received from trustworthy sources in Russia be wrong, a domestic crisis of some kind is rapidly maturing, and 'is indeed, according to some people, comparatively close at hand." ihat is, we believe, the impression of many men who know Kusfcia, very well ; but it mus>t be accepted in conjunction with this other fact, that no one mentions, or even hints at, tho kind of "crisis" expected. Is it to be a popular revolt, or a military mutiny, or & palace revolution'/ . Thefee are very different things, nnd would produce widely different, consequences, -i'ne c Gerlnaii Emperor, accoidmg to the correspondent, ceitainly expects none of themj lor ho has given the isar assurances as to the satety of the Polhh frontier which enable his iriend to sliip Poiand of her great gorrison and use it to form the second army for the Far East. GERMANY'S COLONIAL TROUBLES. The German ill-fortune 111 South Africa seems to be persistent. Tiie Witbois, a Hottentot tribe, represented as well piled and mounted, and to a certain extent trained by German officers, are now, like the Hereros, in insurrection ; and the Bastards, a tribe of half castes, it is expected will be. The native population, in fact, does not take to its German rulers, and it will be necessary to send some ten thousand troops to restore their ascendency. That number will probably be obtained, for, though they must all be volunteers, there are always in so vast an Army as the German thousands of men to whom any change from barrack life is welcome, and wno hope that in another land they may ' havo better chances. The expense, however, will be consideiable, and it must be vot£l by -t Parliament in which a considerable party holds the colonies aie only burdens upon the national strength and resources, 'l'he Germans, unlike the French, have no Foreign Legion of turbulent daredevils. THE POPE- AND ITALY. The Times correspondent at Vienna states, upon what he considers sufficient authority, that the real object for which Signor Giolitti, tne Italian Premier, was invited to Homburg by Count yon Bulow was to arrange for a rapprochement between Italy and the Pope. The Geiman Emperor thinks that if this could be secured, tho -Pope would become virtually, if not formally, a member of tho Triple Alliance, which would thus be strengthened by the great weight of the Roman Church. The Pope is not disinclined to the rapprochement, but the Italian Court is cold, the Papacy asking as a condition for a certain amount of control over the primary .schools, which the Italian Parliament would not grant. The statement is curious, as one more evidence of the German Empeior's endless activities, but it is not of much importance. The only Court whioli the Papacy could sciiou«-ly influence dining a war in already within the Triple Alliaute, and nothing the Pope can do can diminish the strong attraction of Fiance for Italy. If, again, a reactionary Government established in Paris, Italy would seek protection in the Alliance, while the Pope, hoping for his own restoration to power, would bo necessarily anti-Italian. SPANISH BULL-FIGHTING. The population of Spain is said to be greatly excited by an Order issued by Senor Maura forbidding bull-fights upon Sundays. The Order seems to have been

dictated by clerical feeling rather than humanity, but the Spamaids deeidie that it is equivalent to the total suppression of their favourite amut-ement. It is only ou Sunday that the lower classes aie at liberty, and that the gate-money, as we should call it here, is sufficient to defray ■the salaries of the swordsmen, the price of the bulls, and the pay of the large number of attendants incidentally employed. As the bull-fighters are the popular heroes of Spain, and have great influence with the populace, the agitation is a serious one, and may even affect the security of the throne. We question if the Ministry will have the nerve to maintain the Order, though they are sensitive to the ill-repute which this relic of the old arena justly brings upon the civilisation of modern Spain. Cervantes was said to have "smiled Spain's chivalry a^way," but we doubt if his laughter did half as much to injure his race as the cruelty and blood-lust of the bull-ring. LORD MILNER'S SUCCESSOR. The Morning Post of Wednesday contained the announcement that the' office of High Commissioner for South Africa •n-ijLl be be vacant at no distant date, through the resignation of Lord Milner. According to the Morning Post, Lord Milner has for some time been desirous of a rest and relief from tie cares and responsibilities of his post, and it is believed that he will quit South Africa before Christmas. Several names have been

suggested for Lord Milner's successor, including Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Sir Arthur Lawley, and Sir Edward Ward. ! Whether Lord Balfour of Burleigh would be inclined to accept the wet we cannot, of course, say, but we have no doubt that his leyel-hendeciness, high character, great capacity for affaiis, and general sense of .statesmanship v.ould make him m ideal High Commissioner. His knowledge of business and business people would runder Him perfectly fair to the great capitaiirt interests in South Africa, but at the c.imo time he would know well how to hold his own against them should pnblio polioy demaud it. Without being a Pro-Boer, he could also be rolied 011 to be just and reasonable to the Dutch element. In a vord, Me cannot think oi any British statesman alive to-d.iy" who would >be more likely to do veil in South Africa. The post is one surrounded by immense difficulties, but Lord Balfour is not a man ■who is afniid of difficulties. But granted that Lord Balfour would be willing to go, would the Tariff Reformers be likely to give their consent to the appointment of so sound a Free Trader? 1 RHODESIAN AFFAIRS. The general meeti.ig of the British South Africa Company was held at Can-non-street Hotel on Monday. At the first, or ordinary, meeting, the Duke ot Abercorn, who presided, made a long I .statement qs to the condition and pros-

pects of Rhodesia. The history of the Chartered Company, he contended, showed solid and satisfactory results, as well as immense possibilities of further development ; but the general depression in South Africa had rendered it impassible for them to balance expenditure and revenue, and it was proposed to raise an extra £1,000,000 capital for the gener.il purposes of the company. He regretted that the Rhodesian delegates at the recent Conference were incapable of meeting the proposals of the directors in the spirit in which they were made, 'but believed that they (the delegates) did not accurately reflect the views of the great body of moderate opinion in Rhodesia, and hoped that negotiations might be reopened on a more satisfactory footing. THE MIDDLE-AGED WORKMAN. It seems certain that the lamentable tendency to refuse employmeot to the , middle-aged increases bofeh in America and England. The Carnegie steelworks have recently fixed thirty-five as the latest age of admission in some departments, and forty in others ; while in England the effect of the Employers' Liability Act has been to produce a certain dread •of employing middle-aged men, who from want of quickness are more liable to accident. In Liverpool it was recently stated by the Poor Law authorities that large numbers of workmen now dye their hair, and it is well known that certain classes of skilled men, including almost

! all grades of male servants, such as coachmen, grooms, butlers, and gardeners, never tell the truth about their ages. That will be found one of the many difii culties in the way of old-age pensions, those who would benefit by them dreading poverty between fifty and sixty much more than after the latter age. In the neighbourhood of great cities a large proportion of the skilled artisans ore oio. men who have fled from the centres, where they found the competition of the young insupportable.

111 Paris, during the recent hot spell, many people, "distracted byt beat, wretched absjnlhe, and the sensational ' press," bocame temporarily insane, their j. delusions taking form according to the reigning news topic. A lot of Germans . were brought beiorc the bar of justice, all of thorn claiming the name o£ Kuro- ' patkin. One man, inspired by the trouble between Erance and the Vatican, im agined himself tho Pope, and clad in a white robe, went about bestowing benedictions. Another, imagining himself Phoebus, went about naked. A mosque for tho use of the two thousand Mohammedans who live in in London, will shortly be built in the central part of that city. It will be an imposing structure, of red and yellow stone, the decorative work in marble and in jasper.