One extraordinary statement which I believe has not yet been published anywhere, at least in this country, has just reached me from a Russian official source. It is to the effect that there is not a single Russian soldier anywhere in Manchuria outside Port Arthur and Talienwan. The statement is of course in direct conflict with a letter from the Peking correspond-Fent of the Times which appears in that journal this morning. There Dr. Mor-Tison describes how a body of armed Cossacks formed a guard of honour for Lord Charles Beresford on the occasion of is visit to the railway terminus at Newchwang; and. he goes on to describe the constant passing of soldiers into Manchuria from Port Arthur by way of Newchwang. The explanation given to me is this. The thousands of soldiers described as having Yeon seen at Newchwang and on the line of the Manchurian railway ate not soldiers but workmen and armed police employed by the railway authorities. The Russian has a right under its treaty with China to take soldiers into Manchuria for the protection of those employed in the construction of the railway line; but as " matter of fact they have not done so. The railway authorities ave, however, employed a large number time-expired Cossacks and "ther old soldiers to work on the railway.and to protect the workmen; and these men, although no longer soldiers of the effect has been to increase enormously the number of theatre-gaurs. And at Christmas every one of these suburban theatres plays pantomime.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.