4 14th December.
Tue telegrams which we publish this morning from our correspondents at Tokio and Kobe fully confirm the more pacific news which we published "on Saturday. The foot that Russia had put down she has now taken up - again, and she has now sent an answer to Japan's irreducible minimum which opens the door for renewed negotiations; and the Emperor of Japan has shown a conciliatory spirit in postponing the geiteral election to the Ast of March, so that his Government will not be hampered by premature parliamentary action. If Japan's minimum is really irreducible, and we have constantly been advised that she will not draw back one inch, we shall doubtless continue to have fresh alarms from time to time, but we can safely say that there is less likelihood of war now than there was a week ago, when the Russian Goliath's apparent contempt for the Japanese David was rapidly raising the temper of the heat.
Feebed, their sell-restraint copie of Japan to a white under continued provocation at the hands of certain Russian authorities on the spot has been marvellous.
There is, however, a danger which is not reported in the telegrams, but which is announced to us in private reports from many quarters in Japan. and that lies in this very temper of the Japanese people: The indignation with Russia in the island empire is so deep and wide-spread, that it was confidently stated last week that unless the Cabinet showed a more warlike front, it would not be surprising to hear that the lives of its members were in danger from the political fanatics, of whom there are always many in the capital. In fact, it is known that the leading members of the Cabinet, and one or more of the Elder Statesmen, are constantly and_sedulously guarded by police. The Government! will have, between now and the Ist of March, to take strong measures to control the candidates, who will hope to secure the suffrages of the voters by violent attacks in their speeches on the enemy whom the people have never forgiven for depriving them of the chief fruit of their victory in their war with China. The amour propre of the Japanese received a farther wound from Russia's long delay in answering Japan's proposals, and violent speeches may be trusted to fall on sympathetic ears. But the Government can make the most of Russia's partial concessions as an indication of her respect for Japan's power, and they can also call to their aid the universal reverence for the supposed semi-divinity of the Emperor. We welcome our Kobe correspondent's assurance that the effect of the dissolution of the Diet on the business circles in Japan has been favourable, as it is considered to indicate that the negotiations will result in the establishment of peace but if Russia is sincere in her determination that war shall be averted, she should at once put a stop to the farther dispatch of naval and military reinforcements to the Far East. As long as this dispatch continues, it is always given to the alarmists to aver that she is only provracting the negotiations for peace in order that she may gain time to increase her preparations for ultimate war.
I7th December.
Tue clouds are gathering again over the Far East. It was not technically an ultimatum which Japan sent to Russia over six weeks ago, but it contained the lowest terms that Japan could accept. In the telegram that we published on Tuesday morning, our Tokio correspondent told us that there was a wide discrepancy between Russia's proposed concessions and the Japanese demands, and this morning he tells us that the chief statesmen in Japan who are responsible for peace or war were yesterday afternoon to discuss the proposed "strong representations" to Russia. In London an unexpected Cabinet Council has been held to discuss the situation here. Viscount Heyashi's remarks on Russia's reply have a certain tint of ambiguity, and the "Times," it is to be presumed, ascertained that there was good authority for the statement that all Japanese of military age in London have been recalled. The telegrams from the north show no relaxation in Russia's preparations to defend -her seizures of territory. We have no doubt that the Czar is sincerely opposed to war, and he may succeed in imposing his will on his Ministers and officers at St. Petersburg and in the Far East; but it will be well for them to display a more conciliatory disposition before popular opinion in Japan breaks down the self-restraint of the Government.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.