15th August.
IN considering the prospects of peace it must always be remembered that there are a large number of people very much interested in keeping the Stock Exchanges of the countries where Japanese avd Russian loans are held ina state of excitement; and further that the communications made with more or less mystery to Press correspondents have sometimes other motives than the simple and kindly desire to keep the world informed of the real progress of negotiations. The Press correspondent, and more so in the United States than anywhere else, has taken the place of the sapewr of the French proverb, inasmuch as to him certainly nothing is sacred. All that we know of the Japanese terms and the view taken of them by the Russian plenipotentiaries we only know from the newspaper correspondents at Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and that little town must be as full of "bunders" us {Shanghai was at the time of the Boxer troubles. One of these evident bunders was sent home by the "Daily Telegraph" correspondent, that the Japanese Envoys were not armed with full power to negotiate; it is certain that if this were the case, we should have heard at once that there was a serious hitch la the negotiations, and the Japanese are the last people to give sucha cause of offence to President Roosevelt.
There is a general agreement as to what the Japanese terms are, though no official statement of them has been made, and they are just those which it was supposed, before the confer-ecca met, that Japan would demand, with two additions; the retrocession to Chinn of any privileges granted to Russia in Manchuria and the grant of fishing rights to Japan on' the Siberian littoral from Viadivostock to Bering Sea. The demand for the former of these will doubtless please China, and it follows naturally on Japan's expressed intention to enforce the principle of the Open Door in Manchuria. The second is a more doubtful demand, Fishing rights are as indispensable to the people of the coast of Eastern Siberia as they are valuable to the Japanese, It is obvious that the Japanese are not asking for the exclusive right of fishing on the Siberian littoral; but the Japanese fishermen are so much bolder and more enterprising than the present holders of the right that there would be little left for the latter if the Japanese were once admitted to their waters; and there would be endless fights and disputes, deep sea fishermen being the most jealous and quarrelsome race of mortals everywhere.
No one seriously questions the right of Japan to demand an indemnity; there is no reason to suppose that the demand will be an exorbitant one, and Mr. de Witte knew perfectly loll before he left Cherbourg. that it would have to be wet; it will be noted that the indemnity is not among the terms which the Russians. have rejected, according to the latest telegram from the "Kokumin's" foreign " correspondent at Portsmouth, N. H.; its consideration is left in abeyance, Phe cession of Saghalien is undoubtedly a bitter pill for Russia, for the reasons that have been given in our columns; but the conquest of the island was effected so promptly by the Japanese that the relinquishment of it by Russia is no longer a cession, but the acceptance of fait acoomy he cession of Russia's lenses in Linotung is again ar acceptance of a fait weoompli; and if Russia consents to Japan's demand that she shall evacuate the whole of Manchuria, she can say that she is only carrying out the promise she made some time ago. That Japan should take the railway south of Harbin is a demand that was fally expected, and an ender your will n" doubt be made to show that it does not belong to Russia, but to the Chinese-Exstern Railway Ca., a commercial concern in which China is Inrgely interested; Japan is probably quite prepared to explode this pretence if it is brought forward. The protectorate over Corea is other fait accompli; Corea is x country that cannot possibly stand alone, and a Rassian protectorate would be impossible for Japan; while a Japanese protectorate does no real injury to any one. The limitation of Russia's naval strength in the Far East is one of those restrictions that are more valuable on paper than they are in practice. It may seem at first sight that such a limitation would enable Japan to reduce her own n-val budget when peace is declared, but under any circumstances it must be years before Russia can be a formidable naval power again; and such a limitation as this offends Russia's amour propre more then protects Japan. The London "Daily News" is right too in suggesting
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.