credence that these strange disasters may have been the work of revo lutionists pressed into the service of the Czar.

The loss of neither of the vessels thus blown up affected the fighting strength of the Russian fleet to any extent, but the fact of the accidental explosions did not look well for the efficiency of the Czar's naval forces.

STORM PREVENTS ANOTHER ATTACK.

Throughout, a withering, menacing attack was kept up upon Port Arthur and the fleet there. Only a heavy storm spared the Russians from a desperate torpedo attack in force at Port Arthur on the morning of Sunday, Feb. 14.

During the preceding night the vessels of the Japanese flotilla of torpedo craft were parted by the force of the blinding snowstorm so that only two of the larger destroyers succeeded in forcing their way through the fierce gale to Port Arthur.

When they arrived there they attacked separately and the officers of one of them reported they were confident that they succeeded in torpedoing a Russian warship.

Anarchy truly reigned on all sides and throughout northern and eastern Asia abuses, pillage and murder became rampant. The lowest instincts in human nature had been aroused and mankind was burning with desire to share in the disorder. Personal rights and privileges disappeared and the land teemed with non-combatants of every kind, seeking to escape the war-cursed spot. Away to the south, in China, new embarrassments confronted Russia, where the Russian gunboat Mandjui, isolated and bottled by a superior Japanese force. sought refuge in the Yang-tse Kiang river and after her commander had vainly offered to disarm his ship until after the close of hostilities, refused to depart. China, under the ordinary rules of neutrality, was compelled to enforce departure within 24 hours. Defying Japan and China alike, the Russian commander lay in his snug berth refusing to come out to certain defeat, and contributing to China's embarrass

ment.

By Sunday, Feb. 21, two weeks after the opening shot, the crash of warfare could be heard over a battle line of a thousand miles, reaching nearly from Port Arthur to Vladivostok. Harbin, where the Chinese Eastern Railway branches off from the Trans-Siberian road and runs southward to Port Arthur, had been selected to be the great military center of Russia's operations. Viceroy Alexieff, convinced that Port Arthur must sooner or later fall into the enemy's hands, unless unexpected succor was at hand, decided upon the change of base before necessities might compel it.

TRANSFER OF RUSSIAN HEADQUARTERS.

With this in view he began concentrating his forces at Harbin, which is so far back from the coast that there was little likelihood of the Japanese ever being able to reach it. It is far enough back also to render it improbable that the Japanese would be able to get in his rear and by destroying the railroad cut off his communications with the west.

Instead of sending more troops to Port Arthur they were concentrated at Harbin as they arrived from Russia and from there dispatched to such points as required their presence. Some were sent south to Newchwang, Antung and the points along the Yalu, and others east to Vladivostok, which the Japanese were expected to attack as soon as the opening of spring permitted.

The Russian fleet in Port Arthur harbor was seriously hampered by the congestion of the anchorage for large ships. Several big Russian merchantmen in the harbor dared not leave, as to do so would mean almost certain capture by the Japanese. The harbor naturally affords perfect shelter and good anchorage for a number of large ves sels, but with the battleships, cruisers and merchantmen it was so crowded that the warships were greatly inconvenienced.

The water supply in Port Arthur is poor at best, and much inconvenience was suffered both by the fleet and garrison from this source under the conditions that were enforced.

Two big steamers belonging to the Okhotsk-Kamchatka Company

were captured by Japanese cruisers just outside of Port Arthur harbor. The Kolik and the Bovrik, after having been shut up in the harbor for ten days, attempted to escape. The Japanese warships were not in sight and it was believed that the coast was clear. The steamers got under way and left the harbor, but were only a few miles out when Japanese warships appeared and made prizes of both, taking them to Nagasaki.

IMPERIAL CRY FOR VENGEANCE.

In the face of these conditions and with a great war just opening, the embarrassment of the Russians was made known to the people in an official proclamation, urging patience and breathing forth the spirit of vengeance with which the Czar's campaign was henceforth conducted. The full text of this unusual document follows:

"Eight days have now elapsed since all Russia was shaken with profound indignation against an enemy who suddenly broke off negotiations and by a treacherous attack endeavored to obtain an easy success in a war long desired. The Russian nation, with natural impatience, desires prompt vengeance and awaits feverishly news from the far East.

"The unity and strength of the Russian people leave no room for doubt that Japan will receive the chastisement she deserves for her treachery and provocation to war at a time when our beloved sovereign desired to maintain peace among the nations. The conditions under which hostilities are being carried on compel us to wait with patience news of the success of our troops, which cannot occur before decisive actions are fought by the Russian army.

"The distance of the territory and the desire of the Emperor to maintain peace were the causes of the impossibility of more complete and earlier preparations for war.

"Much time is now necessary in order to strike at Japan, but it is worthy of the dignity and might of Russia and, while sparing as much as possible the shedding of blood of her children to inflict just chastisement upon the nation which has provoked the struggle, Russia must

await the event in patience, being sure that our army will avenge a hundred fold that provocation.

"Operations on land must not be expected for some time yet and we cannot obtain early news from the theater of war. The useless shedding of blood is unworthy the greatness and power of Russia.

"Our country displays such unity and desire for self-sacrifice on behalf of the national cause that all true news from the scene of hostilities will be immediately due to the entire nation."

THE VICEROY'S PROCLAMATION.

At the same time, much the same spirit was sounded in an order issued to the besieged troops at Port Arthur by Viceroy Alexieff. The document follows:

“A heroic army and fleet have been instrusted to me by his majesty, the Emperor, and now, when the eyes of the Czar of Russia and of the world are upon us, we must remember that it is our sacred duty to protect the Czar and the fatherland.

"Russia is great and powerful and if our foe is strong this must give us additional strength and power to fight him. The spirit of the Russian soldiers and sailors is high. Our army and navy know many renowned names, which must in this hour serve as an example to us.

"Our God, who has always upheld the cause that is just, is doing so now. Let us unite for the coming struggle; let every man be of tranquil mind, in order the better to fulfill his duty, trusting in the help of the Almighty, and let every man perform his task, remembering that prayer to God and service to the Emperor are never wasted.

"Long live the Emperor and the fatherland! God be with us! Hurrah!"

Such was the spirit that closed the first period of the war, ushering in another and equally bloody epoch.

CHAPTER V.

THE CAUSE OF THE WAR.

Russia's March to the Pacific-War Over the Fruits of War-Hermit Monarch Has American Wife-The Great Commissary Question-Language Difficulty.

C

HRISTENDOM'S mightiest power and the greatest of heathen and semi-heathen nations springing at each other's throat! All the wondering world watched the deadly struggle with bated breath. Destruction of fleets and the annihilation of armies followed so thick and fast, echoing around the globe through the medium of the telegraph and the ever-present press correspondent, that the stirring scenes at the theater of war absorbed the universal attention to the exclusion of consideration of the cause.

Why this sudden call to arms-this epoch-making warfare of Jap and Russ? What has stirred the slumbering fires of war, inherent in the human breast, and made Manchuria and Korea a reeking altar of human sacrifice to War?

RUSSIA'S MARCH TO THE PACIFIC.

The great white Czar has arrived on the Pacific. For years the world has had a nebulous vision of a grim, gray, militant figure looming dimly upon the frozen shores of that ocean. Colossal though its proportions, its outlines were vague, indistinct, uncertain, indefinite. In a haze of arctic fogs it appeared merely a sentinel of the ice-locked harbors of the distant Czar. Lately the silent specter has commanded the attention of the thinkers of the world, of diplomats, cabinets and men

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