royal power has ceased to be operative, that the Government which has just resigned should be empowered to carry on and exercise the authority (which they had formerly received from the King) in accordance with the Constitution of the kingdom, with the necessary alterations; that the union with Sweden under one king is dissolved in consequence of the King having ceased to act as a Norwegian king." Their action is the expression, so far, at all events, as an observer can judge, of the deliberate will of a united and homogeneous people; evoked by ninety years of international friction, and finally culminating in (let us Peaceful hope) peaceful but determined separation. but deter mined separation. [Greek premier Delyanni assassinated. Japanese won cavalry engagement. Railway accident on New York Central (21 killed). Prefect of Moscow assassinated. Bomb thrown at Sultan in Constantinople. Surrender of Russian Governor of Sakhalin with 4,000 men. President Roosevelt received the Peace Plenipotentaries on the U. S. Mayflower in Oyster Bay. Peace Plenipotentiaries held first session in Portsmouth, N. H.] PEACEMAKING AT PORTSMOUTH W (A.D. 1905) J. C. O'LAUGHLIN prolonga. the war? E SAT around the hotel on that fateful Tuesday morning, waiting to hear from the conference room in the Portsmouth Navy Yard, where the plenipotentiaries of Russia and Japan were deciding the question of peace or prolongation of Peace or the war. The air was surcharged with elec- tion of tricity. The young girls, who had contributed the lighter side to this serious business, sang and frolicked, but they wore on our nerves, and we got up and stared expectantly at the silent telephone over which the news would come. Hanging restlessly about the edge of the crowd were a few members of the Russian suite who had been excluded from the Conference. Near them, equally restless, were a couple of Japanese-Takeshita, the naval attaché at Washington, and little Haniharaand some newspaper correspondents from the Land of the Rising Sun. I joined Captain Roussine, who is the naval adviser of General Linevitch, and Colonel Samoiloff, who was military attaché of Russia in Tokio before the war began. "We knew war was coming," the Russian pride. Colonel explained, "months before the Japanese attacked." "I had my trunks packed in January and expected to receive my passports at any moment," Captain Roussine interrupted. "Before I left Manchuria, General Linevitch, General Kuropatkin, and the rank and file of the army told me to say to M. de Witte that Russia should not make humiliating concessions. We are in a position now to gain victory. A merchant, a Russian merchant, came to me on the train and urged me to oppose with all my strength any attempt to make a humiliating peace." I went over to the Japanese. They were Anxiety of nervous. They had been given to understand Japanese. that concessions, large concessions, would be the made. They did not know their extent. Japan would not accept half of Sakhalin; she must have all. It was hers by historic association, hers by right of conquest. She would insist upon indemnity. Russia could not expect to have peace without paying for it. The Japanese people would never approve a treaty which did not contain a provision for the payment by Russia of at least $600,000,000. I returned to the Russians. We walked over to the annex of the hotel, which formed the Russian headquarters. We entered Roussine's room and talked of the weather-it was a beautifully sunny day-of the characteristics of De Witte, then of the inevitable Conference. "We will go this afternoon," said Samoiloff. "Yes," said Roussine, "there's no doubt about that." Nobody stopped to ask for details. We ran to the main hotel to get the official bulletin. The telegraph instruments were clicking at a furious rate. The newspaper correspondents, American, Russian, Japanese, French, German, English, Italian, Argentinian, were writing at breakneck speed. To all sections of the world the news that peace had been agreed upon was being bulletined. peace!" mous act. The Russians had no chance. The men who were not newspaper correspondents, but bankers or brokers or anything else they chose to call themselves, gathered in little groups. "It is the most magnanimous act of history," A magnanione said. "There is no parallel. Here the conqueror, acting solely in the interest of humanity and civilization, surrenders his right to territory which his troops occupy, and to indemnity to which he is justly entitled. It is great, heroic." Another voice broke in: "It is a diplomatic triumph of the highest order. De Witte scores hard. He has outgeneraled Komura and Takahira. He gave in on points which had been determined by events. He gave up half of Sakhalin. He reduced the question to one of money. No nation with a pretense to civilization could afford to fight over a question of lucre. Japan was forced, in part by public opinion, which De Witte cleverly had created, and by the corner into which she had been driven, to give in. The question was narrowed down to this: 'Shall Japan make peace without indemnity, or shall she continue the war for indemnity? It was De Witte who did this.'" The conversation stopped for a moment, and then one who had listened said judicially: "It is not De Witte's triumph or Komura's triumph. The diplomatic victory of this Conference belongs neither to Russia nor Japan. It is our The triumph, the triumph of our President, TheoPresident dore Roosevelt." triumph of Roosevelt. As one who has learned a great deal of what the President has done, I can say with emphasis that this is absolutely true. Immediately after the battle of Liao-Yang, a little more than a year ago, Mr. Roosevelt sounded both Powers as to whether they would make peace. Japan informed him of her terms. Russia decided to fight on. The battles of the Sha-ho and Mukden were fought. After each, the President approached both belligerents and urged them to make peace. It was done tactfully-in the case of Japan, with no intention to apply pressure to force her to stop the war; in the case of Russia, with a delicate consideration of the smarting wounds from which she was suffering. After Mukden the President found Japan's terms more severe |