ish
to meet the Vladivostock squadron, and had defeated it. True, the
defeat, like that of the Port Arthur fleet, was not as decisive as could
have been wished; for of the three cruisers--the _Gromovoi, Rossia_, and
_Runk_--which sallied forth from Vladivostock, under the command of
Admiral Jessen, in response to Admiral Vitgeft's call for support in his
last desperate sortie from Port Arthur, two of them, the _Gromovoi_ and
the _Rossia_, succeeded in regaining the shelter of Vladivostock
harbour, while only the _Rurik_, the least formidable of the trio, was
sunk. But again, as in the case of the Port Arthur fleet, although the
bulk of the Russian force contrived to escape either capture or
destruction, it had been so severely handled as to be rendered innocuous
for many months to come, and Japan was at last free from the continual
menace of it. The destruction of the fast cruiser _Novik_ in Korsakovsk
harbour on 21st August, by the Japanese ship _Chitose_, drove the last
nail in the coffin of Russia's naval power in the Far East; and from
that time forward, with the exception of maintaining the effective
blockade of Port Arthur, the Japanese navy had little to do except
prepare itself at every point to meet the menace of the Baltic Fleet,
which at this time was beginning to materialise and take definite shape.

Meanwhile, after almost superhuman struggles against enormous odds, and
in the face of frightful sufferings and losses, Japan's land forces were
beginning to make progress. During the last days of July General
Kuroki's forces fought and won the battles of Towan and the Yushuling
Pass. On 3rd August, General Oku seized Hai-cheng and Newchwang old
town, which is situated some twenty miles inland from the port of
Newchwang; and then there came a pause, during which the final
preparations for the advance upon Liao-yang were being completed.

Liao-yang promised to be a very tough nut to crack, for General
Kuropatkin, fully recognising the possibilities of the position, had
determined to make his stand there and inflict upon the Japanese such a
crushing defeat that all further capacity for taking the offensive would
be driven out of them, after which, the subjugation of a beaten and
disheartened enemy should prove an easy task, rendered all the easier,
perhaps, by the fact that the great assault upon Port Arthur by the
Japanese had failed disastrously, with frightful loss to the assailants.
The defences of Liao-