and their interests. Thus the police were always slow to take the initiative in any proceedings against a foreigner, and each authority was just as slow to instruct the police. There resulted a freedom and immunity from molestation probably unequalled in any Russian fortress. With the personal appearance of Admiral Alexeiev the world is now familiar, and most people know a great deal concerning his character. He upheld the dignity of his position as Viceroy very successfully; to strangers he was invariably courteous, affable, and easy of approach. As an administrator he was not without faults, many traceable to his inordinate appreciation of the Russian navy and his determination to use that navy as the main factor in his policy of Russian expansion in the Far East. Years had steadied his impulsive temperament, but to the last he was subject to periodical fits of furious strenuosity, and at these times work in Port Arthur went ahead rapidly, only to slacken or stop as soon as the energy of the controller lessened, or his vigilance ceased. The Viceroy was popular with naval officers and the townsmen. The military officials did not appreciate his work, and often found it very difficult to work under him pleasantly. General Subotich, who succeeded General Grodekov as Governor-General of the Pri-Amurski Region, resigned immediately Admiral Alexeiev was appointed Viceroy. Incompatibility of methods was the real reason of this, but not every official had the courage of General Subotich, a man whose usefulness has been proved in Kouropatkin’s campaign. Possibly the chief of the military forces at Port Arthur was worst placed with regard to the civilian population, for from the first there has been friction between the naval and military authorities. General Stoessel was generally disliked; he regarded Port Arthur as a fortress simply, not as a naval station even, and the civil and commercial circles were abhorrent to him. One day a half-caste, of quite different origin to the one already mentioned, had ridden down to the beach for a change of air and scene, when the General came up and wished to know what he was doing there. He answered that he came to look at the sea--for which he understood there was no charge made. The General said he was too near the forts, and the man retorted, that if the General wanted the whole place to himself he was welcome to it; then, to annoy the General still more, he called to the soldier who was leading his horse to and fro, “Fellow, bring me my horse!” Nothing irritated the General more than to have one of his soldiers ordered about by a civilian, and to hear him addressed as “fellow,” just as though he were a mujik, was still more galling. The General did nothing; he did not know whether the man belonged to the staff of a contractor, or perhaps to the Russo-Chinese Bank, and at any rate he must have been well protected to dare to be so impudent. The General changed all that when war broke out; he became a despot.