General Nogi received this message at eight o’clock on New Year’s night. He read it with astonishment, for he, too, believed that the garrison would not surrender until the last fort had been taken and the last shot had been fired. Only three days before General Stoessel had convened a council of naval and military officers of the highest rank, and had laid before them the true state of affairs. The council was attended by twenty-two officers, and nineteen of them insisted on continuing the struggle. Three were in favour of making terms with the enemy. Among these was Col.--now General--Reiss, Chief of General Stoessel’s Staff, who feared that if the resistance was prolonged and the city was carried by assault there would be a repetition of the incidents of 1894, and the remnant of the garrison would be massacred. General Reiss was not popular with his comrades, and his fears were denounced as a slander on a brave foe. The council separated under the impression that its decision was final and that the conflict would be continued with vigour. It was with amazement and consternation that the officers received orders on New Year’s day to destroy the ships in the harbour and to blow up one of the forts. General Stoessel had resolved to surrender. General Nogi knew nothing of this council of war. He was, however, not ignorant of the fact that since the death of General Kondrachenko resistance had weakened and dissention was rife among the leaders of the garrison. Nor did it escape his notice that the proposal to discuss the terms of capitulation was undated, and had probably been written some days before. Next morning at four o’clock the answer was sent to the Russian lines under a flag of truce. General Nogi agreed to negotiate, and appointed as delegate the Chief of his Staff, General Kosuke Ijichi, with whom were associated Major Yamaoka, Chief of the Intelligence Section, Captain Tsunoda, Commander Iwamura, Dr. Ariga and Mr. Kowazu. The conference was to be held at noon on the second of January in the village of Suishiyei. “The delegates on both sides are to be invested with full powers to sign the capitulation, which shall take place immediately after signing and without waiting for further approval.” From camp to camp ran the rumour of this momentous decision, and was received with shouts of “Banzai!” But the dominant note was relief rather than exultation. A great burden had been lifted, and men breathed more freely when they realised that the long struggle was over, and that Port Arthur had surrendered without a last and bloody sensation. Suishiyei was once a prosperous Chinese village between the fort ridges and the mountains on the North. Twixt the hammer of Japan and the anvil of Russia it had been pounded into a heap of stones, out of which rose blackened gables and one solitary group of thatched cottages.