withheld, and that he was not even supported in his retreat by a diversion in other parts of the field. A great victory had been within his grasp, General Gripenberg represented, and it had been snatched from him simply by the perverse inactivity of General Kuropatkin. So strained were the relations at headquarters that General Gripenberg's request to be relieved of his command was immediately complied with, and the General set off post-haste back to St. Petersburg to lay his complaints personally before the Czar. The quarrel was conducted practically in public by the advocates of the two rivals; and General Kuropatkin's friends were not slow to put forward his side of the case. According to this account, General Gripenberg's costly defeat was caused directly by his deliberate disobedience to instructions. He had been permitted to embark on his movement against the Japanese left on the strict understanding that it was to be only in the nature of a reconnaissance in force, and that a general action was not to be forced. While nominally accepting these limitations, General Gripenberg had in his heart rebelled against them, and had not hesitated to commit his army to a pitched battle beyond the reach of support, and in conditions of weather which made the movement of troops most undesirable. Finally it was contended that General Kuropatkin had done all he could to relieve the pressure on General Gripenberg by bombarding the Japanese right and centre, and threatening an advance in those directions. The wrangle could not but be ignominious, but at least more dignity pertained to the disputant who remained at his post and strove to repair the blunder that had been committed than to the disputant that threw down his responsibilities and went home in a pet. This view of the case seems to have prevailed with the Czar himself, whose reception of General Gripenberg was not cordial. According to the reports that came from well-informed French sources, the Czar took General Kuropatkin's part very decidedly, and administered to General Gripenberg a severe rebuke for his insubordination. Whatever the character of the frequent audiences which the disappointed General had of his Sovereign, the fact remained that Kuropatkin was maintained in the supreme command of the armies in Manchuria, and that while General Gripenberg lingered in St. Petersburg, if not in disgrace, at least in inactivity, General Kaulbars was definitely appointed to the command of the Second Manchurian Army. [Illustration: ON THE SLOPES OF OJIKEISHAN, BEFORE PORT ARTHUR.] [Sidenote: Kuropatkin Asks for Reinforcements]