But such an attenuation of our force in this quarter was contrary to the opinion of a committee—attended by me in my capacity of War Minister—which sat in Port Arthur in June, 1903. The Viceroy and senior commanders of the garrison were present at the meeting when it was resolved and recorded as “essential” that the 3rd Siberian Corps should be formed for the defence of Kuan-tung, in addition to the 7th East Siberian Rifle Division, its permanent garrison, and that this corps should be composed of the 3rd and 4th East Siberian Rifle Divisions, each of twelve battalions. In fact, it was considered necessary to have thirty-six battalions of infantry, exclusive of reserve battalions, for the defence of Port Arthur and the Peninsula. This formation of a special army corps for Kuan-tung was thought to be necessitated by the existence so close to Port Arthur of Dalny, a magnificently equipped port, connected by railway to the fortress, and a most convenient base for operations against it. Feeling that the force allotted to the defence of the Peninsula was inadequate, on February 11 I telegraphed as War Minister to Alexeieff that I considered it imperative that the 9th East Siberian Rifle Division—then under formation—should be sent there in place of the 3rd East Siberian Rifle Division, ordered to the Ya-lu. The Viceroy did not concur in this view, but he temporarily retained the 13th and 14th East Siberian Rifle Regiments. On February 20, 1904, I was appointed to the command of the Manchurian Army. In my first communication to the Viceroy (No. 1 of February 24) I again expressed the opinion that, in view of the possibility of it being besieged by four or five Japanese divisions, our first efforts should be directed to strengthening Port Arthur. And I further stated: “If Port Arthur is weakly garrisoned, and should be besieged, I might be tempted by that fact to assume the offensive before there has been sufficient time to concentrate our forces. It is for this reason that I have already advised the concentration of the 9th Division in Kuan-tung to replace the 3rd.” However, the Viceroy again disagreed with me, and wrote in a despatch of March 1: “Separate operations against the fortress would only be really worth undertaking if the enemy could make certain of seizing it by a _coup de main_, and the moment for this has passed. The land front is becoming more formidable every day, and, though not complete, the works are now well advanced; 200 additional guns have been mounted in Port Arthur itself, and more than forty at Chin-chou; the strength of the garrison is being brought up by the reservists arriving from Trans-Baikalia, and the stocks of supplies are being increased. All the bays nearest the fortress, as well as the port of Dalny, have been mined, and for the rest—the oft-proved stubbornness of the Russian soldier in defence can be relied on.” He had already reported to the Tsar that—