“As regards the increased land forces, Russia, beginning with the two brigades of infantry, two battalions of artillery, and certain numbers of cavalry and of the commissariat, which she sent to China on June 29, 1903, under the pretext of making experiment of the carrying capacity of the Siberian Railway, continually dispatched troops to the Far East, until there were already, at the beginning of February of this year, more than 40,000 soldiers. Russia was further preparing to send, in case of necessity, over 200,000 more soldiers. “Simultaneously, Russia hastened her work through day and night in building new forts at the naval harbors of Port Arthur and Vladivostok; repaired fortifications at Kun-chun, Liao-yang, and other strategic points; sent to the Far East by the volunteer fleet and the Siberian Railway large quantities of arms and ammunition; and, so early as the middle of October, 1903, fourteen trains carrying field-hospital equipment left Russia in great haste. From these data, one may conclude that Russia had not the least desire for conciliation, but sought to coerce Japan by force of arms. “The military activity of Russia was further accelerated from the end of January. On the 21st of January, about two battalions of the infantry and some of the artillery were sent from Port Arthur and Talien to the northern frontier of Korea; on the 28th, Viceroy Alexieff ordered the Russian troops near the Yalu to be placed on a war footing; on February 1, the Governor of Vladivostok asked the Japanese Commercial Agent at the port to prepare to withdraw to Habarofsk the Japanese subjects residing there, as the Governor was, under instructions from his Government, ready at any time to proclaim martial law; all the capable warships at Port Arthur, except one battleship under repair, steamed out to sea; and army forces were continually leaving Liao-yang toward the Yalu. Who can say that Russia had neither desire nor preparation for war? Under these critical circumstances, rendering another day’s delay inadmissible, Japan was compelled to break off the useless negotiations and take necessary measures of self-protection. The responsibility of provoking war does not rest upon Japan, but, on the contrary, entirely upon Russia.