[670]. The reports from Mr. Kurino do not agree with this statement of Russia. According to the former, it was on January 26, not the 25th, that Count Lamsdorff referred to the conference to be held on the 28th. The date February 2 in this connection does not appear till we reach Mr. Kurino’s dispatch of January 28. Moreover, on January 30, the Count told him that he could not tell him the exact date when the Russian reply would be sent. See N.-R., Nos. 43, 45, 47.
[671]. This is evidently an error. The Count spoke to Mr. Kurino, at 8 p. m., February 4, about the probable contents of the reply purely as the former’s personal opinion. It was not an official statement of the exact contents of the reply.—N.-R., No. 50. See p. [340], above.
[672]. This statement is incorrect and misleading. Referring to the text of the Japanese note (pp. 342–344, above), it will be seen that it did not say that the Japanese Government would break off the negotiations because Russia had been evading a reply to the Japanese proposals. A reference was made to the prolonged delays of Russia before giving replies, but the note did not state that the delays were the only reason, still less that the delay of “a” reply—i. e., the last reply—was the ground, for the rupture of negotiations.
[673]. See a vigorous statement of this charge made by Count Cassini in the North American Review for May, 1904, pp. 681–682.
[674]. The London Times, February 22, 1904, p. 5.
[675]. Translated from the statement published in the Japanese press on March 3, 1904.
Professor Sakuye Takahashi enumerated in the Kokumin (February 27–29, 1904) some of the modern European wars in which declarations of war did not precede the opening of hostilities. He mentioned twelve such cases between 1715 and 1863, besides ten cases between 1700 and 1853 in which Russia was on the offensive. For these latter instances, he refers to Colonel J. P. Maurice’s Hostilities without Declaration of War, pp. 12, 16, 22, 34, 38, 49, 50, 55, 64.
[677]. The London Times, February 24, 1904, p. 7, and other papers.
[678]. The diplomatic correspondence in connection with this affair has been published, in the Kwampō, February 15, 1904, pp. 275–276, which supports the literal truth of the statement contained in this paragraph.