The Echo de Paris has published an extraordinary state- ment
alleged to have been made to M. Marcel Hutin by Vice- Admiral Dubassoff, the Russian Commissioner on the North Sea Inquiry. Briefly summarised, it amounts to this,—that Admiral Rozhdestvensky's squadron, plus the ships preparing to start, are unequal to the task of recovering the command of the sea from the Japanese, and that Russia requires a new fleet, which cannot be got ready within twenty months. " In these conditions I do not hesitate to say that we are advancing towards an early peace. We will leave to the Japanese Port Arthur and the territory which they occupy in Manchuria. We will resolutely set to work, for this peace can only be temporary. Russia is making a powerful and invincible fleet. Only when it is completed shall we play the second round, but this time with all the tromps in our hands." The speaker is further reported to have said that he had communicated this scheme to the Czar before leaving St. Petersburg, and received the assurance that it would be promptly considered by the Supreme Council of Ministers. Later reports assert that Vice-Admiral Dubassoff has denied having made these state- ments, saying that it is a strict duty for him to make no revelations or communications of any kind. One would readily accept the disclaimer were it not for the fact that the Echo de Paris is not only notoriously Russophil, but on many occasions has correctly reflected the views of the Russian naval authorities ; and that, according to the latest reports, Admiral Dubassoff has adopted a mysterious secrecy and declines to affirm or deny anything,
