The news of the operations which followed the great catastrophe
at Mukden shows that the Japanese were not too much exhausted to follow up their victory, and that they at once began to press Kuropatkin with remorseless energy. On Thursday came the news that the Japanese had driven the Russians from Tieling at midnight on Wednesday, and had occupied the town. It now remains to be seen whether the Russians, in spite of the terrible activity of the Japanese, will still be able to make good their retreat to Kharbin, or whether they will find that the enemy has already got between them and their goal, and in sufficient strength to prevent them breaking through. Considering the remarkable mobility of the Japanese, and the difficulty of otherwise accounting for Nogi's whereabouts, this last result is more than probable. If they are thus cut off from their base, it is difficult to see what could save Kuropatkin's force from total destruction. The possibility of an escape vid, Kirin to Vladivostok has been spoken of; but the distances are too great and the country too difficult and barren to make this possible. It is said that the Russians are already being reinforced by fresh troops which are arriving daily at Kharbin; but even if this is true, it can be of little avail in view of the fact that the Japanese are now stated on trustworthy authority to have five hundred thousand men in the field. It will probably be found that at the battle of Mukden they outnumbered the Russians by two to one. A strange feature of the great rout at Mukden is the fact that a large part of the forces of General Kaulbars and General Linevitch seem to have disappeared, whether annihilated or lost in the hills does not appear.
