The air is full of rumours of peace, none of
them well authenticated, though one set of them is believed wholly or in part by Reuter's agents in St. Petersburg. No one with authority to speak for Tokio gives them full credence. The most reasonable account of the conflicting statements is that the Russian Foreign Office has sounded Tokio through an intermediary as to its demands, and has been told that Manchuria must be restored to China, with permission to the Japanese to organise the defensive arrangements of the province ; that the lease of Port Arthur and the Liao-tong Peninsula now enjoyed by Russia must be transferred to Japan; that Korea must become a Japanese protectorate "like Egypt " ; that Saghalien must again become Japanese; that Vladivostok must be changed from a fortified arsenal into a commercial city ; and that some indemnity must be paid for the expenses of the war.
