The Watchman And Southron

The Attempt to Coerce Japan.

Berlin, April 30. - The Frankfurter Zeitung has a St. Petersburg dispatch which says that Japan is making extensive preparations for defence. She has mobilized large bodies of troops and has erected fortifications and blockaded important coast points with mines. Several swift steamers have recently been bought for the Japanese Government in England and America. Russia, the dispatch says, is still sending troops to Vladivostock.

A semi-official note which appears in Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung warns Japan that it will be of no advantage to insist upon adherence to the date of the ratifications of the Shimoneseki treaty, inasmuch as the objections of the new alliance will remain the same after as before the ratifications.

The Vossische Zeitung, commenting on the situation, says that if China is urged not to ratify the treaty, a renewal of the war is certain, and adds: The Governments in the alliance have now got themselves in a situation where, if Japan does not yield, they must choose between peace and war.

The Vossische Zeitung regrets that the Government has brought the Fatherland to this point.

"According to information from a trustworthy source in Hiroshima, the ministry have adopted a resolute attitude toward Russian dictation. The ministry deny Russia's right to interfere and even meditate open defiance, believing Russia's forces in the East are not powerful enough to enforce that country's demands."

Foreign warships are assembling at Japanese ports.

French vessels have been ordered to prepare for an emergency.