174
JAPAN AND RUSSIA.
(Daily Press, 29th February.)
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND reduce its offensive power. In this the Japanese admiral was more successful evidently than he had any reason to expect. The Russian admiral also saw this very evident position, and acting on his knowledge set his fleet in motion, apparently in the hope of meeting one of the Japanese squadrons, and being able to inflict on it serious damage, or even to capture or put out of action so many ships as to give a pre- ponderance to the Russian Port Arthur squadron. Not seeing any apparent signs of the enemy, he, probably in order to be in time for the intended festivities ou the evening of the 8th February, returned to port, but did not take all his ships into harbour. As we have before remarked, no nation on earth possesses a more thoroughly organised intelligence department than the Japanese. The commander of the squadron evidently was able to penetrate the Russian plan of action, but he did more; he had obtained by some means a copy of the Russian private code of signals, and apparently had come to learn of the intended entertainment. He was not slow to turn his information to the best advantage, and herein was plainly shown the advantage that DAVID had over GOLIATII. In a word, while GOLIATH was pluming himself on the superiority of his armour, the other had made up his mind to action, and discarding the weapons offered by SAUL, armed him self with a solitary sling and staff. Even DAVID seems to have had too much self confidence, for having succeeded in killing his opponent, he had not the means to com- plete the victory by cutting off his head, and had to depend on the enemy's sword for the purpose. It was hardly to be expected that a second attack on Port Arthur would have been equally advan- tageous. The Japanese did, however, succeed in still further weakening the enemy; and, seeing that nothing more remained possible, wisely retired. So ended the first act of a
That the Japanese possessed newer and more suitable fighting ships, those out in the Far East possessed of expert knowledge have steadily maintained; that the crews were under letter discipline, and the officers in all that, concerned their duty afloat were far ahead of their probable Russian adver- saries the same experts, in the face of European authorities to the contrary, also steadily maintained. That the Japanese would fight for their country to the last, and were second to none in courage and promptitude was generally acknowledged. That they should possess over and above all these qualifications a power of concentration and self control, never to be found except in conjunction with the highest mental and intellectual power, was more than we could naturally expect; and therefore dil not look for. The two Japanese attacks on Port Arthur of the 8th and 13th February deserve all the encomiums we have passed; but in addition to this, and in view of the markedly original, and hitherto unprecedented nature of the attack, it is not too much to say that the Japanese tactics at Port Arthur open out a distinctly new chapter in naval warfare. The lesson to be impressed on the generation is, however, the old one of the valley of Elah, when GOLIATH of Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam, was not withstanding, or rather in consequence o the weight of his offensive armour, put hors de combat at the first stroke. DAVID's sling and stone, the prototype of the Japanese torpedo-boat, was 2 far more effective weapon in the hands of the skilled slinger than the overweighted and unhandy spear carried by his opponent. Having said so much for the weapons, we must not neglect the men.
Had the weapons been reversed, and GOLIATH the slinger, is there any reason to doubt that the result would have been the same? We need not descant on the other similarities in the two stories; the boastful brag of GOLIATH, who had afflicted the minds of all beholders by the mere bigness of his body, and the plain, simple faith of the other in the goodness of his cause-and, it must not be forgotten, the skill of the trained slinger.
It is not, however, so much to point out the
circumstances under which the skirmish-
for technically, in the absence of any definite result save the damage done to certain of
very
serious drama.
March 7, 1904.
Con-
equally successfully on Russia. Russia however, adopted the same tactics as before; she permitted NAPOLEON to actually occupy` Moscow, and then came her revenge. The world looked on in wonder at the gigantic sacrifices Russia had made, and shook its head. The result was the ruin of NAPOLEON, and his schemes of universal dominion. Now of course the scene has shifted, and it is Russia who dreams the dream. scious that she was marked out as the next victim for Russia's ambition, Japan has declared war; but here the resemblance ends. Japan certainly has no object of in- vading Russia; she seeks no aggraudisement of power or territory; her aims are ter- minated by her desire to be let alone. The giant was preparing with his weaver's beam to strike his small adversary to the ground; but the youth, the momentary neglect of his guard, ad- taking advantage of
ministered a painful and damaging blow. Prudence no less than ordinary self-respect would have recommended silence; but Russia, like an underbred cur, at once commenced who from the previous GOLIATH-like, boast- to howl, much to the disgust of the onlookers,.
ings of the giant, at least expected a good fight. But Russia has been even more foolish; for in her rage she has exposed her own methods; and it is noteworthy that they are the same identically as those which twice before, under very different circum- stances, and when she was a comparatively insignificant Power, stood her inded in good stead.
Russia's greed for territory led her in 1860 to take advantage of China's weakness to seize in no very creditable manner, the sea coast of Manchuria, and there, proud of her achievement, she es- tablished Vladivostock, which she has
the apparent stronghold of ever since maintained as a threat against her neigh- bours on the Pacific. For a time Vladivo stock indeed looked formidable, but with the advance of the offensive
puwer of modern artillery turned out little better than a delusion. What followed is not less interesting, and ideal fortress for the attacking force; and Vladivostock in fact is an though there has as yet resulted no actual fighting, the stage is plainly being cleared probably no stronghold in the world offers for the second act; and we can begin to form such a temptation for bombardment by a some forecast of its aims. We have before strong naval Power. Fortunately Russia spoken of the want of initiative in the
was the very last of the Powers to find this Russian character. This we showed was out, and no friend was kind enough to conspicuously shown in her diplomacy, point it out to her till she was unwise which was a mere repetition of certain well-enough to proclaim it ro worn devices; they had been eminently suc- cessful before, and, thought Russia, that was a sufficiently good reason for trying
proved successful again in Europe. Even
the world.
Temporarily checked at Port Arthur, and deprived of the immediate means of carrying on from there an aggressive policy, she has no more originality than to fall back on the
the Russian ships, the action at Port Arthur then again. To a certain extent they old expedient of seeking to draw the new was but a skirmish-proved so disastrous to | Great Britain at first was deceived into enemy to commit the mistake of her former
Russian arms, and Russian prestige, as to indicate its probable effect on the future of the campaign, that we write these lines. There is little doubt that the first idea of the Russians was that the war was to be, in the main, on their side offensive; hut the circumstance of having the two ports Vladivostock and Port Arthur endangered at the outset somewhat disconcerted their "perations. The Russian coni- mander was evidently unsettled in bis mind as to which to make his basis of operations, and divided his fleet between the two. Seeing at the last moment the error, he attempted to unite the two squadrons, but the Japanese at once inter- posed their fleet between the two separated divisions. As an
offensive post Port Arthur, as long as the Power holding it has command of the sea, nust coutiuue to be of supreme importance in any Power in hostility with Japan; and this was evident- ly thoroughly understood by the Japanese commanders, who conceived the bold design of so far weakening its resources as to
believing in the omnipotence of Russia; and Port Arthur, the fruitful source of the left her an open door to establish herself in
present trouble.
But not less devoid of originality is Russia's military history. Two hundred years ago Sweden Was acknowledged to be the most powerful of European states. Its King, CHARLES XII., declared war against PETER the Great, and there is no doubt had the campaign.been carried out with any ordinary degree of prudence that the present position of affairs would have been reversed and Russia remained a third-rate Power. Not content with the victory that was in his hands, CHARLES, who though a soldier was no general, attempted a mad movement on the Ukraine, and left his flank exposed. When he had in PETER'S Opinion goue far enough the latter attacked him, destroyed his army, and forced CHARLES with a few followers to take refuge in Tur- key. Sweden never recovered the blow. A hundred years later NAPOLEON made war
invaders. We reveal now no secrets, for
modern warfare. Russia has declared her Japan has shown how much better than the other she comprehends the possibilities of
intention of leaving both Port Arthur and Vladivostock and retiring into the heart of the Mauchurian wilds, in the full expecta- tion that Japan will repeat the mistakes of her predecessors. But is Japan likely to be caught by such very antiquated strategy? We opine that nothing would suit Japan's immediate policy better than such a move.
Japan has not entered on the war with the object of territorial expausion, whatever may be the final result, and probably nothing would suit her better at the moment. At all events, the interest of the onlookers is at the moment centred on what is to happen on the opening of Vladivostock; and we feel fairly well as sured that the nex: act of the drama will be enacted on the stage of Vladivostock, and its ultimate aim will be the acquirement of the command of the line from the coast to Harbin.
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