Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

[On April 12th, 1600, a Dutch ship piloted by one William Adams, an Englishman, reached Japan. As the price of permission to build a factory at Firando they were compelled to hand over Adams to the Tycoon, for whom he built the first Japanese fleet. He was treated with all honor, but never allowed to return to England. He was the founder of Japanese shipbuilding, and after his death was made a god by them. He is buried on the hillside of Hemimura, above the naval arsenal of Yokosuka.]

On the hill of Hemimura, looking out across the sea

O'er the docks of Yokosuka and the

warships sailing free

'Midst the Shinto pennons streaming,

Lies Will Adams, still a-dreaming Of the busy Port o' London and the Kentish wood and lea.

He forgets the fleet he builded and the decks that once he trod, That his grave's afar from England and his pall is alien sod. That the incense-sticks are burning And the praying-wheels a-turning To the name of William Adams, Kentish sailorman and god.

So he drowses till the screaming of the sirens once again

Calls him back to where beneath him,

like mailed barons of the main, Ride the warships; while the rattle Of Dai Nippon's seaward battle Rings and mingles through his dreaming like a distant song's refrain:

TWO FLOWER-SONGS FROM MELEAGER.

I.

White violets I'll entwine,

The smooth fresh daffodilly With myrtles I'll entwine,

I'll twine the laughing lily:

Bright crocus with them twined

Blue hyacinth shall cover, And all around shall wind The rose that loves the lover:

For Heliodora fair

To form a wreath, whose flowers On lovely perfumed hair

May fade and fall in showers. (Anthologia Palatina, v. 147.

II.

Pour out, and murmuring as you pour.
Say Heliodore, Heliodore;
Blend in the wine-cup o'er and o'er
Her sweet name, Heliodore.
Bring to me wet with last night's
myrrh

The wreath she wore, the wreath she wore;

Wreathe it around my brows for her Remembrance,-Heliodore.

Ah see, the rose, love's loving rose, Is weeping sore, is weeping sore: My darling elsewhere far it knows And on my breast no more!

(A. P. v. 136. Walter Headlam

THE LIVING AGE:

3 Weekly Magazine of Contemporary Literature and Thought.

[blocks in formation]

For the second time in its history Port Arthur has fallen into the hands of the Japanese nation. The first occasion was during the war with China in 1894; and what a change has been brought about in this short decade! In 1894, Japan's triumph was easily won though none the less deserved, but the tangible fruits thereof were torn from her victorious grasp by a triple alliance of envious Western Powers. What Western Powers are likely to attempt in 1905 what was done in 1894? The impossibility to find any such bullying combination is one of the most striking testimonies to the recognition of Japan's progress towards the very forefront of the nations of the world. By war she has convinced a world which ignored her peaceful development, but it is this latter which will ultimately raise her far higher than even the Russian conflict.

The fall of Port Arthur marks an epoch in the history of the world, and this not because of the length of time the fortress was besieged or because

of the common heroism of the opposing forces, but because by it the symbol of the right of Russia to claim the supremacy of two continents has been removed. It would have been equally significant had the siege lasted only the twenty-four hours of 1894. While the fortress is undoubtedly a strategic point of great value, its importance during the present war and in the pages of history depend not at all upon its intrinsic worth. When the flag of the Rising Sun rose upon the battered forts of Port Arthur, the sun of Russia's Asiatic Empire sank in blood-red glory, and the Far Eastern peoples had demonstrated their right to decide the fate of Far Eastern lands. And far more than that, a new world Power had thrust itself upon the world in a manner not to be ignored. Russia, the colossus before which European nations had shrunk for fifty years, not knowing why, had been forced to give up her warm-water Asiatic port, to ob tain which her agents had allowed no scruples of honor or fair dealing to

hinder them. And the nation which had forced her to give it up is one which only forty short years ago was treated as a barbarous, uncivilized nation, to be argued with with cannon and musket rather than with diplomatic notes. The Cinderella of ten years ago has become the proud princess of to-day. It has been reserved for the German Emperor, prophet of the Yellow Peril, and one of the antiJapanese league of 1894, to publicly acknowledge Japan's new position in the world. By his decoration of General Nogi equally with General Stoessel, he proclaimed to the world that he acknowledged the equality of the nations. The fall of Port Arthur will take its place in history as the fact which has demonstrated, beyond the power of argument, the fallacy of the artificial barriers between races and between continents. No longer can the white races of Europe sit above the salt while the nations of Asia sit below. Japan, a brown race, a nation of Asia, has demonstrated her right to sit above the salt, and as she has done so by the force of arms, Western civilization acknowledges her right. Thus Port Arthur stands for the proof that a nation does not become great because of the color of its population or because of its geographical position, but because of the power within it. The importance of this destruction of one of the world's most treasured fallacies, upon which the whole superstructures of more than one great State have been raised, cannot be over-estimated.

It is

a very valuable lesson for all the nations of Europe to learn, although that will not make the task any more pleasant. From the beginning of 1905 dates the new era, in which nations must produce suitable works to entitle them to play a great rôle in the world, whether they be peopled by men with white skins, with brown skins, black skins, or yellow skins. The unques

tioned and

undisputed domination claimed by the West over the East has vanished forever in the hauling down of the Russian flag on Golden Hill. It is most illogical that a war between two Powers, one of which, although nominally European, has little in common with Europe and much in common with the worst elements of Asia, and the other, although nominally Asiatic, has little in common with Asia, should forever dispel the idea that European peoples have the right to tyrannize over the rest of the world.

But it must not be forgotten that it is not because Japan is an Asiatic country, or because the Japanese skin is brown, that Japan has become what she has. It is due to a far more worthy reason than either of those; it is because of the unceasing labor, the unwearying effort of the Japanese people to make Japan great and themselves worthy of a great Japan. Unless the people of a nation are prepared to do this, they have no hope of permanent greatness. If Japan's triumph at Port Arthur demonstrates one thing more than any other, it is the absolute necessity for national efficiency, achieved by the unanimous effort of all the people. Japan teaches the world the lesson that thoroughness and efficiency, broadmindedness, and a readiness to learn are possessions which far outweigh any artificial superiorities raised up by an arrogant cluster of differing nations as a standard whereby they may judge others. The historian of the future will regard Port Arthur's capitulation as a red-letter mark to divide the period of narrow parochial international ideas from that of the birth of true internationalism, which is not guided by the paint on atlases or the colored pigment in the human skin. Before January, 1905, the world was suffering from the autocracy of the white races, just as Russia is suffering from the bureaucratic autocracy of the

The

Tsardom; since January, 1905, the world begins to realize that all its peoples who show themselves capable have a right to govern the world's destinies and to regard themselves as equal to any other element, should they be equal in intelligence and ability. Japan has not only ensured to the people of Russia liberty unknown before the fall of Port Arthur, but has accomplished the far greater work of liberating the world from an autocracy, of which, whatever of good it may have accomplished in the past, it must be said that it is cramping and harmful to the world of to-day. Truly Port Arthur's fall must be considered an epoch-marking event, if for no other reason than that in this fortress Japan has destroyed the outward and visible sign, the palpable symbol of Russian power and supremacy in the Far East. effect upon China, upon India, and upon Persia, to take only three cases more directly in contact with Russian influence, must be immense. It is difficult in London to recognize the enormous effect that prestige and symbols of prestige have in Asiatic countries. Russia might have become actually stronger by the loss of Port Arthur and yet the effect upon Asia would have been not lessened at all. With Port Arthur, Russia's prestige fell irrevocably, and never again for many years will Russia be able to regain her former position. It was as though Russia had been providentially moved to provide Japan with an opportunity of proving her progress, at Port Arthur. Japan in 1894 and in 1904 were very different forces, and the Port Arthur of the Chinese defence was vastly changed under the Russians. In 1894 Marshal Oyama took Port Arthur in a day, the sixteen German-built forts falling without serious loss of life; by 1904 the simple forts of Hanneken, and of other German instructors in the Chinese army, were ignored as useless,

and an entirely new system of forts, constructed of steel and stone, connected by excellent military roads and covered ways had sprung into being. Never before had such a perfect fortress been constructed, and the Russian engineers were ably assisted by the provision by nature of ideal hills for forts. Stone forts were supplemented

by steel-casemated trenches, moats and wire entanglements. The Port Arthur of 1904 was considered impregnable by its creators. In reality it has proved only a suitable test of Japanese progress and the ability of the Japanese forces to accomplish the impossible.

As a symbol we have seen that Port Arthur stands for very much, but it must be confessed that as a siege it is not nearly so important. Columns of print have been lavished upon the heroism of the defence under General Stoessel, culminating in the absurd statements in the order of the day issued by the Russian Tsar. This latter shows very clearly how wrong an impression was spread abroad as to the straits of the garrison, and as to the number of the men available for defence. "A handful of Russians" does not call up any vision of the thousands who fell into General Nogi's hands, however true the phrase may be relatively to the entire Russian population. The revulsion of feeling in many countries when the number of prisoners was published was so considerable that a Vienna paper went so far as to declare that, far from being a hero, Stoessel was undeserving of any praise, but rather of censure. While that is going too far, there can be no doubt that much of the sentiment aroused over the Port Arthur defence found its inspiration in the reports that barely a couple of thousand war-worn heroes were able to line the trenches to resist the persistent Japanese attacks. The real facts of the case, however, must lead us to modify the previous opinion

of Stoessel's heroism. Of course this would not be just, could the Russian leader agree with his sovereign in asserting that "the resources gave out," but this was far from being the case. There seems no reasonable doubt that there were provisions for two or three months remaining in the fortress, and General Nogi's official report speaks of 80,000 shells and tons of gunpowder. Granted that the provisions were not of the best, it is no doubt true that they were eatable, and as it had not been found necessary to commandeer private stores, things could not have been desperately bad. Disease decimating the troops of the fortress might have been another valid reason for the withholding of criticism, and the awarding of the meed of praise due to heroes. But, with the exception of scurvy, there seems to have been but little real sickness, the greater contagious diseases having apparently been very little felt. To sum up, there were men, there was ammunition, there was food, and there was little disease, and yet General Stoessel surrendered and is applauded as a hero.

That the Russians fought bravely nobody will wish to deny, but, after all, facts are facts. It can do no harm to recall that at the beginning of the Boer war, there were many who excited popular sentiment by statements as to the "little Republics" and the "handful of farmers." Sentiment had to give way to facts, and in the case of Port Arthur we must admit that the defenders are scarcely entitled to the too lavish praise for heroism which they have received. The defence does not compare with that of Kars in 1855, or of Plevna in 1877. In both these cases the besiegers were Russians, with a superiority of numbers, and in both the defence had to rely upon simple earthworks for shelter. At Kars, 15,000 Turks, under an Englishman, General Fenwick Williams, held at bay

for four months a Russian force of some 40,000 infantry and some 10,000 cavalry. At the beginning of the investment the garrison had only three days' ammunition and three months' food. Reduced by famine they capitulated, but the besiegers had never been able to make a successful attack. At Plevna, 58,000 Turks with 80 guns, withstood the attacks of 84,000 Russians with 400 guns for ninety-four days. The one general assault upon the earthworks of the defence cost the Russians 18,000 casualties. Again it

was lack of supplies which ended the siege, and Osman Pasha was forced to attempt a sortie which ended in failure. In these two cases there was real heroism of defence, as there was in a sublime degree in Khartoum, where General Gordon held the town for 341 days against the foes without and within the gates. It must be remembered also that in these three cases there was nothing like the elaborate fortification works which existed at Port Arthur. Nobody ever declared Plevna, Kars, or Khartoum to be impregnable, the majority did so deem Port Arthur.

It would be idle to deny that the success of the Port Arthur defence lies largely in the Port Arthur forts. This may be acknowledged without any slur being cast upon the bravery of the Russian troops. General Nogi, who is scarcely the man to attempt to depreciate his adversaries, himself said of the forts: "In a siege like this, so far as the defender is concerned, the forts are everything. With them the forts are their courage; their endurance is the forts; their power is the forts; behind them they can well afford to turn the most heroic of human attacks into a sad joke." The experience of the attacks upon Kars and Plevna, protected by simple forts, leaves it clear that at Port Arthur the heroes were the Japanese attackers, who made as

« PreviousContinue »