near the Kure naval station. The travelling-money to the college is paid, and at the college everything is provided by the Government. The cadets remain in the naval college three years, and are instructed in seamanship, navigation, higher mathematics, English, physics, chemistry, gunnery and torpedoes, steam engineering, etc. After having passed the final examination successfully they are appointed to the sea-going training-ships as midshipmen. At the end of eight months' cruising the midshipmen are examined in what they have learnt on board, and then transferred to a commissioned ship, generally appointed among the ships of the squadron, and after four months, if favourably recommended by the captain of the ship, are commissioned as sub-lieutenants. Promotion of naval officers is entirely by selection, and the list of candidates deserving that honour is decided upon by the Board of Admirals, which meets once a year. This Board is composed of eight or nine members, but when setting to decide the list of promotions, all the commanders-in-chief of naval stations and the squadrons, with the senior officers of the different branches, such as engineers and medical corps, etc., are summoned, and the Minister of Marine takes the chair. Officers of the following rank who have been on duty for the specified number of years are eligible for nomination: Sublieutenants, one year; lieutenants, junior grade, two years; lieutenants, five years; commanders, two years; captains, junior grade, two years; captains, two years; rear-admirals, three years. "The appointment of engineer students is effected in the same manner as the appointment of naval cadets, but the age of candidates must not be under sixteen years of age or over twenty-one. The student joining the naval college of engineering remains three years and four months, going through a course of advanced mathematics, physics, chemistry, theory of the steam-engine, etc. They also receive practical training in the engineering workshops of the Yokosuka Dockyard, receiving instruction in iron shipbuilding, the working of marine engines and boilers, the practical use of the various instruments used in the engine-room, as well as in the construction and working of electric light, torpedo, and gun machinery. The student successfully passing the final examination becomes a probationary assistant engineer of the navy, and is appointed to a sea-going training-ship, where he receives the practical training necessary for a man-of-war. After eight months' training on board, the students are examined and commissioned as assistant engineers, gaining the succeeding steps of promotion, as in the case of executive officers. Advanced instruction for naval officers and engineers is given at the Naval Academy situated at Tokyo. It is conducted by a rear-admiral superintendent and several instructors and officers of different ranks, as well as a staff of professors." Sir Cyprian Bridge, who speaks necessarily with authority on such matters, believes that he has discovered the reason for the ability of the Japanese naval men to triumph so signally over difficulties. "This," he says, "will be found in the wide comprehensiveness of their culture. Admitting the necessity of special studies, they have remained the masters and have not become the slaves of specialization. The narrow curricula of specialized branches have been kept subordinate to a general culture-imparting system of education. Instruction in every special subject is practically conveyed to them in the vehicle of a learned language. Being present when lectures were being given in Japanese to naval students, I was struck by the frequency, with which English terms-'melting-point,' 'calorific effect,' etc.-occurred. This must tend to brace the intellectual faculties and to develop mental flexibility. Owing to the long duration of the feudal system and the repeated predominance of great families in Japan, the national history is remarkably varied, and a knowledge of it is, judged by our standard, extraordinarily widespread among the Japanese. This must go a long way towards correcting the stunting influence of narrow specialism. A very short visit to Japan will convince any one of ordinary powers of observation that æsthetic culture is general. If we consider carefully what the Japanese navy has done, we can hardly fail to admit the potency, even in naval affairs, of general culture; and we should be wise if we were to lay to heart the lesson that our allies are teaching us." Promotion from the ranks to commissions is not possible, the only exception being in the case of warrant officers of long and excellent service, they being promoted to sub-lieutenants on retirement from the service. In the navy, after a certain point has been reached in the promotion of officers, merit, judged by a competent board of naval officials, alone secures advancement. It is not only in the construction of warships that Japan wishes to be self-contained and self-sufficient, war material of all sorts, supplies and clothing, guns and rifles, arms and ammunition, all these are manufactured to an astonishing extent. And every year the powder factories, the Shimose explosive factory, the rifle and gun shops, all are being constantly expanded, extending the Japanese production of Japanese matériel de guerre. Japan's military and naval greatness is the result of the nation's determination to be fitted to defend the country and to be able to secure its best interests. It is no sentiment of part of the people only, it is the whole nation undertaking a task which affects every unit of it, and of which each one is proud to bear his or her share. The only traditions which exist in Japan, in the army and navy, are the finest and most potent ones which teach love of country and loyalty to the Emperor-there is no fetish-worship of buttons and shoulder-straps. Universal service by all the people, systematized by conscription, is the foundation, with education, of Japan's army and navy. Soldiers and sailors are looked upon with respect and envy, as fortunate beings whom fate has destined to serve the nation actively. Training and national spirit are much in the development of the Japanese army, centred as they are in the Emperor. To rescue the portrait of the Emperor from loss has always been the first thought of Japanese officers on a sinking warship, and it is no exaggeration to say that the Emperor's interest lights up every detail of army and navy life. The sentiment felt in the services may be gauged by Admiral Togo's reply to the Imperial message of commendation after the battle of the Japan Sea. This ran "That we have gained success beyond our expectation is due to the brilliant virtue of your Majesty, and the protection of the spirits of your Imperial ancestors, and not to the action of any human being. We shall be faithful and answer to the Imperial will." Belief in the power of the Imperial ancestors and the Emperor never prevents the Japanese from fitting himself in the best possible manner to do his share. CHAPTER XIV HUMANE WAR "The foe that strikes thee, for thy country's sake, THE Japanese soldier, it has been said, makes war as becomes a gentleman. War, as war, may be necessary to Japan, but it will never be anything but distasteful to the Japanese people. They are by nature and by habit peaceful and averse to the spilling of blood. They are an educated people, who have been taught to think, and therefore can understand what war is; their patriotism and their loyalty makes them the finest soldiers in the world, and their efficiency makes them as formidable as a relentless machine, but they are not a bloodthirsty people. Formerly, perhaps, when the Japanese armies were drawn from hereditary fighting families, there was more keenness for the fray, but now the greater number of conscripts are drawn from the agricultural classes, who have in many instances never seen blood spilt, even for purposes of acquiring food. They have not become, even unconsciously, accustomed to blood by the Western method of display of raw flesh outside butchers' shops. The Japanese people are a happily dispositioned race, loving flowers and sunshine, and this temperament cannot fail to have a great effect on their conduct in war. Besides their natural * Poem composed by H.I.M. the Emperor of Japan, translated by A. LI. |