Immediately following the battle the landing of more Japanese troops at Chemulpo was begun, and the march on Seoul followed. In all, 19,000 troops were disembarked at this point, and with the taking of Masampo the Japanese military occupation of the southern half of Korea was complete. Scores of Japanese transports, unimpeded by the Russians, were pouring troops into Korea at the different ports, and Seoul, the capital, was occupied in force.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Great Leaders in the War

The Czar of Russia-The Mikado of Japan-Admiral Alexieff-Admiral Ito-The Distinguished Commanders and their Armies.

I

Tis significant that the long-delayed, but inevitable, clash between Russia and Japan was one not so much of individuals or individual policies, as of nations and vast tendencies. The Slav, pushing out his frontiers with bold, but exceedingly watchful energy, began to touch another live thing, which woke to the danger and prepared for attack. The gigantic inherited schemes of a dominant but slow-moving race were to be pitted against the resourcefulness and intelligence of a small but active people.

While no one personage could be held responsible for the outbreak of hostilities, it was certain that a few leading figures on each side would form the central points in the scene of conflict, and these few men of the greatest personality and force. The unapproachable Czar, whose very title had long been a byword for limitless power; the Mikado, until recently the most mysterious monarch of the world, Admirals Alexieff and Ito, Generals Kouropatkin and Yamagata, the Grand Dukes Alexis and Vladimir, and Count Oyama, were supported in the diplomatic chambers by an able organization of bureaucrats.

Nicholas II, Czar of all the Russias, represents, possibly, more the cumulative influence of all the house of Romanoff than the possession of conspicuous ability in his own right. No question is, perhaps, oftener asked concerning Russian politics and governmental affairs than that about the personal

power and responsibility of the Czar. He is commonly called an autocrat and his government an absolute monarchy. The inquiry is raised whether he is really the captain of the ship of state or merely its figurehead; whether he is, in fact, the supreme power or largely the puppet of what is vaguely called the "Russian system." If the former, then the people wonder how it is that so enlightened and humane a man as Nicholas II can be guilty of the breach of faith in Finland, the horrors of Kishineff, the confiscation of the Armenian Church property, the non-fulfillment of pledges in Manchuria and the aggressions upon Japan which threatened the peace of the world.

The answer is, in a measure, twofold. Theoretically, the Czar is absolutely supreme in both legislation and administration. Every law enacted by the Council of the Empire must have his sanction before it can become valid; while, on the other hand, he can make a law which will be valid not only without the consent, but in spite of the dissent, of the Council. He can also make exceptions to laws, suspend laws or abrogate them at will. In the administration of laws, too, he is supreme. There is not even a judicial check upon his authority, for he can make and unmake judges and courts at will. With such absolute power and authority, he must, theoretically at least, bear comparable responsibility.

Practically, the Czar has supreme power just so far as he is inclined to exercise it, or is physically and intellectually capable of exercising it. It is perfectly obvious that no one man is capable of personally supervising all the details of legislation and administration of so vast an empire. If his days were twentyfour hundred hours long each, he would not yet have time for it. He must intrust the great mass of the work to his subordinates. In that sense he is the victim of the “Russian system." In another sense he is similarly a victim. That is because there is in Russia no cabinet system as in other lands. The various ministers do not act together and do not share

responsibility, but each reports directly to the Czar. A striking example of this feature of the system is found in the Far East. Admiral Alexieff, who had been for some time the storm centre of that part of the world, was appointed to his place as Viceroy by the Emperor personally, and all the Russian officers, military, naval, civil, and even diplomatic, in China, Japan and Korea were placed under him. So the Foreign, War and Admiralty ministers at St. Petersburg had really had nothing to do with the course of affairs in East Asia. Admiral Alexieff, under the Czar, was in full control.

But the Czar suffers not only these obvious limitations of power, but also another which only an exceptionally forceful man can hope to withstand. That is the influence of opinion and desire among the ruling classes of the empire. There may be little or no public opinion in Russia as we here understand the term. But the other members of the imperial family, the great nobles and the officers of the army and navy have opinions, which, for obvious reasons, the Czar takes into account. Theoretically, he has the right to overrule them. Practically, there have been few czars who would venture to do so, or who could safely do so, on any important matter.

Personally, the Czar is the most modest of the Romanoffs, a retiring young man, closely resembling in appearance his first cousin, the Prince of Wales, for their mothers were sisters. The Mikado is over a dozen years the senior of the Czar, and was little heard of in the western world until his fleet and

army smashed up the ships and hordes of China. Mutsuhito is the name by which the Mikado is known to his friends and acquaintances. His father was the Emperor or Mikado Komei Tenno, and his mother Asallo-a woman not of royal blood.

Mutsuhito succeeded his father in 1867, a year before the Czar of Russia was born, and instantly his little kingdom or empire began to wake up to the possibilities of western civilization. He especially admired the soldiers and ships of Europe,

and saw how eminently superior the infantry and cavalry and artillery of England, Germany and France were to his troops, armed with ancient weapons and indifferently trained. Of ships he had practically none-none, indeed, that might be called modern.

But Mutsuhito was not a mere dreamer; he was a man of action. He welcomed Europeans and Americans to his kingdom, which was forbidden ground, almost, to white men, and where white men even now are hated by the little yellowskinned people. He made himself acquainted with European affairs, and sent his officers to Europe to learn both the arts of war and peace. In addition he brought European officers to Japan to drill and train his soldiers, whom he dressed up in European uniforms and supplied with European weapons. He procured for them the best rifles, and fitted out his artillery with the finest field guns Krupp could turn out. Then he set about building a navy.

Japan had awakened from her sleep of ages. The men nearest the Mikado became imbued with his spirit, and in turn the whole people became aroused. How well the Mikado succeeded was demonstrated in the struggle with China, and when during the Boxer rising the army of the allies marched on Pekin there were no finer troops in the field than those of Japan. The men prided themselves on their efficiency, outrivaled the European troops in discipline, were first in everything, and there were none braver. They were determined on showing the Europeans how excellent they were, and no one could gainsay their estimation of themselves.

Grouped about each of these two central figures stood a notable array of advisers and executors. The following short biographies include those men of mark, who, either in expectation prompted by past heroic deeds, or rising from obscurity by seizing opportunity, held the public attention during the beginning of the war between their two countries.