The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-04-15
TOGO THE
ADMIRAL
Something About q
Great Naval
Hero.

Admiral Togo, the man in chief COM
-nand at sea of Japan's spiendlo Meet
IA likely to be one of the foremost hg-
,,res of our time; for on him has de-
volved almost as great responsibility
as fell to the lot of Nelson in our own
national history. 1t is his destiny 10
yield one of the finest, one of the most
formidable instruments ever forged In
her navy Japan has created IN less
than 10 years, a tremendous engnlins
machine. At this perilous Crisis IN hei
fortunes che has chosen TO place tne
.,ork,ne of this machine in the hands
of admiral Togo-a choice, we may We
sure. that has been made with the ut
most deliberation and after a cohpiese
s,,rvav of all the possibilities Of the
situation. japan feels this is matter
in which there must be no mistake
and the unanimous approval OF the
nation expressed on his appointment
to the chief command shows that ne Is
vagardad as the right man in the right
place.
A SIMPLE GENTLEMAN.
Admiral Togo is now about So years
~ age. He is not of princely or noble
birtb but is a. simple gentleman,
zanurai of the great Satsuma cian'
&c so MANY of his fellow officers are.
xsis senior in rank. Admiral Count Ito
fnot to be confused with his nane-
sake. Marquis Ito), who was In cniel |
command of the navy during the Cnino-
Tananese war and is now Chief OF the |
Naval Headquarters Staff in Toxic, is
a,so Satsurna Samurais and formerly
the whole Japanese fleet was officereo
ard manned by the Satsuna, In the
same way that the Japanese army was
drawn from the Choshu clan Nova
DAYS neither navy nor army is entire
~ given over to these, the TWO most
.,ouerf.sl of the clans OF Japan; Dut |
MANY men from all over the Empire
ara Il, be found in both services. When I
Togo entered the navy, however, It's
whole personnel was Satsuiiia. Admiral
Togo received great part of his educa-
tion at the Naval College, Greenwich, =
where he went through the regular
courses of instruction current some 80
od5 wears ago. He thus understands :
a good deal of the history, training,
ana traditions of the British navy, and
he has brought the knowledge thus ac-
daired to bear on his own with excel
lent effect. Returning to Japan, he +
was employed in various capacities. In
1894. when war broke out between Chi
r1a. and Japan, he was in command of
the Naniwa, cruiser OF 1850 tons, one
of the vessels composing what was
then known as the first flying squadron
of the japanese navy. During the war
he greatly distinguished himself, and
earned the reputation of being first +
class fighting man.
SINKING THE KowsHING.
IT was in connection with the episode
Of the sinking of the Kowshing that
his name first came into worldwide
prominence. At the time some adverse
criticisms of his action on that occa-
sion were heard. but these died away
on a fuller knowledge of the circum-
stances. The story reveals something
of the character OF the man, so it is
worth telling again. 1t was wearing
on in the year 1894 Though there had
been no actual declaration of war, It
was evident enough that Japan and
lh1na were ABOUT TO ugnt over Korea.
Warships had been assembled, and
large bodies of troops were either on
the field or were on the way to the
scene of conflict. The Kowshing. a
transport vessel flying the British flag,
with a British captain and crew. and
carrying some HOO Chinese soldiers for
Asan. was met by Togo in the Mani
wa, who signalled to her by firing two
ii IL e-fe