Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-06
THE POWER Of JAPAN
SURPRISE OF EUROPEANS AT
vALoR OF AsIATIcs.
Patriotism and Courage Of . High
Order-Foresight and
Strategy.
From the London Spectator.

tory Of Europe in Asia has naturally ere
ated an impression that Asiatics, as COM
pared with Europeans, are in great affairs
incompetent. Great Britain has never been
driven back In India, not even in the mutt
n.y. when-her own trained soldiers, in cir
cumstances most favorable for them, es-
sayed the task. Russia has never retreateG
in northern Asia-except once in Kuldja-
and the severity of the occasional resist
ance which she has encountered has to
great extent escaped the notice of the Eu-
ment defeated that of China with a sort Of
diplomatic pat, and established itself in
Shantung without having to fire one shot in
anger. The French defeat by ''the Black
Flags" in 1888 Is forgotten and Indo-China
seems to the world to have been acquired
without any serious fighting. Lastly. the
Boxer uprising in China was put down
without one great battle. composite army
of very moderate strength driving the
mighty Manchu dynasty into flight, and &C.
cupying Picking without siege. and with
out what would in Europe be considered Sc
rious resistance 1t Is not unnatural, there
fore. that continentals, who have not our
knowledge of what Ghoorkas and Sikhs and
half-caste Arabs are really like in battle
should imagine that the Asiatic peoples had
all gone SOFT and were no longer compe-
tent to contend on equal terms with Euro
pean armies. They are aware, no doubt,
that Turks are among the bravest OF man
because the bravest. of pirates; that Eng
lish common soldiers hold the little Ghoor-
kas to be at least their equals: and that
American troops march on Filipino reoels
with no absolute certainty of victory.
Still. the great wobbling. jelly-like Asiatfc
empires have for century or 80 shown
little capacity for strenuous battle, and
continental critics only generalized little
too widely when they included Japan with
in the accepted theory. Their amazement
Is, therefore, natural. more especially as
the Japanese display quality and kind OF
courage of which there are but few In
stances in history Contempt of death like
theirs has hardly been recorded, and they
combine with 1t the rushing daring which
makes a charge so overwhelming to any
but the picked troops Of the world. That
offer of 10000 volunteers to assist in sink
ing the steamers in the entrance to the
harbor of Port Arthur. which involved to
each man almost the certainty of death by
bullet or by drowning. was an incident
which, IL Japan has any sacer Yates. will
live forever In her future history. When
an army Is composed of the men who fill
up for lorn hopes that army will go far.
Even the British. though they understood
much more OF the facts. scarcely expected
such splendid, purposeful valor the
Japanese have exhibited in their recent en-
gagements; and it Is natural that CONT
nentals, who are secretly penetrated
through and through with dread Of Russian
might, should be bewildered by phenome-
non for which they have no precedent.
Japanese Patriotism.
1t is not, however. their daring which is
the really wonderful quality displayed by
the Japanese in their recent actions. by
land as well as by sea- Two other qualities,
each manifested in an extraordinary de-
gree, differentiate them from all other Ash
atics. One is the apparent motive which.
so far as the outside world can perceive,
tny,1fn OF y % %l1;- al.
men. They are patriots in a degree rare
even In Europe. and. SO far as we are
aware, unknown in Asia, except among the
men who defended Jerusalem against Titus.
Patriotism, acute observers have declared,
does not exist in Asia, and until this year
the vast generalization appeared to be at
least specifically true. Asiatics from time
to time have fought magnificently for a
creed. for a sovereign. for a favorite leader,
but of love for their land in the broad
sense. as distinguished from every other
land. 1t Is difficult to find clear traces. The
Chinaman, 1t Is true. boasts of the "fiowery
land" the Arab goes back to his secluded
peninsula Of oasis and desert with feeling
not easily distinguishable from that Of the
Scotsman; and the writer has heard great
Indians speak Of their fertile and varied
peninsula, with its original cities and its
ancient civilzat ion with proprietary pride
None of these races, however, will die for
their country only, or feel It's repute and its
beauty as possessions surprising in init
mate value any other.
The men who offered to sink the steamers
in order to seal up what strategy required
should be sealed offered to die for their
country as readily as any British or Ger
man or French leader of a forlorn hope
The dominance of this feeling gives the
japanese a conference and a perseverance
which of themselves make them among
the most effective of peoples. We speak of
them as little people but they have more
millions than France; and when the grand
eur or the interests Of Japan are concerned
they act and feel one man. That ia
source OF strength which. when they are
once in motion, 1t is impossible to exaR-
gerate
Scientific Provision.
The second quality Is a great, we should
not hesitate to say an unequaled, power of
foresight They prepare everything for
their enterprises with an exact and scian
tine provision which rivals that of the Ger
man stan in its best years. They waited
through ten years of steady preparation to
regain the prizes of their war with China
OF which they had been unfairly deprived
They learned the difficult secret of trans
porting masses of soldiers by sea and land.
Ing them without serious loss: and as they
move forward over the vast regions thew
have entered their supplies their NUM-
lions. their maps are as perfect as il their
regiments were composed Of sappers as
sisting at geographical survey. Just
compare for one instant their readiness
with that of Napoleon III when he de-
clared war on Prussia. of ourselves when
we received the ultimatum from Presi-
dent Kruger, or, to take a more recent in
stance still, of the great military mon
archy of Russia when the first shell fell in
Port Arthur. To us, we confess, this is
the feature Of their recent history which
most decisively separates them from all
Asiatic peoples. who a rule have moved
forward. even in successful wars. without
commissariat, with insufficient reserves of
weapons, and dropping the wounded and
exhausted by thousands they marched
on.
Ard this leads us to the final thought
which we have to put forward today the
doubt whether in calling Japanese Asiatcs
we are not concealing the truth with words
That they are Asiatics by origin Is certain:
but they have stood apart in their islands
for centuries, during which time they have
deye loped and grown up under the pressure
OF a civilization of their own. They have
imbibed, like all other islanders something
from all the forces with which they came
In contact. They have passed, like Euro
peaps, through a heightened feudal period,
ard feudalism breeds at least courage and
the habit Of obedience to accepted leaders.
They have dayalOned an oF their our,