The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-01-08
JAPAN AND RUSSIA.

are of but little use IN estl;t-e' Inns ''ii~
s claims of international conflicts during
the present century. Naval arcnltec-
ture and ornaments are constantly be
ing changed, to such an extent tnat
many vessels and guns of the modes
of 1894 are obsolete, or nearly So III
1904. There has been a revolution afso
in guns. in drill, and III military tactics
and strategy, which was strikinsiy
exhibited in the Boer War, and .eyen
SINCE that comparatively recent strug-
gle has been steadily proceeding.
war is now a question: first, OF
money; second, of organization ana
third, of brains, not merely in the
governing authorities, but i'll the rank
and file. of an army or a navy. me
time was when the issue of a naval or
a military campaign depended chlehy
on numbers, on bone, Drawn and mus
Gle. propelled by ferocity. In that
period, which covered many ancIen1
and modern centuries, race and m
tliyiduaI characteristics We're discern
BILE. personal heroism was frequently
fsisplayed, and mastery leadership was
on ioccasional occurrence. There were
many battles, in which the slaughter
was tremendous. But, apart from sen
tinents, which are always to be -feas-
ured. and contrasted with the results
III invention, education, and the group
ing of nations in the Twentieth Gem
fury. the wars of the past, however
great in their consequences, We're IN
themselves insignificant. The rout OF
30. O00. Persians by 10000 Greeks, under
Miltiades, at Marathon, the cheek 10
the army of Xerxes, absurdly repre-
scented to have consisted of more tnah
two millions and a half OF men, Ny
three or four hundred Greeks, at the
mass of Thermopylae, where Leonldas
lost his head, but left an imperishapie
memory, the victory of Themlstocles
at shlamis, the intestinal struggles IN
Greece, in which perfunctory blockaaes
sometimes lasted for ten years, are an
historically interesting and morally
and intellectually important but theS
furnish no criteria for present fore-
.aste Won Moltke and his Germans,
urepared and equipped as they We're
for fine German Franco War, would
have enioyed a holiday tour through
ancient Persia or ancient< Greece.
Fsannockburn, Robert Bruce ana his
brave followers could not have lasteo
forlhalf an hour under the fire OF inoo-
ar,,I artillery. At Cressy, or Po1ctlefs'
such a British army as was orgaiiZeo
IN south Africa would have annihfiatea
the French with no appreciate loss.
ns,+,tor4,nefl would have felt like
Y.;f;nutian if he could have walked up
.,,d surveyed an American army on
aitiler side during the Civil War. The
Spanish Armada was dispersed by
storm, but any one of the war vessels
lately in the f1arbor of Honolulu .ouio
have sailed through the midst OF it In
perfect safety or have stood Ell at
distance and blown the entire iieet TO
pieces.
Historical retrospects of military or
help to solve the problem of the out
come of a war between Japan ana
Russia. But there are some develop
rnents in history that bear strongly on
4he origin and nature of the impend-
ing difficulty. For ages the Medlter-
ranean was the seat of power, Intii
after the discovery OF the passage TO
India by Vasco de Cana, when sopaiii'
Portugal, Holland and England trans
9erred the movements of commerce 10
the larger scope of the Atlantlc' ne
gates of Hercules and the Daroaneiles'
notwithstanding the situation OF the
Suez Canal, are of minor consequence
in these days, and there is concur
renee of opinion, fortified by facts, thai
the Pacific is now the theatre OF the
expansion of trade, commerce, ane
civilization.
Confronting each other in Mancnu
ria and Korea, the japanese and th'
Russians represent the antitheses
two conflicting theories of progress
Both are Asiatic, the japanese with
ont serious intermixture and the Rus
slams originally and with some modi
fications, but there the unity ends. IN
japanese, Empire. under American an
British influence, has used Asiati
material but Ang1o-Saxon methods an
has become Identified with moder
thought and with modern aims.
stands today as a sentinel of civiilzs
ton at the door of Asia. 1t has e1
tered into the family of nations.
has adopted the gold standard. 1t hs
made education general and systema
lie. 1t has developed great statesne
1t has organized an army that is con
plete in discipline and equipment. ar