Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-04-03

lowing year, when the first rebellion
against the new order of things broke
out he was placed in command of the
army, quickly silencing the uprising.
In the second and greater uprising,
| in 1877, led by his cousin, Count Gener-
al n. Saigo, a remarkable soldier, he
was in the field seven months against
the rebels. In this campaign he dem
onstrated that his new levies of young
men from all classes, but mostly from
commoners, were equal to the Satsu-
ma gentry. Oyama personally led in
the final battle, in which the rebels,
scorning surrender, were annihilated.
Upon his return to Toxic the mikado
personally thanked him, appointed him
to one high military office after another,
and in 1880 made him minister of war.
In 1890 he was made a full general, a
| rank then held only by himself and
Yamagata.
He was in command Of the second
| army of invasion in the war with Chi
ma, conducting the extensive campaign
| that resulted in the capture of the two
1 b I
| and Wei-Hai- Wei, both of which were
considered impregnable.
Oyama's science and gallantry in
| sweeping the Chinese out of Wei-Hai-
Wei and destroying their navy excited
the highest admiration from the for
| eign military and naval observers. Re-
turning once more to Toxic a victor, he
| was laden with honors, was made a
marquis and promoted, with Yamagata,
to the special rank of field marshal.
Oyama made a second tour of Europe
| in 1884, and upon his return inaugural
ed many reforms and improvements in
the Japanese army. He is in the prime
| of life, and is said to nave proved HIM
self to be the best equipped in body and
| mind of all the japanese leaders. He
is especially noted for infusing his own
| confidence into his men, even in the
humblest soldier.
Except as the theater of the great
est battle in modern history and as the
| capital of the province which gave to
China the present Great Pure, Dynas-
ty.' Mukden is not a particularly in
teresting city. Like Picking the old
| capital of the Manchus is walled. it has
its miniature Temple of Heaven and
| other points of similarity; but all it's
glories are Of the past, and in the eyes
of the Chinese government its chief
importance lies in the fact that it is
the guardian of the tomb of the first
great ancestor of the Manchu emper-
ors of China. The tomb of Tai Tsung.
son of Nurhachu, and those of his sue
cessors, lie not in the city, but hidden
in peaceful groves near by, and to the
oriental mind they have Sanctity only
to be comprehended by those who have
learned to know the full significance
of the ancestor worship which is the
basis of the religion of the Monaghan
race
NIkden has, however, an Importance
Of its own. as the city of about 25O, 900
inhabitants, and as the manufacturing
and trading center of the southernmost
Of the three provinces of Manchuria.
that which is by far the best devel-
oped. In addition to being the market
Tor the agricultural population of
Fengtien it has also a considerable
trade in furs and mineral products;
and it is, of course. the seat of the pro-
fincial government. In the innermost
of its nine divisions in an imperial pal
ace. with the usual examination walls
and administrative buildings,
The following comment on the situa-
ton in the Far East is taken from a
personal letter just received from Toxic
by the New York Sun. The writer of
the letter is in close touch with jap
Sny =
opinions are entitled to consideration.
He says:
I do not think the japanese will fol-
low kuropatkin beyond Mukden or
Telling. After they get those places,
in the spring they will probably go for
Vladivostok by sea. landing a cargo
force north or south of it, and isolating
it by cutting the railroad between it
and Hardin. AS soon as navigation
opens-if the Baltic fleet has not come
out. or if it has come and been crippled
or Observation-Disclosures will proba-
bly, be the point of attack. So far as my
information goes. the broad plan is to
hold southern Manchuria, take Vladi-
vostOk. and not follow the Russians
much farther inland. I doubt very
much whether they will go to Hardin,
even If Kuropatkin retreats there.
All they want is Port Arthur. Vladi-
vostok. southern Manchuria and the
sea coast. Their lines of commune
cation will then be short and their po-
sition will be tremendously strong.
This view of the Manchurian situa-
ton is not entirely new, but it is of
interest as the statement of a compe-
tent observer who is in close contact
with Japanese affairs.
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