The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1905-05-31
TOGO, VICTOR In GREATEST
MODERN NAVAL BATTLE
Pioneer Of Latest Methods of Fighting
on the sea--Never Beaten
His Life One Of Hardest
Labor.

1t is inevitable that Admiral Togo.
the man OF the hour, should be compared
with Nelson, Farragut, Dewey and every
other great naval commander, yet he
bears little resemblance to any one of
these admirals, not only in character,
but also in the manner in which he
achieved his greatest victories.
It is almost impossible to compare
him with any previous naval genius, for
the reason that the conditions of the
present day are in almost every respect
different from those in which others
have fought and won their fame.
bewey, it is true, had under his COM
mand a fleet OF modern war machines,
but the battle Of Manila Bay was prae-
tlcally bombardment. In fact, there
has been up to Saturday no great mod
ner battle on the sea. Admiral Togo is
the pioneer Of scientific naval warfare.
Like other great men who have gone
down in history famous for their VIC
tories, Admiral Togo il of the silent.
bulldog type who seems to gain no
qualification from whatever personal
glory he may win in his work for his
Mikado, but who pursues his profession
IN the most thorough, business like fash
ION, after the manner of men to whom
the praise of multitudes is as mere
breeze. He is called in the fleet silent
logo and many stories are told Of the
phlegmatic, nonchalant manner in which
he receives and gives momentous orders.
TIC one who knows the japanese char
acter this is not so peculiar, although
to Americans If seems remarkable when
looked upon in the light of history and
the so-called famous answers of some Of
our Generals and AdIniraIs upon their
departure for war.
Admiral Togo was born on Oct IL,
1857, and-~beiongs to the Samuri, the
clan of Satsuma, which means, that al
though he belongs to the gentry of the
land, he Is not noble or one great BY
BIRTH He became a Christian but still
clings to some of the traditions of his
tribe. While youth he was among the
first to be sent to England to study
modern naval construction and tactics
and obtained much Of his foreign ediica-
ton in the English naval college at
Greenwich, serving on the training ship
Worcester on the Thames.
He was, naturally enough, a close stu
dent and upon returning to Japan was
able almost at once to be Influential in
the building up OF modern navy His
very spirit is in the wood and iron and
metal Of the ships which he commanded
to the destruction of the Russian fleet.
In the war between China and Japan
in 1894, Togo was in command Of the
second class cruiser Naniwa, which was
attached to the first flying squadron
that went to China. The young com
mander had reputation of always be
ing on the lookout to strike some thing
or other and it was not long before he
had chance to capture and sink the
transport Kowshing, which had on board
a British captain and crew. His tors
pedoeing Of the vessel was the first ma
val engagement Of the war. When the
war was closed Togo was promoted to
Q Rear-Admiral and put in charge Of
the dock yard at Maizuru.
At the breaking out of the present
war after considerable deiiberation by
the Admiralty at Toxic, Togo was
chosen to command the main fleet Of
Japan. He was present at the battle
of the Yalu river. On Feb. s, 1904, just
after war had been declared between
Japan and Russia he made an attack
upon the Russian squadron in the har
borof Port Arthur and succeeded ia sink
ing a number of the enemy's warships
He made himself famous by the wonder
full snow storm torpedo boat attack
which was looked upon as one Of the
wonders of the war. For months the
Admiral had been on the lookout for
fha Russian Raltia Haaf and fha world
has been looking to the man TO live up
to an already remarkable reputation.
In appearance, Admiral Togo is said
to resemble an old salt to the 'eT.n He
is not tall, neither thin nor fat and
wears full black stubby beard and d
mustache. He has absolute control OF
himself and holds in his own head every
detail of the ships of his fleet. His FAM
lily consists Of wife, three daughters
and a son, the latter OF whom is a stu
dent at the Imperial University at
Toxic.