The Japanese Naval Intelligence Department is, in my opinion, the
best in the world. In the popular view this is the characteristic
of the Russian one; but the Russian Intelligence Department hardly
lives up to its reputation. For the collection of immaterial facts
it is unrivalled, but the little it really gleaned of Japanese war
preparation was amply evidenced in February, 1904.
The Japanese, on the other hand, manage to find out nearly everything.
They have to a marked degree men eminently qualified for the task.
Where other nations employ agents, Japanese naval officers have always
been found ready to serve in the most menial capacities. Both at Port
Arthur and Vladivostok officers served as coolies, or as “native
servants,” being Japanese, Chinese, or Koreans, as it suited their
book. Whether any one man secured really valuable information is
doubtful; the benefits were secured rather by the patient sifting of
everything at Tokio.
It is said that the Japanese torpedo craft reached the Russian
battleships on February 8th by using Russian signals that they had
stolen the secret of. Far more probable is it that they had learned
them by long and patient observation.