Act of 1903 sufficed to show that the splendid promise of that
measure could not be realized satisfactorily without
fundamental changes in its plan. By that time the agreements
effected between landlords and tenants for transfers of land
from the former to the latter called for purchase payments far
in excess of the sums which the Act had provided for supplying
at so early a stage of the operation. The process of transfer
was checked and the feelings that helped it on were chilled by
increasing delays in the completion of transactions when
begun.
But this was not the worst disappointment in the working of
the Act. Another more serious is charged to the cupidity of
landlords in the poorer counties of the west. In the article
by Mr. Thomas W. Russell from which a quotation is given above
he explains it as follows:
{334}
"It was quite impossible to apply the same rule to Connaught
and to other similar areas as to Ulster, Leinster, and
Munster. In the west the holdings are small and hopelessly
uneconomic in their character. Parliament felt, and rightly
so, that to make the occupier of a five-acre bog holding an
owner was to do him no good. Such a feat in statesmanship
merely freed the western landlord from a risky security and
transferred the risk to the state. It was, therefore, enacted
that the large grass holdings which abound in that region,—and
which are held by graziers on a tenure of eleven months, the
object of the term being to avoid the creation of a tenancy,
—should be bought and wherever possible should be distributed
among the small holders, thus rendering a decent living
possible. And in several cases this has been successfully done
by the congested districts board, with the very best results.
… The landlords as a whole professed at the land conference
and in Parliament their entire willingness to sell, provided
they received a price equivalent when securely invested to
their second-term net income. To enable this to be done the
bonus of £12,000,000 was sanctioned by Parliament. The whole
thing was a bargain—a clear case of contract. And what the
western landlords have been guilty of is a simple breach of
faith. They are quite ready to sell the bog holdings, the
barren mountain tracts out of which a decent living cannot be
had, demanding for this wretched land in many cases more than
is being asked in Antrim and Down for the best land in these
counties. But the grass ranches they refuse to part with. And
so the whole plan of the act,—the whole scheme for the
re-settling of the land, and raising the station of the small
holder,—has been brought to naught.
"In this connection another difficulty has arisen. When the
western sections of the act were being passed, Mr.
Wyndham,—who was in grim earnest about these poor
people,—provided for the sale of congested estates to the
estates commissioners or to the congested districts board.
Special inducements were given to sales under these sections.
The cost of sale was borne almost entirely by the state, and
the commissioners were authorized in such cases to spend money
upon the improvement of the holdings. The policy was
excellent. But the landlords have ruined it. They quickly
discovered that if they sold to the estates commissioners the
land would be inspected by an expert valuer, and its price
would depend upon its value. This was not their idea of how
things should be done. They preferred to sell to the tenant
direct, against whom they could use the screw of arrears of
rent, and from whom they could exact a higher price. Hardly a
case of sale to the estates commissioners has taken place
under these well-meant sections. And for the reasons stated. …
The fact is, compulsory powers of purchase in all such cases
ought to have been frankly given. But to mention the word
compulsion to the then chief secretary was to send him into a
fury. He would not hear of it."
_T. W. Russell,
Workings of the Irish Land Purchase Act
(American Review of Reviews, November, 1905)._
IRELAND: A. D. 1905.
Formation of the Sinn Fein Party.
"While the outside world was looking to the Irish
Parliamentary Party as the guardian of the national conscience
of Ireland, a Young Ireland Party, determined, virile,
thoughtful, idealistic and, strange though it may seem,
practical, was gradually forming, becoming a power, sweeping
away outworn ideas, preaching new and putting them into
practice, and working wonders in the revival of a genuine
national spirit throughout the country. … Naturally, and very
gradually, the various units gravitated toward one another;
and, less than two years ago, under the guidance of a Dublin
boy named Arthur Griffith, they elected a National Council,
and formed themselves into a party known as the ‘Sinn Fein
Party,’ which included probably three-fourths of the national
thinkers in Ireland. Since its inception, the Sinn Fein Party
has been rapidly gaining power, raising itself upon the ruins
of a fast crumbling Parliamentary agitation, and eventually
leaping into greater popular prestige when, recently, the
ludicrous Irish Councils Bill was submitted to the nation as
the fruits of a generation of Parliamentary agitation.
"'_Sinn Fein_' is Gaelic for 'Ourselves.' The doctrine of
the Sinn Fein Party is that the salvation of a nation is to be
wrought out by the people and upon the soil of that nation,
and it holds that ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ It
asks Ireland to cultivate, what for a long time it neglected,
self-reliance, and aims at regenerating the Irish nation, not
merely politically, but also linguistically, industrially,
educationally, morally and socially. Almost all preceding
national movements made the grave mistake of considering
politics coincident with patriotism; the Sinn Fein policy
provides for all-round upbuilding of the nation, and is
successfully working along many lines on which no political
movement touched before."
_Seumas MacManus,
Sinn Fein
(North American Review, August, 1907)._
IRELAND: A. D. 1905 (December).
Change of Government.
On the change of government which took place in the United
Kingdom in December, Mr. Balfour resigning the Premiership and
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman forming a Liberal Ministry, the
Earl of Aberdeen was appointed Lord Lieutenant and Mr. James
Bryce Chief Secretary for Ireland.
IRELAND: A. D. 1907.
Effects of the Land Purchase Act as seen by
a revisiting Irishman.
Notwithstanding the defects in the working of the Land
Purchase Act, as described above, Mr. T. P. O’Connor, the
well-known Irish journalist in London, on returning from a
visit to Ireland in the spring of 1907 after a somewhat
protracted absence, wrote enthusiastically to the New York
Tribune of the happy wakening he had found in the country to a
new life. "You are seeing in Ireland," said a lady to him,
"not merely a revolution but a renaissance," and he found her
characterization to be true. He concludes, too, that there was
no exaggeration in her further remark, that "so much is going
on in Ireland now that you dare n’t leave it even for a
month." "Everybody," writes Mr. O’Connor, "seemed to be doing
something and something new for Ireland"; with Catholics and
Protestants working together, as they have never worked
before. And the main cause of this "renaissance" is traceable
to the working of the Land Purchase Act of 1903. Already, says
Mr. O’Connor, under the working of this splendid measure,
nearly half the soil of Ireland has changed hands, and "the
second half will be transferred at a much accelerated speed."
{335}
"For seven centuries there has been a continual, a bloody, a
desperate war in Ireland between two races, and the prize for
which they fought—was the land. … And now, at last, before our
own eyes, in this generation of men to which we belong, this
secular struggle is at an end; the battle has been fought and
has been won; the land belongs again to the ancient Celtic
race from which it was stolen centuries ago. … If you want to
realize further what all this means, do not forget that these
people who are now brought into full liberty are able to
appreciate it the more from the fact that the greater part of
them were born into slavery, and know all that slavery means.
I myself, though no septuagenarian, can remember the time when
the Irish farmers were driven to the polls to vote for their
landlords like so many cattle. I remember the poor, wretched,
cringing slaves which they had to be in those not very far off
days; how they bowed and cried, ‘Yer Honor,’ at every second
word; and how, in fact, they revealed by their outward bearing
the knowledge that when they stood in the presence of the
landlord they were confronted by the master of their life or
death.
"The despair of the impossible situation in the Ireland of 40
or 50 years ago was worse almost than the servitude. There was
no room left for hope in a system which permitted the landlord
to rob the tenant of every addition the latter made to the
wealth of the soil; and there could be no hope or prospect in
a system which kept the tenant liable to eviction from his
holding whenever the landlord wished to do so. And now realize
that on half the soil of Ireland the people never see a
landlord or a landlord’s representative; that every year
brings them nearer to the time when they will be the absolute
owners of their holdings; but they know that their children
will secure full possession and complete ownership if they do
not, and you can understand what a new strong tide of hope and
exultation there must be in the breasts of these people."
IRELAND: A. D. 1907.
The Evicted Tenants Act.
The healing of an Irish Sore of Twenty Years.
"The passing of the Evicted Tenants Act in the recent session,
defective though it may be in one respect, is an admission on
the part of all parties in Parliament that a long pending
Irish controversy must be closed, and that the demand
persistently and pertinaciously made by the great majority of
the Irish members and people for over twenty years for the
reinstatement of a large body of evicted tenants must be
conceded. …
"The wholesale evictions of tenants, whom it is now decided to
reinstate, were primarily due to the agricultural crisis of
1885, when the great fall of price of Irish farm produce
commenced. This averaged not less than 20 to 30 per cent. in
respect of cattle and dairy produce, the main sources of
income to Irish farmers. Tenants for the most part paid their
rents in that year, hoping for better times, but many who
lived from hand to mouth, with little or no margin, fell into
arrears. The position was far worse in the following year,
when it became clear that the fall of prices was a permanent
one. The Land Court recognised this by fixing judicial rents
at 18 to 20 per cent. less than those fixed between 1881 and
1885. An universal demand consequently arose on the part of
all other tenants for a reduction of rent in proportion to the
new range of prices. They claimed this not only in the case of
yearly tenancies, but of holdings where judicial rents had
been adjudicated before 1885, and of holdings under leases.
The majority of Irish land-owners in 1886 recognised the
justice of the claim, and allowed rebatements of rent,
averaging between 20 and 30 per cent. in respect of all
classes of holdings. The claim of the tenants was not for the
forbearance of the land-owners, but was founded on right, on
the traditional claim to a property in their holdings—a claim
to which the Land Act of 1881 had given Parliamentary and
legal sanction. That great agrarian Act had in fact
established Dual Ownerships of land in Ireland. It secured to
the occupiers a property in their holdings by enabling them to
appeal to a Land Court for the settlement of rent, and by
giving them fixity of tenure and the right of bequeathing or
assigning their interests. Beneficent and generous as the Act
was, it had serious defects. …
"As a result of these defects the Land Act of 1881, great as
it was in principle, did not afford a sufficient remedy in the
crisis caused by the great fall of prices in 1885-1886. A
minority of Irish landowners refused to follow the example of
the larger and better class of owners, and to make rebatements
of rent in 1886. They justified their refusal on the ground
that since the Act of 1881 the tenants had no longer a claim
for forbearance in respect of rent. They insisted, therefore,
on full payment, and began to evict on a large scale those in
default. …
"Numerous combinations of tenants were formed to refuse full
payment of rent and to resist evictions to the utmost. With
the object of assisting and strengthening resistance of the
tenants, a new form of combination was devised by Mr. T.
Harrington, M. P., known as the ‘Plan of Campaign.’ The
essential feature of it was the payment by the tenants of an
estate adopting it of 50 per cent. of the rent due into a
common fund, to be administered by a committee of tenants for
the purpose of resisting eviction, and supporting the evicted
families. The fund thus created was beyond the reach of the
landowners and of the individual members of the combination.
It afforded, therefore, great security for the maintenance of
the combination.
"The tenants, before adopting the plan, were advised to offer
arbitration of their rents to their landlords. If evictions
took place the tenants were to stand by one another, and not
to come to agreement with their landlords, except upon terms
that the evicted men were to be reinstated in their holdings.
Those taking farms from which tenants were evicted were to be
rigidly boycotted.
"The plan thus devised was commended to the tenants of
Ireland, where landowners refused reasonable abatements of
rents, by many of the Irish members, such as Mr. Dillon, Mr.
W. O’Brien, and others. … Mr. Parnell held aloof from it, not
so much from disapproval of its method, as from fear that it
might injure the Home Rule cause with English constituencies.
Many of the Catholic Bishops expressed their disapproval. It
was denounced by the Government as a fraudulent and dishonest
attempt to break contracts. They prosecuted Mr. Dillon and
other leaders for conspiracy under the ordinary law. The Irish
judges pronounced the scheme of combination to be a criminal
conspiracy on the ground that it subjected landlords to
unlawful pressure. …
{336}
"By the commencement of the session of 1887 the Royal
Commission appointed by the Government to report on
agricultural prices and the claim for a revision of judicial
rents, presided over by Lord Cowper, an ex-Lord Lieutenant,
reported in favour of all that had been contended for by Mr.
Parnell in his Bill of the previous year. They emphatically
affirmed that a great and permanent fall of prices had taken
place. They advised that judicial rents, fixed before the year
1885, should be revised and reduced, and that leaseholders
should be admitted to the privileges of judicial rents. The
Government, at the instance, as it is believed, of Mr.
Chamberlain and the Liberal Unionists, were compelled to
legislate in accordance with this report. …
"This measure, which so greatly extended the Act of 1881, was
accompanied by a new Coercion Act dispensing with trial by
jury in agrarian cases, and enabling resident magistrates—mere
nominees of the Government—to try and convict in such cases.
…
"The Act of 1887, by providing a legal alternative, put an end
to further combinations of tenants. The Plan of Campaign was
not adopted in any fresh cases. It had been put in force on
111 estates where the owners refused general abatements of
rent. In 94 of these it had the effect of inducing the owners
to come to terms with their tenants for reductions of rent of
a reasonable character and sufficient to avoid further
trouble. In seventeen estates only the owners were obdurate,
and declared war against their tenants. …
"After the passing of the Coercion Act wholesale evictions
were resumed on the Campaign estates, and were supported by
all the forces at the disposal of the Government. … In 1891, a
great step was taken by the late Government in the direction
of a more conciliatory attitude to the evicted tenants. In the
Land Purchase Act of that year a clause was inserted enabling
the Land Commissioners to admit the evicted tenants as
purchasers of holdings, where their former landlords agreed to
their reinstatement. The clause was to have effect for one
year only, and very few transactions took place under it. …
"Nothing more was done till 1903. Meanwhile this Irish sore
remained unhealed. The evicted men continued to live in
temporary dwellings near to their former homes, patiently
expecting reinstatement at some future time. Nor have they
been mistaken in this respect, though many of them had to wait
nine more years, and the remainder still longer.
"In 1903 it became advisable for the Tory Government to bid
for the support of the Irish Nationalists for Mr. Wyndham’s
measure aiming at an universal scheme of land purchase in
Ireland—a scheme offering very great inducements to landlords
to sell to their tenants. It was again provided in this Act
that the evicted tenants might be reinstated, not as tenants,
but as owners by purchase of their former holdings, Provision
was made for the advance of money from an Irish fund for
buying out the Planters, for rebuilding the houses of the
evicted men, for restocking their farms, and for buying
untenanted land on which to replace the evicted men, where it
was not possible to reinstate them in their former farms. … As
a result, however, all the remaining Campaign estates except
two were dealt with under this Act, and nearly all the men
evicted from them were reinstated on the most favourable
terms. …
"The Act of 1903, however generous and successful so far as it
went, failed to deal with the whole case. It is wanting in
backbone—in coercive power as against a residuum of
landowners. Two Campaign estates—the Clanricarde and the Lewis
estates—remained undealt with, and about 2000 tenants evicted
from other, not Campaign, estates were left out in the cold.
It was to supply coercive power for dealing with these
remaining cases that the recent Act was passed."
_Eversley,
The Evicted Tenants (Ireland) Act
(Fortnightly Review, December, 1907)._
IRELAND: A. D. 1907 (May).
Proposed Bill for the creation of a Representative Council.
Rejected by the National Party.
Abandoned by the Government.
A Bill proposing half-way progress toward Home Rule for
Ireland was introduced in the British Parliament by the Chief
Secretary for Ireland, Mr. Augustine Birrell, in May, 1907.
Its main feature was the creation of a Representative Council,
not to be legislative in function, but having large
administrative powers. This Council was to consist of 107
members, eighty-two elected by the Irish householders
(including peers and women), and twenty-five nominated by the
crown. Eight of the existing Irish departments, including
agriculture, public works, congested districts, and the
registrar’s office were placed under its control and a new
one, the education department, created. In addition to the
$10,000,000 of annual expenditure controlled by these
departments, the bill provided for an increase of $3,250,000
to be spent on public works and "general improvement." The
provisions of the Bill did not extend to the constabulary, the
courts, the prisons, or the Land Commission. The Lord
Lieutenant was to have general supervisory control.
Apparently the Liberal Ministry had been led to expect that
Mr. John Redmond and other leaders of the Irish National Party
would accept this measure, as an installment of the
self-government they claimed for Ireland. If so, then the
leaders who encouraged that expectation were overborne by
their followers, for the Bill was denounced and rejected, on
motion of Mr. Redmond, at a convention of the National Party,
in Dublin, on the 21st of May, and was therefore withdrawn.
In offering this plan of government the English Liberals had
turned back to what was the original Gladstone project of
Irish home rule, contemplated and discussed, without result,
by the Liberal cabinet in 1885. As Mr. Morley relates in his
Life of Gladstone, there were two main opinions in the cabinet
at that time: "One favored the erection of a system of
representative county government in Ireland. The other view
was, that besides the county boards, there should be in
addition a central board for all Ireland, essentially
municipal and not political; in the main executive and
administrative, but also with a power to make bye-laws, raise
funds, and pledge public credit in such modes as parliament
should provide.
{337}
The central board would take over education, primary, in part
intermediate, and perhaps even higher; poor law and sanitary
administration; and public works. The whole charge of justice,
police, and prisons would remain with the executive."
This defines, practically, a measure of home rule within the
same limits that Mr. Birrell proposed. It appears to have been
suggested to Mr. Gladstone by Mr. Chamberlain and to have been
accepted by the premier, with the understanding that it would
satisfy Mr. Parnell, for the time being, at least. It was not
acceptable, however, to a majority of the Cabinet, and, when
rejected, Gladstone remarked bitterly to one of his
colleagues: "Within six years, if it please God to spare their
lives, they will be repenting in sackcloth and ashes." The
wearing of the sackcloth was not postponed so long.
IRELAND: A. D. 1909.
Amended Land Purchase Act.
The defects which have been noted above in the very promising
Land Purchase Act of 1903 raised increasing difficulties in
the operation of it, until the pressing need of amendatory
legislation was acknowledged by all parties. Wide differences
of view, however, between different interests involved made
the attainment of such legislation no easy task. A Bill for
the purpose, brought forward in the autumn of 1908, by the
Chief Secretary for Ireland, Mr. Birrell, was pushed over into
the next session, and reintroduced in March, 1909. Mr. Birrell
then reviewed the circumstances which had rendered amendments
of the Act necessary, stating that "28 millions had now been
advanced for land purchase, and that there were pending
agreements involving the advance of 56 millions. The total
acreage of the land sold and agreed to be sold exceeded
7,000,000 acres. The country was now in the very middle of
this great agrarian revolution. Mr. Wyndham, the author of the
Act of 1903, thought that £100,000,000 would suffice to carry
this revolution through, but already £84,000,000 had been
accounted for and there was every reason for supposing that
Mr. Wyndham’s estimate should have been £183,000,000. With
regard to the loss on the flotation of land stock, he
expressed the opinion that for a decade, at any rate, it would
be unsafe to assume that a higher issue price would be
obtained than £85, and he calculated that if nothing were done
a charge of £855,000 annually would eventually have to be made
good by the ratepayers. It was impossible to expect them to
bear this enormous burden, and if the law were not amended the
scheme of land purchase must break down. His proposal in
regard to the bonus was that, instead of fixing it at 3 per
cent., it should be paid according to a scale under which the
lower the price given for the land the higher would be the
bonus. For this at least £3,000,000 would be required over and
above the original £12,000,000. By this Bill the Exchequer was
assuming, everything considered, a total capital liability of
about £30,000,000. Calling attention to the principal
provisions of the Bill, he reminded the House that landlords
were empowered to take payment partly in cash and partly in
stock at 92. He then mentioned the steps that were being taken
to accelerate the work of the Estates Commissioners and stated
that advances to the amount of £10,000,000 were never likely
to be exceeded in one year; they now had reached £8,000,000."
On a question arising as to one part, called a "bonus,"
provided for in the transaction of purchase, Mr. Wyndham, who
had been Chief Secretary in 1903, and author of the original
Act, said. "Some honourable members sitting for English
constituencies might think that the bonus was not necessary.
They might think that if the State lent its credit, landlord
and tenant could come to terms, and that the bonus was
something thrown in as a sop to the landlords. If the transfer
of land in Ireland were sporadic, he agreed that landlords
might sell without the assistance of a direct bonus from the
State. The question to be solved in Ireland, however, was that
of the general transfer of ownership of land throughout the
country, and that, broadly speaking, could not be effected
unless the present owners received an equivalent to the income
which they now enjoyed. In the past nearly all the cases of
the sporadic transfer of ownership of land had been got rid
of, and there were now left those cases which could not be
dealt with unless a bonus were given. It had been generally
recognized by all parties that a bonus should be given rather
than that the land difficulties in Ireland should continue,
and six years ago the decision arrived at was supported by the
unanimous opinion of all parties in the House. Now it was
proposed that the method of giving a substantial bonus at a
uniform rate should be set aside in such a way as to increase
the discrepancy between pending and future agreements. Already
by altering the rate of instalments in future agreements, and
by giving stock instead of cash, they had created a wide
difference between the two classes. On the top of that they
were now going to do away with the bonuses and apply a method
which he thought he would be able to show would prove most
injurious; and if it did prove injurious, it would touch the
cardinal point in the whole matter."
Mr. Wyndham opposed the new Bill on this point, apparently
without success. Strong opposition to a grant of the power of
compulsory purchase which the Bill embodied was raised, in the
House of Commons, as well as ultimately in the House of Lords.
Its contemplated changes in dealing with what are called
"congested estates" and "congested districts," being those in
which the holdings of tenants are too small to yield a decent
living, were also a subject of criticism and opposition.
The Bill received some amendment in the House of Commons,
before having its third reading and passage on the 18th of
September. In the House of Lords it met with harder treatment,
and was returned to the Commons with amendments which the
latter rejected _in toto_. Informal conferences brought
about an accommodation of the differences between the two
Houses and placed the Act on the statute book. The peers
yielded on the question of compulsory purchase, as well as
with regard to the tribunal which should have a deciding
authority in the matter, these being the two points most in
dispute.
IRELAND: A. D. 1909 (January).
Disclosures of Poverty by the Old Age Pensions Act.
See (in this Volume)
POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF: PENSIONS.
IRELAND: A. D. 1909 (October).
Organization of the two new Irish Universities.
See (in this Volume)
Education: Ireland.
{338}
IROQUOIS THEATER, Burning of the.
See (in this Volume)
CHICAGO: A. D. 1903.
IRRIGATION.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES.
ISLE OF PINES:
United States Supreme Court Decision concerning.
See (in this Volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1907 (APRIL).
ISTHMIAN CANAL.
See (in this Volume)
PANAMA CANAL.
ISVOLSKY, Alexander: Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
His Aide Memoire on Macedonian Affairs.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER).
ISVOLSKY, Alexander:
Convention with Great Britain.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1907 (AUGUST).
ITAGAKI, Count.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1903 (JUNE).
----------ITALY: Start--------
ITALY: A. D. 1870-1905.
Increase of Population compared with other European Countries.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1870-1905.
ITALY: A. D. 1901.
The First Year of the Reign of King Victor Emmanuel III.
Greatly improved conditions.
Restored Liberty of Speech and Meeting.
Neutrality of Government in Labor Disputes.
Zanardelli and Giolitti in the Ministry.
In the early months of 1901, when Volume VI. of this work went
to press, Italy was in an uncertain and anxious state. It had
not recovered from the shock of the assassination of King
Humbert, and could not foresee what length the sobering
effects of that tragedy would have. It had hope that the new
reign just beginning would quiet the dreadful disorders that
had become rife in Parliament and in the country at large, but
fear to the contrary was more than equal, perhaps, to the
hope. Happily it was the hope that found justification within
the passing year, as will be learned from the following report
of conditions, published in the last month of 1901:
"Those who expected that King Victor Emmanuel III’s reign
would be coincident with a marked improvement in Italy, have
so far been amply justified. Few ventured to hope that his
Liberal Ministry under Signors Zanardelli and Giolitti would
weather a Parliamentary session. As it is, despite some
weakness and a few mistakes, it has come out triumphant.
Compared with eighteen months ago, Italian politics have
undergone what is little less than a revolution. The closing
months of the last reign saw the most dangerous constitutional
crisis that United Italy has known. A reactionary Government
was threatening Parliamentary liberty; the Liberals and
Socialists were making a desperate stand, which at all events
preserved the Constitution, and perhaps saved Italy from
revolution. Now the signs of danger have almost passed. The
Crown is fast getting back its popularity. Parliament is
asserting itself as it has not done for many years, and is
able to give its time to quiet, useful work. The Extreme Left,
stubbornly obstructionist last year, is giving an independent
but fairly cordial support to the Ministry. Outside Parliament
Italians have for once a government ‘which allows them to
breathe and move and speak.’ For the first time since Crispi
introduced coercion, seven years ago, there is liberty of
speech and public meeting. Still, occasionally, the
unteachable censorship suppresses an issue of some democratic
paper. But there is no prosecution for political speeches, no
arbitrary political imprisonment, no harrying of cooperative
or benefit societies from empty fear of political designs or
at the bidding of shopkeepers.
"But this is of small account beside the altered attitude of
the Government towards labour questions. Hitherto its
influence had been always more or less on the side of the
employers. Trade Unions were dissolved and sometimes their
members arrested; their organisers were imprisoned for
‘exciting to class-hatred,’ and under the military courts of
1898 it was an offence to plead, however moderately, in
defence of the claims of labour. When the agricultural
labourers of the lower Po valley struck for a living wage, the
Government sent soldiers to reap the crops. Suddenly and
radically all this has changed. At last the law is observed,
and Trade Unions are allowed the legal sanction which
nominally they have had for years. The Government has
announced its neutrality in labour disputes, so long as there
is no violence or interference with individual liberty. The
result has been an epidemic of strikes. The Italian working
man, long cowed by his powerlessness before the alliance of
employer and Government, is using his new freedom to raise his
miserable wage. Signor Giolitti estimated in the middle of
last June that since the beginning of the year there had been
511 strikes, affecting 600,000 workmen (a number almost
unparalleled even in England) and resulting in an increase of
wages by nearly £2,000,000, a huge sum in poverty-stricken
Italy. Probably by now the total of strikers has reached a
figure which has never been equalled within a year in any
European country. … Thanks to the vigorous advocacy of
arbitration by the Chambers of Labour, the urban strikes have
generally been short, and, so far as I know, except for some
not very serious trouble at Naples, there has been no case of
disorder in them."
_Bolton King,
The New Reign in Italy
(Contemporary Review, December, 1901)._
ITALY: A. D. 1902 (June).
Renewal of the Triple Alliance.
See (in this Volume)
TRIPLE ALLIANCE.
ITALY: A. D. 1902-1904.
Coercive Proceedings against Venezuela concerted with
Great Britain and Germany.
Settlement of claims secured.
Reference to The Hague.
See (in this Volume)
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1902-1904.
ITALY: A. D. 1903 (March).
General Strike in Rome.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: ITALY.
ITALY: A. D. 1903 (October).
Change of Ministry.
Signor Giuseppe Zanardelli, President of the Council, or
Premier, since February, 1901, gave his resignation to the
King in October, 1903, on account of ill-health, and a new
Ministry was formed by Signor Giolitti, who had been Minister
of the interior in the administration of Zanardelli, and who
still retained that portfolio after assuming the presidency of
the Council.
ITALY: A. D. 1903-1905.
Initiation of the International Institute of Agriculture
by the King.
See (in this Volume)
AGRICULTURE.
ITALY: A. D. 1904.
Tokens of a Disposition to bring the Church and the
State into better Accord.
Several marked tokens of a conciliatory disposition on both
sides of the long break in relations between the Papacy and
the Government of the Kingdom of Italy appeared in the course
of the year 1904. The Government brought in a bill for
increasing the public salaries of curés. Its diplomatic agents
in South America were instructed to give attention to a Papal
nuncio who travelled thither on a mission from the Vatican as
though he represented the King. The King conveyed a piece of
ground to the Pope which enlarged his domain. A Cardinal took
part in a reception to the King at Bologna and sat at table
with them. These were such amenities between the royal and
pontifical courts as had not been seen for a generation, and
they seemed to bear much significance; but little came from
them in the end.
{339}
ITALY: A. D. 1904 (October-December).
Dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies.
The Government sustained in the Elections.
Increased Participation by the Catholics.
The Chamber of Deputies was dissolved by royal decree on the
17th of October, and elections appointed to be held on the 6th
and 13th of November. The canvass was more animated than
usual, Catholics taking part in it, and in the subsequent
voting, more numerously than hitherto. The Ministry of Premier
Giolitti, representing the Liberals and Moderates in politics,
between groups of the extreme Right and Left, secured a strong
majority. Those of the Left lost a number of seats, though the
Socialists claimed to have made large gains in the popular
vote.
ITALY: A. D. 1905.
Effect of the Russo-Japanese War on the Triple Alliance.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1904-1909.
ITALY: A. D. 1905.
Action with other Powers in forcing Financial Reforms
in Macedonia on Turkey.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1905-1908.
ITALY: A. D. 1905 (September).
Earthquake in Calabria.
See (in this Volume)
EARTHQUAKES.
ITALY: A. D. 1905-1906.
Illness and Retirement of Premier Giolitti.
The Fortis and Sonnino Ministries.
The Demoralized Railway Service.
Catholic Abstention from Politics relaxed.
Return of Giolitti to Power.
The Italian Premier, Signor Giolitti, was forced by illness to
withdraw from office early in the year, and Signor Fortis was
commissioned by the King to form a new Ministry. He did not
succeed, and Signor Tittoni was then required by the King to
take the lead in Government with the late colleagues of Signor
Giolitti. Tittoni soon resigned, however, and Fortis was again
called, late in March, to form a Cabinet, which he now found
himself able to do. In the following December, however, a
reconstruction of the Fortis Ministry occurred, the King
requiring the Premier to retain his place, while his
colleagues were partly changed.
Throughout the year the Government and the country were
greatly troubled by a general demoralization in the management
and service of the railways. Travel and freight transportation
were exasperatingly delayed; accidents were of constant
occurrence, and strikes, having no result but the public
affliction, were repeated again and again.
Early in the summer an encyclical on the attitude to be taken
by the faithful in political controversies was addressed to
the Italian bishops by the Pope. Not distinctly, but by
inference, it was taken to be a relaxation of the policy of
abstention from politics, and to prompt political action by
Catholics, but always under clerical guidance and advice.
The Fortis Ministry held its ground in the Government, against
much attack, until February, 1906, when it lost the support of
a majority in the Chamber, and gave place to a coalition
Cabinet formed by Signor Sonnino, which conducted the
administration till the following May, when, on a question of
the purchase of the Southern railways, it suffered defeat.
Whereupon Signor Giolitti returned to power, in the face of a
threat from the employees of the railways that they would
proclaim a general strike if he took up the reins again. The
strike did not occur, and a notable access of vigor and
activity of Government appeared.
ITALY: A. D. 1906.
At the Algeciras Conference on the Morocco Question.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906.
ITALY: A. D. 1906 (April).
Violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
See (in this Volume)
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.
ITALY: A. D. 1906-1909.
The Giolitti Administration.
Its recent resignation.
The Giolitti Ministry was maintained in the direction of the
Government for nearly four years, by virtue of the energetic
and efficient administration it conducted. Its capabilities
were demonstrated somewhat notably before the close of 1906,
by the conversion of the Italian rentes (Government bonds)
from 4 to 3 per cent.,—a financial operation which had been
discussed and fumbled over, apparently, for a long time.
Premier Giolitti brought the question to a determination in
the Chamber after less than one day of debate; and the
conversion of 8,000,000,000fr. of national debt was so readily
accepted by the rente-holders that only 1,700,000fr. needed to
be paid off.
Relations between the Government and the Papacy were improved
by the breach of the latter with France, which led to the
substitution of Italy for France as the protector of Catholics
and Catholic interests in the Empire of the Turks. This was
not, however, agreeable to Austria, and began a coolness
between these two of the parties to the Triple Alliance which
all the disturbing occurrences in the Near East have tended
since to increase. The Alliance with Austria and Germany had
been renewed in 1902; but there have been several occasions
within the past three years on which Italian ill-feeling
toward the former has flamed out quite threateningly in Press
and Parliament, and sometimes in popular demonstrations.
A disturbing agitation of the question of religious
instruction in the schools occurred in 1908, bringing demands
from anti-clerical parties for its prohibition; but the
Government was upheld in refusing such action. A disturbing
excitement in Sicily was produced that year by the conviction,
after a much prolonged and sensational trial, of Signor Nasi,
ex Minister of Public Instruction, on charges of embezzlement
of public moneys. The convicted Minister was a Sicilian, and
his fellow-countrymen resented the prosecution of him as an
indignity to themselves. To pacify them, Signor Nasi, after a
short detention in his own house, had the remainder of his
sentence of imprisonment remitted.
The Giolitti Ministry came to its end somewhat unexpectedly on
the 2d of December, 1909. It had brought forward, not long
before, a Bill embodying proposals for the reform of taxation,
avowedly to transfer some larger proportion of its burden from
the poor to the rich, especially by death duties and income
taxes. When the election of a committee to deal with the Bill
occurred December 2, the opponents of the Government secured a
majority, whereupon Premier Giolitti and his Cabinet resigned.
A new Ministry was formed, under Baron Sonnino, the leader of
the Opposition. The parliamentary support it must depend on is
said to be made up of extremely contradictory elements.
{340}
ITALY: A. D. 1908.
Falling off in Emigration.
See (in this Volume)
IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION: ITALY.
ITALY: A. D. 1908 (December).
The Awful Destruction of Messina and Reggio by Earthquake.
See (in this Volume)
EARTHQUAKES: ITALY.
ITALY: A. D. 1908.
Election of a Jewish Mayor of Rome.
Whether specially significant or not, the election in Rome, in
1908, of Ernesto Nathan, a Jew and an ex-Grand Master of the
Order of Free Masons, to be Mayor of the City, was an event
which excited wide interest and remark. Mr. Nathan’s birth,
and his education partly, were in England, but he acquired
citizenship in Italy, and rose in reputation and influence at
Rome, until he had become the leading figure in the hard
fought municipal election of the winter of 1908, which
defeated the Church party and elected sixty Radical members
out of eighty composing the City Council. The Mayor is elected
by the Council, and it gave the office to Nathan.
ITALY: A. D. 1909.
Church Movement of Agricultural Labor Organization.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: ITALY.
ITALY: A. D. 1909.
Tardy Construction of "Dreadnoughts."
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL.
ITALY: A. D. 1909 (March).
Parliamentary Elections.
Socialist, Republican, Radical, and Catholic Gains.
Conservative Losses.
Large, but Reduced Majority for the Government.
Extensive changes in the representation of the numerous
parties in Italian politics resulted from the Parliamentary
elections held in March, 1909. As finally reported, after
seventy four second ballots had been taken, the outcome was as
follows:
From seven Deputies the Catholics rose to 24. The Socialists
went up from 26 to 42, the extreme Radicals from 32 to 42, and
the Republicans from 19 to 24. The parties of the Extreme Left
had thus risen from 77 to 108. The Moderate Liberals, or
Constitutional Opposition, as they call themselves, declined
the most, numbering between 60 and 70. But the gains made by
the parties of the extreme Left had only recovered for them
the ground they had lost in the election of 1904.
"An interesting feature of the elections is that the Pope’s
supporters are said to have taken a more active part than they
have done since the beginning of united Italy. The Papal
inhibition against going to the polls was removed in
seventy-two constituencies, or one-seventh of the whole number
voting. The result has been no gain in Rome, where the
Anti-Clerical bloc repeated its victories of the preceding
year, and a fairly slight gain in the rural districts. In
general, it may be questioned whether the Papal _non
expedit_ has really kept Catholics out of politics to a
very considerable extent. If we take the enrolled electors in
Germany, we find that they constitute 20 per cent. of the
entire population; in France the ratio is nearly 24 per cent.;
in Italy it is less than 8 per cent. At first sight that would
indicate that an enormous number of Italians boycott the
polls. We find, however, that the Italian franchise demands
not only the ability to read and write, but a certain degree
of additional elementary education. At the same time we find
that in 1901 nearly 44 per cent, of all males over twenty
years of age were illiterate. This at once nearly doubles the
electoral ratio. Add the fact that there are very considerable
property qualifications for the franchise, and we get for
Italy a ratio not far removed from Germany’s 20 percent. It
would follow that the number of Italians who refrain from
availing themselves of their electoral rights is not very
large."
_New York Evening Post,
March 8, 1909._
ITALY: A. D. 1909 (May).
Proposed Payment of Members of Parliament.
A Press despatch from Rome, May 9, 1909, reported:
"Leave was asked yesterday to introduce in the Chamber of
Deputies two Bills for the payment of members of Parliament.
According to the first Bill, proposed by Signor Galli, all
Deputies and Senators would receive £240 a year; the second
Bill, proposed by Signor Chimienti, would make a payment of
24s. for every sitting attended. Signor Giolitti said that the
idea of the payment of members of Parliament was evidently
gaining ground, and that the Government would not oppose the
introduction of the Bills. On the other hand, he deprecated
the contention which had been advanced, that the non-payment
of Deputies was in any way responsible for a scanty
attendance, and earnestly recommended the Chamber to give the
question its very careful consideration before committing
itself either way."
ITALY: A. D. 1909 (November).
Naval strength.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL.
----------ITALY: End--------
ITO, Prince Hirobumi:
Visit to the United States.
Mission to St. Petersburg.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1901-1904.
ITO, Prince Hirobumi:
President of the Japanese Council.
His Party.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1903 (June).
ITO, Prince Hirobumi:
Resident-General in Korea.
See (in this Volume)
KOREA: A. D. 1905-1909.
ITO, Prince Hirobumi:
His assassination.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1909 (OCTOBER).
J.
JAMAICA: A. D. 1906.
Harmony of relations between the White minority and the
Colored majority of inhabitants.
How explained.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: JAMAICA.
JAMAICA: A. D. 1907.
Destructive Earthquake.
See (in this Volume)
EARTHQUAKES: JAMAICA.
JAMES, Professor William:
Plan for ending War.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1904.
JAMESON, Dr. Leander S.:
Premier of Cape Colony.
His Continuance of the Policy of Cecil Rhodes.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1902-1904.
JAMESON, Dr. Leander S.:
At the Imperial Conference of 1907.
See (in this Volume)
BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1907.
{341}
JAMESON, Dr. L. S.:
In Movement for South African Union.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1908-1909.
JAMESTOWN TERCENTENIAL EXPOSITION.
The three hundredth anniversary of the first permanent English
settlement in America was celebrated on the site of the
settlement, at Jamestown, Virginia, by an Exposition which was
opened by President Roosevelt on the 26th of April, 1907. The
advantages of the place for naval display tempted Congress to
give that character, in the main, to so much of the
celebration as was organized under national auspices that
other features were quite eclipsed. As an illustration of
three centuries of progress from the beginnings of civilized
life in the United States it cannot be said to have had much
success. But the show, from many nations, of battle ships and
the paraphernalia of naval war was superb.
JANNARIS, Professor, Imprisonment of.
See (in this Volume)
CRETE: A. D. 1905-1906.
----------JAPAN: Start--------
JAPAN: A. D. 1901 (July).
Unveiling of a Monument to commemorate the Advent
of Commodore Perry.
A monument to commemorate the arrival of Commodore Perry in
Japan, in 1853, was unveiled with imposing ceremonies, at
Kurihama, on the 14th of July, 1901, that being the
forty-eighth anniversary of the event. Commodore Rodgers, with
three vessels of the Asiatic Squadron of the United States,
attended to represent the United States officially in the
ceremonies of the day. The monument was erected by the
Japanese "America Association of Japan."
JAPAN: A. D. 1901-1904.
Persistent occupation of Manchuria by the Russians.
Japanese negotiations and demands, without satisfaction.
"In spite of repeated promises to evacuate the points seized
and held by Russian forces when, after the relief of the
Legations, these forces were withdrawn from Peking and Chili,
to be concentrated in Manchuria [see Manchuria, in Volume
VI.], and in disregard of the interests of the other allies,
the policy of keeping all that she had gained, and of gaining
more as far as possible, was steadily pursued by Russia. … It
was the probable effect of a continued occupation of Manchuria
by Russia upon their business interests which led Great
Britain and America to wish that the repeated Russian
assurances of good faith toward China and toward all foreign
nations should manifest themselves in works. The case could
not be wholly the same with Japan. Her interests of trade
were, indeed, if not at the time so large, more close and
vital than those of any other nation outside of China. But her
other interests were incomparable. So that when Russia failed
to carry out her engagements, even under a convention which
was so much in her favor [see, in this Volume, China. A. D.
1901-1902], there was a revival of suspicion and apprehension
on the part of the Japanese Government and the Japanese
people. Manchuria and Korea both pointed an index finger of
warning directed toward Russia.
"It was to further a peaceful adjustment of all the disturbed
conditions of the interests of Russia and Japan in the Far
East that Marquis Ito went, on his way home from his visit to
the United States, at the end of 1901, on an unofficial
mission to St. Petersburg. The failure of the overtures which
he bore discouraged those of the leading Japanese statesmen
who were hoping for some reconciliation which might take the
shape of allowing Russian ascendency in Manchuria and Japanese
ascendency in Korea. It also strengthened the conviction which
prevailed among the younger statesmen that the St. Petersburg
Government regarded Manchuria as not only its fortress in the
Far East, but also as its path to the peninsula lying within
sight of Japan’s shores. ‘The Japanese Government,’ says Mr.
D. W. Stevens, ‘at last felt that the vital interests of Japan
might be irrevocably jeopardized in Korea as well as in
Manchuria, if it continued to remain a mere passive spectator
of Russian encroachments; and in August, 1903, it resolved to
take a decisive step. In the most courteous form and through
the usual diplomatic channels Japan intimated at St.
Petersburg that her voice must be heard, and listened to, in
connection with Far Eastern questions in which her interests
were vitally concerned.’ The answer of Russia was the
appointment of Admiral Alexeieff as Viceroy over the Czar’s
possessions in the Far East, with executive and administrative
powers of a semi-autocratic character. … Negotiations having
in view the peaceful adjustment of the conflicting interests
of Russia and Japan in the Far East, which were begun by the
latter country in the summer of 1903, were further continued.
Mr. Kurino, the Japanese Minister at St. Petersburg, was
informed by Baron Komura, who was then Japanese Minister of
Foreign Affairs, that the recent conduct of Russia at Peking,
in Manchuria, and in Korea, was the cause of grave concern to
the Government at Tokyo. ‘The unconditional and permanent
occupation of Manchuria by Russia would,’ said Baron Komura,
‘create a state of things prejudicial to the security and
interests of Japan. The principle of equal opportunity would
thereby be annulled, and the territorial integrity of China be
impaired. There is, however, a still more serious
consideration for the Japanese Government; that is to say, if
Russia was established on the flank of Korea it would be a
constant menace to the separate existence of that empire, or
at least would make Russia the dominant power in Korea. But
Korea is an important outpost in Japan’s line of defence, and
Japan consequently considers its independence absolutely
essential to her own repose and safety. Moreover, the
political as well as the commercial and industrial interests
and influence which Japan possesses in Korea are paramount
over those of other Powers. These interests and this influence
Japan, having regard to her own security, cannot consent to
surrender to, or share with, another Power.’
{342}
"In view of these reasons, Mr. Kurino was instructed to
present the following note to Count Lamsdorff, the Russian
Minister of Foreign Affairs:
‘The Japanese Government desires to remove from the relations
of the two empires every cause of future misunderstanding, and
believes that the Russian Government shares the same desire.
The Japanese Government would therefore be glad to enter with
the Russian Imperial Government upon an examination of the
condition of affairs in the regions of the extreme East, where
their interests meet, with a view of defining their respective
especial interests in those regions. If this suggestion
fortunately meets with the approval, in principle, of the
Russian Government, the Japanese Government will be prepared
to present to the Russian Government their views as to the
nature and scope of the proposed understanding.’
"The consent of Count Lamsdorff and the Czar having been
obtained, on August 12th articles were prepared and submitted
by the Japanese Government which it wished to have serve as a
basis of understanding between the two countries. The
essential agreements to be secured by these articles were:
(1) A mutual engagement to respect the independence and
territorial integrity of the Chinese and Korean empires, and
to maintain the ‘ open door’ in these countries; and
(2) a reciprocal recognition of Japan’s preponderating
interests in Korea and of Russia’s special interests in
Manchuria.
These demands were not altered in any very important way by
Japan during all the subsequent negotiations. It was their
persistent rejection by Russia, together with her long delays
in replying while she was meantime making obvious preparations
of a warlike character, which precipitated the tremendous
conflict that followed some months later."
_George T. Ladd,
In Korea with Marquis Ito, chapter 10
(copyright, 1908, C. Scribner’s Sons)._
JAPAN: A. D. 1902.
Defensive Agreement between Great Britain and Japan.
An agreement of great importance, in the nature of a defensive
alliance, between Great Britain and Japan, was concluded at
London on the 30th of January, 1902. On the publication of the
Treaty, a few days later, it was accompanied by a
communication from the British Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
the Marquis of Lansdowne, to Sir C. MacDonald, the British
Minister at Tokyo, in which the actuating motives of the
Agreement were set forth, as follows:
"Sir: I have signed to-day, with the Japanese minister, an
agreement between Great Britain and Japan, of which a copy is
inclosed in this dispatch.
"This agreement may be regarded as the outcome of the events
which have taken place during the last two years in the Far
East, and of the part taken by Great Britain and Japan in
dealing with them. Throughout the troubles and complications
which arose in China consequent upon the Boxer outbreak and
attack upon the Pekin legations, the two powers have been in
close and uninterrupted communication, and have been actuated
by similar views. We have each of us desired that the
integrity and independence of the Chinese Empire should be
preserved, that there should be no disturbance of the
territorial status quo either in China or in the adjoining
regions, that all nations should, within those regions, as
well as within the limits of the Chinese Empire, be afforded
equal opportunities for the development of their commerce and
industry, and that peace should not only be restored, but
should, for the future, be maintained.
"From the frequent exchanges of views which have taken place
between the two Governments, and from the discovery that their
Far Eastern policy was identical, it has resulted that each
side has expressed the desire that their common policy should
find expression in an international contract of binding
validity. …
"His Majesty’s Government have been largely influenced in
their decision to enter into this important contract by the
conviction that it contains no provisions which can be
regarded as an indication of aggressive or self-seeking
tendencies in the regions to which it applies. It has been
concluded purely as a measure of precaution, to be invoked,
should occasion arise, in the defense of important British
interests. It in no way threatens the present position or the
legitimate interests of other powers. On the contrary, that
part of it which renders either of the high contracting
parties liable to be called upon by the other for assistance
can operate only when one of the allies has found himself
obliged to go to war in defense of interests which are common
to both, when the circumstances in which he has taken this
step are such as to establish that the quarrel has not been of
his own seeking, and when, being engaged in his own defense,
he finds himself threatened, not by a single power, but by a
hostile coalition."
JAPAN:
Agreement between Great Britain and
Japan, signed at London, January 30, 1902.
"The Governments of Great Britain and Japan, actuated solely
by a desire to maintain the _status quo_ and general
peace in the extreme East, being moreover specially interested
in maintaining the independence and territorial integrity of
the Empire of China and the Empire of Corea, and in securing
equal opportunities in those countries for the commerce and
industry of all nations, hereby agree as follows:
"Article I.
The High Contracting Parties having mutually recognized the
independence of China and of Corea, declare themselves to be
entirely uninfluenced by any aggressive tendencies in either
country. Having in view, however, their special interests, of
which those of Great Britain relate principally to China,
while Japan, in addition to the interests which she possesses
in China, is interested in a peculiar degree politically, as
well as commercially and industrially, in Corea, the High
Contracting Parties recognize that it will be admissible for
either of them to take such measures as may be indispensable
in order to safeguard those interests if threatened either by
the aggressive action of any other Power, or by disturbances
arising in China or Corea, and necessitating the intervention
of either of the High Contracting Parties for the protection
of the lives and property of its subjects.
"Article II.
If either Great Britain or Japan, in the defence of their
respective interests as above described, should become
involved in war with another Power, the other High Contracting
Party will maintain a strict neutrality, and use its efforts
to prevent other Powers from joining in hostilities against
its ally.
"Article III.
If in the above event any other Power or Powers should join in
hostilities against that ally, the other high contracting
party will come to its assistance and will conduct the war in
common, and make peace in mutual agreement with it.
{343}
"Article IV.
The High Contracting Parties agree that neither of them will,
without consulting the other, enter into separate arrangements
with another Power to the prejudice of the interests above
described.
"Article V.
Whenever, in the opinion of either Great Britain or Japan, the
above-mentioned interests are in jeopardy, the two Governments
will communicate with one another fully and frankly.
"Article VI.
The present agreement shall come into effect immediately after
the date of its signature, and remain in force for five years
from that date. In case neither of the High Contracting
Parties should have notified twelve months before the
expiration of the said five years the intention of terminating
it, it shall remain binding until the expiration of one year
from the day on which either of the High Contracting Parties
shall have denounced it. But if, when the date fixed for its
expiration arrives, either ally is actually engaged in war,
the alliance shall, ipso facto, continue until peace is
concluded. In faith whereof the undersigned, duly authorized
by their respective Governments, have signed this agreement,
and have affixed thereto their seals."
In August, 1905, the above Treaty was replaced by a fresh
Agreement of similar tenor.
See, below,
JAPAN: A. D. 1905 (AUGUST).
JAPAN: A. D. 1902 (August).
Success of Prince Ito’s Party in the Parliamentary Election.
"Thus far parties, so called, have been magnetized around men.
They have not crystallized along the axes of principles.
Marquis Ito, ultra-conservative in politics but radical and
reformer in things social, is at one pole. Count Okuma,
radical in politics, sternly conservative of social life and
the traditionary ethics, is at the other.
"The August elections of 1902 show apparently at least that
the day of party government has dawned, for now and for the
first time Marquis Ito leads in the Lower House a host of the
friends of the Constitution (_Rikken Seiyu Kai_) that has
an overwhelming majority of seats and in time of a ‘division’
nearly if not wholly a plurality of votes. The returns are
just in and the table stands about thus:
Seiyu Kai (Constitution Friends) 193
Progressists 106
Independents 56
Imperialists and others 21
"It was a smart stroke of policy for Ito, two years ago, to
unite in one organization [see in Volume VI. of this work,
Japan: A. D. 1900 (August-October)] the Radicals under Hoshi
Toru and his own following of ‘clansmen, capacities and young
statesmen.’ It was the union of the strong and the subtle,
taking the name not of a party but of an ‘Association,’ with a
purpose of upholding the constitution (in the Prussian sense),
in order to control both the educational and the economic
policy of the country, to complete the radical transformation
of the Japanese into a modern man, and ‘to screen Japan’s
Western evolution against all possibility of reaction.’"
_W. E. Griffis,
in The Independent._
JAPAN: A. D. 1903 (June).
The Marquis Ito accepts Presidency of the Council
to strengthen the Government.
To strengthen the Ministry of Count Katsura in the Diet, the
Marquis Ito, powerful head of the Rikken Seiyu-kai
(Association of the Friends of the Constitution, foreseeing
trouble to come from the proceedings of Russia in Manchuria,
consented in June to accept the post of President of the
Council, and was joined in the Council by Marquis Yamagata and
Count Matsukata. The Government was thus greatly reinforced
for dealing with the difficulties that now approached very
fast. A section of the Seiyu-kai seceded from it, however, and
formed the Doshishukai (Assembly of Fellow-thinkers), under
Count Itagaki.
See (in Volume VI.)
JAPAN: A. D. 1900, AUGUST-OCTOBER.
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (February-July).
War with Russia.
Sudden opening of Hostilities.
Occupation of Korea.
Battles at the Yalu.
The Armies in Manchuria.
Movement of General Nogi on Manchuria.
Simultaneously with the rupture of diplomatic relations with
Russia, on the 6th of February, 1904, the Japanese Government
dispatched from Sasebo a fleet of 7 battle-ships, 18 cruisers,
and flotillas of torpedo boats and destroyers, under
Vice-Admiral Togo, with transports conveying troops, to open
operations of war. The transports were convoyed to Chemulpho,
the port of Seoul, Korea, by 4 cruisers and a number of
torpedo boats, under Rear-Admiral Uryu; while Admiral Togo
proceeded with the remainder of his fleet to Port Arthur. The
troops sent to Chemulpho were landed on the 8th, and Admiral
Uryu, the next day, attacked a Russian cruiser and gunboat in
Chemulpho harbor with such effect that they were destroyed by
their commanders. On the night of the 8th Togo’s torpedo boats
were sent against the Russian fleet at Port Arthur and
crippled it to a serious extent. A second body of 14,000
troops was landed at Chemulpho on the 15th.
The Japanese had now a strong footing in Korea, with Seoul
securely in hand, and the First Japanese Army, under General
Kuroki, was ready to begin its northward advance. Phyangyang
was occupied on the 20th, after which further troops could be
landed at Chinampho, saving a long march. By the end of March
there were about 45,000 men in the force moving toward the
Yalu. The first encounter with the Russians was near Chengju,
where 600 of the latter’s cavalry were driven back. On the 4th
of April the Japanese advance guard reached the Yalu, which
forms the boundary between Korea and Manchuria, and occupied
Wiju, near its mouth, the opposing cavalry having been
withdrawn to the opposite bank of the river on the preceding
day. The main body arrived at Wiju April 20. The Russians, on
the other side of the Yalu, were then concentrating a force of
about 25,000 men, with Liaoyang and Fenghuangcheng for its
first and secondary bases.
For ten ensuing days both armies were busy in preparations and
manoeuvres, the one for attempting to force a crossing of the
Yalu, the other to resist it. How their preparations compared
in effectiveness is described by an experienced correspondent,
David Fraser, who accompanied the Japanese and wrote the story
of the campaign, publishing it subsequently in a book entitled
"A Modern Campaign." The difference that Mr. Fraser saw
between the painstaking, the thoughtfulness and the carefully
acquired knowledge which went into the Japanese preparation
for their attack,—the concealment of their forces, the masking
of their batteries, the obscuring of all that they did,—and
the contrasting carelessness of the Russians in the same
particulars, was the difference that gave success to the one
and brought defeat on the other.
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Before the Japanese moved they knew everything they needed to
know,—the fordable places on the streams they had to cross,
the points of advantage on every mile of the ground to be
traversed, the positions of the enemy,—and the Russians did
not. And the Japanese were able to repeat much of the same
feinting and maneuvering by means of which they had forced the
passage of the Yalu at the same place, against the Chinese, in
1894.
On the 25th of April the Japanese were ready to bring their
preparations into use, and on that and the next two days they
drove the Russian outposts from the islands they needed to
occupy, and began building bridges at night. In the end, ten
bridges were built, some of them invisible to the enemy. Many
signs of Japanese movement down the river were then exhibited
to the Russians. A Japanese battery became busy at a point
some distance below Wiju; gunboats and other vessels were
collected in that direction; troops were in motion in the same
direction; but quiet reigned at and around Wiju, the batteries
behind which had not yet betokened their existence. That quiet
in this part of the Japanese line was broken suddenly at
midday on the 29th, when a pontoon train, with accompanying
troops, was hurried to the river, the pontoons launched,
manned and paddled to the opposite bank. A Russian outpost
which fired on these invaders drew the first revelation of a
hitherto hidden and silent Japanese battery, and fled from its
shells. Possession of the further shore was thus secured for
sufficient time to enable the construction of the pontoon
bridge, which the strong current in the river made a difficult
task. It was ready, however, for the crossing of the river
that night by the infantry of the entire 12th division of the
Japanese Army.
The thrilling episode of the battle of the next two days was
the opening of fire from the hitherto hidden and unsuspected
batteries of Japanese heavy guns. Mr. Fraser tells us that the
Russians had believed it impossible to bring heavy artillery
over the Korean roads, and were in consternation when the
howitzers belched forth their shells in a fairly overpowering
way. "The trees," he says, "screened the flashing of the
Japanese guns from the Russian eyes. There was no smoke to
indicate their whereabouts. The indirect fire of the howitzers
was as deadly as if it had been aimed point-blank. The
Russians, on the other hand, fired at random into the belt of
trees; they had been able to locate only two of the Japanese
guns. Their fire had little or no effect upon the
well-protected Japanese gunners. In ten minutes the Russian
shooting grew wild. … After twenty-five minutes both batteries
were silenced."
It is the testimony of all witnesses of the fighting on both
days of the battle, especially on the 1st of May, that the
Russians showed desperate courage; but every advantage, of
position, of equipment, of numbers, and, above all, of
generalship, was in favor of the Japanese. They drove the
enemy from all his entrenchments, and entered Manchuria, to
pursue there an equally successful campaign, for the same
reasons, of superior ability and more thorough preparation.
The reported loss of the Japanese in the conflicts on the Yalu
was 5 officers and 218 men killed, 33 officers and 780 men
wounded. They captured 22 field guns, 8 machine guns, a
quantity of rifles and ammunition, and took 628 prisoners,
including 18 officers. General Zasulich, the Russian
commander, reported 70 officers and 2324 men killed, wounded
and taken prisoners. Another Russian report of losses gave 28
officers and 564 men killed, 38 officers and 1081 men wounded,
and 6 officers and 679 men missing.
The Russians retreated on Fenghuangcheng, but made no stand
there, and the Japanese, who followed, occupied the place on
the 6th of May. The advance of the latter was halted at that
point until late in June, waiting for operations in other
parts of the field.
Meantime, between the 4th and the 22d of May, the Second
Japanese Army, General Oku commanding, had been landed near
Pitsewo, on the western coast of the Liao-tung peninsula, and
this began a general advance on the 25th. It fought a severe
battle on the following day, at Nanshan, or Kinchou, from
which the Russians fell back. The victory of the Japanese cost
them heavily, their reported loss being 739 killed and 5455
wounded; while General Stössel, the Russian commander,
reported a loss of 30 officers and 800 men killed and wounded.
On June 6th this Second Army was divided into two, one of
which, passing to the command of General Nogi, became the
Third Japanese Army, and was marched presently toward Port
Arthur, to open the famous siege of that stronghold. General
Oku, retaining about 50,000 men in the Second Army, and
starting northward on the 15th, was opposed by Russian forces
under General Stackelberg. The first important conflict was on
June 15 at or near Telissu station, which gave the battle its
name. Again the Russians were forced back, with a loss of 103
officers and about 2600 men, killed and wounded, besides a
missing list of 764. The Japanese loss was 50 officers and
1113 men killed and wounded. Hard fighting occurred again
between the 6th and 9th of July, on the approach of the
Japanese to Kaiping and the Kaiping River, beyond which their
opponents were driven. "The occupation of Kaiping and the
country immediately to the north placed General Oku’s army on
the edge of the Liao Valley, opened the way to the Yingkon and
Newchwang, and facilitated his further advance to the north by
allowing supplies to be received from the sea, thus shortening
his line of communications."
A Fourth Japanese Army, under General Nodzu, had now been
landed at Takushan, on the eastern coast of the Liao-tung
peninsula, and was reconnoitering toward Oku’s forces, as well
as toward the First Japanese Army, which had remained in the
vicinity of Fenghuangcheng until the 24th of June, waiting for
these cooperative masses of troops to be got into place. It
was now being moved in three columns, one of which was soon in
touch with the Fourth Army (Nodzu’s), and the two began
working to the west and northwest. The Russians gave up
Fenshuiling, and by the 9th of July, when Oku, with the Second
Army, occupied Kaiping, the three Japanese armies in the
northern part of the Liao-tung peninsula—the First, Second,
and Fourth—"were united on a front from Kaiping east to
Fenshuiling, thence northeast through Motienling, with
covering detachments of Kobi troops eastward at Saimachi,
Hsienchang and Huaijen.
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The Russians were concentrated in the Liao Valley at
Tashihchiao, Haicheng, Anping and Liaoyang." On the 6th of
July Field Marshal Oyama had left Tokyo to take active command
of this united army, and the great operations of the
Manchurian campaign were about to begin.
_Epitome of the Russo-Japanese War,
United States War Department,
Second [Military Information] Division,
General Staff, Number 11._
At this time General Nogi, with the Third Japanese Army, was
fighting his way slowly toward Port Arthur, against obstinate
resistance, not arriving at the front of the land defences
proper until the 14th of August.
The Russians had evacuated Dalny (formerly called Talienwan),
with its fine harbor, on Talienwan Bay, thirty miles distant
from Port Arthur, and the Japanese had occupied it on the 30th
of May. This was an acquisition of great importance to them.
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (February-August).
The War with Russia: Siege of Port Arthur.
The Naval Surprise.
Unreadiness of the Defence.
Naval operations of the six months.
Fate of the Russian fleets in the East.
Mr. E. K. Nojine, "accredited Russian War Correspondent," who
went through the whole experience at Port Arthur, from first
to last of the war, and who wrote what he entitles "The Truth
about Port Arthur," opens his severely critical narrative with
the following statement:
"When, one hour before midnight on February 8, 1904, our
warships began to belch fire from their many steel mouths, and
the seaward batteries suddenly thundered forth their angry
death-dealing tidings, no one dreamed that the noise was War,
for no one had taken the constant rumors of the rupture of
diplomatic relations and of approaching hostilities at all
seriously. … Although the sky in the East had for weeks been
blood-red with the menace of immediate war, yet when it came
the surprise was absolute, its horror intensified by our
complete unreadiness."
What this writer tells of the unreadiness, and of the slowness
with which the serious need of more readiness was comprehended
by the controlling authority at Port Arthur, during the weeks
that passed before the stronghold was fully invested, goes
almost beyond belief. He writes bitterly and contemptuously of
General Stössel, who held command of the district, and
admiringly of General Smirnoff, Commandant of the fortress,
whom Stössel could overrule. He seems to have been sustained
in his judgment by the court-martial which subsequently
condemned Stössel to death.
The sound of midnight battle on its sea-front (February 8-9)
which announced a beginning of war to the surprised garrison
of Port Arthur came from the attack of Admiral Togo’s torpedo
boats on the Russian fleet in the harbor. Three of the Russian
ships were crippled, but not seriously. The next day Togo made
a general attack with his whole fleet of fifteen vessels,
including five battle-ships, and did some damage to four more
of his enemies’ vessels; but a fortnight is said to have
repaired them all. The general result of the two operations
was "to insure the at least temporary immobility of the Port
Arthur fleet," so that "the transport of the army from Japan
to Korea might go on without fear of molestation." A squadron
was then detached to look after four cruisers at Vladivostock,
and that harbor was cannonaded for the same purpose on the 6th
of March. Meantime, on the 9th of February, a Russian cruiser
and a gunboat, attempting to leave Chemulpho harbor, were
driven back, and were then destroyed by their Russian
commander.
The main Japanese fleet hovered constantly near Port Arthur,
not only maintaining a strict blockade, but making frequent
close approaches, to sink vessels and plant mines in the
entrance channels of the harbor; to harass the Russian fleet
with torpedo attacks, or to come boldly within range of its
shore defenses and give battle to them, as well as to bombard
the fortress and town. There were heavy bombardments on the
10th and the 22d of May. The Russian fleet, commanded by
Vice-Admiral Makaroff, made retaliatory sorties, in returning
from one of which, on the 13th of April, the admiral’s
flag-ship, the Petropalovsk, struck and exploded a line of
floating mines. The huge battle-ship was so shattered by the
explosion that she sank in two minutes, carrying down the
admiral, the famous painter, Verestchagin, who was his guest,
and 550 other officers and men. Of all on board only 85 were
saved.
In the course of the next month the Japanese suffered several
of the same disasters, two of their battle-ships, the Hatsuse
and the Yashima, and two other vessels of less importance,
being blown up by the explosion of mines. Of the crew of the
Hatsuse nearly 500 perished, while all on board the Yashima
were said to have been saved. By collision in a fog one of the
Japanese cruisers was sunk, with all but 90 of her crew. And
the three most calamitous of these happenings, to the two
battle-ships and the cruiser, occurred on the same day—the
15th of May. Admiral Togo’s fleet was weakened very seriously
by these losses. Somewhat later the same fate befell a number
of Russian ships, but the loss in them was less.
Though watched by a Japanese squadron under Vice-Admiral
Kamimura, the Russian war-ships at Vladivostock were able to
slip out for occasional cruises, in which they captured or
destroyed Japanese transports and merchant ships. In more than
one instance—notably that of the Kinshu-Maru—the soldiery on
captured transports refused to surrender and committed
"hara-kiri" in a body, or were engulfed by the sea. "It is
quite true that the work done by the Vladivostock squadron was
not great in amount, but they must have caused some
inconvenience to the military forces of Japan engaged in the
campaign."
On the 23d of June Rear-Admiral Vithöft, who had succeeded the
late Admiral Makaroff in the naval command at Port Arthur,
sailed out of the harbor with six battle ships, five cruisers
and ten torpedo boats, apparently intending to offer battle to
the Japanese. The Russians had repaired their damaged vessels
and now seemed to have a fleet that was equal to Togo’s in
strength, since he opposed only four battle-ships to their
six. Nevertheless when the Japanese approached them they
withdrew, returning to Port Arthur, pursued by torpedo-boats,
and nearly losing the battle ship Sevastopol, which struck a
mine and was disabled for six weeks.
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Little occurred during that period on the naval side of the
Port Arthur campaign. Then, on the 10th of August, it was
reopened startlingly, to be ended with practical completeness
within the next few days. On that morning the Port Arthur
fleet and the Vladivostock squadron put to sea from their
respective harbors, evidently attempting a junction. The Port
Arthur fleet was the first to encounter its enemy, which it
did the same day, when no more than 25 or 30 miles out from
the port. Admiral Vithöft now had with him only five battle
ships, having left one, probably disabled, behind. With these
were the four cruisers, two gunboats and a number of torpedo
craft. Admiral Togo brought against this force four
battle-ships and four armored cruisers in the battle that
ensued. It "took the form of a long-range engagement between
the fleets, steering nearly the same course towards the east.
… At a time which is variously reported, but probably about
6.15 p. m., a 12-inch shell … burst near the conning tower of
the Cesarevitch [the flagship], killing Admiral Vithöft and
wounding the captain of the ship. At the same time the
Cesarevitch’s steering gear was damaged, the helm jammed, and
she made a sudden sheer to port. This threw the Russian line
into confusion. … The Russian formation was now broken up, and
the ships fell into a confused group at which the Japanese
directed a hot fire at the comparatively short range of 3500
yards. At times the Russian ships were hidden by the smoke of
exploding shells, and about 7 p. m. their fire slackened
perceptibly. One report states that a second-class battle-ship
and two coast-defence vessels had joined the Japanese, besides
another ship of a class not certainly known. The whole twelve
Japanese ships concentrated their fire on the six Russian
battle-ships and four unarmored cruisers till 8 p. m. Prince
Ukhtomsk, who had succeeded to the Russian command on Admiral
Vithöft’s death, then signalled to the fleet to follow him,
and turned toward Port Arthur. All could not follow, and some
made for shelter in other ports, harassed by torpedo attacks,
but not otherwise pursued.
The result of the Russian sally from Vladivostock was much the
same. The three armored cruisers from that port were not
intercepted by the Japanese until the morning of the 14th,
three days after the defeat of the Port Arthur fleet which
they had hoped to join. They were then attacked by four
armored and two unarmored cruisers. They fought obstinately
and suffered frightful losses in officers and men,—415 wounded
and 251 killed. One of the ships, reduced to helplessness, was
sunk by its own surviving crew, most of whom were picked up by
the Japanese. The other two escaped to Vladivostock in a
wrecked state.
These engagements "really ended the naval campaign of 1904. Of
the ships [from Port Arthur] that got through the Japanese
fleet, one battle ship, the Cesarevitch, and three destroyers
were disarmed and interned at Kiachow (Tsingtau); one cruiser,
the Askold, and one destroyer had the same fate at Shanghai,
and another cruiser, the Novik, was destroyed … at Korsakovsk.
A third cruiser, the Diana, was disarmed and interned at the
neutral French port of Saigon. One destroyer had been seized
at Chefoo by the Japanese for disregard of Chinese neutrality,
and one was wrecked on the coast of Shantung. The rest of the
fleet which got back to Port Arthur remained there only to be
destroyed in nearly every case by their own crews, to save
them from the fate of being surrendered to their enemy on the
fall of the fortress. … The grand total of the Russian loss
[of officers and men] in the six battle-ships and four
cruisers amounted to 81 killed and 420 wounded. … The total
Japanese loss, as reported at the time, was 61 killed and 124
wounded." Later statements brought the total loss up to 225.
_Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge,
The Naval Annual, 1905, chapter 7._
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (July-September).
The War with Russia: Campaign in Manchuria.
Japanese advances; Russian retreats.
The great battle and Japanese victory at Liao-Yang.
On the 4th of July the Russians, who had given up Motienling
to the Japanese five days before, made an attempt to recover
it, but failed. They repeated the attempt on the 17th, and
again without success. On the 10th a force from the Fourth
Japanese Army (Nodzu’s), advancing from Fenshuiling toward
Tomucheng, met with a repulse. The right column of Kuroki’s
army (the First) fought a considerable engagement with the
Russians at Hsihoyen on the 19th. Oku’s army (the Second),
advancing from Kaiping, fought them at Tashinchiao on the
24th. Nodzu was engaged with them again on the 31st at
Tomucheng, and Kuroki’s right column at Yushulingtzu on the
same day; while the left column, simultaneously, expelled them
from Yangtzuling. On the 2d of August the Russians retired
from Haicheng and the Japanese occupied it the following day.
The Russians had been steadily forced back to the vicinity of
Liao-Yang, where they had prepared themselves for a determined
stand.
"The front of the Russian forces at and in the vicinity of
Liao-Yang extended from Anshantien through Lantzushan and the
mountain range east of Anping to the Taitzu River. The
Japanese front extended from Haicheng through Tomucheng and
Yantzuling to Yushulingtzu."
_Epitome of the Russo-Japanese War,
United States War Department,
Second [Military Information] Division.
General Staff, Number 11._
Both sides were now making ready for the first of the two most
terrific battles of the war; but the month of August was near
its close before the Japanese began their assault on the
formidable works behind which the Russians awaited their
attack. In the "Epitome" cited above the effective Russian
force taking part in this struggle is estimated at about
140,000, commanded by General Kuropatkin.
Lord Brooke, Reuter’s special correspondent in Manchuria, in
his book entitled "An Eye-witness in Manchuria," describes the
battle of Liao-Yang as "the biggest artillery battle of which
history has record." The Russians occupied a line of rocky
hills south and east of Liao-Yang. Oku opposed their right and
center; Nodzu the center and left; Kuroki was farther east,
intending to force the passage of the Tai-tze-ho and reach the
rear of their main body. Artillery on both sides opened the
battle at dawn, August 30, and a terrible duel was fought for
five hours.
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Then, at half-past eleven, General Oku delivered the first
infantry assault, which cost a fearful loss of life, and
failed. Late in the afternoon a resolute turning movement on
the Russian right was attempted by the Japanese and pressed
until darkness came, with success only to the extent of
driving the enemy from one village. Then a night attack on the
Russian center was made, and that, too, was repelled.
The morning of the 31st brought a renewal of the artillery
duel, followed by assault after assault from Oku’s indomitable
troops on the Russian right flank, with the result of driving
it back to the cover of the railway embankment. Meantime
General Kuroki, whose army was on the extreme right of the
Japanese line, had forced the passage of the Tai-tze-ho River,
at a ford 26 miles east of Liao-Yang. This compelled
Kuropatkin to withdraw some of his troops from the outer
fortifications south and east of Liao-Yang and send them
against Kuroki. The crisis of the struggle was now in the
battles fought on the next two days with Kuroki, in vain
attempts to cut him off from the river ford and crush his not
large army. At the same time the Japanese were making a direct
attack on Liao-Yang and endeavoring to cut Kuropatkin’s
communications with Mukden. Neither Russians nor Japanese had
success in these attempts, but the former were brought to a
situation which compelled retreat. On the fourth of September
they evacuated Liao-Yang and withdrew from the surrounding
works. "As soon as the evacuation began," wrote Lord Brooke,
"the Japanese guns opened fire on the Russians, who had for
line of retreat only the railway bridge and the two pontoons
across the Tai-tze-ho. Nevertheless the retirement was carried
on with great coolness, and the loss sustained in crossing the
river was comparatively small in view of the difficult
position from which the Russians had to extricate themselves.
All the artillery was got away. But if the evacuation of
Liao-Yang was cleverly effected, the army of Kuropatkin was
still in great danger, and the Commander-in-chief seemed
really afraid that a large part of his force would be cut off.
It was a reasonable apprehension, for General Kuroki’s army
began the day with renewed vigor. … In a melancholy frame of
mind the whole army marched northward, with Kuroki continually
pressing its flank and the fear that Oku would ere long be on
his heels."
Pursuit by the Japanese was given up on the morning of
September 6th.
In the "Epitome" of the war, prepared and published by the
American Army Staff, the total Russian loss in the Liao-Yang
battles is given as reported to have been 54 officers and 1810
men killed; 252 officers and 10,811 men wounded; 5 officers
and 1211 men missing. The Japanese reported a total loss of
17,539 officers and men, without details.
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (October).
War with Russia: Quiet Aspect of Life during the War.
Spartan Discipline of Japanese Feeling and Conduct.
"For all industrial civilization the contest is one of vast
moment;—for Japan it is probably the supreme crisis in her
national life. As to what her fleets and her armies have been
doing, the world is fully informed; but as to what her people
are doing at home, little has been written.
"To inexperienced observation they would appear to be doing
nothing unusual; and this strange calm is worthy of record. At
the beginning of hostilities an Imperial mandate was issued,
bidding all non-combatants to pursue their avocations as
usual, and to trouble themselves as little as possible about
exterior events;—and this command has been obeyed to the
letter. It would be natural to suppose that all the
sacrifices, tragedies, and uncertainties of the contest had
thrown their gloom over the life of the capital in especial;
but there is really nothing whatever to indicate a condition
of anxiety or depression. On the contrary, one is astonished
by the joyous tone of public confidence, and the admirably
restrained pride of the nation in its victories. Western tides
have strewn the coast with Japanese corpses; regiments have
been blown out of existence in the storming of positions
defended by wire-entanglements; battle-ships have been lost;
yet at no moment has there been the least public excitement.
The people are following their daily occupations just as they
did before the war; the cheery aspect of things is just the
same; the theatres and flower displays are not less well
patronized. The life of Tokyo has been, to outward seeming,
hardly more affected by the events of the war than the life of
nature beyond it, where the flowers are blooming and the
butterflies hovering as in other summers. Except after the
news of some great victory,—celebrated with fireworks and
lantern processions,—there are no signs of public emotion; and
but for the frequent distribution of newspaper-extras, by
runners ringing bells, you could almost persuade yourself that
the whole story of the war is an evil dream.
"Yet there has been, of necessity, a vast amount of
suffering—viewless and voiceless suffering—repressed by that
sense of social and patriotic duty which is Japanese religion.
… The great quiet and the smiling tearlessness testify to the
more than Spartan discipline of the race. Anciently the people
were trained, not only to conceal their emotions, but to speak
in a cheerful voice and to show a pleasant face under any
stress of moral suffering; and they are obedient to that
teaching to-day. It would still be thought a shame to betray
personal sorrow for the loss of those who die for Emperor and
fatherland."
_Lafcadio Hearn,
A Letter from Japan
(Atlantic Monthly, November, 1904)._
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (May-January).
War with Russia: Operations against Port Arthur.
Preliminary battles.
Investment and Siege.
The Defences.
Desperate assaults in August.
Story of Lieutenant Sakurai.
The assault on 203 Metre Hill and its capture.
Surrender of the Fortress.
Trial and condemnation of General Stössel.
As stated heretofore, the Japanese began landing their Second
Army, under General Oku, at Petsiwo, for operations against
Port Arthur, on the 4th of May. Very quickly thereafter the
railway was cut and Port Arthur was blockaded by land as well
as by sea. On the 8th the last train from the north was
brought in. By the 25th Oku was ready to advance, and on the
following day he attacked the Russians at Kinchou (the battle
bearing sometimes the name of Nan-shan), and expelled them
from that position, the loss of which, according to the
correspondent Nojine, sealed the fate of Port Arthur.
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He accuses General Stössel of having boastfully assumed that
the Japanese could never take Kinchou, denouncing as traitors
all who questioned the sufficiency of its fortification and
urged the strengthening of the works. The expulsion from
Kinchou necessitated the abandonment of the important port of
Dalny, which was done with great haste on the night of the
26th. "In Dalny," says Nojine, "there were numerous buildings,
docks, and the most splendid breakwaters running out into
the sea for a distance of one and a half miles. … Owing to
want of time nothing except a few of the railway bridges was
blown up. … Besides the numerous town, harbor and railway
buildings, there was an immense amount of private house
property, as well as large warehouses, stocked with food and
stores of all sorts, both public and private. The enemy got
possession of them all undamaged, just as they were. After the
capture of Arthur the Japanese confessed that by not
destroying Dalny we had assisted them enormously in their
difficult task of disembarking their siege-train, and that the
railway had enabled them easily to get it into position in the
investing lines. …
"The enemy having now taken complete possession of Dalny, at
once used it as their base. There, quietly and comfortably,
without any interference from us, they carried out the landing
of troops for the investment. Ten transports would arrive
daily, bringing everything necessary for the concentrating
army. The railway from Dalny and all the rolling stock was in
perfect order; … our fleet did not hinder them in any way;
they had command of both land and sea."
On the 6th of June Oku’s army was divided, that general
leading part of it (still called the Second Army) northward,
leaving the remainder, as a Third Japanese Army, under General
Nogi, to conduct the investment and siege of Port Arthur.
At about this time, according to Nojine, Stössel was persuaded
by Smirnoff to permit the latter to fortify some of the outer
hills of the peninsula, which had been neglected hitherto;
these were Kuen-san Hill, the Green Hills, Angle Hill, Wolf’s
Hill, Ta-ku-shan and Sia-gu-shan hills. "The latter," says
Nojine, "were of immense importance, as they were quite
inaccessible, and protected the whole of the western front of
the Fortress, but only so long as Wolf’s Hills were in our
possession." On the 26th and 27th of June the Japanese
attacked and captured Kuen-san and Green Hills. The latter
were recovered by the Russians on the 4th of July, but they
failed to retake Kuen-san. The loss of the latter was very
serious; for the Japanese from its summit could look into the
works on the Green Hills and, by telephone, direct the fire of
their batteries on them.
Until the 26th of July not much occurred, as the assailants
were busy strengthening the positions they had acquired. Then
they began a determined attack on Green Hill, and continued it
through two days. On the morning of the 28th the Russians gave
up the position and drew back towards Port Arthur, to what is
called the Wolf’s Hills line. They were driven from this on
the 30th, and the close investment of Port Arthur began then.
_E. K. Nojine,
The Truth about Port Arthur,
chapters 11-22._
As described in the "Epitome of the Russo-Japanese War"
prepared for the United States of America General Staff, the
immediate "defences of Port Arthur, divided into eastern and
western sectors by the valley through which the railway enters
the town, consisted of permanent masonry forts whose gorges
were connected by the old Chinese Wall, temporary works
constructed just prior to and during the siege, and connecting
and advance trenches. The west sector followed an irregular
crest, with an elevation of about 500 feet, around the new
town, and terminated on Laotiehshan, the highest point in the
vicinity, with an elevation of about 1000 feet. The east
sector encircled the old town at a distance of from two to two
and a half miles, running along an irregular crest, about 350
feet in elevation, within which was an elevation (Wangtai or
Signal Hill) of about 800 feet. The permanent forts were
polygonal in trace and had ditches with caponieres and
galleries. The gap between the two sectors was covered by the
fort on Paiyushan (Quail Hill).
"Of the works most intimately connected with the siege the
Sungshushan, Ehrlungshan, North and East Tungchikuanshan,
Itzushan, and Antzushan forts were strong permanent
fortifications. The two Panglungshan forts, East and West,
were semi-permanent redoubt-shaped fortifications; 203 Meter
Hill and Aksakayama were semi-permanent works with two lines
of advance trenches. Kuropatkin Fort was a strong field-work
with deep ditch; the Shuishihyung lunettes were also provided
with ditches, but not so deep. P. H., Kobu and Hachimakiyama
were more in the nature of semi-permanent trenches with
bomb-proofs."
_Epitome of the Russo-Japanese War,
United States War Department,
Second [Military Information] Division,
General Staff, Number 11, pages. 28-29._
"In this fortress, for the first time, were utilised all those
terrible agencies of war which the rapid advance of science in
the past quarter of a century has rendered available. Among
these we may mention rapid-fire guns, machine-guns, smokeless
powder, artillery of high velocity and great range, high
explosive shells, the magazine rifle, the telescopic sight,
giving marvellous accuracy of fire, the range-finder, giving
instantaneously the exact distance of the enemy, the
search-light, the telegraph and the telephone, starlight
bombs, barbed-wire entanglements, and a dozen other
inventions, all of which were deemed sufficient, when applied
to such stupendous fortifications as those of Port Arthur, to
render them absolutely impregnable.
"The Russians believed them to be so—certainly the indomitable
Stössel did. And well he might, for there was no record in
history of any race of fighters, at least in modern times,
that could face such death-dealing weapons and not melt away
so swiftly before their fury as to be swept away in defeat.
But a new type of fighter has arisen, as the sequel was to
tell."
_Richard Barry,
How Port Arthur Fell
(Fortnightly Review, March, 1905)._
"The first bombardment from the land side began suddenly on
August 7. … The bombardment continued all day, though doing
little material damage. Next morning, from 2 to 5 A. M., we
heard heavy musketry fire from the direction of Ta-ku-shan:
the enemy leaving the town and the main defences in peace,
were turning their attention to it.
{349}
This hill corresponded in the east to 203 Metre Hill in the
west, and was equally important and equally unfortified. It
and Sia-gu-shan, the natural forts of Arthur on the eastern
front, had a bad time. In the first place they had not been
made the most of, for in the original plan of defence of Port
Arthur they had been thought to be important points and so had
been neither fortified nor armed as their position with regard
to the Fortress warranted, and Smirnoff had only recently
succeeded in arming them to a small extent. In the second
place they became, after the abandonment of Wolf’s Hills, open
to flanking fire, and therefore untenable. The companies of
the 13th East Siberian Rifle Regiment sent there went
literally to their death, but, together with the gunners, they
held on as long as possible."
Both of the hills were taken by the Japanese that night. The
Russians immediately concentrated a heavy artillery fire on
the new occupants, and the next day they attempted to retake
Ta-ku shan by assault, but failed. On the 11th they repeated
the attempt, with no better success. On the 16th General Nogi
sent in a flag of truce, bearing the proposal of "a discussion
of negotiations for the surrender of the Fortress," saying:
"The Russians have given signal proofs of their gallantry, but
Arthur will be taken all the same." The invitation was
declined. On the 20th the Japanese gained Angle Hill and
Pan-lun-shan redoubt; but the Russians recaptured the latter
on the following night.
The Japanese now hoped to be able to take the Fortress by a
general assault, and made the attempt with extraordinary
determination on the 21st, 22d, and 23d. "On the night of the
23d," writes Nojine, "the Japanese made the most desperate of
all their attacks so far. They made three separate and most
determined assaults on Zaredoubt Battery, on the line between
it and Big Eagle’s Nest, and on Ruchevsky Battery. Though
temporarily successful at one or two points, they were finally
driven back out of all with shocking slaughter." It is of this
assault that Lieutenant Tadayoshi Sakurai tells the terrible
story in one of the chapters of his book, entitled "Human
Bullets: A Soldier’s Story of Port Arthur," from which the
following is quoted:
"I gathered my men around me and said: ‘I now bid you all
farewell. Fight with all your might. This battle will decide
whether Port Arthur is to fall or not. This water you drink,
please drink as if at your death moment.’
"I filled a cup with water that was fetched by one or two
soldiers at the risk of their lives, and we all drank farewell
from the same cup. Soon we received orders to advance to a
point half-way up the side of Panlung. … This fortress of
Panlung had been captured with the flesh and blood of the
Ninth Division of the Seventh and Eighth Regiments of the
Second Reserve, and was now an important base from which a
general assault on the northern forts of East Kikuan and
Wantai was to be made. This critical spot was finally taken
after a terrible struggle and a valiant action by the men of
General Oshima’s command. The sad story was eloquently told by
the horrible sights of the ravine. While running through the
opening in the wire-entanglement beyond, I noticed many
engineers and infantry men dead, piled one upon another caught
in the wire, or taking hold with both arms of a post, or
grasping the iron shears.
"When we reached the middle of the side of Panlung, I saw the
regimental flag that I used to carry, flying above our heads
in the dark. My heart leaped at the sight of the dear flag. …
As soon as we were gathered together the Colonel rose and gave
us a final word of exhortation, saying: ‘This battle is our
great chance of saving our country. To-night we must strike at
the vitals of Port Arthur. Our brave assaulting column must be
not simply a forlorn-hope ("resolved-to-die"), but a
"sure-death" detachment. I as your father am more grateful
than I can express for your gallant fighting. Do your best,
all of you.’
"Yes, we were all ready for death when leaving Japan. Men
going to battle of course cannot expect to come back alive.
But in this particular battle to be ready for death was not
enough; what was required of us was a determination not to
fail to die. Indeed we were ‘sure death’ men, and this new
appellation gave us a great stimulus. Also a telegram that had
come from the Minister of War in Tokyo was read by the
aide-de-camp, which said, ‘I pray for your success.’ This
increased the exaltation of our spirits.
"Let me now recount the sublimity and horror of this general
assault. I was a mere lieutenant and everything passed through
my mind as in a dream, so my story must be something like
picking out things from the dark. I can’t give you any
systematic account, but must limit myself to fragmentary
recollections. If this story sounds like a vain-glorious
account of my own achievements, it is not because I am
conscious of my merit when I have so little to boast of, but
because the things concerning me and near me are what I can
tell you with authority. If this partial account prove a clue
from which the whole story of this terrible assault may be
inferred, my work will not have been in vain.
"The men of the ‘sure-death’ detachment rose to their part.
Fearlessly they stepped forth to the place of death. They went
over Panlung-shan and made their way through the piled-up
bodies of the dead, groups of five or six soldiers reaching
the barricaded slope one after another. I said to the colonel,
‘Good-by, then!’ With this farewell I started, and my first
step was on the head of a corpse. Our objective points were
the Northern Fortress and Wang-tai Hill.
"There was a fight with bombs at the enemy’s
skirmish-trenches. The bombs sent from our side exploded
finely, and the place became at once a conflagration, boards
were flung about, sand bags burst, heads flew around, legs
were torn off. The flames mingled with the smoke, lighted up
our faces weirdly, with a red glare, and all at once the
battle-line became confused. Then the enemy, thinking it
hopeless, left the place and began to flee. ‘Forward! forward!
now is the time to go forward! Forward! Pursue! Capture it
with one bound!’ and, proud of our victory, we went forward
courageously. Captain Kawakami, raising his sword, cried,
‘Forward!’ and then I, standing close by him, cried,
‘Sakurai’s company, forward!’ Thus shouting I left the
captain’s side, and, in order to see the road we were to
follow, went behind the rampart. What is that black object
which obstructs our view? It is the ramparts of the Northern
Fortress. Looking back, I did not see a soldier. Alack, had
the line been cut? In trepidation, keeping my body to the left
for safety, I called the Twelfth Company.
{350}
"‘Lieutenant Sakurai!’ A voice called out repeatedly in
answer. Returning to the direction of the sound, I found
Corporal Ito weeping loudly. ‘What are you crying for? What
has happened?’ The corporal, weeping bitterly, gripped my arm
tightly. ‘Lieutenant Sakurai, you have become an important
person.’ ‘ What is there to weep about?’ I say, ‘what is the
matter?’ He whispered in my ear, ‘Our captain is dead.’
Hearing this, I too wept. Was it not only a moment ago that he
had given the order ‘Forward’? Was it not even now that I had
separated from him? And yet our captain was one of the dead.
In a moment our tender, pitying Captain Kawakami and I had
become beings of two separate worlds. Was it a dream or a
reality, I wondered?
"Corporal Ito pointed out the captain’s body, which had fallen
inside the rampart only a few rods away. I hastened hither and
raised him in my arms. ‘Captain!’ I could not say a word more.
But as matters could not remain thus, I took the secret map
which the captain had, and, rising up boldly, called out,
‘From henceforward I command the Twelfth Company.’ And I
ordered that someone of the wounded should carry back the
captain’s corpse. A wounded soldier was just about to raise it
up when he was struck on a vital spot and died leaning on the
captain. One after another of the soldiers who took his place
was struck and fell.
"I called Sub-Lieutenant Ninomiya and asked him if the
sections were together. He answered in the affirmative. I
ordered Corporal Ito not to let the line be cut, and told him
that I would be in the center of the skirmishers. In the
darkness of the night we could not distinguish the features of
the country, nor in which direction we were to march. Standing
up abruptly against the dark sky were the Northern Fortress
and Wang-tai Hill. In front of us lay a natural stronghold,
and we were in a caldron-shaped hollow. But still we marched
on side by side.
‘The Twelfth Company forward!’ I turned to the right and went
forward as in a dream. I remember nothing clearly of the time.
‘Keep the line together!’ This was my one command. Presently I
ceased to hear the voice of Corporal Ito, who had been at my
right hand. The bayonets gleaming in the darkness became
fewer. The black masses of soldiers who had pushed their way
on now became a handful. All at once, as if struck by a club,
I fell down sprawling on the ground. I was wounded, struck in
my right hand. The splendid magnesium light of the enemy
flashed out, showing the piled-up bodies of the dead, and I
raised my wounded hand and looked at it. It was broken at the
wrist; the hand hung down and was bleeding profusely. I took
out the already loosened bundle of bandages, tied up my wound
with the triangular piece, and then wrapping a handkerchief
over it, I slung it from my neck with the sunrise flag, which
I had sworn to plant on the enemy’s fortress.
"Looking up, I saw that only a valley lay between me and
Wang-tai Hill, which almost touched the sky. I wished to drink
and sought at my waist, but the canteen was gone; its leather
strap alone was entangled in my feet. The voices of the
soldiers were lessening one by one. In contrast, the glare of
the rockets of the hated enemy and the frightful noise of the
cannonading increased. I slowly rubbed my legs, and, seeing
that they were unhurt, I again rose. Throwing aside the sheath
of my sword, I carried the bare blade in my left hand as a
staff, went down the slope as in a dream, and climbed Wang-tai
Hill.
"The long and enormously heavy guns were towering before me,
and how few of my men were left alive now! I shouted and told
the survivors to follow me, but few answered my call. When I
thought that the other detachments must also have been reduced
to a similar condition, my heart began to fail me. No
reinforcement was to be hoped for, so I ordered a soldier to
climb the rampart and plant the sun flag overhead, but alas!
he was shot and killed, without even a sound or cry.
"All of a sudden a stupendous sound as from another world rose
around about me. ‘Counter-assault!’ A detachment of the enemy
appeared on the rampart, looking like a dark wooden barricade.
They surrounded us in the twinkling of an eye and raised a cry
of triumph. Our disadvantageous position would not allow us to
offer any resistance, and our party was too small to fight
them. We had to fall back down the steep hill. Looking back, I
saw the Russians shooting at us as they pursued. When we
reached the earthworks before mentioned, we made a stand and
faced the enemy. Great confusion and infernal butchery
followed. Bayonets clashed against bayonets; the enemy brought
out machine-guns and poured shot upon us pell-mell; the men on
both sides fell like grass. But I cannot give you a detailed
account of the scene, because I was then in a dazed condition.
I only remember that I was brandishing my sword in fury. I
also felt myself occasionally cutting down the enemy. I
remember a confused fight of white blade against white blade,
the rain and hail of shell, a desperate fight here and a
confused scuffle there. At last I grew so hoarse that I could
not shout any more. Suddenly my sword broke with a clash, my
left arm was pierced. I fell, and before I could rise a shell
came and shattered my right leg. I gathered all my strength
and tried to stand up, but I felt as if I were crumbling and
fell to the ground perfectly powerless. A soldier who saw me
fall cried, ‘Lieutenant Sakurai, let us die together.’"
_Tadayoshi Sakurai,
Human Bullets, chapter 26
(Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston).
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47548_
The soldier who offered to die with him stayed with the
Lieutenant till morning, binding his wounds, and finally
creeping away to find and bring help if he could. He, too, had
been wounded, and Sakurai found him later in a hospital. At
the end of many hours of constantly imminent death, the
helpless and suffering Lieutenant was saved by two soldiers
who bore him, stealthily and with infinite difficulty out of
the range of the Russian rifles and to a field hospital, where
he found himself among intimate friends.
{351}
Of the scene on the morning following the terrific assaults of
August 23d, the correspondent Nojine writes:
"The rising sun showed up sheaves of corpses on the ground
that was still ours. Death had indeed triumphed, and had
claimed 22,000 lives. From this time forward the enemy
remained content with the slower advance of regular siege
operations. … The enemy had got close up to our positions, and
the salient angle of the north-east was almost in their hands.
I say ‘almost,’ because the ruins of these works remained the
greater part of the time untenanted, neutralized by the
gun-fire of both sides." A month passed before another serious
assault was undertaken by the Japanese. Then, on the 21st of
September, they attacked what was called "203 Metre Hill."
"Column after column rushed forward on to 203 Metre Hill,
covering all its fore hills and slopes with heaps of dead; but
at 8.45 a. m. they were repulsed. This assault was
distinguished by particular obstinacy. … Having got
three-quarters of [the hill] they meant to get possession of
the rest at all costs: they slowly crawled upwards, fell dead,
rolled back, and others dashed forward; they lay concealed and
waited for reinforcements; nothing would drive them back. All
their thoughts, all their endeavors were to get possession of
this hill. Our men began rolling down great boulders from the
top. These bounded down, flattened out the dead and sought out
the living, who, in trying to dodge, exposed themselves and
were shot by our men on the lookout. … During the night of the
21st about 900 corpses were collected under 203 Metre Hill."
Nevertheless the assault was repeated on the following day.
"From the moment this assault was beaten back, the trenches in
front of 203 Metre Hill were gradually evacuated and the enemy
went to earth only on Angle Hill. All their sapping was
confined to the north-east. On the western front of the
Fortress there now remained in our possession only 203 Metre,
Flat and Divisional Hills. … October 1 was an epoch in the
history of the defence of Port Arthur, for it was on this day
that the first of the 11-inch shells fell into the Fortress,
and so changed the aspect of affairs. … Nowhere could we find
real safety from them. … The concrete of the forts, the armor
on the battle ships, were penetrated clean through." Mining
and counter-mining, by the besiegers and the besieged, were
now in progress, and the explosion of such mines was begun
near the end of October. On the 30th of that month the
Japanese made another general assault, after a "cruel
bombardment" of four days. "The October attacks were short,
but most determined and bloody. As regards their success, it
was but slight. The enemy had gained some dozens of yards—no
more. … The Japanese had fired over 150,000 shells." The
"November assault season" began on the 20th. Its climax was on
the 26th, "when time after time, the enemy threw themselves
with extraordinary gallantry and persistence on forts
Ehr-lung-shan, Chi-kuan-shan and B Battery. Thousands were
mown down, but the living surged onwards. But it could not go
on forever, and at 3.30 the infantry attacks slackened and
ceased. … All next day and night an incessant stream of
wounded poured into Arthur, our losses being more than 1500
men. … The slopes below and beyond Tumulus Hill were thickly
spread with dead Japanese. A thick, unbroken mass of corpses
covered the cold earth like a coverlet. On the day of the
assault the following order had been issued by Major-General
Nakamura, who commanded the Japanese force told off for that
forlorn hope: … ‘Our objective is to sever the Fortress on two
parts. Not a man must hope to return alive. If I fall, Colonel
Watanabe will take over the command; if he also falls, Colonel
Okuno will take his place. Every officer, whatever his rank,
must consider himself his senior’s successor. The attack will
be delivered mainly with the bayonet. No matter how fierce the
Russian fire, our men will not reply by a single shot until we
have established ourselves. Officers will shoot any men who
fall out or retire without orders.’ … This is the kind of foe
we had to fight. …
"We now come to the culmination of the tragedy, and perhaps
the bloodiest scene of carnage of the whole war—the fight for
and capture of 203 Metre Hill." The attack began November 27
and was continuous for eight days, excepting that an hour’s
truce was obtained by the Japanese, December 2, for the burial
of their dead. The next day "the fight on the hill was, if
possible, more exasperated. In the Fortress the feeling of
alarm was intensified, and all unemployed men had been got
under arms, … and the other points denuded, in order to feed
the maw of 203 Metre Hill. Even the hospitals gave their
contribution. December 4—bright and frosty—ushered in a fresh
hell. It was now hardly a fight between men that was taking
place on this accursed spot; it was a struggle of human flesh
against iron and steel, against blazing petroleum, lyddite,
pyroxiline and mélinite, and the stench of rotting corpses. It
was the last day but one of the long-drawn agony." At noon on
the 5th the Japanese gained the top of the hill, and held it
against an attempt that evening to drive them off. "203 Metre
Hill was lost, and with it more than 5000 Russians."
The end was now near. On the 15th four generals, and other
officers, including General Kondratenko, the most valued
assistant of General Smirnoff, were holding a consultation in
one of the casemates, and were killed by a 11-inch shell,
which penetrated even that shelter. On the 18th Chi-kuan-shan
Fort was captured; on the 28th Ehr-lung-shan was lost; on the
31st the Japanese took fortification Number 3, and on New
Year’s Day they won the Eagle’s Nest. That day General Stössel
sent a flag of truce to open negotiations for surrender. The
capitulation was signed the next day. "Of 18,000 sick and
wounded reported on the day the garrison marched out, 6000
only were wounded; the balance were cases of scurvy."
_E. K. Nojine,
The Truth about Port Arthur
(Dutton & Co., New York).
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59972_
General Stössel was subsequently ordered for trial before a
military commission, on a number of charges, including
disobedience of orders from the General Commanding in
Manchuria, false reports to headquarters, improper
interference with the commandant of the Fortress, and personal
absence from most of the engagements that had taken place in
and around Port Arthur. He was condemned to death, but the
Tzar commuted the sentence to imprisonment for ten years. He
began serving the sentence in March 1908, and was pardoned and
released on the 19th of May, 1909.
{352}
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (September-March).
War with Russia: The Campaign in Manchuria.
From the Battle of Liao-Yang to the end of
the Battle of Mukden.
Early in October, a month after the escape of the Russian army
from its defeat at Liao-Yang, General Kuropatkin attacked the
Japanese at the Sha-ho river and fought a desperate battle
with no substantial success. Extensive movements were then
interrupted by the approach of winter, and the campaign was
practically suspended for the next four months. "The three
Japanese armies had maintained the same relative positions in
which they had fought their way from Hai-Cheng northward.
Kuroki’s was the right, Oku’s the left, and Nodzu’s the
center. By the middle of February, Marshal Oyama had been
reënforced by Nogi’s one hundred thousand veterans of Port
Arthur, hereafter to be known as the fourth Japanese army,
operating to the west of Oku. A somewhat mysterious fifth
army, under command of General Kawamura, had been operating
somewhere between Kuroki and Vladivostok, and, while its
movements had not been known definitely, it had been expected
to threaten General Kuropatkin’s left. Both Russians and
Japanese were within a few miles of Mukden, the sacred city of
the Manchus. This city of half a million people lies in a
plain,—really the valley of the Hun River,—with the Hun and
the Liao rivers twenty to thirty miles west and southwest.
Eastward are the Mao-Tien Mountains, extending along the line
of the Port Arthur & Harbin Railway. The Russian and Japanese
lines formed a huge bow or crescent, the Japanese to the
southward, extending over a hundred miles of plains and hill
from Chang-Tan eastward across the railway to Lone Tree
(Putiloff) Hill, almost all the strong positions being held by
the Russians." In this position of the two stupendous armies
the long series of engagements known collectively as the
Battle of Mukden was opened by the Japanese on the 20th of
February, 1905. The center of the Russian army rested on the
Sha-ho; its right wing, commanded by General Kaulbars, was
distant from its left wing, commanded by General Linevitch,
more than one hundred and twenty miles. The Japanese attack
was begun by Kuroki, commanding their right. Crossing the
Sha-ho, he "swung around the Russian left, driving it from the
mountains in the vicinity of Tie Pass to Fushun, an important
fortified post (and the Russian coal depot) on the Hun River;
Nogi’s force had attacked General Kuropatkin from the west.
Nogi had marched through the neutral zone south of the Liao
River, to Sin-Min-Tun, a violation of neutrality against which
the Russians and Chinese had protested. This neutral zone,
however, had already been used by the Russians as a base to
forward coal and supplies to their army, so the Japanese
Government claimed that the neutrality had become null and
void. On March 3, Nogi rolled up the Russians in flight, and
his advance was not checked until his right wing had come into
touch with Oku’s left, only about eight miles south of Mukden.
While the armies of Oku and Nodzu continued to pound the
Russian center, with tremendous losses to themselves and to
the enemy, Nogi’s left, after a forced march of forty miles,
fell upon the Russian center. Through this Oku and Nodzu drove
a wedge, and, although Generals Linevitch and Kaulbars had
made a desperate defense and General Rennenkampf’s Cossacks
had performed prodigies of valor, the Russians had found
themselves (by the end of the first week in March) attacked in
so many places on the north of their flanks that it had become
a question with Kuropatkin, not only of retreat, but of saving
large bodies of troops from being surrounded and annihilated.
"Early on the morning of March 10, the Japanese occupied
Mukden, and the Russian retreat had become a rout. The next
day the important fortified town of Fushun was seized by the
Japanese, and thereafter the Russians, disorganized and
suffering from hunger and the weather, poured northward to Tie
Pass, forty miles from Mukden,—outmarched, outgeneraled, and
outfought."
_American Review of Reviews,
April and May, 1905._
"The sufferings caused by the retreat cannot be exaggerated.
It must be remembered that the weather remained intensely cold
and that the arrangements for collecting the wounded were all
disorganised. … Defeat, it may be added, was wholly unexpected
by the Manchurian Army, and that view was shared by the
foreign attaches and the war correspondents. Whatever their
opinions might be as to the possibility of General Kuropatkin
marching on Liao-Yang, they felt confident that the Japanese
would be unable to turn the Russians out of the positions so
long and so carefully prepared. The Japanese accomplished this
seemingly impossible task. …
"Following on the disaster of Mukden, General Kuropatkin was
relieved of his command, exchanging places with General
Linevitch. The new Commander-in-Chief fixed his headquarters
at Guntzuling, where the shattered army was re-formed."
_Lord Brooke,
An Eye Witness in Manchuria,
chapter 37._
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (October-May).
War with Russia: The expedition of the Baltic Fleet
to relieve Port Arthur.
The Dogger Bank incident.
The Seven Months Voyage.
Battle of Tsushima.
Destruction of the Fleet.
After the sea-fights of August 10-14, between Port Arthur and
Vladivostok (see above, A. D. 1904, February-August) Russia
had no naval force of any importance in the Pacific, and
hastened preparations for sending out a fleet from the Baltic
Sea.
See above,
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (February-August).
Under the command of Admiral Rozhdestvensky, this intended
reinforcement of the defence of Port Arthur was despatched
from Reval and Libau, sailing from the latter port on October
15. At the outset of its voyage, while traversing the North
Sea, the Russian fleet experienced a misadventure which
occasioned much excitement for a time and threatened to raise
a serious question between the Russian and British
governments. Briefly stated, the main facts of the case,
according to evidence accepted subsequently by an
International Commission of Inquiry, were these:
Before sailing from Reval, and, further, while anchored at the
Skagen, making ready to pass to the North Sea, Admiral
Rozhdestvensky had been warned by agents of his government
that suspicious vessels were on the coast of Norway, and that
he must beware of hostile undertakings, which were likely to
have the form of torpedo attacks. Accordingly he sailed from
the Skagen, October 20, twenty-four hours earlier than he had
planned, sending off the fleet in six divisions, that which he
accompanied being the last, and starting at 10 p. m.
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In one of the preceding divisions a transport, by reason of
defects in her engine, fell behind the cruisers which escorted
her, and at 8 p. m. on October 21 was some fifty miles astern
of the remainder of the fleet. She then met several Swedish
vessels which she imagined to be torpedo craft, and fired on
them, sending a wireless message to the Admiral that she was
attacked by torpedo boats on all sides. This message led the
Admiral to signal to his captains that they might expect
attacks and must keep a doubly vigilant watch. At an early
hour in the following morning his own immediate squadron
arrived at the Dogger Bank, where, as usual, many fishing
craft, mostly English, were "shooting their trawls," and doing
so in a regulated way, under the direction of a fishing master
or captain, who signalled with rockets to his fleet. One of
the preceding divisions of the Russian armada had passed these
without alarm, recognizing what they were; but Admiral
Rozhdestvensky and the officers of his flagship were so
expectant of enemies that the sight of a green rocket shot
into the air, and a distant glimpse of some kind of a ship
which seemed to be headed straight for them, at a great rate
of speed, convinced them instantly that they were in the midst
of swarming foes, and they opened fire.
According to testimony, their fire was kept up for about half
an hour, as they passed through the fishing fleet, one of the
vessels in which was sunk, her skipper and one other man
killed, while all but one of the remaining crew received
wounds. Two others of the fishing craft were struck, and the
hospital ship of the National Mission which attended the fleet
received some damage. Ultimately it was learned that the
Russians, in their wild firing, did harm to one another, so
seriously that the chaplain of one of their ships received a
wound from which he died.