Under the Ensign of the Rising Sun: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War, Page 4

  CHAPTER FOUR.

  THE COUNCIL IN THE MIKASA'S CABIN.

  As we entered the roadstead we found there, at anchor, a small Chinesejunk of such a dilapidated and weather-beaten appearance that she seemedas though she might go to pieces at any moment. She was flying theJapanese mercantile flag, a white flag with a red ball in the centre--which is also the Japanese "Jack," and I soon learned that in her case,as in many others, appearances were deceptive, for I was assured thatshe was as staunch as staunch could be. She was officered and manned bya Chinese crew, and she was ostensibly loaded with bricks; butsurrounded by these bricks, which were only a blind, was a sturdy littleclosed-in engine and boiler, the smoke from the latter issuing from theunusually big chimney of her galley stove, while the engine worked asmall but powerful set of pumps which strongly sucked in water throughher bows and discharged it equally strongly from her stern, under water,of course, giving her a speed of seven knots in smooth water. And whenI sought further information with regard to this mysterious craft, I wasinformed by Ito, who seemed to know all about her, that she had beenpurchased by the Japanese Secret Service Department, fitted with herengine, boiler, and pumps by an ingenious Japanese engineer, and thather business was to go to and fro between Port Arthur and "a certainplace," ostensibly as a trader, but in reality that her skipper, aparticularly bold and clever spy, might obtain information for theJapanese.

  The spy's name, it appeared, was Hang-won,--a rather ominous name, Ithought, under the circumstances,--while the name of the junk was_Chung-sa_. She had arrived from Port Arthur about midday, and this wasHang-won's first essay in Japan's service. But he had brought from PortArthur two items of news that were likely to prove most valuable to us;one of them being, that the Russian destroyers were being sent to seaevery night to reconnoitre, and that upon their return they alwaysshowed a white light above a red, to indicate that they were Russian;while the second item was to the effect that that day, 8th February,happened to be the name-day of Madame Stark, the wife of the RussianAdmiral, and that in honour of the day a great banquet was to be givenat nine o'clock that night, at the Admiral's house, which was to befollowed by a special performance at a circus which chanced to be in thetown.

  The moment that this information was communicated to Togo, he recognisedthe magnificent possibilities offered by the occasion. For it wasmorally certain that, between the banquet and the circus, most of theofficers, and possibly also a good many of the men, of the Russian fleetwould be ashore, that night; and what better opportunity for an attackupon it was likely to offer? The chance was very much too good to bemissed, and a signal was at once made for the captains of all craft,destroyers included, to repair on board the _Mikasa_.

  I was one of the last to reach the flagship, for the destroyers wereanchored outside the rest of the fleet, and when I arrived the Admiral'scabin was full of men, as many of them as could find room being seatedround the table, while the rest were accommodated with chairs. All weretalking indiscriminately together, for the council had not yet begun;but it was characteristic of Togo that he saw me the instant I enteredthe cabin, and rose to shake hands with me, exclaiming, "Ah! here comesour young British giant." Then, pointing to a chair near himself, hemotioned me to be seated, saying as he did so with a humorous smile:

  "Well, Mr Swinburne, I hope you find the _Kasanumi_ a nice, steady,comfortable ship. Is there room enough in her for you to stretchyourself, or shall we have to lengthen her a few feet?"

  "She is a splendid little craft, sir," I said heartily, "far better thanthe British boat in which I saw some service. She is a magnificent seaboat, and came through the wild weather of yesterday and last nightwithout turning a hair. True, she is a bit cramped between the beams,and I have already raised a few bumps on my head while trying to standupright in my cabin; but I'm ready to go anywhere and attempt anythingin her."

  "That's right," remarked Togo; "you show the true Nelson spirit, sir--the spirit which we expect to find in every Briton; the spirit which weso greatly admire, and which we are humbly striving to imbue ourJapanese seamen with. So you are `ready to go anywhere and attemptanything,' eh? Excellent! I hope to afford you the opportunity to showus what you can do before you are many hours older."

  Then, turning to where Captain Ijichi stood near the cabin door, hesaid, in Japanese:

  "Are all present, Ijichi?"

  Some half a dozen officers had followed close upon my heels, and Inoticed that, as each entered, the _Mikasa's_ skipper had ticked offsomething on a list which he held in his hand.

  "All present, sir," answered Ijichi, referring to his list.

  "Good!" remarked the Admiral. "Then, be so good as to tell the sentrythat we are on no account to be interrupted. Then close the door andfind a seat for yourself."

  With the closing of the cabin door the general conversation that hadbeen proceeding came to an abrupt termination and a tense silenceensued. Togo looked round the cabin, as though taking stock of us all;then in a few terse words he communicated to us the information which hehad just learned from Hang-won, who, by the way, was still in the cabin,ready to answer any questions that might be put to him.

  "Now, gentlemen," he continued, "there is no need for me to enlarge uponthe splendid opportunity which Madame Stark's celebration of hername-day offers us to strike a heavy blow at the enemy's fleet; I amsure that you will all see it for yourselves. The only question is: Inwhat way can we best avail ourselves of the opportunity? What form isthe blow to take?

  "So far as we are concerned, we are seventeen ships strong, apart fromour destroyers, while our friend, Hang-won, informs me that the Russianfleet consists of fourteen ships, again apart from destroyers. We aretherefore three ships to the good. But, of those fourteen Russianships, seven are battleships, while we muster only six; furthermore, thewhole fleet is anchored under the protection of the Port Arthurbatteries, a further tremendous advantage to them. Notwithstandingthis, however, the opportunity is such a splendid one that, were myhands free, I should be strongly disposed to take my whole fleet intoPort Arthur roadstead, engage the Russian ships at close quarters,trusting to find them unprepared; do them as much damage as possiblewith our heavy guns; and trust to our destroyers to complete theirdestruction while the confusion of the surprise was at its height. But,gentlemen, I cannot do this. My orders from the Cabinet and the ElderStatesmen are clear and precise, and under no circumstances whatever amI to disobey them. They are, that I am never to risk my ships,especially my battleships, by exposing them to the fire of the PortArthur batteries; and if I do not myself obey orders, how may I expectthat my orders will be obeyed? Strict and unquestioning obedience toorders is, as you all know, almost an article of faith with us;therefore, sorely tempted though I am, to disobey just this once, I darenot set an example which might be fraught with the most disastrousconsequences. Hence, gentlemen, I have summoned you this afternoon, toassist me with your counsels. I may mention that, keeping in view thefact that my superiors, the Government, have given me certain orderswhich I must obey, the only thing I can see for it is to send in ourdestroyers, and let them do their best. Can any of you suggest a betterplan?"

  For a full minute or more a tense silence reigned in the cabin,everybody apparently waiting for somebody else to speak first. Then ayoung officer in lieutenant's uniform (whom I subsequently learned wasno less a personage than Prince Kasho, one of the _Mikasa's_ officers),rose and, bowing first to the Admiral and then to the rest of us, said,in Japanese of course:

  "Do I understand, Admiral, that your question carries with it yourpermission to us to express our candid opinion?"

  "Assuredly," answered Togo.

  "Good!" returned the Prince. "Then, since no one else appears to have asuggestion to offer, perhaps I may be permitted to do so, though Ihappen to be the junior of most of the honourable officers present. Youtold us just now, sir, that, _were your hands free_, you would bestrongly disposed to take your entire fleet into Port Arthur roadstead,where, I understand, almost every Russian ship of importance in Easternwaters now rides at anchor, and make an end of them."

  The speaker was here interrupted by a low murmur of applause from manyof the officers present, who seemed to have a shrewd suspicion of whatwas coming. Togo held up his hand for silence, the Prince bowedsmilingly to his audience, who he felt he had with him, and resumed:

  "But you tell us, sir, that you are not free to exercise your owndiscretion, that your hands are tied by certain orders which you havereceived; and you have reminded us that implicit obedience is thesupreme virtue, almost an article of religious faith, with the Japanese.

  "With that sentiment, sir, I am, I scarcely need say, in perfect,whole-hearted agreement. But there is a point which I wish to make, andit is this. The Cabinet and the Elder Statesmen are, as theirdesignation indicates, _statesmen_; they are neither soldiers norsailors. And while I will not attempt to dispute either their wisdom ortheir right to formulate certain general rules for the guidance of theirGenerals and Admirals, I feel that I should not be doing my full duty tomy country, in the circumstances which now confront us, if I did notboldly declare my fixed conviction that such general rules as I havejust alluded to ought to be regarded and accepted by us merely asguides, and not as definite, imperative orders which are under nocircumstances whatsoever to be disobeyed."

  Here another little murmur of applause, more general and decided thanthe first, ran round the cabin. As it died away, the speaker resumed:

  "I cannot believe, sir, that the orders laid upon you were intended todeprive you of the power to exercise your own discretion under suchexceptional circumstances as the present; and I therefore take uponmyself the responsibility of saying, here in the presence of all yourofficers, that I believe you would be amply justified in acting in themanner that you indicated a few minutes ago."

  There was no mistaking the meaning of the applause that rang through thecabin now; it was perfectly evident that--with the solitary exceptionsof the Admiral and myself--the Prince had every man present heartilywith him.

  "I have but a very few more words to add, sir," the speaker resumed,when the applause died away, "and they are these. What you have told usconcerning to-night's projected happenings in Port Arthur seems toindicate that an opportunity, such as may never occur again, now offersfor us to strike such a blow at the enemy that it will be impossible forhim ever to recover from it; and if the striking of that blow doesindeed involve actual disobedience of precise orders, I venture toassert that the result will amply justify the deed."

  The Prince resumed his seat amid thunders of applause which rang throughthe cabin for at least a couple of minutes. When at length it dieddown, Togo rose to his feet.

  "Gentlemen," he said, "I gather from your plaudits that you all fullyagree with Prince Kasho's honourable speech, for which I beg to mostheartily thank him, although it places me upon the horns of a dilemma.Let that pass, for the moment, however. What I want, now, is that eachof you should, in as few words as possible, express your opinion uponthe Prince's suggestion that I should take the whole of my ships intoPort Arthur roadstead and engage the enemy in a pitched battle."

  In response to this appeal, the officers rose, one after the other,apparently in the order of their seniority; and each man expressed hishearty concurrence with Prince Kasho's proposal, the concurrence beingaccompanied in many cases by the expression of sundry lofty andbeautiful sentiments extolling the virtues of patriotism and valour. Atlength everybody had spoken except myself, and I was heartily hopingthat I should be passed over as a person of so little account that myopinion would not be considered worth having. Not so, however. TheAdmiral turned to me and said, with a smile:

  "And now at last we come to our honourable English friend, the captainof the _Kasanumi_. What has he to say upon the matter? You have heardwhat has been said; and although you have perhaps been unable, throughyour restricted knowledge of our language, to grasp the full meaning ofit all, you may possibly have understood enough to enable you tocomprehend the way in which this momentous question appeals to theJapanese heart and intellect. Now, kindly favour us with the view whichyou, as a hard-headed Englishman, take of it."

  "Really, sir," I said in English, springing to my feet in someconfusion, "I would very much prefer to be excused, if you will kindlyallow me. It would be the most rank presumption on my part to--"

  "No, no," cried several voices, among which I distinctly recognised thatof Prince Kasho; "let us hear what the honourable Englishman has tosay."

  "Quite right, gentlemen," said Togo. "I fully agree with you. I knowsomething of the English; and even though Mr Swinburne may differ fromus all, I'll warrant that he will not suggest any action that is notconsonant with our honour, as seamen, or our loyalty to the Emperor.Pray proceed, Mr Swinburne."

  "Very well, then, Admiral, and gentlemen, since you do me the honour toinsist, I will," said I. "But you must permit me to begin by remindingyou that I am only a boy, and that this is my first experience of actualwarfare; therefore if I venture to express an opinion on what has beenjustly described as a most momentous question, I do so with the utmostdiffidence. At the same time, although I have had no previousexperience of war, I should like to say that I have studied the subjectdeeply and with intense interest. And it is with equal interest that Ihave listened to the expression of your views on the question now underconsideration. I am filled with admiration of the noble and patrioticsentiments which have to-day been spoken within the walls of thiscabin--sentiments with which I most cordially agree, since they happento accurately coincide with my own.

  "But, gentlemen, may I dare venture to remind you that patriotism andvalour, splendid and admirable as they are, are not the only qualitiesthat should distinguish the soldier or sailor who fights for hiscountry? Inspired by them, a man may no doubt accomplish great things,wonderful things; but we Britons have a proverb which declares thatdiscretion is the better part of valour, and in my humble opinion--which, I repeat, I advance with the utmost diffidence--the present isone of those occasions when valour, as heroic and self-sacrificing asyou will, should go hand in hand with discretion.

  "With your kind favour I will briefly mention the picture that arose inmy mind while Prince Kasho was advocating the plan of taking the entirefleet into Port Arthur roadstead and engaging the Russians in a pitchedbattle.

  "I readily grant you that the information communicated to the Admiral byHang-won seems to indicate that to-night, or the small hours ofto-morrow morning, will afford a magnificent opportunity for such a_coup_; but--let us consider all the consequences which that _coup_would entail. It may be that we should be able to take the Russians bysurprise; it is exceedingly probable that some of the officers--perhapsa good many of them--will be ashore to-night; but, recognising the factthat Russia and Japan are at war, do you, gentlemen, as reasonable,sensible men, really believe for a moment that the Russian fleet will beleft defenceless in an open roadstead, or that the vigilance of thelookouts will be relaxed? I do not. And, if not, the approach of sucha formidable array as ours would assuredly be detected, and the alarmgiven, long before we could arrive within effective striking distance.Then what would be the ultimate result? I have not a doubt that weshould be victorious, but at what cost? We must remember, gentlemen,that we should be not only engaging a fleet but slightly inferior instrength to our own, _but the batteries as well_; and it is in thebatteries that our danger lies. I know not what the armament of thosebatteries may be, but I think we may safely assume that it will consistof weapons heavy enough to sink many of our ships while we are doing ourbest to sink theirs. With all submission, I think it would be theheight of folly for us to assume that we could fight such a battlewithout serious loss to ourselves. And the point which I wish toemphasise is this: _How are we going to make good those losses_? TheRussians can make good theirs by sending more ships out from Europe; butwhere are we to get more? I need not labour this question, gentlemen; Iam sure you will all see what I mean, and therefore understand why I saythat, altogether apart from the question of slavish obedience to orders,or otherwise, I think the Admiral is fully justified in his decision notto risk his ships in such an exceedingly hazardous enterprise."

  "Thank you, Mr Swinburne," said Togo, offering me his hand as I satdown. "You have spoken pretty much as I expected you would." Then,turning to one of the officers who had been busily writing all the timethat I was speaking, he said:

  "Captain Matsumoto, am I correct in supposing that you have been takingdown Mr Swinburne's remarks?"

  "Quite correct, sir," answered the skipper of the _Fuji_.

  "Then," said Togo, "do me the favour to read them over aloud, inJapanese, for the benefit of those officers who have been unable toclosely follow Mr Swinburne's English."

  This was done; and when Matsumoto sat down there was silence for a fewmoments, succeeded by a faint murmur of applause. Then the Admiralrose.

  "Gentlemen," he said, "you have now all spoken; and I tender you my mosthearty thanks for the frank expression of your several opinions. I havelistened with the greatest interest and satisfaction to everything thathas been said, but you must pardon me if I say at once, frankly, thatyou leave me as unconvinced as ever. Or, no; not unconvinced; on thecontrary, I am more convinced than ever that, apart, as Mr Swinburnehas remarked, from any question of slavish obedience to orders, I shouldbe guilty of a serious, even disastrous, error of judgment, were I totake my battleships and cruisers into Port Arthur roads and give battleto the Russian fleet. The only alternative is to employ the destroyers;and I shall be glad of any suggestions you may be pleased to offer as tothe best method of attack."

  Nobody spoke. It was easy to see that the officers of the battleshipsand cruisers, deeply imbued with the somewhat fantastic and high-flownideas of the Japanese with regard to the almost divine virtue of heroismand self-sacrifice, were profoundly disappointed that they were not tobe afforded an opportunity to display their possession of those virtues.

  "Has no one a suggestion to offer?" demanded Togo, in a tone ofsurprise. "What say you, Swinburne?" turning to me.

  "It would greatly help us, sir," I said, "if Hang-won could give us evenan approximate idea of the position of the Russian ships in theroadstead."

  "You are right, sir; it would," answered the Admiral. And turning tothe Chinaman, he addressed to him a question in what I imagined to beChinese. The man was replying at some length when Togo interrupted himand turned to the skipper of the flagship.

  "Captain Ijichi," said he, "a chart of Port Arthur, if you please."

  The chart was brought, and Hang-won, after poring over it awhile, took apencil and with meticulous care jotted down certain marks upon it. Whenhe had finished, Togo turned to me and said:

  "Here we are, Mr Swinburne. These marks indicate the positions of someof the Russian ships, as nearly as Hang-won can remember them. As yousee, they are moored in wedge-shaped formation, the point of the wedgeto seaward; and that point is occupied by the _Tsarevich_, a battleship.Next her, inshore, comes the _Poltava_, also a battleship, then the_Sevastopol_, another battleship, and abreast of her, in the secondline, the battleship _Pobieda_. Of the positions of these he iscertain, he says, having taken particular notice of them as he came out;but of the rest he is not so sure, except that there are thirteen ofthem, exclusive of the _Askold_, all anchored inside the _Tsarevich_.The _Askold_ is a cruiser, and according to Hang-won she is performingpatrol duty to and fro, outside the rest of the fleet. You will readilyrecognise her from the fact that she is the only craft with fivefunnels.

  "There is another point in favour of our employing destroyers. Itappears that Admiral Stark sends out a destroyer flotilla every night topatrol the coast as far as Dalny--there it is, about twenty milesnorth-east of Port Arthur. If, upon approaching the roadstead, ourboats show the lights usually exhibited by the Russian destroyers--awhite light above a red--on their return from Dalny, they ought to beable to get right in among the Russian fleet and do a tremendous amountof damage before their identity is discovered, and I shall confidentlylook for important results accordingly. Now, gentlemen, I have my ownidea as to how the attack should be conducted; but I have heard it saidthat in many councillors there is wisdom, therefore I should be glad tohave your views on the subject."

  And, one after the other, the officers present gave them, the generalopinion being that the destroyers ought to approach to within about fivemiles of the shore at a moderate speed, showing no lights; then dash inat top speed, discharging torpedoes right and left, and continue to doso, regardless of consequences, until every Russian ship was destroyed.

  Finally, I was called for to give my opinion; and again I found myselfobliged to differ from the others.

  "If I were leading the attack, sir," I said, "I should time myself toarrive at about eleven o'clock, that being the time, I imagine, when thebanquet and the special performance will both be at their height. Atthe distance of about five miles from the shore I should slow down,instead of increasing speed, because I should then have no fear offlames escaping from my funnels and so betraying my approach. I shouldthen divide my force into two, one of which should sweep well away tothe nor'ard, while the other sheered off toward the south, my objectbeing to get my boats well into the concealment of the shadow of thehigh land east and west of the roadstead. Under the cover of thisshadow I should creep close along shore until I was well inside theenemy's fleet, when I should wheel outward, get good way on my boats,and torpedo the enemy, ship after ship, as I came out. By this plan Ishould be heading seaward, ready to make good my escape as soon as thealarm was given, which I believe will be within a few seconds after thefirst torpedo is fired. Then I should run for it out to sea, at topspeed; for I am convinced that, once the alarm is given and thesearchlights are turned on, we shall be afforded no further opportunityto do mischief; and I see no sense in sacrificing ships and livesuselessly. I have heard the remark made, more than once, that it is aglorious thing to die for one's country and one's Emperor. So it is--when the sacrifice of one's life is necessary to secure a certainobject; but I maintain that it is still more glorious to _live_ forone's country. One live man can render more useful service to hiscountry than a hundred dead ones."

  Again there was a little half-hearted murmur of applause.

  But Togo expressed his approval in no half-hearted manner. Dashing hisfist upon the table he exclaimed:

  "By Hachiman Sama!" (the Japanese god of War), "you are right, MrSwinburne. You told us, a little while ago, that you are only a boy,but you have the brains and wisdom of a man, sir. Your plan of attackis the right one--cannot you see that it is, gentlemen?--and it shall befollowed. By attempting the other plan, we should in all probabilitylose every boat and every man, with no better result; while, by adoptingMr Swinburne's plan, we may save at least two-thirds of them. Now,gentlemen, before we terminate the council, has any one a better plan topropose?" And he glanced round the cabin, inquiringly.

  No one answered. Then Captain Matsumoto, commanding the battleship_Fuji_, rose.

  "As one whose knowledge of the august English language is perhapssuperior to that of most present--your honourable self, sir, excepted,"he said, addressing the Admiral, "I should like to say that I havelistened to the remarks of the honourable commander of the _Kasanumi_with profound interest. His doctrine, that it is more glorious to livethan to die for one's Emperor, is a new one to us Japanese, and Iconfess that for the moment it shocked me, as I saw that it shocked mostof us. But, if one comes to reflect, one sees that there is sound sensein it; therefore I should like to record my entire approval of theprojected plan of attack upon the enemy's fleet. For, by adopting it,there is a good prospect that many lives and many craft, which wouldotherwise be uselessly sacrificed, may be preserved to render furthervaluable service to Japan and its Emperor."

  The applause this time was real and hearty enough, and several of theofficers who were sitting near me offered me their hands and smilinglycomplimented me.

  "Very well, then, gentlemen, that matter is settled, and mostsatisfactorily, too, in my humble opinion. And, now, as to details.Divisions 1, 2, and 3 of the destroyer flotilla will attack the fleet atPort Arthur; Divisions 4 and 5 will proceed to Dalny in quest of theRussian destroyers said to reconnoitre in that direction nightly; andall will inflict as much damage as possible upon the enemy. CaptainMatsunaga of the _Asashio_ will command Divisions 1, 2, and 3; whileCaptain Nagai will command Divisions 4 and 5. The flotilla will startat five o'clock this evening. You are dismissed, gentlemen. I thankyou for your honourable attendance, and the assistance which you haverendered me."