CHAPTER XV

THE WAR WITH RUSSIA, AND JAPAN A WORLD POWER

War Operations on Land--Four Great Japanese Armies in the Field--The Siege and Capitulation of Port Arthur--Operations of the Navy--The Annihilation of the Russian Fleet--Terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth--Treaty of Alliance with England--Financial Troubles in Japan and Riotous Demonstrations against the Government--Supplementary Treaty with Russia--Government Control in Corea Transferred to Japan--Abdication of the Corean Emperor and a Japanese Resident-General Appointed--Attacks on Japanese on the United States Pacific Coast--General Arbitration Treaty with the United States

With the striking of the first blows to check Russia’s advance, Japan at once became master of the situation in the Far East and remained master till the end of the war through repeated victories on land and sea. Japanese progress and expansion had been imperiled by Russia’s occupation of Manchuria and by Russian aggression in Corea, these two countries being the very territory needed by Japan for her overflowing population. Therefore, behind national pride in the splendid achievements of the Japanese army and navy, was national instinct of self-preservation. Corea and Manchuria were to Japan national necessities; and so Japan began ridding herself of the menace of Russia in territory that the Japanese regarded as being logically their own sphere of influence. Japan won; and, by reason of victory, became a world power, to dominate in the East for years to come.

The last week of February, 1904, found General Kuroki, commanding the Japanese First Army in the East, with his forces concentrated along the Yalu River that separates Corea from Manchuria. General Kuroki had already occupied Ping Yang, and now was ready to begin the forward movement against the Russian army under General Kuropatkin.

March and April witnessed the steady advance of the Japanese First Army, Kuroki having crossed the Yalu River with three divisions to attack divisions of Kuropatkin’s army under General Sassulitch and others. On May 1st, the first serious blow was struck, at Kiu-lien-cheng, when Kuroki drove the Russians out of that place. The Japanese immediately followed up this victory with another--driving the Russians from their position north of Kiu-lien-cheng, to which they had retreated. The losses in these two engagements were (officially) 2,397 officers and men of the Russian forces; and (unofficially) 800 officers and men of the Japanese army.

On May 7th, Kuroki captured another town, Feng-wang-cheng, the Russians retreating without giving battle. The first setback to the Japanese in the war came with defeat in an engagement with Cossacks north of Feng-wang-cheng, May 18th.

Eight days later (May 26), however, the almost monotonous succession of victories that characterized the movement of the Japanese armies throughout the war was resumed with a victory at the great battle of Kinchow and Nanchan Hill. This was the first really notable pitched battle of the war. After sixteen hours of continuous fighting, the Russians began a precipitous retreat, pursued by the Japanese.

The casualties on both sides were very heavy, those of Japan being estimated at between 3,500 and 4,300 killed and wounded. The Russians left 704 dead on the field at Nanshan Hill alone--the bodies being buried by the Japanese some two weeks later (June 12). Altogether the Russian total loss in killed and wounded was 2,600. The Japanese reported the capture (during the Kinchow and Nanshan Hill engagements and in the minor engagements that were taking place simultaneously), of 600 prisoners, 21 guns, 1,000 rifles, and 350,000 rounds of ammunition. This great victory was the first of the many to be celebrated in Japan with joyful popular demonstrations.

On May 30th, the Japanese attacked and defeated 2,000 Cossacks at Ai-pien-men; and on the same day, General Oku, commanding the Japanese Second Army, reported to his Government that he had occupied the port of Dalny, which the Russians had evacuated after destroying a large part of the town. General Oku reported, however, that the docks, piers, and railroad station, were not seriously damaged.

Meanwhile (May 23 to 26), the Japanese Third Army, under General Nodzu, engaged in a series of battles with the Russian forces (under General Fock) which General Stoessel had sent out from Port Arthur to attempt to restore the line of communication between the besieged city and Mukden.

Fifty thousand men of General Oku’s Second Army caught a large body of Russians under General Stakelberg in ambush, near Telissu, on June 14th, and a battle ensued in which the Russians lost 4,300 men and the Japanese 1,100. Thus the Japanese thwarted one more attempt of the Russians to move to the relief of Port Arthur, General Stakelberg having concentrated his troops on the line of railroad leading to the besieged city. The Russians now fell back upon Kaiping, but the Japanese drove them from that position, July 9th. Meantime, the Third Army under General Nodzu had effected a junction with Kuroki, and together the two armies advanced to Sunachen and there again defeated the Russians, after a two hours’ battle. A Fourth Japanese Army had taken the field, and Field Marshal Oyama was placed in supreme command of all Japanese operations.

Now came another notable defeat of the Russians. In a desperate attempt to prevent the separation of their forces, 20,000 Russians, under General Keller, unsuccessfully attacked the Japanese at Fenshiuling (July 17), and then retired to a strong position on the Yantze Pass. On July 23d, General Oku advanced to the attack on Yinkow, and compelled the Russians to abandon the place. Furthermore, on July 31st, the Japanese, after a desperate fight, drove the Russians under General Keller from their position on Yantze Pass. General Keller was killed and his men fell back to Liaoyang. Simultaneously, Generals Oku and Nodzu combined in an attack on the Russians at Haicheng (August 2), compelling the enemy to evacuate that place also. Thus with a loss of 2,400 men, the Japanese had within a few days driven the enemy back from the mountains into the Manchu Plains.

With 200,000 men the Japanese then renewed the attack on the Russians (who had 148,000 men), at Liaoyang. The First, Second and Third Armies began a general advance (August 26), and continued to push forward till September 3d, when the Russians were driven out of Liaoyang and compelled to retreat toward Mukden. By September 5th the Russian forces under General Kuropatkin were practically surrounded by the Japanese.

In October occurred one of the greatest battles of the war, that of the Sha River and Lone Tree Hill. This time the Russians took the offensive, advancing, 300,000 strong, upon the Japanese battle line along the Sha River. For a week, fighting night and day, the battle continued, the Japanese losing their commanding position on Lone Tree Hill. This battle also checked the Japanese advance and ended the campaign for the fall and winter. In this seven days’ fight each side lost about 45,000 killed and wounded.

Fighting was resumed on January 25, 1905, when the Russians again took the initiative, General Kuropatkin, with 400,000 men, ordering a general attack on the enemy near Liaoyang. For six days the battle lasted, with desperate fighting on both sides, but resulting in the repulse of the Russians. Then, from February 20th to March 15th, was fought the series of terrific engagements known as the battle of Mukden. Field Marshal Oyama’s four armies, consisting of 500,000 men, extending in line-of-battle over a semicircle 120 miles long, advanced in a general attack which resulted in the taking of Mukden on March 10th and the demoralized retreat of the Russians, March 15th. In these operations the Japanese lost 60,000 men, the Russians 100,000.

At Port Arthur the siege continued with a number of aggressive movements by the Japanese who, by assault, began taking the inner forts on August 21st. Ten days later a general assault, directed by General Nogi, was made on the city, but was repulsed. On September 24th the Japanese captured the forts commanding the water supply of the city. On November 4th, the Japanese took Wantai Hill, and on November 30th captured 203-Metre Hill commanding city and harbor. Fight after fight took place until January 2, 1905, when the capitulation of the city became an accomplished fact, General Stoessel surrendering to General Nogi. After this most notable siege of modern history, in which the Japanese gained the richest prize of the war (Port Arthur being the key to the situation on land), the reckoning showed that the Japanese lost three times as many men as the enemy--45,000 on the Japanese side, while the Russian losses were only 15,000.

On the sea, at the same time, Japanese operations resulted in still more brilliant victories. On April 13, 1904, the Russian battleship _Petropavlovsk_, returning to Port Arthur harbor with Admiral Makaroff on board, struck a mine (or possibly a torpedo), and sank, the Russian admiral and 600 of the crew of the battleship losing their lives. In May the Japanese bombarded Vladivostok, and, by sinking merchant vessels at the entrance to Port Arthur harbor, attempted to bottle up the Russian squadron. On May 11th the Japanese lost a cruiser that was torpedoed off Port Arthur; and on the 17th lost two more warships, one by a mine and the other by collision. Naval fights occurred during the summer and fall, usually with decided success for the ships of the Mikado. On December 6th, having captured 203-Metre Hill, the Japanese shelled the Russian fleet in the harbor, sinking a turret-ship and a battleship, and seriously damaging other vessels, thus rendering Russia helpless in naval operations in those waters.

However, the Russian Baltic Sea fleet, under Admiral Rojestvensky, was on the way to the East; and upon this fleet now were centred all Russian hopes of regaining even partial control on the Far Eastern seas. But Admiral Togo, commanding the Japanese naval forces, was lying in wait off Tsu Island, in the east channel of Corea Strait, and no sooner did Rojestvensky’s fleet arrive (after junction with a smaller squadron under Admiral Nebogatoff) than Togo steamed forward to deliver a crushing blow that was to end the war and to bring Togo everlasting fame. Togo signaled to his vessels: “The destiny of our Empire depends upon this action. You are all expected to do your utmost.” That was at noon, May 27, 1905. All that afternoon and all the following day the fighting continued, resulting in the practical annihilation of the Russian fleet--all the best remaining ships of the Russian navy being sunk. Admiral Rojestvensky was taken prisoner; Admiral Nebogatoff surrendered his squadron. Admiral Togo sank six battleships, six cruisers, a coast-defense vessel, a repair ship, and a number of destroyers, while on his own very slightly damaged vessels there were less than 1,000 casualties.

Ten days later (June 8, 1905), Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, intervened to end the war. Addressing the Japanese and Russian Governments, Mr. Roosevelt urged immediate and direct peace negotiations and offered his friendly services. Both the belligerent nations accepted the President’s offer (June 12) and plenipotentiaries were at once appointed to discuss the terms of peace. Baron Komura and Mr. Takahira representing Japan, and Baron Rosen and Count Witte representing Russia, were introduced to one another on the President’s yacht, _Mayflower_, at Oyster Bay, Long Island, August 5th. The envoys were then conveyed to the Navy Yard at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where the sessions of the peace conference continued for thirty days, the Treaty of Portsmouth being signed on September 5th.

By the terms of this treaty, Japan secured from Russia “not one kopek,” as Count Witte expressed it, for war indemnity. Japan gained, however, a recognition of her preponderant influence in Corea and an agreement by Russia to evacuate Manchuria and to return to China the civil administration of Manchurian territory. Also Japan acquired Russia’s leasehold of Port Arthur, the holding of all military works at Port Arthur and Dalny, and the control of the Chinese Eastern Railway. Finally, Japan secured from Russia the cession of one-half of the island of Sakhalin, Japan taking the half nearest to her own islands (the southern half) while Russia retained the northern half.

These terms, however, wore unsatisfactory to the Japanese people--especially the failure to secure any indemnity--the people feeling that they should have received more for their sacrifices made during the war. Riotous demonstrations against the Government broke out in Tokio and elsewhere, but were quelled after the placing of Tokio under martial law.

In the reckoning of grand totals of forces engaged and men lost in the war, it was estimated that Japan had over 1,200,000 troops in the field, and that her losses in killed and wounded, and from disease, amounted to 370,000. Russia had only 870,000 men actually in the field, though her available force in the East was over 1,000,000 men. Russian field casualties were estimated at 350,000.

Three weeks after the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth, Japan renewed her Treaty of Alliance with Great Britain (September 27, 1905), to remain in force for ten years. By the terms of this treaty both countries agreed to maintain peace in Eastern Asia and India and to respect the integrity of China; England agreed, also, to recognize Japan’s paramount political, military, and economic interests in Corea.

On December 28, 1905, the Emperor of Japan opened the first Diet following the war and the new Alliance Treaty with England, referring in his speech to the fact that Japan had become a world power and that it was the duty of Parliament and of all citizens to assist to the utmost in fulfilling the country’s newly acquired obligations.

A new Cabinet was then formed with Marquis Saionji as Premier. Through the two years following, during which the Marquis was in power, the country was agitated by a succession of popular demonstrations against the Government, the people declaring that the nation’s finances were not properly administered and that taxation had increased “beyond tolerance.” The crisis in the financial situation was reached on January 14, 1908, when Marquis Saionji tendered his resignation, only to have it refused by the Emperor, his Majesty asserting that the Premier’s policies possessed his entire confidence.

On January 19th, the Progressive Party of Japan adopted a platform attacking the Cabinet for “bad finance and weak diplomacy.” And as late as March 21, 1908, figures presented to the House of Peers showed the necessity for an increase in taxes to meet deficits. This additional drain on the popular pocketbook resulted in disturbances and even sanguinary riots in May of 1908.

A supplementary treaty with Russia, known as the Russo-Japanese Convention, signed July 30, 1907, strengthened the diplomatic friendship that was re-established between Japan and her erstwhile enemy by the Treaty of Portsmouth. By the terms of the new Convention, the contracting nations agreed each to respect the existing territorial integrity of the other. Both recognized the independence and territorial integrity of China and the principle of equal opportunities in commerce and industry of all nations in the Chinese Empire. Also the Convention provided for a linking of the Japanese and Russian railways in Manchuria.

Japanese control in Corea was completed, indeed, only after a series of wordy conflicts with the Corean Emperor and his Ministry, and after a number of riots throughout Corea that had to be put down by Japanese troops with much shedding of blood.

Soon after the opening of hostilities between Japan and Russia, an agreement between the Mikado’s representative and the Corean Emperor was signed (February 23, 1904), whereby Corea adopted the advice of Japan in respect to various improvements in administration, while Japan insured the safety of the Imperial Household of Corea and guaranteed the independence and territorial integrity of the Corean Empire. By this agreement, Japan secured the assistance of the Corean army in movements in Corea.

A second agreement between Japan and Corea, signed August 22, 1904, provided for a Japanese Financial Adviser and a Foreign Diplomatic Adviser to regulate the Corean finances and foreign relations.

On November 18, 1905, two months after the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth, occurred the formal transfer to Japan of the control of the Corean Government. This transfer was in accordance with a treaty signed the day before, at Seoul, whereby it was provided that Japan should control and direct the external relations and affairs of Corea, through the Japanese Department of Foreign Affairs in Tokio. It was also agreed that Japan should have direct representation at the Court of the Emperor of Corea by a Resident-General residing at Seoul. Count Ito, of Tokio, was appointed to this post; and, acting under the terms of the treaty, he at once stationed Japanese Residents (or local governors) at the several open ports of Corea and at other places in Corea.

From the beginning of Japanese control, the attitude of the Emperor of Corea toward the Mikado’s representatives was one of active opposition and at times even of open hostility. The secret plottings of the disgruntled Emperor against the Japanese authorities reached their culminating act in the spring of 1907, when he sent a delegation, with more or less secrecy, to the Hague Peace Conference. This led to his abdication in favor of the Crown Prince, July 19, 1907. Coreans asserted that the abdication was compulsory. The facts, as given officially, however, show that the Emperor abdicated by unanimous advice of his Ministers.

With the accession to the throne of the new Emperor, a new Convention was promulgated (July 25), in which the future course of Japanese control was defined and agreed to by his Corean Majesty, as follows: First, the administration of the Corean Government was to be under the Japanese Resident-General, Count Ito; second, all transactions of important state affairs, as well as the enactment of all laws, were to receive the approval of the Resident-General before going into effect; third, all appointments of high executive officials were to receive the approval of the Resident-General; fourth, Japanese subjects, if recommended by the Resident-General, were to be eligible to hold office under the Corean Government; fifth, no foreigners were to be employed by the Corean Government excepting with the consent of the Resident-General.

After the signing of this Convention, the Corean army was disbanded. By May 2, 1908, cordial relations between the new Emperor and the Japanese Resident-General had progressed to such an extent that the Corean Government itself began an active campaign against the disorderly elements throughout the Empire.

Relations between the Governments of Japan and the United States continued undisturbed through the first three years following the close of the Russo-Japanese War, though at one time, in 1907, the press and people both in Japan and the United States went so far as to discuss the possibility of war between the two countries. The rumors of war were the outgrowth, first, of the act of the authorities of San Francisco, California, in barring Japanese pupils from the regular public schools; second, of the agitation in the United States to restrict Japanese immigration; third, of the decision of the United States Government to send a great fleet of battleships, for the first time in history, to the Pacific; fourth, of attacks on Japanese subjects at San Francisco and other places on the Pacific Coast.

While barring Japanese pupils from the regular schools, the authorities of San Francisco proposed that a separate Oriental School be maintained for Japanese, on the ground that the Japanese “schoolboys” were, many of them, grown men and that they corrupted the morals of the white pupils. President Roosevelt sent Secretary of the Navy Metcalf to make a thorough investigation and, upon receiving his report, requested that the San Francisco officials abandon the idea of a separate school for Orientals and that Japanese pupils be readmitted to the regular public schools. San Francisco agreed to this, on condition that the United States Government take immediate measures to restrict further immigration of Japanese from Hawaii, the Philippines, Canada, Mexico, and Panama.

Meantime, popular demonstrations against the Japanese had taken place at various cities on the Pacific Coast. In San Francisco, especially, stores and other places of business conducted by Japanese were wrecked and the owners and employees thereof attacked. Action taken by the authorities to punish the offenders led to rioting and still further attacks on the Japanese. The result was a formal protest from the Japanese Government demanding protection for Japanese subjects in California. Thereupon the Federal Government at Washington announced that it would “proceed to use every available means, civil and military, to protect aliens.” Attacks on the Japanese occurred at intervals, nevertheless, until well into 1908, when peace was seemingly restored.

In December, 1907, while the anti-Japanese feeling on the Pacific Coast of the United States ran highest, the Japanese Government received proposals from the United States Government in regard to restricting immigration. To these restrictions the Japanese Government agreed (December 31), and in February, 1908, the matter was closed by an agreement signed by Japan to supervise future immigration to the United States in accordance with the restrictions agreed upon.

The attitude of the Japanese people in regard to the visit of the United States fleet to the Pacific Coast was at first one of mild alarm and resentment. Altogether different was the attitude of official Japan. So far was the Japanese Government from resenting the movement of the fleet that a formal invitation was sent to President Roosevelt inviting the United States ships of war to visit Japan. This invitation was accepted March 20, 1908. In June the fleet, then on the Pacific Coast of the United States, was making preparations for the long voyage to Japanese waters and thence around the world. And in proof of the cordial reception accorded to Americans and American wares in Japan, the Government at Tokio (April 1, 1908), published a report containing figures showing that the United States led the nations of the world in trade with Japan. Moreover, a general Arbitration Treaty between Japan and the United States was signed at Washington, May 5, 1908.

Prince Fushimi, adopted brother of the Mikado, arrived in the United States in November, 1904, calling on President Roosevelt on the 15th. The reception accorded the Prince in Washington and other American cities gave great satisfaction in Japan, as did also the manner in which he was received in Canada and England, which countries he visited after leaving the United States.

Japanese-Chinese relations continued on a basis of uninterrupted cordiality following the close of the Russo-Japanese War, until early in 1908, when, in the Chinese harbor of Macao, Chinese officials seized a Japanese merchant steamer, the _Tatsu Maru_, a large part of the cargo of which consisted of arms and munitions of war. The seizure immediately created a sensation throughout both Empires. Japan, on February 29th, demanded an apology and an indemnity from China for the seizure. On March 14th China returned the vessel to Japan and agreed to pay an indemnity, though she retained the arms found on board. The release of the ship caused widespread indignation among the Chinese, who in vengeance started, in March, a boycott against the Japanese that lasted until June, though Japan meanwhile formally requested the Chinese authorities to suppress the boycott.

Japan needed, of course, a confirmation from China of the transfer by Russia to Japan of the Chinese Eastern Railway, and of the lease of Port Arthur and the Liau-tung Peninsula, in accordance with the Treaty of Portsmouth. Accordingly, a Convention between the two countries was signed January 22, 1906--thus completing the final move in securing to Japan her prizes won in the war.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The koku, or “stone,” contains 5.13 bushels; is the measure by which revenue is estimated; is the standard value of the country; and is generally considered equivalent to one gold kobang. The only invariable standard of value in the world is the average amount of food that will suffice to keep a man in health--a pound varies, the other does not.

[2] This was the title of the young man living in Paris in 1867. Commonly called brother of the Tycoon.

[3] Ko, coming after a name, has the meaning of “a high personage,” a title of honor.

[4] These four are the highest of the official or Fudai class of Daimio, and are commonly known as the Si Ten wo, or “four heavenly emperors”--a Buddhist title.

[5] Saywa made the laws as to the Shinwo and royal families. His sixth son was Sadadzumi Sinwo. On Momidji yama (a little hill within the grounds of the Yedo castle) is a small temple. On the altar are tablets with the names of men of six generations: 1, Sadadzumi; 2, of his son Tsune moto (who first took the name of Minna moto); 3, of his son Mitz naka (a soldier of note); 4, of his son Yori nobu; 5, of his son Yori Yoshi; 6, of his son Yoshiyay (otherwise called Hatchimang taro), and of his son Yoshi Kooni (whose descendants divided into the Nitta and Ashikanga lines). The temple was erected for the reception of those tablets, to which worship is offered every morning.

[6] There are two keng, one used at Miako, known as Miako no keng, or Kioma, or Homma, the longer of the two. The other is the Inaka keng, or Inakama, shorter by three or four inches. Taikosama introduced the second.

[7] A gambling game analogous to the “white-pigeon card” of China (Pak kop piu), at which much money is lost by families. A head office issues papers upon which the eighty first characters of the “Thousand Characters Classic” are printed in rows. These may be purchased for any price the purchaser chooses to lay upon them. During the night ten characters are marked by the office. The purchaser marks ten, and speculates upon his hitting some or all of the same as were marked at the office.

[8] The dynasty having been recently set aside, the country is in a transition state, and the position of these Daimios in the future remains to be worked out.

[9] Whose retainers and secretary the Regent had arrested and brought to Yedo.

[10] The mode of suicide common in Japan may be noticed here. It is called by the natives literally to “cut the belly.” The name “happy dispatch” seems to have been a felicitous suggestion of some foreigner. It is said to be done by a cut across the abdomen, and sometimes another cut is said to be made in the form of a cross. But any one who knows anything of the subject will think this nearly an impossibility, from the extreme difficulty of making the two other cuts necessary to make a cross. This would be a very butchering and trying job, and would bring on only a lingering death. So far as can be judged from the way it is performed in theaters, the knife, a short well-sharpened instrument, is inserted into the abdomen, and then drawn across the backbone, so as to sever the great blood-vessels, the aorta and ascending vein, which are there of such a size as to allow of death from their division in a few seconds. There seems to be no drawing across the abdomen. What is called swallowing gold leaf in China is in reality inhaling it when rubbed to a sort of flaky powder. It seems to choke the air-vessels, and so produce suffocation.

[11] Afterward assassinated by his servant, an emissary of Mito, who had got into the office as clerk, and kept Mito informed of all that transpired.

[12] It is a custom in Japan that the territory of a man who has been killed by assassins is taken from his family, and the family and retainers of the Regent were afraid of this law being put in operation against them.

[13] These are men at the palace gate who look out for Daimios approaching, and give notice to the guard, that they may know how to salute them, according to their rank. They make money by bribes to give the Daimios higher salutes than they are entitled to.

[14] The sleeve peerage, as it is called, a little abridgment of the Bookang, with the crests, names, and offices of Daimios, often used by strangers to recognize Daimios passing.

[15] Mito is said to have traveled over the empire incog. at this time, to study the feelings of the people.

[16] The Gorochiu would not allow this to be granted, and never published it.

[17] The custom in Japan is to bring the left of the dress over the right side in front, “migi yeri”; and it is a common saying that foreigners will soon oblige them to change even this custom, and “hidari yeri,” cross it over the left side.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

Inconsistencies in hyphenation of English words have been standardized.

Inconsistencies in hyphenation of words other than English have been retained.

Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.