The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1905. EAST AND WEST.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 15, 18 January 1905, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1905. EAST AND WEST.

— ..» » Far the comae that laclu MOiitsaos. For the torony that need* reeUtemm, Far- the future in the iiettutot, AmA fhsgood that «•« earn elm.

It is something more than a coincidence that while war correspondent, are revealing to an astonished wurld the in eptitude and demoralisation that prevailed tciong the garrison at Port Arthur, the Japanese should be holding solemn religious services in honour of the soldiers who have fallen lighting for thtir country. It is impossible fqr even the most vehement Russophile to deny that in this war, judged whether as soldiers or as men, the Japanese have presented a most remarkable contrast to their op pqnents. and the difference has been all in favour of the East as against the West. There are brave men on both sides in all wars, and the Russians lijive not failed tq sustain their high reputation as fighters. But the men appear to have little respect for discipline, the officers have very little sense of the dig-" 1 ? of their profession; and taken in the mass their record compares mpst unfavourably with that of the Japanese. The troops of the Mikado have displayed not only remarkable gallantry and a truly Oriental contempt for death. In their intense and fervid patriotism and their devotion to duty they have presented the unique Bpectaele of an army inspired by one great purpose}, ready and eager to give up their lives to the last man rather than submit to failure or defeat. It is only when we remember that the national characteristics and views of life of the Japanese and the Russians are essentially different that we can understand how and why the history of the war has been so far a record of unbroken triumph for Japan. The words addressed by General Nogi to his troops in celebrating the capture of Port Arthur may help us to comprehend the remarkable spirit in which the Japanese as a nation have approached their great task. The invocation to the dead to the glory pf victory with the living ia thoroughly Japanese, and may recall to the minds of 'our readers the funeral oration that General Fukushima pronounced four years ago over the Japanese killed at Tientsin and Taku. "Our sorrow for the death qf you, our comrades," said the general, "is tempered by the knowledge that you died to the everlasting glory of His Imperial Majesty and of Japan- The realisation of such a death as yours is indeed a glorious and happy ending for thosi* whose highest aim is the perfect performance of duty. Proud am I/your generAl, that it was my lot to be placed in command of such valiant men, and I feel, as do your comrades, the deepest sorrow that it was. seßeasary that your "lives slwuld be sacrificed- Jpu came to these sltores as soldiers of tjie Emperor. You are now numeered 'among%Jjfe heroes of Japan," Contrast wisr thelsehiiment of these -words the impressions that we gain from, the stories that have reached US from Xaaoyang a n 4 Port the orgies of folly and drunkenness and vice that held sway even when the enemy was at the gate, and the signal for battle was sounded. It is little wonder that the Russians, led by such men as many of their officers have shown theißselves to be, have failed to bQld their own against a nation whose highest aim is the perfect performance of duty in every form and at any sacrifice. The remarkable phenomenon of the emergence of Japan tP the foremost rank among the nations of the earth has given rise to much discussion among historians Hud ethnologists, and one of the most instructive phases of Japanese life and thought thus revealed to Western eyes is the code of philosophic morality summarised under the name of Bushido- This is not a religion, but a philosophy of life based upon certain genera) conceptions of duty which the Japanese regard as instinctive. It was for all practical purposes the creed of the Samurai, or feudal knights, of Old Japan, and to-day it is taught regularly in the schools, and is the acknowledged basis of training in the army and the navy. "Chivalry" is perhaps the most accurate version~f "Bushido" in English, and the term implies all that the noblest moral code of mediaeval chivalry ever demanded— courtesy and humanity to inferiors and enemies, fidelity to friend or to cause, stern simplicity of life, and a determination to sacrifice all things, even life, for the attainment of those objects to which Duty once clearly points the way. There is no fantastic Idealism about Bushido. Every article of this heroio faith is raduc-cd by its votaries

to the form of a rule of life, and the whole history of the war has shown that tfce, jg. r<gclY £9,4 #ls9f \% gut its balitfis ia practice. NuthJiig but/ the realisation of this fundamental fact will enable ua to understand how this small nation has been able to produce so many men who, under the most terrible conditions of modern warfare, could manifeat ggly the heroism, but tfee .generosity and the humanity oi mediaeval knighthood at its noblest and best. In that" interesting compilation, "Japan by the Japanese," one of the most distinguished of Japan's scholars has shown how strong a hold Busliido. this spirit of patriotic chivalry, has taken upon the ! whole nation. In the words of another patriotic exponent of Japan's destiny, it ia the ideal pj these people *:tp battle for the right and uphold the good"—a summary of Life's duties that could hardly be more nobly epitqmigpd. And When we remember hpw far and in how many ways the gallantry, the dignity, the humanity, and the generosity displayed by the Japanese in this grst 'tf^g l ? have illustrated the noble virtues that BushidQ inculcates, we begin to understand how impossible was the task set to Russia by the ignorance and fpßy Pf the men who precipitated this disastrous war.