The Hastings Standard SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 1904. JAPAN & RUSSIA.

Hastings Standard, Volume VIII, Issue 4206, 16 April 1904, Page 2

The Hastings Standard SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 1904. JAPAN & RUSSIA.

The i;>s.s -of the Russian battleship i aiid the major part of the crew as i well as her gallant commander, AdI miral Makar»K, serves to still further \ ci st ren-glhen Japan's naval power am! will inevitably, compel the issue between She combatants in the Far ! i-iast. to he determined on land. The j .Japanese have so far met- with sue- ! cess in the encounters recorded, al- ! though ■' must not, he forgotten that j Ihe rigid censorship to which all mes I sages are subjected lias, as lik.-ly as | not, been responsible for the sup|p,res sion of news of any Japanese ieverses. To those who have studiod the history of Asia says the Spectator, the most, amazing- thing about the .Japanese of to-day is their -efficiency in administration. Other races of Asia, notably the Arabs, have displayed high .capacity for certain forms of art, ar chi lecture more especially. A majority—for w,' believe the Bengalees and the Koreans are the only clear excep (ions—are as courageous as any Europeans. We foar<HV know, recollecting the history of the Turks, the Tartars-. tHe Arabs, and the Sikhs, why the contrary impression should ever have arisen, unless it be that the contrast, between the enormous resources of China and her military cuinbrousness has created a suspicion of the latent cowardice of her pecflle. Asiatic races, too, have been in a way sullicient.ly -organised for war, otherwise they could not have so repeatedly repelled European invasions. But, we can remember no Asiatic people which has ever -displayed the 'peculiar efficiency of the Japanese, They appear to waste nothing, plan everything long in adivanee, and to arrange everything for great expeditions down to the smallest detail —with them the gaiter-buttons are actually there. All observers report, for instance, that very large Japanese armies - have been mobolised on the present occasion with a rapidity and certainty of movement which not even the German Staff—one does not* mention in such a connection the British War Office —is able to surpass. The arrangements for the trail sport of horses were, indeed, most imperfect ; but experts declare that as regards commissariat, the supply of munitions, and the provision of medical aid the organisation of the Japanese Army is quite unrivalled. This is an entirely unexpected quality in an Asiatic State, Asiatic gen erals having hitherto been accustomed to live on the countries they traversed,, to obtain transport chiefly by plunder, and to waste the lives of their men with a callousness < and contempt of their own interests, only to be explained by their belief that life and death are incidents beyond human control. The Japanese have, moreover, displayed this efficiency in a department in which i,t was supposed to be impossible. We would confidently ask the most, ex'periericed Anglo-Asiatic whether thirty years ago he would have belieMed on any evidence whatever .thai an Asiatic people could learn- to work an ironclad battleship or to repair electric engines a s well as any Huro pean engineers. Onlookers are tempted Ly their very amazement- to expect that the smaller Power, which has shown such perfect efficiency, will proceed from victory to victory, and will indict upon Russia in the end a hu"iniliat ing defeat. It, may be so, and ■A'e at least, though we are no enemies of Russia, shall not be displeased if her party of act-ion receives a decided set-back, and if her Government is compelled to throw itself upon the support of the classes whom it now disregards. No historian can lorget that defeat in the Crimea'produced for Russia the emancipation of the serfs. But we would warn our readers not to allow a natural admiration for the Japanese to make them forget 'all the teachings of the past. It is not. a mere, cynical epigram to assert, that Providence is usually on the side of big battalions. Russia was not ruined by the loss of Sebastopol, and will not be ruined bv tho surrender of Yladivost ock and Port Arthur. She Will only be the stronger if she is f- r, .*:! lack to Lake Baikal, where she can concentrate her immense resources