RECOLLECTIONS OF A JAPANESE LEADER.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8095, 26 September 1904, Page 4

RECOLLECTIONS OF A JAPANESE LEADER.

I confess with humility (writes Mr Poultney Bigelow, in Harper's Weekly) that 1 am a bunch of quasi prejudice — that I cannot escape from the personal element in history. 1 was influenced in this way when 1 first met the present Moltke of Japan— the man whose name is rarely heard, whose face is never seen, but whose web is spinning on all sides of the Russian forces as was that of the illustrious Danish strategist When he locked Bazaine in Met/,, and Napoleon in Sedan. . . General Kukushima I met first in Germany — ho was military attache at the Court of tho Kaiser, und as such was invited to attend the great autumn field operations of tho army, which lasted a weok or more, and which brought together some fifty to one hundred thousand niim of all anus.

Those were hard days, pven for spectators. Whoever would keep up with such a host as his Imperial Majesty must rise early and never want to lie down. There is a Btory current tnat William 11. was once known to take a nap ; it is unsupported by any but hearsay evidence. On the contrary, I have personal knowledge of his having passed many days without any opportunity for such interruption.

Many were the guests whom the Kaiser exhausted completely at these military operations. Even the military attaches of other countries were heard to grumble as did Mnrechal Lofcvrc in "'Madame Sans Gene," when reciting to his wife a dinner with the great Napoleon. Many a foreign military guest have I known to sneak away for a nap while his Imperial host was on tbe bridge of a maii-o'-war, on in the saddle, or, harder than all, ailting bolt upright in the imperial box listening to an interminable Hohcnzollcrn drama, written with a view of stimulating patriotism. But Fukushima was here also* an exception. Ido not say he listened, but he sat upright, his baby eyes serenly bent upon Nirvana, ostensibly devouring the turgid lines of a court drama, but in reality repeating to himself a list of the Russian regiments east of Moscow, and the names of their garrison towns. Fukushima discussed things with me, because ho and I had friends uncommon lin Japan. > He evidently concluded that lie could trust me, and when a Japanese gives you his confidence you may bank upon it, as though he were a Boer or a Briton.

At that time this little Moltke was but a captain, and the smallest soldier in uniform that had ever been seen in Germany outside a museum. The Em peror had raked his stables in vain for a horse that could squeeze between the legs of his little guest. At last one was found; it came from a circus, and had spots all over. It was the smallest mount available, yet small as it was the witty ones alleged that glove-stretchers had been used before ti.e legs of the Oriental could be made to straddle with ease. Whatever may have been the truth of that, Fukushima managed always to stumble accidentally upon the point of chief interest in the day's operations, whether it was an attack of cavalry, a massing of artillery, tho bridging of a river, or something noved in ballooning. On the way to the point of meeting, usually about 4 o'clock in tho morning, the important colonels and generals who constituted the main body of imperial guests held forth learnedly on what would be done that day, nnd where they should go in order to see what wns important. Fukushima never said anything, but when councils diverged amongst tho great and learned we soon same to seek light of our little Japanese oantain ; and when we .did so, be invariably professed to know nothing, but would, in his childish manner, place his little finger as though at haphazard upon a point of his map ; and thoso who steered for that point were never disappointed. He passed, however, for feeble in mental capacity, and he took pains to preserve that character. The Russian military attache took him for stunted and stupid. Tho jovial British delegate regarded him as an idiot, and many of my friends asked mo seriously how it wns that I managed to waste so much time in his comt>any. I told them I was an alienist, and >esidcs that I was refreshing my knowledge of the language.

Evon then, mid I am talking of a few years be lore the Chinese- Japanese war of 1894, Fukushima showed me photographs he had taken throughout the border country of Russia — about the Black Ben, down the Danube, in Rotnnania, Turkey, Bulgaria, etc. He knew all there was worth knowing about the strength of Russia this side of Moscow nnrl the Caspian, nnd as I had been twice in those territories I found a comparison of data very interesting. _, But ho never allowed anyone else at tho Berlin Court to suspect that he was more than a commonplace piece of uniform. Though he spoke seven languages to my knowledge, he never allowed any one else in Berlin to suspect that ho knew anything but a few garbled scraps of German. Here is a sample that I overheard :

German Genoral loquitur : "Guteu Morgon, Herr Hiiuptmunu!"

Fukushima bowed politely and smiled, while ho inhaled audibly. The General : "Tell mo, my dear Fukushiina, how long would it take you in Japan to mobilise an army-cjrps and land it in Korea!"

Fukushima : "Thank you, Herr General, my health is very good!" The General: "I'm very glad to hear it ; but I wanted to know something about your mobilisation." Fukushima: 'You are quite right, Herr Genoral; dns Wetter ist Heuto schr schunon, but it may possibly rain to-mor-row !"

And so this conversation would go on, each day like the last, and each questioner coining away with the impression that it was a- shame for Governments to send to Berlin representatives who could not speak 'a civilised tongue. One day little Captain Fukushima disappeared from Berlin, and many- moons later arrived on the shores of Manchuria, or Mongolio,. I forget which. He had bought a litfle Cossack pony somewhere east of Moscow, and had steered nis way across that vast plain, keeping his cars and eyes well open, and his mouth tight shut. He had note-books, but he wrote in figures thai gave no comfort to any but himself. He counted the telegraph poles as he rode, he ■ noted tho bridges, and the wells, and the farms, and everything that might prove interesting to Japanese visitors who might come after him. Fortunately for him, Russia also despised his intellect, else he would have met with an accident in 'some lonely section of his long ride. He would have turned up missing. The Russian Government would have expressed great sorrow over the sad accident, and have promised to punish the wicked peasants who had killed him. Thoso peasants would have been policemen in disguise, but in such matters wo must not be too squeamish. . . You know the rest, how in 1894 Japan put an army afloat, landed in China, tumbled the forces of that empire head over heels, sank her battleships and dictated, terms of peace after a short campaign conducted in such a manner as to call forth the praise of military students no less than lovers of fair play on tho battlefield.

The next time I saw Fukushlma whb in his own house; he was the same sunny, moony, smiling, and sympathetic Fukushima, but had become a general, and was recognised as the hero of the great Chinese war. But to Jook.at him, he was the very same man thai had passed in Berlin and S.t. Petersburg for a harmless toy.

He lived in Tokio in a bandbox sort of a bamboo bungalow — all Jacquer and matting, and fans, and dainty tea things.. He wore the native gown spattered with storks or some such design, and in his arms was a baby— just like the Japanese dolls we See at Christmas. General Fuknshitna, as chief of a nursery, was worth coming to see, and he played his part with the same success as distinguishes him at the head of an army. Like all real men, and particularly real groat men, he is the simplest of men. ;When all the world was praising Waldersee as a great soldier, it made me hesitate

greatness. At any court ball in Berlin it would ha vis been hard to find Aloltkc, but harder still to avoid seeing Waldersee. And so it is with Fukushima ; you find him motrt readily in his little family circle, playing with his children, or chatting with the few inmates whom he can trust. Our talk was interrupted by the announcement of a Chinese Embassy. So the baby was passed on to the nursery, and in came several big Chinese officers to pay their respects to the man who had humiliated their army more than all the hosts of the white man since the first settlement in Macao. i This was the year 1898 — a memorable year 'to others than to us and Spain, for in that year China sent to Japan thirty military representatives for no other pur- , poso than to learn the art of war from the nation which they had before that referred to as one of contemptible dwarfs. In other words, only three years from the close of the Chinese- Japanese 'war, the Chinese Emperor paid to the conquering nation a compliment he has never yet paid to any other country, not even Germany. jTukushima received his guests kindly, and after they had drunk of his tea and taken their departure he told me many things which have now come true, but which he did not intend that I should publish. What 'he told me I have used mdi Irectly, however, and "there is no harm in repeating the warning for such of us as have interests in the Far East. Japan has her Monroe Doctrine no less than the United States. The days of Germany in Kiam-hau arc numbered, and it is because she feels uneasy on this subject that We find' that unnatural sympathy for Russia in Berlin. ' Whatever our sympathies may be it is our business to equip ourselves with sound information from impartial firsthand sources. Our press treats this war as though it were a stage pantomime which would close with _ the curtain's drop. # It is something vastly different. When peace is declared, a new act will commence in a drama that promises to be continuous, at least a longer drama than any ever put upon a Chinese theatre in our lifetime.