TOGO.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5474, 31 December 1904, Page 10

TOGO.

THE MAN AND THE ADMIRAI,. The world knows Admiral Togo as a man of the sword pure and simple. The world, as often, is mistaken, writes Adachi Ivinnosuki in the Octobor “Century Magazine.” Ho is something greater than a fighter; as a judge of men he ranks much higher than as a soldier. His men never cease to marvel at the ease with which he accomplishes the most difficult tasks of a commander, and at the rarity of mistakes- that he makes in the choice of his subordinates. There is a saying among the men of the Nippon navy that runs something like this:— “There is only one commander wjjro uses his subordinates like his own fingers, and the name of that man is Admiral Togo.” The old-time ideal of the samurai was the welding of the soldier and the scholar in one; and Admiral Togo is not false to the ideal; he is a student as well as a fighter. “I am no scholar,” he is reported to have said. “From my early youth, however, my masters have compelled me to examine and follow carefully the teachings of the school of Yomei. It seems to me that a soldier can derive a great deal of benefit from the study of Yomei.” The Admiral is certainly not the first or the only soldier of Nippon who has acknowledged his debt to the teachings of the Chinese philosopher whom our people know under the name of Yomei. The school of Yomei emphasises a perfect poise of the soul. The students of Yomei value, more than anything else, the quiet balance of nerve, the equilibrium which cannot be disturbed by a little thing like a burstinf shell within a few feet of a man or a sword-gleam a few inches before his eyes. The first lesson that a master of sword or a master of jujitsu tries to instil into the mind of a samurai youth is the importance of attaining coolness of nerve and perfect poise of the soul. In the eyes of the Nippon fighting men these qualities are much more important than the clever handling of sword or gun. Admiral Togo abhors defeat with quite the thoroughgoing traditional hatred of nature for a vacuum. Oftener than the exhibition of this strong thread in the woof of the character, however, you hear from him the modest confession of his shortcomings. At the time of the Boxer rising in the City of Tientsin he was the guest of General Fukushima, who commanded the Nippon forces on the historic march to Felon, and who lent Togo a spirited horse that ran away with him. The Admiral, referring to this incident, said: “When you think of it, it is an absurd idea for me to ho trying to manage so many men under me when I could not control even one horse.” Nothing, too, can be more modest than the following incident:— The news of the achievements of -Admiral Togo off Port Arthur reached the august ears of 'his Majesty the Emperor, and from the palace a gracious message of congratulation was sent to the commander of the united fleet. Here is the answer from Admiral Togo: “As for the success and achievements of the united fleet in attacking Fort Arthur, they are solely due to the august power and sovereign virtue of your. Majesty. They are beyond the human abilities such as ours. In spite of it all your Majesty has again bestowed upon us the gracious message, and we, your Majesty’s subjects, promise ourselves to strain our efforts to the utmost to destroy our enemy.” The other day an engineer who had served many years at the naval station of Euro met a friend who was on the general naval staff at Tokio. “Who is this Admiral Togo?” said the engineer to his friend. “Is he the same officer who was in command of the naval station at Eure?”

“But why do you askP” his friend made answer. “Why. of course there axe not two Admiral Togos in the navy. Hie is certainly the same man under whom you served.” “I thought so, but I was in doubt, because the newspapers and the public seem to refer to the present Admiral Togo, commander-in-chief of all his Majesty’s ships, as Oni Heihachiro.” (An oni means a fierce mythical being endowed with the terrible power and cunning of a demon.) “The commander I used to know at Kure was the very picture of what Confucius would have called the superior man—gentle of voice and gentler of his expressions, and rare of words, the very model of saintly dignity.”