Part 4 (1/2)
Pray proceed, Mr Swinburne.”
”Very well, then, Admiral, and gentlemen, since you do me the honour to insist, I will,” said I. ”But you must permit me to begin by reminding you that I am only a boy, and that this is my first experience of actual warfare; therefore if I venture to express an opinion on what has been justly described as a most momentous question, I do so with the utmost diffidence. At the same time, although I have had no previous experience of war, I should like to say that I have studied the subject deeply and with intense interest. And it is with equal interest that I have listened to the expression of your views on the question now under consideration. I am filled with admiration of the n.o.ble and patriotic sentiments which have to-day been spoken within the walls of this cabin--sentiments with which I most cordially agree, since they happen to accurately coincide with my own.
”But, gentlemen, may I dare venture to remind you that patriotism and valour, splendid and admirable as they are, are not the only qualities that should distinguish the soldier or sailor who fights for his country? Inspired by them, a man may no doubt accomplish great things, wonderful things; but we Britons have a proverb which declares that discretion is the better part of valour, and in my humble opinion-- which, I repeat, I advance with the utmost diffidence--the present is one of those occasions when valour, as heroic and self-sacrificing as you will, should go hand in hand with discretion.
”With your kind favour I will briefly mention the picture that arose in my mind while Prince Kasho was advocating the plan of taking the entire fleet into Port Arthur roadstead and engaging the Russians in a pitched battle.
”I readily grant you that the information communicated to the Admiral by Hang-won seems to indicate that to-night, or the small hours of to-morrow morning, will afford a magnificent opportunity for such a _coup_; but--let us consider all the consequences which that _coup_ would entail. It may be that we should be able to take the Russians by surprise; it is exceedingly probable that some of the officers--perhaps a good many of them--will be ash.o.r.e to-night; but, recognising the fact that Russia and j.a.pan are at war, do you, gentlemen, as reasonable, sensible men, really believe for a moment that the Russian fleet will be left defenceless in an open roadstead, or that the vigilance of the lookouts will be relaxed? I do not. And, if not, the approach of such a formidable array as ours would a.s.suredly be detected, and the alarm given, long before we could arrive within effective striking distance.
Then what would be the ultimate result? I have not a doubt that we should be victorious, but at what cost? We must remember, gentlemen, that we should be not only engaging a fleet but slightly inferior in strength to our own, _but the batteries as well_; and it is in the batteries that our danger lies. I know not what the armament of those batteries may be, but I think we may safely a.s.sume that it will consist of weapons heavy enough to sink many of our s.h.i.+ps while we are doing our best to sink theirs. With all submission, I think it would be the height of folly for us to a.s.sume that we could fight such a battle without serious loss to ourselves. And the point which I wish to emphasise is this: _How are we going to make good those losses_? The Russians can make good theirs by sending more s.h.i.+ps out from Europe; but where are we to get more? I need not labour this question, gentlemen; I am sure you will all see what I mean, and therefore understand why I say that, altogether apart from the question of slavish obedience to orders, or otherwise, I think the Admiral is fully justified in his decision not to risk his s.h.i.+ps in such an exceedingly hazardous enterprise.”
”Thank you, Mr Swinburne,” said Togo, offering me his hand as I sat down. ”You have spoken pretty much as I expected you would.” Then, turning to one of the officers who had been busily writing all the time that I was speaking, he said:
”Captain Matsumoto, am I correct in supposing that you have been taking down Mr Swinburne's remarks?”
”Quite correct, sir,” answered the skipper of the _Fuji_.
”Then,” said Togo, ”do me the favour to read them over aloud, in j.a.panese, for the benefit of those officers who have been unable to closely follow Mr Swinburne's English.”
This was done; and when Matsumoto sat down there was silence for a few moments, succeeded by a faint murmur of applause. Then the Admiral rose.
”Gentlemen,” he said, ”you have now all spoken; and I tender you my most hearty thanks for the frank expression of your several opinions. I have listened with the greatest interest and satisfaction to everything that has been said, but you must pardon me if I say at once, frankly, that you leave me as unconvinced as ever. Or, no; not unconvinced; on the contrary, I am more convinced than ever that, apart, as Mr Swinburne has remarked, from any question of slavish obedience to orders, I should be guilty of a serious, even disastrous, error of judgment, were I to take my battles.h.i.+ps and cruisers into Port Arthur roads and give battle to the Russian fleet. The only alternative is to employ the destroyers; and I shall be glad of any suggestions you may be pleased to offer as to the best method of attack.”
n.o.body spoke. It was easy to see that the officers of the battles.h.i.+ps and cruisers, deeply imbued with the somewhat fantastic and high-flown ideas of the j.a.panese with regard to the almost divine virtue of heroism and self-sacrifice, were profoundly disappointed that they were not to be afforded an opportunity to display their possession of those virtues.
”Has no one a suggestion to offer?” demanded Togo, in a tone of surprise. ”What say you, Swinburne?” turning to me.
”It would greatly help us, sir,” I said, ”if Hang-won could give us even an approximate idea of the position of the Russian s.h.i.+ps in the roadstead.”
”You are right, sir; it would,” answered the Admiral. And turning to the Chinaman, he addressed to him a question in what I imagined to be Chinese. The man was replying at some length when Togo interrupted him and turned to the skipper of the flags.h.i.+p.
”Captain Ijichi,” said he, ”a chart of Port Arthur, if you please.”
The chart was brought, and Hang-won, after poring over it awhile, took a pencil and with meticulous care jotted down certain marks upon it. When he had finished, Togo turned to me and said:
”Here we are, Mr Swinburne. These marks indicate the positions of some of the Russian s.h.i.+ps, as nearly as Hang-won can remember them. As you see, they are moored in wedge-shaped formation, the point of the wedge to seaward; and that point is occupied by the _Tsarevich_, a battles.h.i.+p.
Next her, insh.o.r.e, comes the _Poltava_, also a battles.h.i.+p, then the _Sevastopol_, another battles.h.i.+p, and abreast of her, in the second line, the battles.h.i.+p _Pobieda_. Of the positions of these he is certain, he says, having taken particular notice of them as he came out; but of the rest he is not so sure, except that there are thirteen of them, exclusive of the _Askold_, all anch.o.r.ed inside the _Tsarevich_.
The _Askold_ is a cruiser, and according to Hang-won she is performing patrol duty to and fro, outside the rest of the fleet. You will readily recognise her from the fact that she is the only craft with five funnels.
”There is another point in favour of our employing destroyers. It appears that Admiral Stark sends out a destroyer flotilla every night to patrol the coast as far as Dalny--there it is, about twenty miles north-east of Port Arthur. If, upon approaching the roadstead, our boats show the lights usually exhibited by the Russian destroyers--a white light above a red--on their return from Dalny, they ought to be able to get right in among the Russian fleet and do a tremendous amount of damage before their ident.i.ty is discovered, and I shall confidently look for important results accordingly. Now, gentlemen, I have my own idea as to how the attack should be conducted; but I have heard it said that in many councillors there is wisdom, therefore I should be glad to have your views on the subject.”
And, one after the other, the officers present gave them, the general opinion being that the destroyers ought to approach to within about five miles of the sh.o.r.e at a moderate speed, showing no lights; then dash in at top speed, discharging torpedoes right and left, and continue to do so, regardless of consequences, until every Russian s.h.i.+p was destroyed.
Finally, I was called for to give my opinion; and again I found myself obliged to differ from the others.
”If I were leading the attack, sir,” I said, ”I should time myself to arrive at about eleven o'clock, that being the time, I imagine, when the banquet and the special performance will both be at their height. At the distance of about five miles from the sh.o.r.e I should slow down, instead of increasing speed, because I should then have no fear of flames escaping from my funnels and so betraying my approach. I should then divide my force into two, one of which should sweep well away to the nor'ard, while the other sheered off toward the south, my object being to get my boats well into the concealment of the shadow of the high land east and west of the roadstead. Under the cover of this shadow I should creep close along sh.o.r.e until I was well inside the enemy's fleet, when I should wheel outward, get good way on my boats, and torpedo the enemy, s.h.i.+p after s.h.i.+p, as I came out. By this plan I should be heading seaward, ready to make good my escape as soon as the alarm was given, which I believe will be within a few seconds after the first torpedo is fired. Then I should run for it out to sea, at top speed; for I am convinced that, once the alarm is given and the searchlights are turned on, we shall be afforded no further opportunity to do mischief; and I see no sense in sacrificing s.h.i.+ps and lives uselessly. I have heard the remark made, more than once, that it is a glorious thing to die for one's country and one's Emperor. So it is-- when the sacrifice of one's life is necessary to secure a certain object; but I maintain that it is still more glorious to _live_ for one's country. One live man can render more useful service to his country than a hundred dead ones.”
Again there was a little half-hearted murmur of applause.
But Togo expressed his approval in no half-hearted manner. Das.h.i.+ng his fist upon the table he exclaimed: