Battle of Roosevelt as after coaling and furnishing his fleet in a masterly manner, got his squadron together in the China Sea on May 9th. He had eight battleships, twelve cruisers, nine destroyers, and a number of auxiliary ships. But many of his vessels were antiquated, and their efficiency was impaired by their long voyage. Togo commanded a squadron somewhat similar in size, but thoroughly up to date. In making for Vladivostok the Russian admiral had to pass through the Strait of Korea. Togo, who was always supplied with the most accurate information, heard of this by wireless telegraphy at 5 a.m. on May 27th. The battle began at 2 in the afternoon to the east of the Island of Tsushima. The Japanese engaged the enemy at 7,000 yards, which was the most favourable distance for their artillery. They steered across the Russian fleet, so as to bring every possible gun to bear, and thus developed a crushing force, whereas the Russian fire was comparatively ineffective. Rozhdeshtvensky advanced in three long columns, with his unarmed auxiliary ships in the centre. In less than three-quarters of an hour from the beginning of the engagement the battleships of the two main columns were out of action and the admiral himself was severely wounded. By nightfall every attempt of the Russian ships to break through to Vladivostok had been frustrated, and all cohesion in the fleet had been destroyed. During the night the Japanese torpedo boats continued the work of destruction, and the pursuit was followed up on the next day. The Russian fleet was annihilated. Four battleships, seven cruisers, five destroyers, and five auxiliary ships were sunk, and the rest completely disabled. Only four ships out of the whole fleet reached Vladivostok. The supreme victory of Togo decided the fortunes of the contest. The war was unpopular in Russia, and Japan was on the verge of exhaustion; but there was no opportunity of a decisive Japanese victory on land. Vladivostok could not be taken as Port Arthur had been, but the crushing Battle of Tsushima paved the way for negotiations. Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States, put himself forward as a mediator, and in June both belligerents agreed to nominate plenipotentiaries to consider terms. But the fighting went on. The Russians were driven out of north-eastern Korea, Sakhalin and the north of the Amur being occupied without opposition. The negotiations for peace were held at Portsmouth, N.H., Count Komura representing Japan and de Witte Russia. The negotiations continued throughout August, de Witte, on behalf of Russia, refusing to pay an indemnity. At length Komura agreed to THE TREATY OF PORTSMOUTH waive the indemnity, and the offer to surrender half of Sakhalin was also accepted. The Treaty of Portsmouth gave to Japan most of the objects Japan's for which she had entered upon the war. It gained for her a Gains. preponderating influence in Korea, secured the evacuation of Manchuria, gave her the Liaotung Peninsula, including Port Arthur and Dalny, and the southern portion of the Island of Sakhalin. The Japanese negotiators showed themselves extremely moderate; indeed, the conditions of the treaty gave rise to serious riots in Japan. But they were certainly wise, for to have inflicted further humiliation on Russia would have been disastrous to Japan. The war cost each nation £100,000,000; each had mobilised about 1,000,000 men, of whom 230,000 Japanese and 220,000 Russians had died. Japan's victory offered a great surprise, but also a great lesson, The Secret to the world. She owed her success to the patriotic devotion of Japanese with which statesman, diplomat, soldier and sailor had worked Success. harmoniously together to achieve a common result; whereas the Russians had been inspired by no enthusiasm, nor had unity of purpose and action possessed her leaders. At the back of the extraordinary heroism of Japan lay the deep-seated sense of the obligation of personal honour, generally spoken of as Bushido. Bushi is the hero, Bushido is the heroism. Bushido offers the idea of poverty instead of wealth, humility in place of ostentation, reserve instead of self-assertion, self-sacrifice instead of selfishness, the interest of the State before that of the individual. It inspires courage and looks death in the face, preferring it to dishonour. It enjoins a strict physical and mental discipline, develops a martial spirit, and enjoins the virtues of courage, fortitude, faithfulness and self-restraint. It trains the man as well as the warrior, the woman as well as the man, and is as useful in times of peace as in times of war. It was to the constant presence of this ideal standard of morality and conduct that Japan owed her success, and those who would be her rivals must educate themselves in a similar school. The Jubilee. CHAPTER XVIII EDWARD THE PEACEMAKER ON September 23rd, 1896, Queen Victoria achieved the distinction Diamond of having reigned longer than any other English sovereign. She had worn the crown nearly twice as long as any other contemporary monarch in the world, excepting only the Emperor of Austria, and he ascended his throne eleven years after her accession. Hitherto George III.'s reign of fifty-nine years and ninetysix days had been the longest known to English history. There had been a Jubilee celebration of her reign in 1887, and it was now determined that there should be another in 1897-a Diamond Jubilee. As in the first Jubilee the sovereigns and princes of Europe and Asia were the most conspicuous figures in the pageant, so now the Imperial position of Great Britain was to be signalised by the presence of representatives of the Colonies and of British settlements in all parts of the world. These representatives were entertained with regal munificence. The streets of London were thronged with Royal carriages, with servants in scarlet liveries seated on the box, carrying Colonial ministers or dusky potentates, subjects of the British Crown. On June 22nd there was a State procession through London, when the Queen made almost a circuit of her capital, attended by her family, by envoys from foreign lands, Indian and Colonial officials, and a great body of Imperial troops, Indian native levies, mounted riflemen from Canada, Australia and South Africa, Colonial soldiers from the West Coast of Africa, Cyprus, HongKong and Borneo. The procession traversed a space of six miles from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's, then over London Bridge and through the poorer districts of the City on the southern side of the Thames. As the Queen set out from the Palace she sent a telegraphic dispatch to all parts of the Empire, "From my heart I thank my beloved people. May God bless them!" At night all cities were illuminated, and every headland from Cornwall to Caithness was ablaze with beacon fires. A great naval review was held at Spithead, in which 173 war vessels were drawn up in four lines, stretching over a course of four miles. These Jubilee cele DEATH OF GLADSTONE brations, indeed, constituted the high-water mark of Colonial loyalty and of the manifestation of the qualities and the unity of the Empire. It was An Object But it was also an object-lesson in Home Rule. expressed by the Colonial Premiers, and felt by every reflecting Lesson in observer, that the tie which bound this great organism together Home Rule. derived its strength not from force, or self-interest, or jealousy of other nations, but from the spirit of liberty and self-government which made every part of the great political body vibrate with a like intensity of life to that which animated the heart of the free Mother Country herself, and that neglect or ignorance of this would mean ruin and decay. On May 19th, 1898, Mr. Gladstone died. During his closing Death of days he suffered intense pain, nervous exhaustion, and the weaken- Gladstone. ing of his physical, but not of his intellectual faculties. He died at Hawarden, the favourite home of his happiest hours, with the porch commemorating the welcome of his home-coming with his wife; the study-the Temple of Peace, with its two tables, one for home and one for public affairs, proclaiming his keenness of literary interest and his spirit of untiring labour up to the very last. His illness was soothed by his wife, who had been throughout these many years his faithful confidante and companion. He was a truly great statesman, one of the greatest known to modern times, greater than Bismarck, whose death closely followed his own. His departure marked the close of one epoch and the beginning of another. He entered Parliament immediately after the Reform Bill of 1832, and his career may be described as the bringing of the principles embodied in that measure to a successful conclusion in all departments. His passing also, perhaps, marked the close of a distinct era in Parliamentary oratory. In the Upper House Lord Salisbury said that Gladstone had Tributes to always sought the achievement of great ideals, which could only Gladstone. have proceeded from the highest and purest aspirations, and would leave behind him the memory of a great Christian statesman, whose character, motives, and purposes could not fail to impress the whole world. In the House of Commons Mr. Balfour described him as the greatest member of the greatest deliberative assembly the world had ever seen, and proposed that he should have a public funeral in Westminster Abbey. The funeral took place on May 28th, and a more impressive sight was never witnessed in that historic church, which has been the scene of so many solemn spectacles. Both Houses of Parliament met at 10 o'clock in the morning and marched in procession through Queen Harcourt Sir Henry Westminster Hall to the Abbey. The majestic appearance of the Speaker, Gully, as he led the Commons of the realm to their places will never be forgotten. The pall-bearers represented the Sovereign, the Lords and the Commons, and nothing was more deeply touching than the sight of Mrs. Gladstone kneeling at the head of the grave and gazing into the vault which held the mortal shell of so much glory and so much greatness-the vault into which she was, in God's own time, to follow him. On Gladstone's resignation in 1894, the Queen, of her own authority and without seeking any advice, chose Rosebery as his successor; but it was a relief to her when, after a short interval, he was succeeded by Salisbury. She played a very active part in the government of the country, an important fact of which the people generally were in ignorance, regarding the Sovereign rather as a figure-head than an important political force. She required all papers to be regularly sent to her, found fault at any sign of slackness in public business, and insisted on full time being given her for the consideration of important questions. She took a personal interest in her Ministers' speeches, and an active share in political appointments. She flinched from no exertion to fulfil her duties. Sir Sidney Lee tells us that she often travelled to Osborne or Balmoral with hundreds of boxes filled with documents which required her sign-manual, that she would work at these continuously for two or three hours a day, and sign two or three hundred papers at a sitting. One effect of Gladstone's death was the resignation by Sir William Harcourt of the leadership of the Liberal party in the House of Commons. He had never worked harmoniously with Lord Rosebery, of whose appointment as Prime Minister he disapproved. It is said that when he led the House of Commons under Rosebery's premiership, he never consulted his chief on anything which had to be done, and Rosebery himself declared that the position was intolerable. Harcourt was succeeded by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, a singularly modest man of very remarkable qualities; he always distrusted his own capacity for exercising the duties of high office, but his speeches were admirable, his common sense unusual, his devotion to the cause of Liberalism without a flaw. In his conduct as Leader of the House he had to suffer from the jealousy of those who were anxious to bring others prematurely to the front, but his unfailing good temper always prevented an explosion. As Prime Minister he invited the goodwill and secured the admiration of his country, the Colonies, and the world. His |