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Show THREE SAMURAI. A Romantic Story of the Old and New Japan. .MOM. FTEIl Admiral Togo, the X V officer who achieved high- J Mt nnvnI i'Rtlnctlon 1,1 4 X war with Itussla, was Ad-YMT Ad-YMT mlral Kamlinura, and bracketed with them both Is tho name of Admiral Ilaron Yatuain-oto. Yatuain-oto. Kamlmurn commanded the armored ar-mored cruiser squadron from first to last. He commanded It In tho action with the Vladivostok squadron, on 'August 'Au-gust 10, 1001, when the Iturlk was sunk and the Itossla and the Orotnobol were driven back to port so shattered Uiat they never again emerged to take a place in the lighting line. lie commanded com-manded It In the Bnttle of the Sen of Japau, when It mancuvred sometimes In company with the bnttlcshlp squadron squad-ron and sometimes independently. Ynmomoto has presided over the Naval Department during the whole life of the present Cabinet. On him devolved tho duty of' getting ready for the war nnd the duty of keeping the ships prepared pre-pared and equipped throughout the war. If n well-Informed Japanese were nsked to choose between Togo and Kamlinura ns naval captains ho might hesitate, but no well-informed I Japanese, were he asked to indicate tho three men to whom primarily Japan owes the glory of her naval vie-torlcs, vie-torlcs, would hesitate for n moment to name Togo, Knmlmura and Ynmn-moto. Ynmn-moto. There Is n curious bond of fellowship between thesj three men. It dates from n period over thirty years ago, when they were fellow-cadets at tho Naval College in Toklo. Snlgo Taka-morl Taka-morl had chosen them from among the Sntsuma clansmen and had sent them up to the capital to study the science of maritime warfare. Snlgo died when the greatness of his country was still only n dream of the men who shaped her modern enrccr. lie perished by his own hand, n defeated Insurgent. Yet the leading members or tho Government Govern-ment ngalnst which he had rebelled erected n statue to his memory in the principal park of the metropolis, nnd his sovereign conferred on him the highest posthumous honors, so profoundly pro-foundly was he respected, so sincerely loved. The ultimate point of difference between him nnd the pntrlots whom he led to the overthrow of imperial, administration admin-istration was that he regarded tjie preservation pres-ervation of the samurai class as essential essen-tial to Japan's security. Tho samurai, in Salgo's eyes, seemed Incomparable soldiers, the blood of generations gen-erations of warriors running In their veins, the traditions of a thousand years Inspiring their creed of patriotism patriot-ism and loyalty. This bnnd of hereditary hered-itary warriors he would have preserved amid tho wreck or the nation's old Institutions. In-stitutions. But n gift of foresight wonderful won-derful In other directions erred here. Ills fellow-workers, wiser lu their statecraft, saw that In the future then opening before the country her sons must nil bo armed, not merely a limited section of them. It was an Irreconcilable Irreconcila-ble divergence of views, and It made Itself felt Indirectly though powerfully In foreign politics for when a plausible pretext offered for attacking Korea Salgo would have seized tho occasion, hoping that the Immediate use thus created for the snmurnl might revive their moribund title to continued existence, ex-istence, where ,ns his colleagues in the Government held that the Umpire must not engage lu any oversea wars pending pend-ing wholesale reorganization. Humors of these dissensions reached tho three cadets In tho Naval College. They appreciated that Snlgo was drifting drift-ing Into a position which might mean civil war, and being the sons of samurai sa-murai they understood that they must obey the samurai's ennon, either to share their patron's fato or by their own deaths to admonish him of his un. wisdom. Tho question then nioso bow to reaefi Salgo. Ho was lu Kagoshlma; they were In Toklo. Hundreds of miles separated the, two places, and. moreover, more-over, there could be no prospect of obtaining olllclnl lenvo to undertake the Journey. Only one plan offered, and they adopted it. Absconding from tho Naval Collego at night, they innde their way to Osakn. This was In 1875. At Osaka they found their funds completely com-pletely exhnusted. Anticipating that difficulty, they had determined to seek aid from Godal Tomontsu, a wealthy merchant of Osaka, who, having been himself a samurai and being also of the Satsnnia extrnctl would sympathize sympa-thize with thorn. Hut Godnl rerused peremptorily to lend any assistance. He dismissed tho lads curtly, scarcely scorning to pay any attention to their story. , Thus they found themselves In n serious dllenium, tumble cither to prosecute prose-cute their Journey or to retrace their steps. That evening, seated In their room nt n Japanese Inn, they were despairingly debating somu expedient when suddenly tho paper sliding door was partly drawn back .to admit a man's hand, which throw a packet on tho matted lloor and disappeared. They opened the packet nnd found It Oiled with bnuk notes. This was Qodal's method of furthering their aim without with-out seeming to approve It. There wero no railways In thoso days, nnd 'const-wlso 'const-wlso steamers wero few and far between. be-tween. But they fortunately obtained passage on a little vessel, the Hozul Main, which carried them direct to Kagoshlmu. In an outer room of Salgo's house they found Ilcmml one of his celebrated lieutenants, who afterward af-terward died at his side In closo con-sulfation con-sulfation with six or seven Sntsuma samurai. lie heard their story, repeated re-peated it to Salgo, aud then, without any comment, Introduced the youths to the latter's presence. Almost before greetings had been exchanged Snlgo began to reprimand them In strong and bitter terms. "I selected you," ho snld. "because I believed be-lieved you to bo promising students, and I sent you to the Naval College, not with any selfish purpose of mine nor yet for your own sakes, but because, tho day will Inevitably come when Japan must measure her strength with Itussla, nnd It Is Incumbent on every truo Japanese to prepare vigorously for that crisis. In the Naval College yon had only one duty to perform the duty of applying yourselves earnestly to your tasks and equipping yourselves to serve your country In her time of need. You hnve absconded from the college lu obedience to your own Imaginings, Im-aginings, thus betraying the trust I reposed re-posed In you nnd forgetting pupil's first obligation, obedience to his teachers. teach-ers. Hetiirn nt once, nnd henceforward, hencefor-ward, whatever happen, though 'hills crumble nnd streams run backward,' never turn your faces from the path of serving your country with all your might." Tho three lads were dumfounded. They had supposed that they were obeying the strict canons of samurai fnlth when they decided to fight side by side with Snlgo If his cause were Just nnd to protest against it by suicide If It seemed unjust. Next day they set out on their return Journey to Toklo. It would have been Impossible for them to seek readmit tntice to the Naval College after such nn escapade, had not Salgo furnished them with letters' to Admiral Kawnniurn entreating entreat-ing thnt their sin of Insubordination might not terminate their career lu Japan's service. Admiral afterwards Count Knwainurn was himself one of Salgo's most devoted followers. He It was who a llttlo more than a year later received and washed tho head of the great Satsumn lender after tho latter with his lieutenants had died by their own hands on the field of Kngoshlmn. Minister or the Navy at the time of the three students' escapade, Kawamura was able to secure their pardon. This story has Just become public for the first time. The narrator was Admiral Kamlmurn himself. Ho related re-lated the Incidents when visiting the house of General Viscount Tnkashlma en route to Join the fleet n few weeks before the arrival of the Baltic squadron squad-ron In Far Eastern waters. Taknshlmn, III accordance with the traditional custom cus-tom of Japan, had presented to hlui an heirloom sword blade, which gift, made on the eve of battle, has from nnclqnt times borne the significance of nil exhortation ex-hortation to triumph or to perish. It recalled to Admiral Kamlinura thnt other crisis on the threshold of his career ca-reer when ho so nearly became Involved In the one Irremediable catastrophe of the MelJ'l era, and It reminds the nation na-tion to-day with what profound Insight Salgo Takamorl chose the men whose services he dedicated to his country, and how unerring was his prescience of the events lying in the lap of Japan's future. In the thirtieth year after the clandestine visit of thes; three youths to Kngoshlmn two or them earned undying fame by crushing Hussln's naval might, aud the third ill. rected the Umpire's nnval ndtulnlstra-tlmi ndtulnlstra-tlmi throughout the life aud death combat which the Sntsuma leader had so clearly foreseen. London Times. |