The Memoirs of Admiral Lord Beresford
with other nations in favour of the policy of the "Open Door." Having
been invited by the Chamber of Commerce to address a public meeting, I
spoke on the subject of the future development of trade with China.
The meeting was attended by Ministers, military and naval officers, the
President and many members of both Houses, and representatives of the
mercantile community. The Japanese interpreter sat beside me and
equipped with inkpot, paper and brush, he painted down my words in the
Japanese character. When I sat down, the interpreter rose and repeated
my speech in Japanese, his delivery occupying the same time as mine.
Every now and then he was interrupted by applause, the audience tapping
with their fans. The British Minister told me that it was aroused by
the mention of the identity of Japanese and British interests, and
especially by the comparison drawn between Japan and Great Britain.
The authorities kindly conducted me over the various schools of
military training, in which the system was perfect; the arsenal,
employing 6000 men, and turning out work second to none; and the
barracks, a model of efficiency. The Minister for War, General
Viscount Katsura, courteously {457} held a parade of troops for my
benefit. All arms were admirable alike in organisation, appearance,
and discipline.
Before leaving Tokio, I had the opportunity of paying my respects to
his Majesty the Emperor; who was so good as to say he remembered the
visit of the Duke of Edinburgh of whose suite I had been a member, and
invited me to an afternoon's sport in his private pleasaunce. Every
foot of the garden was wrought like a gem. Diversified with miniature
mountains, tiny grottoes, and brilliant foliage, it was intersected by
narrow rivers which were haunted by wild duck. Two or three days
before the sport took place, the garden was left solitary, so that the
ducks should come into it. The method was to catch the duck in a
hand-net as it rose from the water.
His Majesty said that the development of trade with China must
strengthen the friendship between the peoples of Great Britain and
Japan, the interests of both countries being the same; and expressed
the hope that the endeavours of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of
Great Britain might be the beginning of a great extension of trade, in
which Japan would take a prominent part.
At Yokohama, Admiral Yamamoto, Minister of Marine, courteously invited
me to visit the dockyard and fleet at Yokohama, placing H.I.M. cruiser
_Takasago_ at my disposal. The vessel was throughout in as good
condition as a man-of-war could be; and her ship's company were smart,
well dressed and well disciplined.
At Yokosha is a large torpedo depot, at which everything connected with
torpedo warfare is organised under its own administration; a system
preferable to the British method, in which the torpedo departments are
auxiliary to the dockyards.
The impression disengaged by my sojourn of a fortnight in Japan was
that both the political and commercial classes were determined to
enforce the "Open Door" in China, where their commercial interests were
extensive. I observed that the nation was arming itself steadily and
effectively; and that a spirit of patriotism was universal. Four years
later, the Russo-Japanese war broke out.
{458}
CHAPTER XLVI
TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES (_Continued_)
III. THE UNITED STATES
The many invitations sent to me while I was in China from the United
States determined me to visit that country on the way home; in order to
explain to the American nation the situation in China; to encourage if
it might be, the growth of amity between the English and the American
peoples; and incidentally to mark the contrast between the most ancient
and static Empire of the East and the restless dynamic forces of the
latest experiment in Western civilisation. I had arrived at Nagasaki
on the 11th January, 1899; traversed Japan as a half-way house, in
which West and East had married, and in which their offspring were
presently to astonish the world; and came to San Francisco on the 10th
of February.
Immediately the wheels of life began to revolve with an extraordinary
velocity. I was caught up in the sumptuous hospitality of that
generous people--deluged with invitations; and haunted by interviewers.
In looking back, great cities rise one upon another, like cities in a
dream; I seem always to be speaking to a field of keen, upturned
countenances; the only respite comes in the days and nights, all run
into one to the long roll of the cars, as the train eats up the miles
of that land of vast spaces; and everywhere there are welcome and
cordiality and friendship.
And everywhere there were Irishmen, rushing to shake hands with a
countryman; rushing any distance, often {459} hundreds of miles, just
to exchange greetings at the latter end. Irishmen are so, the world
over.
One among my countrymen had travelled a thousand miles to see me, when
he called at my hotel. I told him that I had twenty minutes before
starting for Chicago, and that I must retire to my room to bathe, shave
and prepare a speech in that time.
"I'll come wid ye," said he, cheerfully; and while I made my
dispositions, he sat in the adjoining room and talked of the old
country with that pride and affection which all Irishmen feel for their
native land.
San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, Buffalo, Washington, New York: these
were the great towns strung among the lesser. At San Francisco, I
addressed the Chamber of Commerce. At Chicago, I was entertained by
Mr. McCormick, President of the Associated Chambers and of the
Committee of the Commercial Club.
All unknown to me, it had been arranged that I should address a large
meeting at eleven o'clock on the morning of my arrival. When the train
came in at ten o'clock, I was informed of the arrangement; went to the
hotel, dictated notes to my secretary while I made my toilette, arrived
at the meeting punctually, and spoke for half an hour.
Here, and throughout America, I kept strictly to my terms of reference:
dwelling upon the opportunities for extending trade in China; the
necessity for pursuing the policy of the "Open Door"; and the community
of interest existing between America and Great Britain.
The Board of Trade, which is the Stock Exchange of Chicago, invited me
to visit them; and when I was introduced as the representative of the
Associated Chambers of Commerce of Great Britain, the whole business of
the great market was stopped in order that I might address the members;
an event which, I was informed, was without precedent. The Commercial
Club having kindly invited me to be the guest of their periodical
banquet, the Committee most courteously altered the date in order to
suit my {460} convenience. In this case, there was a precedent; for
the date of the occasion had been altered when General Grant had been a
guest of the Club.
At Washington, I was most hospitably entertained by Mr. Hay, Secretary
of State and late Ambassador in Great Britain. I had the privilege of
paying my respects to President McKinley, and of meeting many
distinguished Americans, Senators and others, all of whom expressed
great interest in the enterprise of the British Associated Chambers of
Commerce. At this time I first met Colonel Robert M. Thompson, who
became a great friend of mine; and Admiral Brownson, whose skill in
handling a fleet I subsequently admired.
Upon my arrival at New York, I fulfilled an engagement to address the
American Asiatic Association. Mr. Whitelaw Reid, afterwards Ambassador
in Great Britain, in an eloquent speech, declared that the policy of
the "Open Door" was that which was best suited for the development of
American trade, and that the American Government intended to institute
it in the Philippine Islands.
Addressing the New York Chamber of Commerce, I found the members to
express the same sympathy and interest with which my representations
had been received throughout the United States. The American attitude
was, in fact, that while they were desirous of strengthening their
friendship with England, and approved the policy of the "Open Door,"
they did not feel justified in going beyond a moral support of it.
Upon visiting New York a second time, I was introduced into the Stock
Exchange by Mr. Rudolph Kepler, the President, who took me up the floor
to the rostrum. The proceedings were stopped; and at the President's
request, I addressed the members for two or three minutes. Some one
said that my speech was at the rate of 100,000 dollars a second. I
hope he was exaggerating.
{461}
CHAPTER XLVII
H.M.S. _RAMILLIES_
When the men who had gone out to South Africa to take part in the
Jameson Raid were passing through the Suez Canal on their way back
again, I saw and heard the people in the British ships cheering them as
they went by; a popular effusion which (in my view) boded trouble in
the future. Soon after my return from the United States in 1899, an
instalment of the trouble arrived. The burghers of the Transvaal and
of the Orange Free State crossed the British frontiers on the 12th
October.
This country began as usual by underrating the strength of the enemy.
Many of us remember the talk about rolling them up, and all the rest of
it; all very bright in its way; but not the way to begin a war, much
less to end it. Those of us who understood war, were by no means so
confident; and I expressed their opinion, when, as I may perhaps here
venture to recall, speaking at the Cutlers' Feast at Sheffield on the
2nd November, and again at Sunderland on the 6th November, 1899, I most
emphatically advocated the dispatch of a much larger force than the
Government had allocated for the purpose; on the principle that "in the
fire brigade, if an officer thought a fire needed four engines to put
it out, he would send eight."
Matters have changed so little since the South African war that,
although our Army and Navy are relatively inferior to what they were in
1899, the politicians are still alternately boasting of what will be
done in an emergency, and declaring that war is no longer possible.
{462}
In December, 1899, I was appointed second in command of the
Mediterranean Fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir J. A. Fisher,
K.C.B. (now Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher of Kilverstone, G.C.B.,
O.M., G.C.V.O.), flying his flag in H.M.S. _Renown_, and thereupon
resigned my seat at York. The London Chamber of Commerce were so good
as to invite me to a banquet prior to my departure. Speaking upon that
occasion, I pointed out that under our existing system of
administration, while the Cabinet must always bear the ultimate
responsibility, there was not yet in existence a department whose duty
it was to represent what were the requirements, present and future, of
Imperial defence. So far as the Navy was concerned, the duty was
charged upon the First Sea Lord; but it involved a task so vast and
complex, that no one man could possibly fulfil it; nor had the
Intelligence Department been developed, according to its original
purpose, into a War Staff.
In the event of a disaster in war, resulting from lack of organisation
and preparation, the Government, being rightly held responsible, are
perhaps turned out of office; when the nation may derive what
consolation may accrue from losing both its Government and the Empire
upon the same day.
My first command as rear-admiral coincided with the final disappearance
from the Navy of the old masts and sails training which was the delight
and pride of the sailors of my generation. Before the decision of the
Admiralty had been finally made, I suggested (in _The Times_, 9th
December, 1899) that, as there were then only four training ships, so