Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1905 — OYAMA the ORIENTAL NAPOLEON [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OYAMA the ORIENTAL NAPOLEON

Field Marshal the Marquis Oyama, chief of the general staff and commander-! n-chief of the Japanese army, Is one of the few generals of modern times who may claim to rank among the giants of war who have led troops In the field. The English call him the Wellington of Manchuria, which is this highest praise they can bestow upon any commander, but in European capitals, strategists, amazed by the boldness of a campaign now crowned with complete success, style him the Napoleon of the Orient. It is certain that no general, flgfc ■* against a worthy enemy, has achieved so unbroken a series of victories; v none has conceived a more stupendous plan of ' campaign to execute it so s essfully; that none has exceeded the gigantic feat of driving from stronghold to stronghold and finally enveloping a force as big as the army of General Kuropatkin. The Marquis Oyama, who is 62 years old, was educated in France, and served In the Fra neo-Prussian War as an attache. Up to the time he made his report on that conflict the Japanese army, which was only in its beginning as a modern force, was being trained on the French model. After his return home this system gave way to that of the Prussian, and this in turn has been greatly improved by Japanese originality and by the ‘adoption of what is best and most useful in the other armies of the world. Later in life Oyama again traveled extensively in Europe, absorbing the ideas of the military systems, and once more In Japan threw himself into recasting the whole military system, winning the appreciation and favor of the Emperor and of Field Marshal the Marquis Yamagata. To Marquis Oyama among others belongs the glory of creating the Japanese army inside of thirty years. Nor was his genius confined to the Ministry of War, as he stood for a space at the head of the navy, and also as

Minlster of Education when the transition of the new world Tower wa* completing. A queer compound of ugliness, wit, strength and Oriental cunning, the Marquis Oyama has an enormously receptive mind. He is a rapid and deep thinker, ahd not only attracts, but molds those about him to any set purpose with Napoleonic directness, although with admirable and characteristic Japanese grace. While not a tall man in any sense, he Is i shade above the average Japanese in height, with a strong head apparently placed upon Immense shoulders without the Interposition of a neck. He is a linguist, as are most of the Japenese officers, an advantage not possessed in the same proportion in any other military or naval service in the world. Smallpox has pitted his round, brown face, hut his ugliness is relieved by a pair of magnetic black eyes, which twinkle with humor, or squint when their owner is deep in thought. The first real war experience in which he was an actor came in the civil war in Japan, in which the Satsuma revolt was suppressed, but fame came to him in the C’hino-Japanese War, ten years ago. As a strategist and commander he there achieved distinction which has been heiglitentd by hi* wonderful work in the present Manchurian campaign. He tvas the captor of Port Arthur—which he took from the Chinese garrison in a morning. Russian cartoonists have ridiculed him for ten years, making little of his victory, the fruits of which Russia and the Towers were to prevent the Japanese from enjoying. • Marquis Oyama has a memory for these things, and his command in the field against Russia was assured before war broke out. For a time he sat at home, advising and directing General Kuroki, as became the chief of the general staff under the Japanese system. When the right moment arrived, the Marquis moved into the field, where he has since remained personally directing a campaign unexcelled in brilliancy by any of which history tells.