"Gentlemen," he said, "I gather from your plaudits that you all fully agree with Prince Kasho's honourable speech, for which I beg to most heartily thank him, although it places me upon the horns of a dilemma. Let that pass, for the moment, however. What I want, now, is that each of you should, in as few words as possible, express your opinion upon the Prince's suggestion that I should take the whole of my ships into Port Arthur roadstead and engage the enemy in a pitched battle." In response to this appeal, the officers rose, one after the other, apparently in the order of their seniority; and each man expressed his hearty concurrence with Prince Kasho's proposal, the concurrence being accompanied in many cases by the expression of sundry lofty and beautiful sentiments extolling the virtues of patriotism and valour. At length everybody had spoken except myself, and I was heartily hoping that I should be passed over as a person of so little account that my opinion would not be considered worth having. Not so, however. The Admiral turned to me and said, with a smile: "And now at last we come to our honourable English friend, the captain of the _Kasanumi_. What has he to say upon the matter? You have heard what has been said; and although you have perhaps been unable, through your restricted knowledge of our language, to grasp the full meaning of it all, you may possibly have understood enough to enable you to comprehend the way in which this momentous question appeals to the Japanese heart and intellect. Now, kindly favour us with the view which you, as a hard-headed Englishman, take of it." "Really, sir," I said in English, springing to my feet in some confusion, "I would very much prefer to be excused, if you will kindly allow me. It would be the most rank presumption on my part to--" "No, no," cried several voices, among which I distinctly recognised that of Prince Kasho; "let us hear what the honourable Englishman has to say." "Quite right, gentlemen," said Togo. "I fully agree with you. I know something of the English; and even though Mr Swinburne may differ from us all, I'll warrant that he will not suggest any action that is not consonant with our honour, as seamen, or our loyalty to the Emperor. Pray proceed, Mr Swinburne."