Executed People

"It is natural that I should bear entire responsibility for the war in general, and, needless to say, I am prepared to do so. Consequently, now that the war has been lost, it is presumably necessary that I be judged so that the circumstances of the time can be clarified and the future peace of the world be assured. Therefore, with respect to my trial, it is my intention to speak frankly, according to my recollection, even though when the vanquished stands before the victor, who has over him the power of life and death, he may be apt to toady and flatter. I mean to pay considerable attention to this in my actions, and say to the end that what is true is true and what is false is false. To shade one's words in flattery to the point of untruthfulness would falsify the trial and do incalculable harm to the nation, and great care must be taken to avoid this."

"If one of you should detect any dissatisfaction or unsettled feeling within your (the governors’) jurisdiction, you should take immediate and concrete steps for the complete removal of these elements … Now the people of our nation must endure our little punk of an emperor and their inconveniences and overcome painful hardships in order to win this war."

"The moment the first American soldier sets foot on the Japanese mainland, all prisoners of war will be shot."

"Japan Forms Alliance With White Supremacists in Well-Thought-Out Scheme: From the East Asian Correspondent, Sept 1, 1939. — In a course of action praised by many as "far-sighted" and "tactically brilliant," the Japanese government has sworn its allegiance to the Axis powers led by white-supremacist Nazi Germany. In a formal statement, Japanese leaders declared, "We wish to be counted among the loyal allies of this back-stabbing, racist hate nation." Following the announcement, Japanese General and military leader Hideki Tojo told reporters, "We are pleased to enter into an alliance with the paranoid, xenophobic government of Nazi Germany. We anticipate a deeply enriching exchange of our military aid with their deep-seated hatred of our non-white heritage.""

"Most dangerous of all, it was the product of a leadership where the military focused on winning battles and the civilians had given little thought to what happened after that. That limited vision is more common in war than one might think. The Germans in 1914 had not worked out their war aims or what they would do if France and Russia sued for peace. In September 1941, as Japan moved closer towards war with the United States, a high-level imperial war conference took place in the presence of the emperor, key civilian and military leaders and elder statesmen. The military, which by now dominated policy-making, produced a document of breathtaking vagueness on its goals in the coming war. ‘We cannot exclude the possibility,’ it said, ‘that the war may end because of a great change in American public opinion … At any rate we should be able to establish an invincible position … Meanwhile, we may hope that we will be able to influence the trend of affairs and bring the war to an end.’ The Japanese prime minister, Tojo Hideki (who was later tried for war crimes), shortly afterwards compared the decision to jumping off a cliff with one’s eyes closed. ‘There are times when we must have the courage to do extraordinary things.’ Asia, the Americans and the Japanese people paid a heavy price for that sort of courage."

"I had an uneasy feeling he might plead his own cause against indictment as a war criminal. There had been considerable outcry from some of the Allies, notably the Russians and the British, to include him in this category. Indeed, the initial list of those proposed by them was headed by the Emperor's name. Realizing the tragic consequences that would follow such an unjust action, I had stoutly resisted such efforts. When Washington seemed to be veering toward the British point of view, I had advised that I would need at least one million reinforcements should such action be taken. I believed that if the Emperor were indicted, and perhaps hanged, as a war criminal, military government would have to be instituted throughout all Japan, and guerrilla warfare would probably break out. He played a major role in the spiritual regeneration of Japan, and his loyal co-operation and influence had much to do with the success of the occupation."

"There was little public sympathy for Tōjō in Japan in the post-war period. His responsibility for the war, his oppressive regime, and his failure to commit suicide turned him into a notorious figure. Later revelations about his personal integrity, impeccable family life, devotion to duty, and loyalty to the emperor somewhat improved his image."

"The Japanese followed a very resolute tactic in unleashing this conflict. They simply pounced on the enemy that wanted to strangle them and attacked him. I trust that the Japanese still have a few things in reserve; for they generally pursue very cautious, traditionally conservative policies; they will not negligently risk their empire, and they surely have a whole series of military options, about which even we know nothing. They did not inform us in advance of their intention to attack suddenly, and this was also necessary to maintain the secrecy of their plans. All these events are still rather unclear for the time being. But the war is a fact. Tojo was more dependable after all than we had assumed at first. The Führer and the whole headquarters are overjoyed at this development. We are now at least temporarily secure from a serious threat. In the coming weeks and months Roosevelt will no longer be as insolent as he has been in the past. Now this war has become a world war in the true sense of the word."

"The preference of the Navy Staff was to launch assaults on Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaya, while at the same time overrunning Dutch Sumatra, Borneo and Java. Their assumption, which proved entirely correct, was that the European empires in Asia had been dealt lethal blow at home by the German occupation of the Netherlands and France and the continuing German threat to the British Isles. The Dutch colonies, in particular, looked like easy quarry; they had the added allure of being oil-rich. Malaya, meanwhile, was the world's biggest producer of rubber. Living space for Japanese settlers was all very well, but the Japanese Empire needed strategic raw materials far more urgently. In 1940 army planners had argued for an invasion of Indo-China, to provide new bases from which to attack the Chinese Nationalists in Sichuan. As War Minister in the new Cabinet formed by Prince Konoe in July 1940, Tôjô had insisted that unless Japan struck soon, she risked being too late. By 1941, it is true, some senior generals had become less enthusiastic about this idea. But by now the proponents of the Southern strategy had the upper hand."

"What I mean by the "pursuit of learning" is not the ability to read classical texts and study ancient history, but to be fully acquainted with conditions all over the world and to have a keen awareness of what is going on abroad and around us. Now from what I can see world trends and conditions are still unsettled, and as long as they remain unsettled there is still a chance that something can be done. First, therefore, we must rectify conditions in our own domain, after which conditions in other domains can be rectified. This having been done, conditions at court can be rectified and finally conditions throughout the whole world can be rectified. First one must set an example oneself and then it can be extended progressively to others. This is what I mean by the "pursuit of learning.""

"If the plan [to intercept the shogunate emissary to the Kyoto court] is to be carried out, it can only be done with men from the grass roots. To wear silk brocades, eat dainty food, hug beautiful women, and fondle darling children are the only things hereditary officials care about. To revere the emperor and expel the barbarian is no concern of theirs. If this time it should be my misfortune to die, may my death inspire at least one or two men of steadfast will to rise up and uphold this principle after my death."

"If Heaven does not completely abandon this land of the Gods, there must be an uprising of grass-roots heroes."

"When I consider the state of things in our fief, I find that those who hold positions and receive official stipends are incapable of the utmost in loyalty and patriotic service. Loyalty of the usual sort-perhaps, but if it is true loyalty and service you seek, then you must abandon this fief and plan a grass-roots uprising."

"If the body dies, it does no harm to the mind, but if the mind dies, one can no longer act as a man even though the body survives."

"What is important in a leader is a resolute will and determination. A man may be versatile and learned, but if he lacks resoluteness and determination, of what use will he be?"

"It seems hopeless, hopeless. Those who eat meat [at public expense] are a mean, selfish lot, and so the country is doomed. Our only hope lies in the grass-roots folk who eat our traditional food."

"Once the will is resolved, one’s spirit is strengthened. Even a peasant's will is hard to deny, but a samurai of resolute will can sway ten thou­sand men."

"Life and death, union and separation, follow hard upon one another. Nothing is steadfast but the will, nothing endures but one's achieve­ments. These alone count in life."

"As things stand now the feudal lords are content to look on while the shogunate carries on in a highhanded manner. Neither the lords nor the shogun can be depended upon, and so our only hope lies in grass-roots heroes."

"Nowadays everyone lives selfishly and seeks only the leisure in which to indulge his own desires. They look on all the beauties of nature-the rivers and mountains, the breeze and the moon-as their own to enjoy, forgetting what the shrine of the Sun Goddess stands for. The common man thinks of his life as his own and refuses to perform his duty to his lord. The samurai regards his household as his own private possession and refuses to sacrifice his life for his state. The feudal lords regard their domains as their own and refuse to serve King and Country. Unwilling to serve King and Country, at home they cherish only the objects of desire and abroad they willingly yield to the foreign barbarian, inviting defeat and destruction. Thus the scenic beauties they enjoy will not long remain in their possession."

"From the beginning of the year to the end, day and night, morning and evening, in action and repose, in speech and in silence, the warrior must keep death constantly before him and have ever in mind that the one death [which he has to give] should not be suffered in vain. In other words [he must have perfect control over his own death] just as if he were holding an intemperate steed in rein. Only he who truly keeps death in mind this way can understand what is meant by [Yamaga Soko's maxim of] "preparedness.""

"Once a man’s will is set, he need no longer rely on others or expect anything from the world. His vision encompasses Heaven and earth, past and present, and the tranquility of his heart is undisturbed."

"Those who take up the science of war must not fail to master the [Confucian] Classics. The reason is that arms are dangerous instruments and not necessarily forced for good. How can we safely entrust them to any but those who have schooled themselves in the precepts of the Classics and can use these weapons for the realization of Humanity and Righteousness? To quell violence and disorder, to repulse barbarians and brigands, to rescue living souls from agony and torture, to save the nation from imminent downfall-these are the true ends of Humanity and Righteousness. If, on the contrary, arms are taken up in a selfish struggle to win land, goods, people, and the implements of war, is it not the worst of all evils, the most heinous of all offenses? If, further, the study of offensive and defensive warfare, of the way to certain victory in all encounters, is not based on those principles which should govern their employment, who can say that such venture will not result in just such a misfortune? Therefore, I say that those who take up the science of war must not fail to master the Classics."

"One who aspires to greatness should read and study, pursuing the True Way with such a firm resolve that he is perfectly straightforward and open, rises above the superficialities of conventional behavior, and refuses to be satisfied with the petty or commonplace."

"To consider oneself different from ordinary men is wrong, but it is right to hope that one will not remain like ordinary men."

"If a general and his men fear death and are apprehensive over possible defeat, then they will unavoidably suffer defeat and death. But if they make up their minds, from the general down to the last footsoldier, not to think of living but only of standing in one place and facing death together, then, though they may have no other thought than meeting death, they will instead hold on to life and gain victory."

"In relations with others, one should express resentment and anger openly and straightforwardly. If one cannot express them openly and straightforwardly, the only thing to do is forget about them. To harbor grievances in one's heart, awaiting some later opportunity to give vent to them, is to act like a weak and petty man-in truth, it can only be called cowardice. The mind of the superior man is like Heaven. When it is resentful or angry, it thunders forth its indignation. But once having loosed its feelings, it is like a sunny day with a clear sky: within the heart there remains not the trace of a cloud. Such is the beauty of true manliness."

"It is just that, in so terrible a day, and in the last moments of my life, I should discover all the iniquity of falsehood, and make the truth triumph. I declare, then, in the face of heaven and earth, and acknowledge, though to my eternal shame, that I have committed the greatest crimes but it has been the acknowledging of those which have been so foully charged on the order. I attest - and truth obliges me to attest - that it is innocent! I made the contrary declaration only to suspend the excessive pains of torture, and to mollify those who made me endure them. I know the punishments which have been inflicted on all the knights who had the courage to revoke a similar confession; but the dreadful spectacle which is presented to me is not able to make me confirm one lie by another. The life offered me on such infamous terms I abandon without regret."

"Let evil swiftly befall those who have wrongly condemned us - God will avenge us."

"Quar nous navons volu ne volons le Temple mettre en aucune servitute se non tant come il hy affiert."

"Ned's story falls on that universal fault line that makes someone a rebel or a freedom fighter to one group and an outlaw or a terrorist to another. He is regularly attacked as a thief and murderer. Much less regularly is it recalled that a government inquiry the year after the Kelly outbreak demoted or suspended most of the police involved. But what makes Ned a legend is not that everyone sees him the same—it's that everyone sees him. Like a bushfire on the horizon casting its red glow into the night."

"The resurgence of the Ned Kelly legend ... stresses the enigma of why one of the most decent, law-abiding peoples in the world should make a national hero of one of the most cold-blooded, egotistical, and utterly self-centred criminals who ever decorated the end of a rope in an Australian jail. His frankness in turpitude, his utter vengefulness, his cruelty, his cold-blooded lack of regret at the wiping out of the lives of decent men can only repel even an unfastidious mind. Yet his spirit has been extolled as the spirit of Australia, his animal lawlessness has been held up as a renewal of the spirit of Eureka."

"I'm a bushranger."

"In California this man ... would have been dragged out of gaol and lynched. I don't admire the mob for superseding the law, but the spirit in which it is done there contrasts strangely with the exaltation here of Kelly as a hero."

"Ned Kelly was descended on both sides from bad stock—his father was an ex-convict and present cattle-stealer. When Ned was born at Beveridge, near Kilmore, Dean O'Hea, of Coburg, sent word that the child must be baptised. [Kelly's father] swore a great oath that no clergyman should come near his place. Dean O'Hea, when he heard this, resolved that the child should be baptised. So he rode one Sunday up the Sydney-road to Beveridge, stopped at Kelly's house, and said, "You have got a child to baptise; bring him out to me immediately." The rite was performed. When, years afterwards, Dean O'Hea told the matured Ned Kelly, then awaiting execution, of the incident, the bushranger "cried like a child.""

"He had a rare type of eyes—'alexandrite' eyes that sometimes glowed a startling crimson when he became excited."

"Without doubt [Kelly] is the man who concocts all the plans and makes the others carry out his wishes. He appears to have the powers of a commander. His looks even infuse terror into his comrades. ... When he is in a rage and disappointed, he looks like a demon. He can also be very civil and courteous when he likes. This was proved when he was speaking to females. All the women he spoke to he treated very courteously, and spoke to them kindly. Ned Kelly treated the Rev. Mr. Gribble with kindness; conversed with him in a reasonable manner, so much so that the rev. gentleman was not at all afraid of him."

"I was a school kid at Jerilderie when Ned Kelly and his gang took possession of the township ... Like all the other youngsters in the place, I was keen to get a glimpse of the famous outlaw. ... I saw him come out of [the hotel] and squat on the verandah's edge to have a smoke. He beckoned me over, asked me my name and so forth―and then he gave me a short lecture. I can assure you, a Sunday school superintendent couldn't have given me sounder advice as to human conduct. ... He gave me a shilling, I ought to have kept it."

"I told [Kelly] that [Sergeant Kennedy and Constable Scanlon] were both countrymen and co-religionists of his own. ... This statement ... was not strictly true, for Kelly was Australian born, but his father came from Tipperary and his mother from Armagh, and I thought he might be possessed of some of that patriotic-religious feeling which is such a bond of sympathy amongst the Irish people. My opinion is that he possessed none of this feeling. On the question of religion I believe he was apathetic, and like a great many young bushmen he prided himself more on his Australian birth than he did upon his extraction from any particular race. A favourite expression of his was: "I will let them see what one native [native-born Australian] can do.""

"The juvenile highwayman and companion of the notorious Power, on being brought before the Benalla bench, ... seemed quite indifferent to the danger of his position. While casting his eyes occasionally amongst the crowd, he smiled complacently and assumed a jaunty air. ... While confined in the lockup, he sang "like a bird," and appeared proud of his position. The misguided youth evidently considers himself a character to be admired."

"Such is life."

"Oh, what a pretty garden."

"Keep your freedom. It's the best thing you have. Never become a bushranger unless you are absolutely forced to it."

"Although I have been bushranging I have always believed that when I die I have a God to meet."

"If they were in my position they would not smile much."

"My mates are all gone; it is a sad affair, but of course it can't be helped now."

"I wanted to see the thing end."

"They [the Government of Victoria] are all damned fools to bother their heads about Parliament at all, for this is our country."

"The bloody banks are crushing the life's blood out of the poor, struggling man."

"A man that kills his enemy, particularly an enemy out to slaughter him, is no murderer, and all police are my enemies."