Since the advent of modern battle-ships of the new type, armed with
high-powered rifled ordnance, naval officers of all nations had been
eagerly looking for an occasion when the use of such ships and guns
would be an object lesson to them, and various theories in regard to
naval warfare would be put to the test of actual practice. While most
people were looking to movements in other and widely distant parts
of the world--some predicting a naval battle in the North Sea, while
others looked for a battle of giants in the Mediterranean--the problem
was in part solved for them by a pitched battle in the far Orient,
between the Japanese and Chinese fleets, and which will be known in
history as the battle of the Yalu.
The rival fleets may be said to have illustrated each a different
principle. That represented by the Chinese was the principle of the
school which puts material above _personnel_, for their fleet contained
the heaviest ships and the largest guns, although these were not so
numerous as those of the Japanese. They had also the most extensive
torpedo equipment.
The Japanese represented the school which believes in lighter, more
active ships, and in “the man behind the gun”--that is, the greater
rapidity and accuracy of fire and ability in manœuvring--much the same
as Farragut’s conviction that the best protection for a ship was a
rapid and accurate fire from her battery.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF THE YALU--SINKING OF THE CHIH-YUEN.]
Before proceeding to describe the battle it would be well to give
some account of the strength of the contending fleets. By this we mean
the available naval strength of each nation at the outbreak of the
conflict.
The Chinese navy owes its existence principally to the fostering care
of the Imperial Viceroy, Li Hung-Chang, now in disgrace. He employed
Captain Lang, an Englishman, and other Europeans to drill the ships’
companies. But Captain Lang was forced to leave that service some
time before the war began, and Captain Von Henneken, a German, who
constructed the forts at and near the naval port of Wei-hai-wei,
appears to have taken his place as adviser to Admiral Ting--as much
as a military man can advise upon naval matters. The Chinese had
five heavy ironclads--Ting-Yuen, Chen-Yuen, King-Yuen, Lai-Yuen, and
Ping-Yuen--with armor from fourteen to eight inches thick, and armed
with Krupp guns, from twelve-inch to eight-inch calibre, mounted in
barbette. They had also some quick-fire and a number of machine guns.
All of these vessels, except the Ping-Yuen, were built at Stettin, in
Germany.
The Chinese protected and partly protected cruisers were nine in
number, with armaments of Armstrong and other guns, and a number of
quick-fire guns in two of them, the Tschi-Yuen and Ching-Yuen. Most of
them were built in Germany and in England, but three of the smaller
ones were constructed in the Chinese building yard at Foo-choo. Some of
the vessels named were quite fast, but as the speed of a fleet is that
of its slowest ship, we must put it down at ten or eleven knots--the
speed of the ironclad Ping-Yuen.
The torpedo flotilla included twenty-eight boats of over one hundred
feet in length and thirteen over eighty, all built in Stettin.
As regards the Japanese fleet, of the armor-clads (Riujo, Fuso, Kongo,
Hi-Yei, and Tschiyoda), all are stated to be practically obsolete
but the last, and she was much damaged in the battle by the Chinese
Tschi-Yuen. They were all built in England at different dates, from
1864 to 1879. The Tschiyoda, armored cruiser, is a modern ship of about
2500 tons, built in Glasgow. She has a four-and-a-half-inch belt,
one-inch deck plating, and mounts 24 quick-fire guns. Her best speed is
about nineteen knots.
The modern protected cruisers which took part in the battle on the
Japanese side were the Naniwa, Takachiko, Itsukushima, Hashidate,
Matsushima, Akitsushima, and Yoshino. The lowest speed of any of
these ships was seventeen and a half knots, and they were armed with
Armstrong, Canet, and Krupp heavy guns and a very large number of
quick-fire 4.7-inch, and smaller guns.
The Akitsushima and Hashidate were built in Japan; the Itsukushima
and Matsushima at La Seyne, in France. The Naniwa and Takachiko
were English built, as was also the new Yoshino, with a speed of
twenty-three knots, 4150 tons, and one of the finest cruisers afloat in
any navy.
The Japanese torpedo flotilla consists of 41 boats more than 100 feet
in length; but, as we shall have occasion to see later on, torpedoes
were of not much importance in the Yalu battle, owing to the manner in
which it was fought, and few of those were present.
The principal dock-yard and naval arsenal of Japan is at Yokosuka; and
the whole country is divided into two naval districts or departments,
each subject to a vice-minister under the naval minister at Tokio,
the capital. The discipline and regulations of the Japanese fleet are
modelled upon those of Europe and America much more closely than that
of China, and the ships are manned by efficient and well-trained
crews, who have excellent and well-instructed officers. So many of the
population are engaged in maritime pursuits--either in the fishery
or in coasting and carrying on the active communication between the
islands composing the empire--that there is a large reserve of hardy,
seasoned men to draw upon for service in the navy.
Many of the officers have been educated abroad, some of them being
graduates of our own Naval Academy at Annapolis, where, as a rule, they
have always stood well in their classes in spite of the difficulty of
carrying on their studies in a foreign language. These naval cadets
were received at the request of the Japanese government and wore the
uniform and were treated in precisely the same way as our own cadet
midshipmen, but the Japanese government paid all their expenses.
Thus, though apparently weaker than the Chinese fleet, except in the
matter of swift cruisers, the Japanese navy had qualities which gave
it the real, practical advantage in the battle of the Yalu. More than
ever has it confirmed the theory that speed is the greatest requisite
in the sea-fighting of the present day; for it was the swiftness of the
Japanese vessels which gained them the advantage in the first place,
seconded by rapid and accurate gun-fire.
We shall see that torpedoes had not much opportunity for action, and
when used by the Chinese (rather clumsily), failed in taking effect,
while there was no use of the ram at all--a manner of offence which
many looked to see exemplified in the first great naval battle.
The great sea-fight at the Yalu will not be completely elucidated for
some time to come--probably many months--but we know enough about it to
be able to give its leading features, mostly from the report made to
the Japanese Emperor by an aide of Admiral Ito, who commanded the fleet
of Japanese vessels.
This fleet had been for several days in the estuary of Ping-Yang, in
the Bay of Korea, co-operating with the land forces upon the river
Ta-Tong. On the morning of September 16th the Admiral was advised
that Ping-Yang had been captured, and he at once got under way,
proceeding to the northward with eleven ships, the names of which have
already been given, and the Saikio, a light-armed vessel having on
board Admiral Kabiyama, who was senior to Ito, but who did not assume
command, as he was only upon a tour of inspection and his vessel was
not intended for fighting. The ships were in two divisions.
On the 17th, in the bay of Takuchao, on the coast of Manchouria, they
discovered the Chinese fleet, of fourteen ships and four torpedo-boats.
It was then about mid-day. As the opposing forces rapidly approached
each other it was seen that the Chinese were coming out of the bay
in a formation not unlike a closed crescent or wide V; the Japanese
fleet being in line abreast, with the Admiral in the centre in the
Matsushima. The little Saikio also took place in line, in spite of her
feeble armament.
When about 4000 metres distant the Chinese Admiral and some other of
his vessels opened fire, but the Japanese waited until the distance
had decreased to 3000 metres before making any reply. Even then they
fired but a few shots, after which Admiral Ito, seeing that the Chinese
retained their peculiar and very disadvantageous formation, signalled
to the van squadron to attack the enemy on the right and the rear
squadron to attack the left. At the same time he ordered the Akagi and
the Saikio to get on the port or outer side of the rear squadron, for
safety. The presence of the two large and heavily plated German-built
battle-ships in the Chinese fleet convinced Admiral Ito that he would
have to fight the battle under full steam, and, by attacking the
Chinese on their flanks, break their formation and throw them into
confusion. Seeing that he was exposing first one wing and then the
other of his fleet to a concentrated fire which he could only partially
return, Admiral Ting now tried to get his vessels into line, and a
tremendous cannonade ensued, at a distance varying from a mile to a
mile and a half. The ocean fairly shook as the ships swept on, rapidly
firing pieces of heavy modern ordnance. The Chinese vessels presented a
strange appearance, for not a moving man could be seen upon their upper
decks, nor were there any boats at their davits or on their decks. It
was said that they had purposely left their boats behind to prevent
their crews from deserting.
At first the Chinese fire was fairly accurate; but that of the
Japanese, coolly handled, and with the newest pattern of guns, had
a terrible precision. The wheeling movement of the Japanese on the
right and left flanks, and the terrific effect of their rapid-fire
guns, seemed to throw the line of their enemies into disorder and to
demoralize their gunners.
During this tremendous and incessant fire one of the Chinese vessels,
the Lai-Yuen, an armored cruiser, was badly injured, and the Japanese
particularly concentrated their fire upon her as well as others of
the Chinese fleet which seemed to be damaged. The Lai-Yuen then began
to get low in the water, but her gunners continued to fire almost to
the last, when she sank, stern foremost. As her stern went under, her
bows rose out of the water, and she is said to have remained in this
position for about a minute and a half before she finally disappeared.
This fine vessel was sunk by shot, as not a torpedo had been
discharged. Then came the turn of the Tschi-Yuen, which showed signs of
being in trouble, and with a concentrated fire directed upon her she
soon sank, with every soul on board.
While the rear of the Japanese main squadron was turning the left of
the Chinese the Hi-Yei came so close to the latter that, to avoid
receiving their fire broadside on, she left the main squadron and
steamed straight for the Chinese line, passing between the two large
ironclads, the Ting-Yuen and Lai-Yuen. Both these great floating forts
fired at her as she passed, and also launched two torpedoes, both of
which missed, and on went the Hi-Yei, cheering and firing from both
batteries. She had a great number of killed and wounded, but had
passed more than half-way through, without serious damage to hull or
machinery, when a shell from one of the battle-ships hit her aft, about
three feet above the water line, and shattered her mizzenmast and
killed her paymaster, both her surgeons, all the medical attendants,
the men at the spare steering-gear, and many of the powder division.
These were all in the ward-room, which was the surgeon’s quarters
in action. Besides this damage the shell set her on fire, and her
commander, named Sakurai, was obliged to run out of the line of fire
until he could subdue the flames.
The Saikio, which was only a steamer of commerce turned into an armed
vessel, had a somewhat similar experience with the two great Chinese
ironclads. A shell from the Ting-Yuen struck her and destroyed her
steering apparatus, so that she had to withdraw from the line of
battle, steering as well as she could by means of her screw propellers.
It was evident that the Chinese thought she was trying to ram, for the
two steered apart and made an opening through which the Saikio passed,
escaping the torpedoes launched by the Chinese. During these exciting
moments the fire slackened a little on both sides, but was renewed, as
soon as the little vessel was safely out of the way, with greater force
than ever.
By this time the Chinese cruiser Tchao-Yung had become disabled in her
machinery, and was forced onto a reef of rock; but she continued to
use her guns vigorously against two of the Japanese fleet which had
closed with her, the effect of whose fire was such that she soon went
down by the head and slipped off to sink in deep water, leaving about
two-thirds of her masts above the surface. All of her crew who could do
so took refuge in the rigging and raised pitiable yells of distress.
But the fighting was still going on so desperately that no assistance
could be rendered to these unfortunate people. Then another Chinese
ship came to grief, the Yang-Wai, which retired slowly from the battle,
evidently hard hit and rolling heavily, while dense masses of smoke
came up from her.
Seeing that she was _hors de combat_, the Japanese did not pursue her.
Indeed, the fight was too close to permit them to detach any of their
ships. Although they had not suffered so much as the Chinese their
damages were very considerable. A shell had struck the Matsushima which
had dismounted her forward rapid-fire gun and killed and wounded a
number of her crew. The gun was thrown across her deck with such force
as to damage the hull of the vessel very considerably. Indeed, as
flag-ship, the Matsushima had been the object of particular attention
from the Chinese ever since the battle began. She had her commander and
her first lieutenant killed and one hundred and twenty of her ship’s
company killed and wounded. Yet, in spite of the treatment she had
received, she seemed in no danger of sinking.
But Admiral Ito needed a flag-ship in better fighting condition than
that to which the Matsushima was reduced, and so he had a boat lowered,
and accompanied by his staff passed to the Hashidate and hoisted his
flag there. The Japanese cruiser Yoshino bore a very conspicuous part
in the engagement; and when her captain perceived that the Hi-Yei
was disabled, he manœuvred his ship in such a way as to cover her
withdrawal, and then taking her place, attacked her enemy with the
greatest vigor. She was struck many times and her forward barbette and
gun were seriously damaged, but the damages were promptly repaired, and
she was not forced out of action.
During the battle the Chinese tried to use torpedoes several times,
but the Japanese kept a good lookout for them, and not one made a hit.
The captain of the gun-vessel, Akagi, stationed himself in the foretop
and followed all the movements of the Chinese, so that whenever they
prepared to launch a torpedo he signalled the fact. But at last a shot
struck the mast, cut it in two, and, as it fell to the deck, it killed
the captain and the two signal-men who were aloft with him. The first
lieutenant assumed command, cleared the wreck, and continued the fight
until night put an end to it.
As the evening drew near a dense smoke arose from the ironclad
Ting-Yuen and from two of the Chinese cruisers, and they were supposed
by the Japanese to be on fire, especially as their batteries had very
much slackened and only fired intermittently. But they still held their
ground, and it was not until sundown that they were seen to be in full
retreat.
The Japanese fleet hauled off seaward, expecting to renew the action
in the morning and fearing to follow too closely, perhaps on account
of torpedoes, while their speed was necessarily slow, as it had to be
regulated by that of their own damaged vessels.
When day dawned not a sign of the Chinese fleet was to be seen. They
had made the best of their way to the secure refuge of the naval
arsenals and docks at Port Arthur and Wei-hai-wei. Admiral Ito then
steamed toward Talu Island, where, aground and abandoned by her
officers and crew, they discovered the Yang-Wei. She was at once
destroyed by a torpedo, which, it is interesting to remark, was the
only one used on the Japanese side during the whole of the operation.
The Japanese fleet then repaired to the rendezvous off the mouth of
the Ta-Tong River, from whence the Akagi, Matsushima, Hi-Yei, and
Saikio were sent home for repairs, Admiral Ito’s flag being on board
the Hashidate, where it had been transferred while the action was in
progress.
On September 23d the Japanese fleet, reconnoitring the neighborhood
of Port Arthur, discovered the Chinese cruiser Kuang-Ki on shore in
Talien-Wan Bay, and, as the Japanese drew near, they saw the Chinese
abandon and blow her to pieces.
This was the fifth war-ship lost by the Chinese since the beginning of
the battle of the Yalu. Though some were much damaged, not a Japanese
vessel was lost. Twelve Japanese officers and 98 men were killed, and
13 officers and 170 men were wounded. The Chinese loss, including
those who were drowned, was estimated at 2000; but the exact number
will probably never be known. From the accounts of eye-witnesses the
sea was full of drowning Chinamen at the time the three vessels were
sunk during the battle, and few could have been saved, as the severest
fighting was going on and the Chinese vessels, as we have said above,
had no boats.
The condition of the Chinese fleet, when it had with difficulty reached
Port Arthur under cover of night, was most deplorable. The ironclad
Ting-Yuen had more than 200 holes in her made by projectiles, but her
armored belt was not seriously damaged, the heaviest dents not being
much more than a few inches deep. Her sister ship, the Chen-Yuen,
was less frequently struck; but the damage she sustained was more
important. She almost sunk before she could be secured at her safe
anchorage, being several feet by the head. According to the Chinese
accounts, it was the rapid-fire guns of comparatively small calibre
which inflicted such serious injury.
The captain of one of our American war-ships on the Asiatic station, in
describing a visit to the Japanese field-hospital, near Nagasaki, says:
“There I got a fair conception of the killing and wounding qualities
of the small-bore rifle that all Europe is adopting. The Japanese
infantry arm is the Murata, the invention of General Murata, now Chief
of Ordnance of Japan. The calibre of the gun is .315, and the bullet
weighs 235 grains. I saw a Chinese officer who had been struck in the
knee-joint by one of these bullets, fired at a distance of about 1000
yards. The thin steel envelope of the bullet had broken, and the joint
was simply a mass of finely comminuted bone splinters. The knee was
perfectly soft, without a bone in it unbroken an inch long. Of course,
the leg had to be amputated.
“The hospital was the admiration of the French and English surgeons as
well as our own. The medical staff were all Japanese who had graduated
in medicine and surgery either in America or England, then taken a
post-graduate surgical course in clinics at the Paris and Berlin
hospitals. They had the best modern instruments and systems, the newest
antiseptics--everything a hospital on modern lines should have. And all
this is the work of a generation. Truly, the Japanese is a wonderful
man.
“I saw something, too, of the effect of the modern shell fire
on the cruiser of the period at the battle of the Yalu River’s
mouth. The Akagi was hit several times by eight-inch shells of the
Vavasour-Palliser pattern. One of these, fired from the Chinese cruiser
Chin-Yuen, tore off nearly one-half the iron and steel port-quarter
of the Akagi, killed Captain Sakamato, her commander, and killed
and wounded a dozen more officers and men. A second shell, from a
200-pounder, made a hole eight feet in diameter in the side of the
Akitsu. Had the service of the Chinese great guns been equal to that of
the Japanese, the Akagi, the Hashidate, and Matsushima must have been
sunk. The Japanese fire was terribly accurate and deadly. The Chinese
ship Chen-Yuen was hit nearly one hundred times. Nothing was left above
water of her; of her crew, 460 strong, over 350 were killed or died of
wounds. All this was from the fire of six-inch and eight-inch rifles,
at a distance from 1000 to 1600 yards. The Chinese had the heavier
ships at Yalu, but the Japanese out-manœuvred them and out-fought them.
Man for man, and ship for ship, my professional opinion is that the
Japanese commanders are equal to any in Europe. They have courage, a
high professional knowledge, and a fierce fighting spirit that nothing
daunts.”
The paper from which this report is taken adds that the American
commanders attribute much of Japan’s success to the fact that so many
of her naval officers were educated at the Naval Academy at Annapolis.
The following description of the condition of things on the decks
of Admiral Ting’s flag-ship Chen-Yuen, after her fight with the two
Japanese cruisers Naniwa and Yoshino, was sent to an English paper by
an officer of the British squadron at Chefoo: “The slaughter has been
awful, blood and human remains being scattered over the decks and guns.
Three of the five men working the four-ton gun in the after-turret
were blown to pieces by a six-inch shell from one of the Naniwa’s
quick-firing guns, and a fourth was shot down while attempting to
leave the turret. The remaining gunner stuck to his post and managed
to load and fire three rounds at the Naniwa, and, one shell entering
her engine room and another blowing her forebridge away, she hauled
off. The Chinese Admiral awarded the plucky gunner 1000 taels. One
shell struck the Chen-Yuen’s steel deck and, glancing off, passed up
through the conning-tower and exploded, blowing the gunnery lieutenant
to pieces and leaving his head hanging on one of the voice-pipes. Huge
fragments of armor and backing had been torn from their fastenings and
carried inboard, crushing a number of poor wretches into shapeless
masses, even the upper part of the funnels being splashed with blood.
An engineer officer (European) was sent for to repair the steam-pipe
of the steering-engine, and tried to grope his way through the
smoke of bursting shells and heaps of killed and wounded lying on
the deck, when a shot struck his assistant and disembowelled him,
covering the engineer with blood. He nevertheless managed to reach the
steering-engine and repaired the pipe, for which he received a rather
handsome reward from the Admiral. This engagement lasted about one and
a quarter hours, when the Japanese hauled off and the Chen-Yuen made
the best of her way to Wei-hai-wei, their naval station, where she
arrived the next day in just the same condition as she had left the
scene of action, no attempt having been made to wash away the blood or
remove the dead bodies.”
A French writer, in speaking of the battle, says: “As was to be
expected, recriminations were rife among the officers of the defeated
fleet. Each one tried to throw the responsibility upon his neighbor,
while the captains were the objects of all sorts of reproaches, some
of them being charged with downright cowardice. But, if his subaltern
officers failed in their duty, Admiral Ting cannot avoid the greater
part of the responsibility for the defeat. During the years that he
has commanded the fleet in the Gulf of Pe-chi-li he has not known
how to make it a naval force worthy of the name. The fire of his
ships was more than mediocre, and the Japanese, in that respect, had
a vast advantage over the Chinese gunners. On the other hand, this
general officer has proved himself absolutely ignorant of the general
principles of naval tactics. He hastily got under way and took a
formation in the shape of a closed crescent, something like a V,
which no sailor before him ever dreamed of doing; his ships mutually
paralyzed each other, and at a glance Admiral Ito took in the situation
and overwhelmed the branches of the V, one after the other.
“Admiral Ting would only have been excusable if he had not had time to
form line of battle; but in this case he must be reproached for not
having lookout vessels far enough away, as he must have known that
the conditions were favorable for Japanese vessels to make raids in
the Gulf of Pe-chi-li and the Bay of Korea. He appears to have known
nothing of the movements of his enemy, and if he took any interest
in them it was purely a speculative one. Personally, Admiral Ting
conducted himself with bravery; but personal courage is not the only
requisite in those on whom is conferred the fearful responsibility of
chief command.”
To sum up the result, the battle of the Yalu was won by guns, on fast
ships-by guns alone, just as in former naval engagements; for neither
torpedoes nor rams played any part. If the Japanese torpedo-boats had
been present, it is quite likely that the destruction would have been
greater. The Japanese guns were a little more modern than those of the
Chinese.
The Japanese had among their artillery some large Canet guns and
Armstrong rapid-fire guns of moderate calibre. The Chinese had Krupp
and Armstrong guns of more ancient model, and it would appear that the
only rapid-fire guns they possessed were of very small calibre--such as
are intended for defence against torpedo-boats, of which the Japanese
had none in the battle.
The Chinese fleet showed great want of concerted movement, and as a
consequence a defective formation--a lack in the commanding officers
of ability in manœuvring--and the crews were insufficiently drilled.
When the Matsushima received such injuries that Admiral Ito was obliged
to shift his flag to the Hashidate, there must have been a period of
hesitation and delay among the Japanese ships, but Admiral Ting does
not appear to have taken advantage of it. He either did not see it or
he did not know how to profit by it.
The Japanese, on the other hand, showed admirable decision, and took
the offensive with a precise and definite knowledge of what they wished
to accomplish, while their Admiral, by a manœuvre worthy of all praise,
concentrated the whole of his force upon each wing of his enemy’s fleet
in succession. Their crews were well drilled and instructed and full
of patriotic ardor, all having the same end in view--to win the battle
at all costs. This is always the case when battles are won, either at
sea or on land. Victory is the reward of worthy effort and methodical
preparation. The Japanese have appreciated and adopted European
methods, have assimilated Western ideas, and put them in practice with
an ability which is the more astonishing when we consider that thirty
years ago they were armed with the weapons of feudal days.
It was reserved for the last comer into the family of nations--the last
to assume fellowship--to give lessons to the rest in the art of naval
warfare.
No doubt, if two first-class European or American fleets had cannonaded
each other for five long hours, as the Japanese and Chinese did at
the Yalu, there would have been even more terrible destruction; but
the deduction is nevertheless to be made, from the late battle, that
the victory was won by the side which knew best how to prepare for
it. The lesson it teaches to all nations is the necessity of careful
preparation and sedulous training. Modern men-of-war take a long time
to build and modern arms a long time to construct, while the training
of an efficient ship’s company takes almost equally long, even when
good and conscientious officers devote to it their best abilities.
After the date of the battle of the Yalu, events of great import and
influence upon the course of the war followed each other with great
rapidity, and the telegraph conveyed to the Western world reports of
marches, battles and sieges, in which, however, the Japanese navy bore
only a secondary but still very important part.
The Chinese, weakened in vessels and depressed in spirit by their
losses at the Yalu, did not attempt any further naval operations.
In the latter part of November one of the Japanese armies captured
Port Arthur, with its fortifications, which were almost impregnable if
well defended. The fruit of this capture was the fine docks, plenty of
naval stores, and repairing tools and material, ammunition, guns, and
several vessels undergoing repairs in consequence of injuries received
in battle. This important operation was effected by the land forces of
Japan, assisted by the navy, which occupied the attention of some of
the seaward Chinese forts, and also prevented the escape of several
vessels and of a portion of the garrison.
The Japanese proceeded at once to remove the torpedoes and submarine
mines planted to protect the entrance of the harbor, and at once
became busily engaged, without the loss of a day, in reorganizing the
construction and repairs shops, and in availing themselves of the
facilities offered by the fine dry docks--built at so much cost by
their enemy.
Transports, with provisions and the latest reserves, soon began to
arrive at this most advantageous naval base, particularly so for
the Japanese fleet, which patrolled the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, both to
prevent interference with their transport service and to keep open
communication with the army of Field Marshal Yamagata as it approached
Moukden, the ancient city of the North, the place of sepulture of the
ruling dynasty of China and the site of their principal treasury. It is
held in much greater reverence than Pekin, the political capital, which
has twice been occupied by foreign armies--those of the French and of
the English.
At one time during the early part of the war there was a disposition
shown by England to interfere in the struggle and to endeavor to put an
end to a state of things which seriously interfered with her commerce
and promised to affect it still more seriously in the future. But
the remarkable ability and power shown by Japan, and the failure to
persuade other nations to join in an armed intervention before the
Chinese were forced to sue for peace at any price, put an end to the
plan.
In the meantime the northern provinces of China fell almost into a
state of anarchy. The troops and their generals could not be depended
upon to successfully defend any position, no matter how strong, while
banditti, composed of stragglers, deserters and the scum of the
population, ravaged the country, and operated with almost complete
impunity in the very environs of Pekin.
A foreigner who had been employed in the Chinese customs service was
despatched to Japan to endeavor to negotiate some sort of armistice,
with a view to peace negotiations; but the Japanese Minister of Foreign
Affairs refused to have any communication of so irregular a character,
and the official was sent off with scant courtesy.
After this came the intervention, as negotiators, of the American
Ministers at Pekin and Tokio--both officials of great length of service
and experience in their positions--with proposals for a peace founded
upon the granting to Japan of a large money indemnity, as well as a
territorial concession which would add largely to the extent of that
empire.
But, after some tentative proceedings, this well-intended intervention
failed, as the Japanese seemed determined that the Chinese Emperor
should sue directly for peace, which their success in the conduct of
the war entitled them to demand.
The Emperor of Japan is a tremendously hard-worked ruler, and a
good business man. He watches closely the Japanese, as well as the
foreign press, and passes over, as a rule, ordinary misstatements or
criticisms; but if a newspaper becomes at all dangerous he gives an
order to his censors, and the newspaper is stopped, while the editors
are liable to imprisonment. As he has the appointment of a large number
of members of parliament, and the constitution is so adroitly worded
that he is still the almost absolute ruler of Japan, there was probably
not much delay in the voting of war measures and supplies.
The Crown Prince, who is not the son of the Empress, but of one of
the secondary wives, was sixteen years old in September, 1894, and is
said to be a bright lad, of dark complexion, like his father, with
almond eyes and face of the most pronounced Japanese type. He is of an
erect figure and fond of military pursuits. He has been educated in
the Nobles’ school, and has studied French and English. The Emperor
is taller than most of his subjects, very dark, with a long face and
heavy features. Except in complexion the son is not very much like his
father, his face being rounder and shorter. There have been one hundred
and twenty-one Emperors of Japan, all of the same family. The first
one governed the country just about twenty-five hundred years ago. “He
was on the throne long before Julius Cæsar aspired to be Emperor of
Rome, and three hundred years before Alexander the Great thought he
had conquered the world. The Japanese have the history of all of their
Emperors from that time down to this, and they will assure you that
the Mikado is a lineal descendant of the first Emperor, whose name was
Jimmu Tenno.
“Any other royal family would have run out in less than this time,
especially in an isolated country like Japan but the Japanese have a
law by which the Emperor cannot marry one of his own family. He has to
marry the daughter of one of the court nobles, and the Empress is,
therefore, not of royal blood.”
It is interesting to us, as Americans, to recall the fact that, while
China and Japan were thus grappling in the throes of war, important
diplomatic work, of a peaceful character, was going on between
ourselves and each of the contending powers. The treaty signed with
China arranged many important points which had been long at issue
between us and them; but the most important action was the Convention
between the United States and Japan, signed about the 1st of December,
1894, at Washington, by Secretary of State Gresham and Minister Kurino,
as Plenipotentiaries on behalf of their respective governments.
This Convention supplants the Treaty of 1858, already alluded to, in
which Japan was dealt with as a barbarous nation, and that of 1866, by
which the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands
established Japan’s customs tariff for her. The United States, alone
of all nations, has, of late years, insisted upon Japan’s complete
autonomy in foreign as well as domestic affairs; in taxes and tariff
duties, as well as in judicial jurisdiction--none of which she had
enjoyed under the old treaties.
[Illustration: DECK OF U. S. S. INDIANA.
Copyright, W. H. RAU.
In the foreground are two of her 13-inch breech loading rifles, and two
of her 8-inch guns are shown on the right. It costs to fire one of the
former, with tooled steel projectile, $700. The Indiana is capable of
giving combat to any vessel afloat.]