The Rise of Japan and the Decline of China.
[=Asia the Original Seat of Civilization=]
Asia, the greatest of the continents and the seat of the earliest
civilizations, yields us the most remarkable phenomenon in the
history of mankind. In remote ages, while Europe lay plunged in
the deepest barbarism, certain sections of Asia were marked by
surprising activity in thought and progress. In three far-separated
regions--China, India, and Babylonia--and in a fourth on the borders
of Asia--Egypt--civilization rose and flourished for ages, while the
savage and the barbarian roamed over all other regions of the earth.
A still more extraordinary fact is, that during the more recent era,
that of European civilization, Asia has rested in the most sluggish
conservatism, sleeping while Europe and America were actively moving,
content with its ancient knowledge while the people of the West were
pursuing new knowledge into its most secret lurking places.
[=The Sluggishness of Modern Asia=]
And this conservatism is an almost immovable one. For a century
England has been pouring new thought and new enterprise into India,
yet the Hindoos cling stubbornly to their remotely ancient beliefs
and customs. For half a century Europe has been hammering upon the
gates of China, but the sleeping nation shows little signs of waking
up to the fact that the world is moving around it. As regards the
other early civilizations--Babylonia and Egypt--they have been utterly
swamped under the tide of Turkish barbarism and exist only in their
ruins. Persia, once a great and flourishing empire, has likewise sunk
under the flood of Arabian and Turkish invasion, and to-day, under
its ruling Shah, is one of the most inert of nations, steeped in the
self-satisfied barbarism that has succeeded its old civilization. Such
was the Asia upon which the nineteenth century dawned, and such it
remains to-day except in one remote section of its area, in which alone
modern civilization has gained a firm foothold.
[=The Seclusion of China and Japan=]
The section referred to is the island empire of Japan, a nation the
people of which are closely allied in race to those of China, yet which
has displayed a progressiveness and a readiness to avail itself of the
resources of modern civilization strikingly diverse from the obstinate
conservatism of its densely settled neighbor. The development of Japan
has taken place within the past half century. Previous to that time it
was as resistant to western influences as China. They were both closed
nations, prohibiting the entrance of modern ideas and peoples, proud of
their own form of civilization and their own institutions, and sternly
resolved to keep out the disturbing influences of the restless west.
As a result, they remained locked against the new civilization until
after the nineteenth century was well advanced, and China's disposition
to avail itself of the results of modern invention was not manifested
until the century was near its end.
[=The Opening of China=]
China, with its estimated population of nearly 400,000,000, attained
to a considerable measure of civilization at a very remote period, but
has made almost no progress during the Christian era, being content to
retain its old ideas, methods and institutions, which its people look
upon as far superior to those of the western nations. Great Britain
gained a foothold in China as early as the seventeenth century, but the
persistent attempt to flood the country with the opium of India, in
disregard of the laws of the land, so annoyed the emperor that he had
the opium of the British stores at Canton, worth $20,000,000, seized
and destroyed. This led to the "opium war" of 1840, in which China was
defeated and was forced to accept a much greater degree of intercourse
with the world, five ports being made free to the world's commerce
and Hong Kong ceded to Great Britain. In 1856 an arbitrary act of the
Chinese authorities at Canton, in forcibly boarding a British vessel
in the Canton River, led to a new war, in which the French joined the
British and the allies gained fresh concessions from China. In 1859
the war was renewed, and Peking was occupied by the British and French
forces in 1860, the emperor's summer palace being destroyed.
These wars had their effect in largely breaking down the Chinese wall
of seclusion and opening the empire more fully to foreign trade and
intercourse, and also in compelling the emperor to receive foreign
ambassadors at his court in Peking. In this the United States was among
the most successful of the nations, from the fact that it had always
maintained friendly relations with China. In 1876 a short railroad
was laid, and in 1877 a telegraph line was established. During the
remainder of the century the telegraph service was widely extended,
but the building of railroads was strongly opposed, and not until the
century had reached its end did the Chinese awaken to the importance of
this method of transportation. They did, however, admit steam traffic
to their rivers, and purchased some powerful ironclad naval vessels in
Europe.
[=How Japan Was Opened to Commerce=]
The isolation of Japan was maintained longer than that of China,
trade with that country being of less importance, and foreign nations
knowing and caring less about it. The United States has the credit of
breaking down its long and stubborn seclusion and setting in train the
remarkably rapid development of the Japanese island empire. In 1854
Commodore Perry appeared with an American fleet in the bay of Yeddo,
and, by a show of force and a determination not to be rebuffed, he
forced the authorities to make a treaty of commercial intercourse with
the United States. Other nations quickly demanded similar privileges,
and Japan's obstinate resistance to foreign intercourse was at an end.
The result of this was revolutionary in Japan. For centuries the
Shogun, or Tycoon, the principal military noble, had been dominant in
the empire, and the Mikado, the true emperor, relegated to a position
of obscurity. The entrance of foreigners disturbed conditions so
greatly--by developing parties for and against seclusion--that the
Mikado was enabled to regain his long-lost power, and in 1868 the
ancient form of government was restored.
[=Great Development of Japan=]
Meanwhile the Japanese began to show a striking activity in the
acceptance of the results of western civilization, both in regard to
objects of commerce, inventions, and industries, and to political
organization. The latter advanced so rapidly that in 1889 the old
despotic government was, by the voluntary act of the emperor, set
aside and a limited monarchy established, the country being given a
constitution and a legislature, with universal suffrage for all men
over twenty-five. This act is of remarkable interest, it being doubtful
if history records any similar instance of a monarch decreasing his
authority without appeal or pressure from his people. It indicates
a liberal spirit that could hardly have been looked for in a nation
so recently emerging from semi-barbarism. To-day, Japan differs
little from the nations of Europe and America in its institutions and
industries, and from being among the most backward, has taken its place
among the most advanced nations of the world.
The Japanese army has been organized upon the European system, and
armed with the most modern style of weapons, the German method of drill
and organization being adopted. Its navy consists of over fifty war
vessels, principally built in the dock-yards of Europe and America,
and of the most advanced modern type, while a number of still more
powerful ships are in process of building. Railroads have been widely
extended; telegraphs run everywhere; education is in an advancing
stage of development, embracing an imperial university at Tokio, and
institutions in which foreign languages and science are taught; and
in a hundred ways Japan is progressing at a rate which is one of
the greatest marvels of the nineteenth century. This is particularly
notable in view of the obstinate adherence of the neighboring empire of
China to its old customs, and the slowness with which it is yielding to
the influx of new ideas.
[=A Remarkable Event=]
As a result of this difference in progress between the two nations, we
have to describe a remarkable event, one of the most striking evidences
that could be given of the practical advantage of modern civilization.
Near the end of the century war broke out between China and Japan, and
there was shown to the world the singular circumstance of a nation of
40,000,000 people, armed with modern implements of war, attacking a
nation of 400,000,000--equally brave, but with its army organized on an
ancient system--and defeating it as quickly and completely as Germany
defeated France in the Franco-German War. This war, which represents
a completely new condition of events in the continent of Asia, is of
sufficient interest and importance to speak of at some length.
Between China and Japan lies the kingdom of Corea, separated by rivers
from the former and by a strait of the ocean from the latter, and
claimed as a vassal state by both, yet preserving its independence as
a state against the pair. Japan invaded this country at two different
periods in the past, but failed to conquer it. China has often invaded
it, with the same result. Thus it remained practically independent
until near the end of the nineteenth century, when it became a cause of
war between the two rival empires.
[=Corea Opened to Foreign Intercourse=]
Corea long pursued the same policy as China and Japan, locking its
ports against foreigners so closely that it became known as the Hermit
Nation and the Forbidden Land. But it was forced to give way, like
its neighbors. The opening of Corea was due to Japan. In 1876 the
Japanese did to this secluded kingdom what Commodore Perry had done
to Japan twenty-two years before. They sent a fleet to Seoul, the
Corean capital, and by threat of war forced the government to open
to trade the port of Fusan. In 1880 Chemulpo was made an open port.
Later on the United States sent a fleet there which obtained similar
privileges. Soon afterwards most of the nations of Europe were admitted
to trade, and the isolation of the Hermit Nation was at an end. Less
than ten years had sufficed to break down an isolation which had lasted
for centuries. In less than twenty years after--in the year 1899--an
electric trolley railway was put in operation in the streets of
Seoul--a remarkable evidence of the great change in Corean policy.
Corea was no sooner opened to foreign intercourse than China and Japan
became rivals for influence in that country--a rivalry in which Japan
showed itself the more active. The Coreans became divided into two
factions, a progressive one that favored Japan, and a conservative
one that favored China. Japanese and Chinese soldiers were sent to
the country, and the Chinese aided their party, which was in the
ascendant among the Coreans, to drive out the Japanese troops. War was
threatened, but it was averted by a treaty in 1885 under which both
nations agreed to withdraw their troops and to send no officers to
drill the Corean soldiers.
[=Insurrection in Corea=]
The war, thus for the time averted, came nine years afterwards, in
consequence of an insurrection in Corea. The people of that country
were discontented. They were oppressed with taxes and by tyranny, and
in 1894 the followers of a new religious sect broke out in open revolt.
Their numbers rapidly increased until they were 20,000 strong, and they
defeated the government troops, captured a provincial city, and put
the capital itself in danger. The Min (or Chinese) faction was then
at the head of affairs in the kingdom and called for aid from China,
which responded by sending some two thousand troops and a number of
war vessels to Corea. Japan, jealous of any such action on the part of
China, responded by surrounding Seoul with soldiers, several thousands
in number.
Disputes followed. China claimed to be suzerain of Corea and Japan
denied it. Both parties refused to withdraw their troops, and the
Japanese, finding that the party in power was acting against them,
advanced on the capital, drove out the officials, and took possession
of the palace and the king. A new government, made up of the party that
favored Japan, was organized, and a revolution was accomplished in a
day. The new authorities declared that the Chinese were intruders and
requested the aid of the Japanese to expel them. War was close at hand.
[=Li Hung Chang and the Empress=]
China was at that time under the leadership of a statesman of marked
ability, the famous Li Hung Chang, who, from being made viceroy of a
province in 1870, had risen to be the prime minister of the empire. At
the head of the empire was a woman, the Dowager Empress Tsu Tsi, who
had usurped the power of the young emperor and ruled the state. It was
to these two people in power that the war was due. The dowager empress,
blindly ignorant of the power of the Japanese, decided that these
"insolent pigmies" deserved to be chastised. Li, her right-hand man,
was of the same opinion. At the last moment, indeed, doubts began to
assail his mind, into which came a dim idea that the army and navy of
China were not in shape to meet the forces of Japan. But the empress
was resolute. Her sixtieth birthday was at hand and she proposed to
celebrate it magnificently; and what better decorations could she
display than the captured banners of these insolent islanders? So it
was decided to present a bold front, and, instead of the troops of
China being removed, reinforcements were sent to the force at Asan.
[=The Sinking of the Chinese Transport=]
There followed a startling event. On July 25th three Japanese
men-of-war, cruising in the Yellow Sea, came in sight of a transport
loaded with Chinese troops and convoyed by two ships of the Chinese
navy. The Japanese admiral did not know of the seizure of Seoul by the
land forces, but he took it to be his duty to prevent Chinese troops
from reaching Corea, so he at once attacked the war ships of the enemy,
with such effect that they were quickly put to flight. Then he sent
orders to the transport that it should put about and follow his ships.
This the Chinese generals refused to do. They trusted to the fact that
they were on a chartered British vessel and that the British flag flew
over their heads. The daring Japanese admiral troubled his soul little
about this foreign standard, but at once opened fire on the transport,
and with such effect that in half an hour it went to the bottom,
carrying with it one thousand men. Only about one hundred and seventy
escaped.
[=Declaration of War=]
On the same day that this terrible act took place on the waters of the
sea, the Japanese left Seoul en route for Asan. Reaching there, they
attacked the Chinese in their works and drove them out. Three days
afterwards, on August 1, 1894, both countries issued declarations of
war.
[=The War on Land=]
Of the conflict that followed, the most interesting events were those
that took place on the waters, the land campaigns being an unbroken
series of successes for the well-organized and amply-armed Japanese
troops over the mediæval army of China, which went to war fan and
umbrella in hand, with antiquated weapons and obsolete organization.
The principal battle was fought at Ping Yang on September 15th, the
Chinese losing 16,000 killed, wounded and captured, while the Japanese
loss was trifling. In November the powerful fortress of Port Arthur was
attacked by army and fleet, and surrendered after a two days' siege.
Then the armies advanced until they were in the vicinity of the Great
Wall, with the soil and capital of China not far before them.
[=The Chinese and Japanese Fleets=]
With this brief review of the land operations, we must return to the
performances of the fleets, which were of high interest as forming the
second occasion in which a modern ironclad fleet had met in battle--the
first being that already described in which the Austrians defeated the
Italians at Lissa. Backward as the Chinese were on land, they were
not so on the sea. Li Hung Chang, progressive as he was, had vainly
attempted to introduce railroads into China, but he had been more
successful in regard to ships, and had purchased a navy more powerful
than that of Japan. The heaviest ships of Japan were cruisers, whose
armor consisted of deck and interior lining of steel. The Chinese
possessed two powerful battleships, with 14-inch iron armor and turrets
defended with 12-inch armor, each carrying four 12-inch guns. Both
navies had the advantage of European teaching in drill, tactics, and
seamanship. The _Ting Yuen_, the Chinese flagship, had as virtual
commander an experienced German officer named Van Hanneken; the _Chen
Yuen_, the other big ironclad, was handled by Commander M'Giffen,
formerly of the United States navy. Thus commanded, it was expected in
Europe that the superior strength of the Chinese ships would ensure
them an easy victory over those of Japan. The event showed that this
was a decidedly mistaken view.
It was the superior speed and the large number of rapid-fire guns of
the Japanese vessels that gave them the victory. The Chinese guns were
mainly heavy Krupps and Armstrongs. They had also some machine guns,
but only three quick-firers. The Japanese, on the contrary, had a few
heavy armor-piercing guns, but were supplied with a large number of
quick-firing cannon, capable of pouring out shells in an incessant
stream. Admiral Ting and his European officers expected to come at
once to close quarters and quickly destroy the thin armored Japanese
craft. But the shrewd Admiral Ito, commander of the fleet of Japan, had
no intention of being thus dealt with. The speed of his craft enabled
him to keep his distance and to distract the aim of his foes, and he
proposed to make the best use of this advantage. Thus equipped the two
fleets came together in the month of September, and an epoch-making
battle in the history of the ancient continent of Asia was fought.
[=The Fleets off the Yalu River=]
On the afternoon of Sunday, September 16th, Admiral Ting's fleet,
consisting of 11 warships, 4 gunboats, and 6 torpedo boats, anchored
off the mouth of the Yalu River. They were there as escorts to some
transports, which went up the river to discharge their troops. Admiral
Ito had been engaged in the same work farther down the coast, and
early on Monday morning came steaming towards the Yalu in search of
the enemy. Under him were in all twelve ships, none of them with heavy
armor, one of them an armed transport. The swiftest ship in the fleet
was the _Yoshino_, capable of making twenty-three knots, and armed with
44 quick-firing Armstrongs, which would discharge nearly 4,000 pounds
weight of shells every minute. The heaviest guns were long 13-inch
cannon, of which four ships possessed one each, protected by 12-inch
shields of steel. Finally, they had an important advantage over the
Chinese in being abundantly supplied with ammunition.
[=The Cruise of Admiral Ito's Fleet=]
With this formidable fleet Ito steamed slowly to the north-westward.
Early on Monday morning he was off the island of Hai-yun-tao. At
seven A.M. the fleet began steaming north-eastward. It was a
fine autumn morning. The sun shone brightly, and there was only just
enough of a breeze to ripple the surface of the water. The long line
of warships cleaving their way through the blue waters, all bright
with white paint, the chrysanthemum of Japan shining like a golden
shield on every bow, and the same emblem flying in red and white from
every masthead must have been a grand spectacle. Some miles away to
port rose the rocky coast and the blue hills of Manchuria, dotted
with many an island, and showing here and there a little bay with its
fishing villages. On the other side, the waters of the wide Corean Gulf
stretched to an unbroken horizon. Towards eleven o'clock the hills at
the head of the gulf began to rise. Ito had in his leading ship, the
_Yoshino_, a cruiser that would have made a splendid scout. In any
European navy she would have been steaming some miles ahead of her
colleagues with, perhaps, another quick ship between her and the fleet
to pass on her signals. Ito however seems to have done no scouting,
but to have kept his ships in single line ahead, with a small interval
between the van and the main squadron. At half-past eleven smoke was
seen far away on the starboard bow, the bearing being east-north-east.
It appeared to come from a number of steamers in line, on the horizon.
The course was altered and the speed increased. Ito believed that he
had the Chinese fleet in front of him. He was right. The smoke was
that of Ting's ironclads and cruisers anchored in line, with steam up,
outside the mouth of the Yalu.
On Monday morning the Chinese crews had been exercised at their guns,
and a little before noon, while the cooks were busy getting dinner
ready, the lookout men at several of the mastheads began to call out
that they saw the smoke of a large fleet away on the horizon to the
south-west. Admiral Ting was as eager for the fight as his opponents.
At once he signalled to his fleet to weigh anchor, and a few minutes
later ran up the signal to clear for action.
[=The Chinese on the "Chen Yuen"=]
A similar signal was made by Admiral Ito half-an-hour later, as his
ships came in sight of the Chinese line of battle. The actual moment
was five minutes past noon, but it was not until three-quarters
of an hour later that the fleets had closed sufficiently near for
the fight to begin at long range. This three-quarters of an hour
was a time of anxious, and eager expectation for both Chinese and
Japanese. Commander McGiffen of the _Chen Yuen_ has given a striking
description of the scene when "the deadly space" between the two
fleets was narrowing, and all were watching for the flash and smoke
of the first gun:--"The twenty-two ships," he says, "trim and
fresh-looking in their paint and their bright new bunting, and gay
with fluttering signal-flags, presented such a holiday aspect that
one found difficulty in realizing that they were not there simply
for a friendly meeting. But, looking closer on the _Chen Yuen_, one
could see beneath this gayety much that was sinister. Dark-skinned
men, with queues tightly coiled round their heads, and with arms
bared to the elbow, clustered along the decks in groups at the guns,
waiting impatiently to kill or be killed. Sand was sprinkled along
the decks, and more was kept handy against the time when they might
become slippery. In the superstructures, and down out of sight in the
bowels of the ship, were men at the shell whips and ammunition hoists
and in the torpedo room. Here and there a man lay flat on the deck,
with a charge of powder--fifty pounds or more--in his arms, waiting
to spring up and pass it on when it should be wanted. The nerves of
the men below deck were in extreme tension. On deck one could see the
approaching enemy, but below nothing was known, save that any moment
might begin the action, and bring in a shell through the side. Once
the battle had begun they were all right; but at first the strain
was intense. The fleets closed on each other rapidly. My crew was
silent. The sub-lieutenant in the military foretop was taking sextant
angles and announcing the range, and exhibiting an appropriate small
signal-flag. As each range was called, the men at the guns would
lower the sight-bars, each gun captain, lanyard in hand, keeping his
gun trained on the enemy. Through the ventilators could be heard the
beats of the steam pumps; for all the lines of hose were joined up and
spouting water, so that, in case of fire, no time need be lost. Every
man's nerves were in a state of tension, which was greatly relieved as
a huge cloud of white smoke, belching from the _Ting Yuen's_ starboard
barbette, opened the ball."
[=The Opening of the Battle=]
The shot fell a little ahead of the _Yoshino_, throwing up a tall
column of white water. Admiral Ito, in his official report, notes
that this first shot was fired at ten minutes to one. The range, as
noted on the _Chen Yuen_, was 5,200 yards, or a little over three and
a half miles. The heavy barbette and bow guns of the _Chen Yuen_ and
other ships now joined in, but still the Japanese van squadron came
on without replying. For five minutes the firing was all on the side
of the Chinese. The space between the Japanese van and the hostile
line had diminished to 3,000 yards--a little under two miles. The
_Yoshino_, the leading ship, was heading for the centre of the Chinese
line, but obliquely, so as to pass diagonally along the front of the
Chinese right wing. At five minutes to one her powerful battery of
quick-firers opened on the Chinese, sending out a storm of shells, most
of which fell in the water just ahead of the _Ting_ and _Chen Yuen_.
Their first effect was to deluge the decks, barbettes and bridges of
the two ironclads with the geysers of water flung up by their impact
with the waves. In a few minutes every man on deck was soaked to the
skin. One by one the other ships along the Japanese line opened fire,
and then, as the range still diminished, the Chinese machine-guns,
Hotchkisses and Nordenfelts added their sharp, growling reports to the
deeper chorus of the heavier guns.
The armored barbettes and central citadels of the two Chinese
battleships were especially the mark of the Japanese fire.
Theoretically they ought to have been pierced again and again, but all
the harm they received were some deep dents and grooves in the thick
plates. But through the thin lined hulls of the cruisers the shells
crashed like pebbles through glass, the only effect of the metal wall
being to explode the shells and scatter their fragments far and wide.
[=Admiral Ito's Strategy=]
[=The Daring Act of the "Heijei"=]
The Chinese admiral had drawn up his ships in a single line, with
the large ones in the centre and the weaker ones on the wings. Ito's
ships came up in column, the _Yoshino_ leading, his purpose being to
take advantage of the superior speed of his ships and circle round
his adversary. Past the Chinese right wing swept the swift _Yoshino_,
pouring in the shells from her rapid-fire guns on the unprotected
vessels there posted, one of which, the _Yang Wei_, was soon in flames.
The ships that followed tore the woodwork of the _Chao Yung_ with their
shells, and she likewise burst into flames. The slower vessels of the
Japanese fleet lagged behind their speedy leaders, particularly the
little _Heijei_, which fell so far in the rear as to be exposed to the
fire of the whole Chinese fleet. In this dilemma its captain displayed
a daring spirit. Instead of following his consorts, he dashed straight
for the line of the enemy, passing between two of their larger vessels
at 500 yards distance. Two torpedoes were launched at him, but missed
their mark. But he was made the target of a heavy fire, and came
through with his craft in flames. At 2.23 the blazing _Chao Yung_ went
to the bottom with all on board.
[=The "Matsushima" and the "Ting Yuen"=]
As a result of the Japanese evolution, their ships finally closed in
on the Chinese on both sides and the action reached its most furious
phase. The two flag-ships, the Japanese _Matsushima_ and the Chinese
_Ting Yuen_, battered each other with their great guns, the wood-work
of the latter being soon in flames, while a heap of ammunition on the
_Matsushima_ was exploded by a shell and killed or wounded eighty
men. The Chinese flag-ship would probably have been destroyed by the
flames but that her consort came to her assistance. By five o'clock the
Chinese fleet was in the greatest disorder, several of its ships having
been sunk or driven in flames ashore, while others were in flight. The
Japanese fire was mainly concentrated on the two large ironclads, which
continued the fight, their thick armor resisting the heaviest guns of
the enemy.
[=McGiffen's Terrible Danger=]
Signals and signal halyards had been long since shot away, and all
the signalmen killed or wounded; but the two ships conformed to each
other's movements, and made a splendid fight of it. Admiral Ting had
been insensible for some hours at the outset of the battle. He had
stood too close to one of his own big guns on a platform above its
muzzle, and had been stunned by the upward and backward concussion of
the air; but he had recovered consciousness, and, though wounded by a
burst shell, was bravely commanding his ship. Von Hanneken was also
wounded in one of the barbettes. The ship was on fire forward, but the
hose kept the flames under. The _Chen Yuen_ was almost in the same
plight. Her commander, McGiffen, had had several narrow escapes. When
at last the lacquered woodwork on her forecastle caught fire, and the
men declined to go forward and put it out unless an officer went with
them, he led the party. He was stooping down to move something on the
forecastle, when a shot passed between his arms and legs, wounding both
his wrists. At the same time he was struck down by an explosion near
him. When he recovered from the shock he found himself in a terrible
position. He was lying wounded on the forecastle, and full in front of
him he saw the muzzle of one of the heavy barbette guns come sweeping
round, rise, and then sink a little, as the gunners trained it on a
Japanese ship, never noticing that he lay just below the line of fire.
It was in vain to try to attract their attention. In another minute
he would have been caught in the fiery blast. With a great effort he
rolled himself over the edge of the forecastle, dropping on to some
rubbish on the main deck, and hearing the roar of the gun as he fell.
The battle now resolved itself into a close cannonade of the two
ironclads by the main body of the Japanese fleet, while the rest of the
ships kept up a desultory fight with the three other Chinese ships and
the gunboats. The torpedo boats seem to have done nothing. Commander
McGiffen says that their engines had been worn out, and their fittings
shaken to pieces, by their being recklessly used as ordinary steam
launches in the weeks before the battle. The torpedoes fired from the
tubes of the battleships were few in number, and all missed their mark,
one, at least, going harmlessly under a ship at which it was fired at a
range of only fifty yards. The Japanese used no torpedoes. It is even
said that, by a mistake, they had sailed without a supply of these
weapons. Nor was the ram used anywhere. Once or twice a Chinese ship
tried to run down a Japanese, but the swifter and handier vessels of
Ito's squadron easily avoided all such attacks. The Yalu fight was from
first to last an artillery battle.
[=The End of the Battle=]
And the end of it came somewhat unexpectedly. The _Chen Yuen_ and the
_Ting Yuen_ were both running short of ammunition. The latter had been
hit more than four hundred times without her armour being pierced, and
the former at least as often. One of the _Chen Yuen's_ heavy guns had
its mountings damaged, but otherwise she was yet serviceable. Still,
she had been severely battered, had lost a great part of her crew, and
her slow fire must have told the Japanese that she was economizing her
ammunition, which was now all solid shot. But about half-past five Ito
signalled to his fleet to retire. The two Chinese ironclads followed
them for a couple of miles, sending an occasional shot after them; then
the Japanese main squadron suddenly circled round as if to renew the
action, and, towards six o'clock, there was a brisk exchange of fire
at long range. When Ito again ceased fire, the _Chen Yuen_ had just
three projectiles left for her heavy guns. If he had kept on for a few
minutes longer the two Chinese ships would have been at his mercy.
[=Lessons from the Yalu Sea-Fight=]
Just why Ito retired has never been clearly explained. Probably
exhaustion of his crew and the perils of a battle at night with such
antagonists had much to do with it. The next morning the Chinese fleet
had disappeared. It had lost four ships in the fight, two had taken
to flight, and one ran ashore after the battle and was blown up. Two
of the Japanese ships were badly damaged, but none were lost, while
their losses in killed and wounded were much less than those of the
Chinese. An important lesson from the battle was the danger of too much
wood-work in ironclad ships, and another was the great value in naval
warfare of rapid-firing guns. But the most remarkable characteristic
of the battle of the Yalu was that it took place between two nations
which, had the war broken out forty years earlier, would have done
their fighting with fleets of junks and weapons a century old.
[=Capture of Wei Hai Wei=]
In January, 1895, the Japanese fleet advanced against the strongly
fortified stronghold of Wei Hai Wei, on the northern coast of China.
Here a force of 25,000 men was landed successfully, and attacked
the fort in the rear, quickly capturing its landward defences. The
stronghold was thereupon abandoned by its garrison and occupied by the
Japanese. The Chinese fleet lay in the harbor, and surrendered to the
Japanese after several ships had been sunk by torpedo boats.
[=The Treaty of Peace=]
China was now in a perilous position. Its fleet was lost, its coast
strongholds of Port Arthur and Wei Hai Wei were held by the enemy, and
its capital city was threatened from the latter place and by the army
north of the Great Wall. A continuation of the war promised to bring
about the complete conquest of the Chinese empire, and Li Hung Chang,
who had been degraded from his official rank in consequence of the
disasters to the army, was now restored to all his honors and sent to
Japan to sue for peace. In the treaty obtained China was compelled to
acknowledge the independence of Corea, to cede to Japan the island of
Formosa and the Pescadores group, and that part of Manchuria occupied
by the Japanese army, including Port Arthur, also to pay an indemnity
of 300,000,000 taels and open seven new treaty ports. This treaty was
not fully carried out. The Russian, British, and French ministers
forced Japan, under threat of war, to give up her claim to the Liau
Tung peninsula and Port Arthur.
[=The Impending Partition of China=]
The story of China during the few remaining years of the century may
be briefly told. The evidence of its weakness yielded by the war with
Japan was quickly taken advantage of by the great powers of Europe, and
China was in danger of going to pieces under their attacks, which grew
so decided and ominous that rumors of a partition between these powers
of the most ancient and populous empire of the world filled the air.
In 1898 decided steps in this direction were taken. Russia obtained a
lease for ninety-nine years of Port Arthur and Talien Wan, and is at
present in practical possession of Manchuria, through which a railroad
is to be built connecting with the Trans-Siberian road, while Port
Arthur affords her an ice-free harbor for her Pacific fleet. Great
Britain, jealous of this movement on the part of Russia, forced from
the unwilling hands of China the port of Wei Hai Wei, and Germany
demanded and obtained the cession of a port at Kiau Chun, farther
down the coast. France, not to be outdone by her neighbors, gained
concessions of territory in the south, adjoining her Indo-China
possessions, and Italy, last of all, came into the Eastern market for a
share of the nearly defunct empire.
[=A Palace Revolution=]
How far this will go it is not easy to say. The nations are settling
on China like vultures on a carcass, and perhaps may tear the
antique commonwealth to pieces between them. Within the empire
itself revolutionary changes have taken place, the dowager empress
having first deprived the emperor of all power and then enforced his
abdication, while Japan, the late enemy of China, is now looked to for
its defence, and Count Ito has been asked to become its premier.
[=Progress in China=]
Meanwhile one important result has come from the recent war. Li Hung
Chang and the other progressive statesmen of the empire, who have
long been convinced that the only hope of China lies in its being
thrown open to Western science and art, have now become able to carry
out their plans, the conservative opposition having seriously broken
down. The result of this is seen in a dozen directions. Railroads,
long almost completely forbidden, have now gained free "right of way,"
and before many years promise to traverse the country far and wide.
Steamers plough their way for a thousand miles up the Yang-tse-Kiang;
engineers are busy exploiting the coal and iron mines of the Flowery
Kingdom; great factories, equipped with the best modern machinery,
are springing up in the foreign settlements; foreign books are being
translated and read; and the emperor and the dowager empress have even
gone so far as to receive foreign ambassadors in public audience and
on a footing of outward equality in the "forbidden city" of Peking,
long the sacredly secluded centre of an empire locked against the outer
world.
[=What the Future May Bring to China=]
All this is full of significance. The defeat of China in 1895 may
prove its victory, if it starts it upon a career of acceptance of
Western civilization which shall, before the twentieth century has far
advanced, raise it to the level of Japan. It must be borne in mind that
the extraordinary progress of the island empire has been made within
about forty years. China is a larger body and in consequence less easy
to move, but its people are innately practical and the pressure of
circumstances is forcing them forward. Within the next half century
this great empire, despite its thousands of years of unchanging
conditions, may take a wonderful bound in advance, and come up to Japan
in the race of political and industrial development. In such a case all
talk of the partition of China must cease, and it will take its place
among the greatest powers of the world.