THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN
Development of World Power in the East
Warlike Invasions of China—Commodore Perry and His Treaty—Japan’s Rapid
Progress—Origin of the China-Japan War—The Position of Korea—Li Hung
Chang and the Empress—How Japan Began War—The Chinese and Japanese
Fleets—The Battle of the Yalu—Capture of Wei Hai Wei—Europe Invades
China—The Boxer Outbreak—Russian Designs on Manchuria—Japan Begins War
on Russia—The Armies Meet—China Becomes a Republic
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 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.
And this conservatism seemed an almost immovable one. For a century
England has been pouring new thought and new enterprise into India, yet
the Hindus cling stubbornly to their remotely ancient beliefs and
customs, though they show some signs of a political awakening. For half
a century Europe has been hammering upon the gates of China, but not
until recently did this sleeping nation show any signs of waking to the
fact that the world was moving around it. As regards the other early
civilizations—Babylonia and Egypt—they long ago were utterly swamped
under the tide of Turkish barbarism and exist only in their ruins.
Persia, once a great and flourishing empire, likewise sank under the
flood of Arabian and Turkish invasion, and today seems in danger of
being swallowed up in the tide of Russian and British ambition. Such
was the Asia upon which the nineteenth century dawned, and such it
remains in some measure today, though in parts of its vast area modern
civilization has gained a firm foothold.
This is especially the case with the island empire of Japan, a nation
the people of which are closely allied in race to those of China, yet
who have displayed a greater progressiveness and a marked readiness to
avail themselves of the resources of modern civilization. The
development of Japan has taken place within a brief period. Previous to
that time it was as resistant to western influences as China continued
until a later date. 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.
WARLIKE INVASION OF CHINA
China, with its estimated population of 300,000,000, attained to a
considerable measure of civilization at a very remote period, but until
very recently made almost no progress during the Christian era, being
content to retain its old ideas, methods and institutions, which its
people looked 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 angered 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 in consequence 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 Chines 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 by the government, 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.
COMMODORE PERRY AND HIS TREATY
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 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 induced 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. But 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, the nobles being relegated to their
original rank and their semi-feudal system overthrown.
JAPAN’S RAPID PROGRESS
The Japanese quickly began to show a striking activity in the
acceptance of the results of western civilization, alike 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 that
had so recently opened its doors. It was, however, probably the result
of a previous compact with the nobles who aided the Mikado to regain
his throne. Today, 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 about two hundred
war vessels, built largely in British dockyards and manned by sailors
trained under British officers. A number of 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
twentieth century. This is particularly notable in view of the longer
adherence maintained by the neighboring empire of China to its old
customs, and the slowness with which it yielded to the influx of new
ideas.
ORIGIN OF THE CHINA-JAPAN WAR
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 300,000,000—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 affairs in the continent of Asia, is of
sufficient interest and importance to speak of at some length.
Between China and Japan lay the kingdom of Korea, 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 the question of
predominance in it became a cause of war between the two rival empires.
Korea 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 Korea 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 Korean
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 Korean policy.
THE POSITION OF KOREA
Korea 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 Koreans became divided into two
factions, a progressive one that favored Japan, and a conservative one
that favored China. Japanese and Chinese soldiers were landed upon its
soil, and the Chinese aided their party, which was in ascendency among
the Koreans, to drive out the Japanese troops. War was threatened, but
it was a averted by a treaty in 1885 under which both nations agreed to
withdraw their troops and to send no officers to drill the Korean
soldiers.
The war, thus for the time averted, came nine years afterwards, in
consequence of an insurrection in Korea. 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 Korea. 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 Korea 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.
HOW JAPAN BEGAN WAR
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 Korea, so he at once attacked the warships 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.
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 intrenchments and drove them out. Three
days afterwards, on August 1, 1894, both countries issued declarations
of war.
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 medieval 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
movements of the fleets. Backward as the Chinese were on land, they
were not so on the sea. Li Hung Chang, a born progressive, 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 Von Hanneken; the Chen
Yuen, the other big ironclad, was handled by Commander McGiffen,
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 saved them from defeat. 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 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 BATTLE OF THE YALU
On the afternoon of Sunday, September 16, 1894, 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.
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 7 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, formed a
striking spectacle. Some miles away to port rose the rocky coast and
the blue hills of Manchuria; on the other side was the Korean Gulf.
Omitting details of the long and uninteresting fight which followed it
may be said that the most remarkable feature 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
wooden junks and weapons of the past centuries. As an object lesson of
the progress of China and Japan in modern ideas it is of the greatest
interest, though results were drawn.
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 defenses. 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.
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 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 Korea, 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 Liao-tung
peninsula and Port Arthur, which stronghold was soon after obtained,
under long lease, by the Russians.
EUROPE INVADES 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 leased from
China for ninety-nine years Port Arthur and Talien Wan, and took
practical possession of Manchuria, through which a railroad was built
connecting with the Trans-Siberian road, while Port Arthur afforded 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 Chau, farther down the coast, in retribution
for the murder of some missionaries. 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 with a demand for a share of the nearly defunct empire.
The nations appeared to be settling on China in all directions and to
be ready to tear the antique commonwealth to pieces between them.
Within the empire itself revolutionary changes took place, the dowager
empress having first deprived the emperor of all power and then
enforced his abdication.
Meanwhile one important result came from the war. Li Hung Chang and the
other progressive statesmen of the empire, who had long been convinced
that the only hope of China lay in its being thrown open to Western
science and art, found themselves able to carry out their plans, the
conservative opposition having seriously broken down. The result of
this was seen in a dozen directions. Railroads, long almost completely
forbidden, gained free “right of way,” and promised in the near future
to traverse the country far and wide. Steamers ploughed their way for a
thousand miles up the Yang-tse-Kiang; engineers became busy exploiting
the coal and iron mines of the Flowery Kingdom; great factories,
equipped with the best modern machinery, sprang up in the foreign
settlements; foreign books began to be translated and read; and the
empress even went 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 center of an empire locked
against the outer world.
The increase of European interference in China, with indications of a
possible intention to dismember that ancient empire and divide its
fragments among the land-hungry nations of the West, was viewed in
China with dread and indignation, the feeling of hostility extending to
the work of the missionaries, who were probably viewed by many as
agents in the movement of invasion.
THE BOXER OUTBREAK
The hostile sentiment thus developed was indicated early in 1900 by the
outbreak of a Chinese secret society known by a name signified in
English by the word “boxers.” These ultra-patriots organized an
anti-missionary crusade in several provinces of North China in which
many missionaries and native Christians were killed. The movement
extended from the missionary settlements to include the whole foreign
movement in China, and was evidently encouraged by the dowager empress
and her advisers.
As a result the outbreak spread to Peking, where Baron von Ketteler,
the German minister, was killed, several of the legation buildings were
destroyed, and more than two hundred refugees were besieged within the
walls of the British legation. The danger to which the ministries and
their assistants and families were exposed aroused Europe and America,
and as the Chinese government took no steps to allay the outbreak, a
relief expedition was organized, in which United States, British,
French, German, Russian and Japanese forces took part.
The fleet of the allies bombarded and destroyed the Taku forts, and
heavy fighting took place at Tien-tsin, Pie-tsang and Yang-tsun. The
military expedition reached Peking and rescued the besieged on August
14, 1906, the empress and her court fleeing from the capital. A peace
treaty was signed on September 7, 1907, one of the conditions of which
was that China should pay an indemnity of $320,000,000 to the foreign
Powers. The share of this allotted to the United States was
$24,440,000, but after a portion of this had been paid the United
States in 1908 remitted $10,800,000, on the ground that this was in
excess over its actual expense. This act of generosity won the earnest
gratitude of China.
This event, significant of the latent and active hostilities between
the East and the West, was followed by a much greater one in 1904–05,
when Japan had the hardihood to engage in war with the great European
empire of Russia and the unlooked-for ability and good fortune to
defeat its powerful antagonist.
RUSSIAN DESIGNS ON MANCHURIA
This contest, which takes its place among the great wars of modern
times, must be dealt with briefly here, as it belongs to European
history only in the minor sense of a European country being engaged in
it. It arose from the encroachments of Russia in the Chinese province
of Manchuria and fears on the part of Japan that the scope of Russian
designs might include the invasion and conquest of that country.
As already stated, Russia secured a lease of Port Arthur, at the
southern extremity of Manchuria, from China in 1896. Subsequently the
Siberian Railway was extended southward from Harbin to this place, the
harbor was deepened, and building operations were begun at a new town
named Dalny, which was to be made Asia’s greatest port. The line of the
railway was strongly guarded with Russian troops.
These movements of Russia excited suspicion in Great Britain and Japan,
which countries so strongly opposed the military occupation by Russia
of Chinese territory that in 1901 Russia agreed to withdraw her troops
within the following year, to restore the railway to China, and
subsequently to give up all occupation of Chinese territory.
Of these agreements only the first was kept, and that only temporarily.
In 1903 Japan proposed an agreement with Russia to the effect that both
parties should respect the integrity of China and Korea, while the
interest of Japan in Korea and that of Russia in Manchuria should be
recognized. The refusal of Russia to accept this proposition overcame
the patience of Japan, whose rulers saw clearly that Russia had no
intention of withdrawing from the country occupied or of hampering her
future purposes with agreements. In fact Japan’s own independence
seemed threatened.
JAPAN BEGINS WAR ON RUSSIA
The result was in consonance with the Japanese character. In February,
1904, Japan withdrew her minister from the capital of Russia and three
days later, without the formality of a declaration of war, attacked the
Russian fleets at Chemulpo and Port Arthur. The result was the sinking
of two Russian ships in Chemulpo harbor, and the disabling of a number
of vessels at Port Arthur.
Troops were landed at the same time. Seoul, the capital of Korea, was
occupied, and an army marched north to Ping-Yang. The first land
engagement took place on the Yalu on April 30th, the Japanese forces
under General Kuroki attacking and defeating the Russians at that
point, and making a rapid advance into Manchuria.
Meanwhile Admiral Togo had been busy at Port Arthur. On April 13th he
sent boats in shore to plant mines. Makharov, the Russian admiral,
followed these boats out until he found Togo awaiting him with a fleet
too strong for him to attack. On his return his flag-ship, the
PETROPAVLOVSK, struck one of the mines and went down with her crew of
750 and Makharov himself. The smaller ships reached harbor in bad shape
from their experience of Togo’s big guns. On August 10th, the Port
Harbor fleet was again roughly handled by the Japanese, and some days
later a Vladivostock squadron, steaming southward to reinforce the Port
Arthur fleet, was met and defeated. This ended the naval warfare for
that period, all the ships which Russia had on the Pacific being
destroyed or seriously injured.
THE ARMIES MEET
On land the Japanese made successful movements to the north and south.
An army under General Oku landed in the Liao-tung peninsula early in
May, cut the railway to Port Arthur, and captured Kin-chau, nearly
forty miles from that port. There followed a terrible struggle on the
heights of Nan-Shan, ending in the repulse of the Russian garrison,
with a loss of eighty guns. This success gave the Japanese control of
Dalny, which formed for them a new base. General Nogi soon after landed
with a strong force and took command of the operation against Port
Arthur.
The northern army met with similar success, General Kuroki fighting his
way to the vicinity of Liao-yang, where he soon had the support of
General Nozdu, who had landed an army in May. Oku, marching north from
the peninsula, also supported him, the three generals forcing
Kuropatkin, the Russian commander-in-chief, back upon his base. Marshal
Oyama, a veteran of former wars, was made commander-in-chief of the
Japanese armies.
Liao-tung became the seat of one of the greatest battles of the war,
lasting seven days, the number of dead and wounded being over 30,000.
It ended in the retreat of Kuropatkin’s army, which fell back upon the
line of defenses covering Mukden, the Manchurian capital. Here he was
again attacked by Kuroki, who captured the key of the Russian position
on the 1st of September, and held it until reinforcements arrived.
For a month the armies faced each other south of Mukden, the resting
spell ending in a general advance of the Russian army, which had been
largely reinforced. In the battle that followed the Russians lost
heavily, but failed to break the Japanese lines, and after a fortnight
of hard fighting both sides desisted from active hostilities, holding
their positions with little change.
PORT ARTHUR TAKEN
Meanwhile Port Arthur had become closely invested. One by one the hills
surrounding the harbor were taken by the Japanese, after stubborn
resistance. Big siege guns were dragged up and began to batter the town
and the ships. On August 16th, General Stoessel, commander at Fort
Arthur, having refused to surrender, a grand assault was ordered by
Nogi. It proved unsuccessful, while the assailants lost 14,000 men. The
bombardment continued, the buildings and ships suffering severely.
Finally tunnels were cut through the solid rock and on December 20th
the principal stronghold in the east was carried by storm. Other forts
were soon taken and on January 2, 1905, the port was surrendered, the
Japanese obtaining 40,000 prisoners, 59 forts, about 550 guns, and
other munitions. The fleet captured consisted of four damaged
battleships, two damaged cruisers and a considerable number of smaller
craft.
We left the armies facing each other at Mukden in late September. They
remained there until February, 1905, without again coming into contact,
and no decisive action took place until March. Kuropatkin’s force had
meanwhile been largely reinforced, through the difficult aid of the
one-tracked Siberian railway, and was now divided into three armies or
approximately 150,000 each. Oyama had also received large
reinforcements and now had 500,000 men under his command. These
consisted of the armies under Kuroki, Nozdu and Oku, and the force of
Nogi released by the capture of Port Arthur.
General Grippenburg had command of one of the Russian armies and on
January 25th took position on the left bank of the Hun River. Here, in
the month following, he lost 10,000 of his men, and then threw up his
post, declaring that his chief had not properly supported him. On
January 19th, a Japanese advance in force began, attacking with energy
and forcing Kuropatkin to withdraw his center and left behind the line
of the Hun. Here he fiercely attacked Oku and Nogi, for the time
checking their advance. But Bilderling and Linievitch just then fell
into difficulties and it became necessary to retreat, leaving Mukden to
the enemy.
There were no further engagements of importance between the armies,
though they remained face to face for months in a long line south of
Harbin. Kuropatkin during this time was relieved from command,
Linievitch being appointed to succeed him. The remaining conflict of
the war was a naval one, of remarkable character.
RUSSIAN FLEET DEFEATED
Russia, finding its Pacific fleet put out of commission, and quite
unable to face the doughty Togo, had despatched a second fleet from the
Baltic, comprising nearly forty vessels in all. These made their way
through the Suez Canal and Indian Ocean and moved upward through the
Chinese and Japanese Seas, finding themselves on May 27, 1905, in the
strait of Tsushuma, between Korea and Japan. Hitherto not a hostile
vessel had been seen. Togo had held his fleet in ambush, while keeping
scouts on the lookout for the coming Russians.
Suddenly the Russians found themselves surrounded by a long line of
enemies, which had suddenly appeared in their front. The attack was
furious and irresistible; the defense weak and ineffective. Night was
at hand, but before it came five Russian warships had gone to the
bottom. A torpedo attack was made during the night and the general
engagement resumed next morning. When a halt was called, Admiral Togo
had sunk, disabled or captured eight battleships, nine cruisers, three
coast-defense ships, and a large number of other craft, the great
Russian fleet being practically a total loss, while Togo had lost only
three torpedo boats and 650 men. The losses in men by the Russians was
4,000 killed, and 7,300 prisoners taken. Altogether it was a naval
victory which for completeness has rarely been equaled in history.
Russia, beaten on land and sea, was by this time ready to give up the
struggle, and readily accepted President Roosevelt’s suggestion to hold
a peace convention in the United States. The terms of the treaty were
very favorable to Russia, all things considered; but the power of Japan
had been strained to the utmost, and that Power felt little inclined to
put obstacles in the way. The island of Sakhalin was divided between
them, both armies evacuated Manchuria, leaving it to the Chinese, and
Port Arthur and Dalny were transferred to Japan.
Yet though Japan received no indemnity and little in the way of
material acquisitions of any kind, she came out of the war with a
prestige that no one was likely to question, and has since ranked among
the great Powers of the world. And she has added considerably to her
territory by the annexation of Korea, in which there was no one to
question her right.
CHINA BECOMES A REPUBLIC
While Japan was manifesting this progress in the arts of war, China was
making as great a progress in the arts of peace. The building of
railroads, telegraphs, modern factories, and other western innovations
proceeded apace, modern literature and systems of education were
introduced, and the old competitive examinations for office, in the
Confucian literature and philosophy, were replaced by examinations in
modern science and general knowledge. Yet most surprising of all was
the great political revolution which converted an autocratic empire
which had existed for four or five thousand years into a modern
constitutional republic of advanced type. This is the most surprising
political overturn that history anywhere presents.
For many years a spirit of opposition to the Manchu rulers had existed
and had led more than once to rebellions of great scope. The success of
Japan in war was followed in China by a revolutionary movement whose
first demand was for a constitutional government, this leading, on
September 20, 1907, to an imperial decree outlining a plan for a
national assembly. On July 22, 1908, another decree provided for
provincial assemblies to serve as a basis for a future parliament.
Later the government promised to introduce a parliamentary system
within nine years.
The idea of such a government spread rapidly throughout the country,
and the demand arose for an immediate parliament. As the government
resisted this demand, the revolutionary sentiment grew, and in October,
1911, a rebellious movement took place at Wuchang which rapidly spread,
the rebels declaring that the Manchu dynasty must be overthrown.
Soon the movement became so threatening that the emperor issued a
decree appealing to the mercy of the people, and abjectly acknowledging
that the government had done wrong in many particulars. Yuan Shi-Kai, a
prominent revolutionary statesman, was made prime minister and a
national assembly convened. It had become too late, however, to check
the movement, and at the end of 1911 a new republic was announced at
Nanking, under the provisional presidency of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, a student
of modern institutions in Europe and America. The abdication of the
emperor quickly followed, in February 12, 1912, ending a Manchu dynasty
which had held the throne for 267 years. Yuan Shi-Kai was later chosen
as president.
This is a very brief account of the radical revolution that took place
and we cannot go into the details of what succeeded. It must suffice to
say that the republic has since persisted, Yuan Shi-Kai still serving
as president. The republic has a parliament of its own; a president and
cabinet and all the official furniture of a republican government.
There is only needed an education of the people into the principles of
free government “of the people, for the people, and by the people” to
complete the most remarkable political revolution the world has yet
known.