PORT ARTHUR--THE MASSACRE IN THE TOWN--RELEASE
When the Japanese officer had retired so modestly from my outburst of
gratitude, I made up my mind to see all I could of the affairs of the
war, and to reach a place of safety. I soon found that I was premature
in this, because, though an engagement was actually taking place then,
I had no chance of seeing it. The afternoon was advancing, and, as a
matter of fact, the fight lasted in all only a couple of hours
altogether--chiefly a matter of artillery.
During the same evening, and part of the night, the rumbling of the
heavy guns was audible. These had been actually dragged by bands of
coolies across the hill-paths and tracks for two successive days and
nights incessantly; and when these fellows, whose pay is infinitesimal,
were regaled with little bags of rice and some fish rations, wrapped
carefully in paper, they waited in the most disciplined manner
patiently, until their turns came. Their dress was not uniform, but
here again, I must say, the Japanese are wonderfully amenable to
discipline in all services.
I had already made some observations about Port Arthur, and
subsequently I was enabled to supplement them. The defences of the
place were, and are now, doubtless, almost impossible to surmount. It
is the "Gibraltar of the East." Around, and high above the harbour,
which has a narrow and difficult entrance, are forts, on the mutual
assistance principle of chained defence, on the hills from west to east
on the northern shore there are, in all, thirteen forts of heavy guns,
including the two near the shore. Again, at the west, is
Huang-chin-shan, or Golden Hill, a fort which can sweep its guns in all
directions. "Shan" is "hill," so Chi-huan-shan is Cock's-comb Hill,
and I-tzee-shan, Chair Hill. The first three by the west (northern
side at Chair Hill) are very important forts.
If we cross the strip of water at the mouth we reach the Tiger's
Tail,--a piece of land, long and narrow, just opposite the West Port
(the East Port is the dock-basin, or harbour, as contrasted with the
ordinary harbour, West Port). On this Tail of the Tiger stand eight
more forts, and all these twenty-two important defences were armed with
large and quick-firing guns, perhaps more than three hundred in all,
with an army behind them of twenty thousand Chinese nominally, but most
likely many thousands less in fact, perhaps not more than twelve
thousand or fifteen thousand effectives--if one may describe the
Chinese as "effective."
The Japanese had one hundred cannon, and these were quietly placed in
position during the evening and night of 20th November, on high ground.
The forts to be assaulted were those by Chair Hill on the land side
(north of harbour), and then those more eastward--Pine Hill, Dragon and
Cock's-comb Hills. These forts were really the most important from the
land side assault, and when we consider that the elevation of the land
is great,--from 350 to 1500 feet, though, of course, less a great deal
near the shore,--the difficulties of the assault can be imagined.
I awoke early, about midnight, and "dressed," which means wrapped
myself up, and stepped out to listen to the tramping of the battalions,
which were already taking up positions for the assault. As the morning
advanced, the moon rose up, and shone clearly. The Japanese soldiers
had no doubt of results, and the forts were to be attacked in a
specified order, while a counter demonstration was threatened at the
farther side.
It was impossible to rest, so I staggered to the limits of the camp in
the darkness, the lanterns shining like fireflies as the troops
advanced. They were all in readiness at two o'clock a.m., and just as
dawn was due the artillery opened the attack, and awoke the slumbering
Chinese in the town. If the men in the forts were asleep, they quickly
arose, and replied in kind from all directions, and the flashing of the
guns indicated the fearful fire which was being directed at the
Japanese artillery, the camp, and the troops,--the last now just seen
climbing up the hills, or crawling in the grass, to the attack, by
ravines and slopes and gullies.
The roar was simply awful! The thunder was incessant. The shells came
blazing across the sky, tore lines in the advancing troops, and
ploughed the hillsides in all directions. This cannonade continued for
quite an hour; it really seemed as if the fearful firing, noise, and
thick smoke, would never cease around us. Daylight came, and then the
Chinese played havoc with the assailants, who fell fast. But the
Japanese guns were silencing the Chinese by degrees, and the men crept
up to the forts, compelled to halt at times and take breath,--the last
which many of them ever drew,--for the fire was fearful, and no command
could be heard.
At length the three doomed forts were reached by the rear approach, and
the only mode of capture was by climbing the thirteen feet walls! This
was a feat in any case, but when the attempt was made amid a continuous
fire, the situation seems impossible. The Japanese, however, succeeded
by fixing their bayonets into the wall, and climbing by those impromptu
steps to the top of the parapet, where they engaged the Chinese hand to
hand. Others, again, were hoisted up by means of a rope, which a
private soldier had let down after climbing up to the top by the
inequalities in the masonry of the wall. These acts of heroic bravery
were to be seen frequently, and at different points.
The assailants fell by hundreds at a time, but as soon as the survivors
gained the advantage, and reached the platforms, the Chinese fled
helter-skelter out of the forts, down the hills, in the direction of
the sea, and the Japanese dashed after them, firing, or bayoneting the
stragglers. Here were mandarins, officers, and soldiers, armed and
unarmed, flying for dear life, and in numerous instances losing that.
As soon as the Chinese had evacuated the defences on the western side I
essayed to climb up, but was forced to pause, not only from physical
weakness, but because of mental disturbance. Already the Red Cross was
in evidence tending and succouring the wounded and dying, and
despatching the former to Kinchow, and subsequently to the Port Arthur
Hospital. The Chinese, who did not understand, or certainly did not
practise this humanity, frequently fired at the devoted bands, who thus
suffered for their devotion.
As I advanced I rendered some assistance, I am pleased to think, but
the numbers requiring aid were beyond expectation. The Japanese
suffered greatly. Tens and dozens of dead bodies lay in groups in many
places, and this slaughter was all around one. When the forts were
stormed the Chinese became the victims and paid heavily for the
Japanese dead. A terrible revenge was taken, and when the Pine Tree
fort blew up there was a loud shout of victory. Thenceforth the
invaders had all their own way.
And such a way! Midday had struck, as the phrase is, when the first
forts were taken--Inland, and then the remaining forces came on to
reduce the coast line of forts and redoubts, including the large Golden
Hill fort already named, which by its cannon turning in all directions
had caused much loss in the distant Japanese ranks. Preparations were
made to storm this place late in the afternoon. The Chinese were still
resisting under all possible cover in rifle-pits and trenches and
redoubts, but all the time the Japanese were encircling them and the
town--their usual method. I noticed that at sea the fleet circled
round the Chinese ships, and now on land the soldiers came up on three
sides.
Following the troops I watched them from a distant height forming a
_cordon_ around the devoted town, which contains about a thousand
houses built Chinese fashion (usually in one storey), two theatres,
temples, hotels, and banks, besides the extensive docks fitted with all
modern appliances, torpedo factory, a railway, cranes, workshops, and
basins for ships and boats. The place is well supplied with water, and
later I witnessed a curious scene in those docks.
When I had struggled as near as I deemed prudent, armed with a Japanese
rifle, cartridges, and a cap, I fancied I could hear a band playing. A
musical welcome from the Chinese was perhaps the most curious of the
many curious and contradictory things in China, but it was certainly a
military band in the town, while the brigade beyond was storming the
forts. I made inquiry as well as I could, and ascertained that the
Japanese had already occupied the town, and the band was playing them
in with their National Anthem, which I recognised as having already
heard on board ship in the hour of victory.
The day was now coming to a close. Golden Hill remained in Chinese
hands, and the fighting was for a while suspended. Still Port Arthur
was in possession of the Japanese, and the remaining fort when attacked
next morning was found empty. The garrison had deserted it in the
night.
That night of the 21st November 1894 will be remembered by all who live
to think of it. Why? you may ask. Simply because the Chinese were
slain in the most savage and unrelenting way in the town. On the hill
a chill and piercing wind rose that night, and the sufferings of the
wounded must have been terrible. I made my way at dusk, under shelter,
behind the hill I had scrambled up before, and found the Japanese lying
on their faces still, thickly. The Chinese were lying anyhow on that
hill, and on the other slope; half-clothed, nearly always unarmed, and
seldom in any "uniform" dress.
[Illustration: THE CHINESE WERE LYING ANYHOW]
These are common instances which indicate the temperaments and courage
of the two nations. The Japanese shot in the forehead or chest falls
_forward_ and dies. The Chinese I saw were fugitives who had cast away
their weapons and clothing the more easily to escape and to be mistaken
for civilians. I must add that the Japanese wounded never seemed to
complain or cry out. Their fortitude under the most deplorable
conditions, amid terrible injuries and wounds, was Spartan-like--heroic.
That cold night, for which all were unprepared, found those on the
hills badly off, though wearied to death they lay, some beside
watch-fires some in the darkness, dead asleep; while the soldiers in
the waking town conducted themselves like absolute fiends. As already
stated, the soldiers were exasperated by the brutality of the Chinese,
but that was scarce a reason for the wholesale and deliberate murder of
civilians, women, and children in cold blood.
Next morning, under the guidance of a soldier and the interpreter, I
essayed to reach the town. We descended the hill, my companions
looking triumphantly upon the devastation and the evidences of death,
which, though now familiar to me, were none the less terrible.
The town was reached, and we entered it near the dock where is a
reservoir of water, a kind of lake, one may say, at the foot of the
sloping ground. There even my callous companions halted. The pool was
full of dead bodies floating in all kinds of attitudes, head downwards,
or extended on the back or face bleeding or bloodless, many women, and
even young children. There they lay, some floating, as I have said,
some pressed down by others, some lying half in and half out of the
bloodstained water, all killed by violence, by the rifle-shot or
bayonet, and hacked as savages would not have thought of doing.
And this was the act of the merciful Japanese! I turned sick and faint
with horror, rushed away into the town to escape from this most fearful
scene. Presently I was compelled to seat myself in sheer illness, my
companions were also ashamed I believe.
After a while I rose and made my way through the streets, but here
again were horrors piled up even if possible more awful than the first
experience. Houses, shops, inns were pillaged, fired, plundered! Men
and women dead--mutilated--every possible shame had been inflicted, and
even then, in daylight, the Japanese soldiers were looting and killing
all in their way, binding up bundles of plunder, or chasing an
unfortunate Chinaman to death amid the laughter of his fellows.
Fortunately I was properly protected, else my doom had been sealed, for
the dead lay so thickly in the streets and passages, that one had to
tread carefully for fear of stepping upon a body; and if a Chinese was
discovered seeking his dead friend, relative, wife, or child, the first
Japanese butcher would kill him, and then slash him into slices with
his sword.
For true barbarity the inflamed Japanese countenance in a passion of
killing is the most repulsive. What the night had witnessed I tremble
now to think. Of what we witnessed of the awful results it is
impossible even to do more than name, the details are quite unfit to
describe. The dismemberment of the bodies even of children and women
will always remain a stain upon the Japanese, on the soldiers for
executing such awful rapine and murder, on the officers for not
stopping such scenes of bestial violence.
Amid such scenes in the docks next day the field-marshal presided at a
grand luncheon, where hundreds of officers attended, and numerous
newspaper correspondents assisted, and drank the health of the Emperor
of Japan. Whom of those hundreds who stood at the long tables spread
in the dockyard, and feasted upon potted and tinned food, thought of
the massacred Chinese? Even then, perhaps, dark and silent murder was
being done while the bands played stirring airs, and officers
congratulated each other upon their own successes while the curses of
the dying natives were heaped upon the savage soldiery.
"Find me a way from this fearful place," I begged at last, when I had
vainly sought escape by boat. "Is there no junk, no vessel, in the bay
which will shelter me and carry me to Chefoo?"
My despairing appeal was carried to the ears of the officer who had
already befriended me. He came towards the ruined inn, where I was
resting, and inquired what I wanted.
"Means to leave this horrible place," I said briefly. "The _Naniwa_ is
in the harbour. Cannot you manage to communicate with your brother?
He may assist me to reach the opposite shore."
"Is that all? Why, there are several British vessels in the gulf." He
then quickly said a few words to my companions in their own tongue, and
left me. I am glad to think that he and some other officers had been
staying the massacre of the night. "I will follow you," he added.
"Wait beyond."
As we made our way through the narrow streets westward to the Port, the
natural harbour, the sights were beyond description. Even there dead
lay in the streets and shops, which, still hung with the Chinese signs
and open as in a fair-ground, were wrecked and dabbled with blood.
Fortunately the weather was cold, and when we reached the harbour, or
West Port, the soldiers were dragging dead bodies from the water, where
they lay thickly.[1] Men, women, and children had been hunted down and
slain in the water. The few junks on shore were also filled with dead
bodies of fugitives and crews.
[1] Should any reader need evidence of these days let him see the
illustrated papers of the time.
My interpreter shook his head. He could do nothing. Remembering his
former conduct, I began to fear that he had some sinister object in his
mind's eye. I asked him what I should do, and then as he paused in his
reply, I demanded why he had robbed me before. My fears were then
allayed, because I saw the Japanese officer, Tomi's brother,
approaching. But the interpreter remained perfectly calm to all
appearance. He merely deprecated any reference to such an unpleasant
incident, by a shrug of the shoulders, and an appealing movement of his
hands.
"Then you intended to destroy me!" I exclaimed. "What do you propose
now? May I ask you, sir, to question this man about his conduct while
in my society, when, as I have told you, I was robbed by him and left
alone to find my way across the isthmus."
The interpreter's nimble tongue was at a loss for once. He could not
advance any excuse.
"Did this man rob you?" asked the officer. "Speak, sir."
"Yes," I replied. "Let him deny it if he can."
The Japanese officer turned to the interpreter and said something to
him, motioning to the soldier who had accompanied me to advance.
The traitor fell upon his knees, Chinese fashion, but what he said I
could not understand. He produced the revolver, however, and some
papers.
"He declares he was instructed to take these from you, for fear of your
safety if they were found upon you by the natives. Is that so?"
"Not at all. I was given the pistol and money by your brother for my
protection. He had already defended me, and the captain of the ship
urged my departure as a scout, knowing some Chinese. They hoped I
would remain with the army, reach Port Arthur, and so get away."
"Then you _were_ suspected on board?" he asked sharply.
"Yes, because I was sailing in the Chinese transport, I think. Your
honourable brother assisted me, and intended to send me to the British
fleet."
"He had no authority to do so. But I am sure the captain would have
landed you at Chemulpo had you desired it."
"I did not want to be landed. I am a sailor, and wished to continue on
board until I could be sent to Shanghai or Chefoo."
"It appears to me now that you did wrong. You had better have landed
and made your way, with the assistance of your consul, to China. But
matters seem also to have been against you. As for this man's
statement respecting the robbery, I do not believe it. He has traduced
my brother."
Then followed a few sentences in the Japanese language, which sounded
particularly harsh. I saw the man seized by the soldier, and cried
out. The officer turned to me inquiringly.
"What do you intend?" I asked. "What punishment?"
"I shall strike off his thievish hand."
"Oh no!" I pleaded. "There has been slaughter and hacking enough! Let
him go free!"
"He has lied concerning my brother. He deserves to _die_! I shall
only prevent his robbing in future. Take him, and keep him in guard."
The soldier tied the man's hands together with his belt, and drove him
away before him, leaving me with the officer. My appeal had been in
vain. As a fact, I had no energy to continue the question, because my
bodily strength was waning fast. The excitement which had so far
sustained me was already disappearing, and the disgust which had
replaced it did not tend to keep me up.
The Japanese officer perceived this, and beckoned me to accompany him.
I saw he was anxiously looking at my pallid face. What would have
become of me had he not come to my rescue I did not venture to think.
I followed him closely, and retraced my bloodstained steps through the
lately prosperous-looking streets, then well furnished with shops, now
a terrible line of dismantled houses; goods lying upon the ground amid
the dead, and accentuating the desolation.
My conductor took me to an inn, or hotel, in which resided,
temporarily, several Japanese. These gentlemen, I ascertained, were
journalists and artists employed by the newspapers and others, for the
Japanese people took the greatest interest in the struggle with China.
Two of these men spoke English quite sufficiently for conversational
purposes, and they made me welcome by request of the officer.
"When opportunity occurs," he said, "we will send you home. Perhaps we
may despatch you to one of your men-of-war vessels. Farewell!"
I had only time to thank him for the idea of such a happy despatch,
when I felt faint and sick. My new friends immediately removed me to
an upper chamber,--a rather unusual thing in China,--and laid me upon
the couch or bench which was then being warmed by the hot air from the
fire or "furnace." Handing me a thick counterpane, which the
increasing cold made acceptable, my friend left me to recover
myself--my strength and my self-possession.
It was long before I was able to rise. The day passed. Food was
repugnant to me. My brain reproduced all the horrors I had witnessed,
and I shuddered as with ague. The night was still more dreadful, as my
solitude was invaded by three of the company, and I was thankful when
morning again dawned and left me alone, if listless and ailing.
I must pass rapidly on, for nothing occurred to alarm me. I lay quiet,
eating and sleeping and thinking. My new companions amused me by
telling me their adventures, and listening to mine. They taught me
some of their language, and I imparted to them some English. The
weather grew worse, frost and snow set in, with bitter winds; and I
learned that the headquarters of the army had been fixed at Kinchow,
till the second army--Port Arthur force--made northward for Kai-ping.
The Japanese fleet was in Talien Bay. Winter had set in in earnest,
and transport was very difficult.
Christmas passed. Such a Christmas it was, too. I felt like the boy
who had been left at school while all the other fellows went home for
the holidays. Most of my companions had scattered, but two stayed, one
for some Government business, and the other awaiting orders as to the
disposal of the quantities of plunder and stores, before leaving to
join the fleet. We conversed in a mixture of Japanese and English, a
dialect which did more to keep up my spirits than anything save
release, because we laughed at each other's mistakes all day. The
weather became very cold, and as the year came to an end I began to
feel "hipped," and really uneasy. But the New Year caused a change in
the troops' quarters, and indirectly in mine, for when the second army
advanced, or rather a portion of it advanced, to the north, to join the
Yalu army, I was very agreeably surprised by a visit from the officer I
knew as Tomi's brother, and, best of all, he was accompanied by Tomi
himself. This visit was paid in the month of January 1895, when I was
feeling extremely "low."
My astonishment was great as my pleasure at the meeting, and in my
delight, being also conceited about my new attainments, I exclaimed in
"dog" Japanese--
"Tenno Heika Banzai! Nippon Yuesen Kabushiki Kaisha! So glad to see
you again!"
Somewhat to my astonishment the two officers touched their caps, and,
looking at each other, burst into a hearty peal of laughter. I stared.
What had I said? I felt guilty and nervous, then annoyed at the
laughter.
"Well, gentlemen, what's the joke?" I said. "Have I in any way
offended you? Pray accept my excuses--in English. I assure you"--
"Please excuse _us_," said the naval officer, seizing my hand. "We are
delighted to learn that you have mastered Japanese as well as Chinese
and French. Thank you for Emperor _and Company_."
"I think you do not quite understand," remarked my military friend.
"Do you know what you _did_ say?"
"Yes--at least I think so. I intended to cheer your Emperor and you,
and to wish success to the Japanese united arms. I suspect I made a
little mistake."
"No, no!" cried the young lieutenant Tomi. "It was beautiful!
Splendid! It sounded so well, too. Didn't it?" he asked, turning to
his brother.
"Yes; and so exactly to the point," added the captain, laughing again.
"You are already an interpreter, Mr. Julius."
I felt rather "at sea" at this renewal of the merriment, but the
officers quickly subdued their laughter, though it occasionally burst
out in spasms while they alternately announced their business.
"We have another mission for you, Julius," said the younger. "A
pleasant little trip to an English man-of-war perhaps."
I leaped to my feet in delight. "Really?" I said. "You mean that?"
"Oh yes, certainly. _We_ understand English," he said, laughing.
I blushed, and felt annoyed with Tomi. But I dare not show this.
"When you and your brother have _quite_ finished laughing"--I began.
But this attempt at dignity set them off again, and though really
angry, I was compelled to join them. The whole business seemed so
ridiculous.
"Pray pardon us," gasped the elder officer. "This is really
business--from the admiral."
"The admiral!" I exclaimed. "Does he know anything about me?'
"Of course, certainly; and when you talk to him in _Japanese_"--
This caused another explosion, and I made condemnatory remarks
concerning the native smile.
"Well," I asked coldly, "any further _joke_?"
"This is no joke, indeed," said the sailor. "The Admiral Ito wants a
letter conveyed to the _Severn_--what you call it--cruiser, for
conveyance to Admiral Ting, the Chinese naval commander. The little
difficulty arose about the messenger being a Japanese, and then I
reminded my captain that you were in Port Arthur, and trustworthy. My
brother had already told me so much. The immediate result has been our
presence here, and our request to bring you to the admiral. Will you
come? we will fit you out again."
"And I am to join the _Severn_?"
"Perhaps. At anyrate if you carry the letter, and bring back an answer
or not, you can act as an ambassador."
"With pleasure," I cried, delighted to think I was again to be restored
to British protection, and to see English faces. "I will accompany you
at once."
I made some few--very few--changes in my appearance, which was a bit
remarkable for an English youth, or "man." My stubbly hair, my thick
wadded costume,--_a la Chinois_,--for your Chinaman pads his garments
until his bulk, in winter, vies with Mr. Daniel Lambert, of pious
memory. Thus, something like a clean scarecrow, crossed with the Fat
Boy in _Pickwick_, I accompanied my deliverers.
As we quitted my quarters, I said as pleasantly as possible--
"Tell me the mistake I made when you came in?"
They smiled at the recollection, and the sailor-boy said, nodding at
me--
"It was all right, really. You only said, Hurrah for the Emperor! and"
(here he choked)--"and called out for the '_Japan Mail Steam Company_.'
That's all."
I laughed aloud at the connection. What I intended to say I have now
no idea, and my Japanese friends never enlightened me.
This was my last attempt at Asiatic languages--on service.