The fight brought out several of the weak points of the Chinese naval

organization, and taught the officers many lessons. Most conspicuously

was the fatuous economy of ammunition exposed. The most formidable ships

for offense and defense were of course the two iron clads Ting-Yuen and

Chen-Yuen, with their twelve and one-half inch guns. These guns throw a

shell three and one-half calibres long, charged with forty pounds of

powder. It is a projectile of low initial velocity, but a most

destructive explosive, as the Japanese have testified. There were but

four of these shells in the fleet, all being on board the Chen-Yuen. Of

a smaller, and of course cheaper shell for the same guns two and

one-half calibres long, used for target practice, there were in all

fourteen in the two iron clads, and they were fired off in the first

hour and a half of the engagement, after which only steel shot was left

with which to continue the fight. From the condition of the flag ship

and her consort, may be inferred that of the other vessels in the fleet.

They were at once however, after the battle, well supplied with shell

except of the larger size.

The Chinese fleet was at a disadvantage in manœuvring from inferior

speed, but a greater difficulty even than that was the perversity of the

personnel. Even on board the flag ship orders were not carried out, but

varied or suppressed at the discretion of the officers. In telegraphing

from the conning tower to the engine room, the plans of the admiral were

frustrated, by the officer who moved the telegraph signalling a low

speed when the admiral was ordering a high speed, in order to close with

the enemy. This trick was only discovered after the battle, by comparing

notes with the German engineer who was below. How many other ways of

cheating the commanding officer were resorted to during those critical

hours, no one can tell. As for the other ships of the fleet, it is

acknowledged that after the first round they kept no formation, each

ship fighting her own battle, except the two ironclads with the foreign

officers on board, which kept moving in concert till the close. The

flagship lost all her signal halyards and a number of signal men in the

beginning of the action, and thereby lost touch with the rest of the

squadron.

[Illustration: JAPANESE CAVALRYMAN.]

From the capture of Ping-Yang, to the first of November, the progress of

the war attested the circumspection of the Japanese, who from first to

last resolved to risk nothing by land or sea. There was practically no

resistance, and the Chinese government was tolerably aware that there

would be none, either at the Yalu or at Feng-hwang-tcheng. What the

government reckoned on, if they can be said to have made any reckoning

at all, was that the forces assembled at Chiu-lien-tcheng would delay

the advance of the enemy till something turned up, or till the winter

should come to the aid of the invaded. Well, winter came, and lo it was

the Chinese and not the Japanese who were its first victims. Poor

General Sung, driven out of Kiu-lien-tcheng, and falling back on

Feng-hwang-tcheng, was followed up so sharp that, with the remnant of

his force, he had to retreat to the mountains, without extra clothing or

baggage. The cold set in, and snow was falling on these shivering

wretches, while the enemy was enjoying the comparative luxury of the

towns and villages.

By this time in the history of the war, it seemed certain that in such a

conflict as was to be anticipated, China would not entrust the ultimate

defense of the empire to such loose levies as had been in the field.

From the time of their organization, these troops under arms have

constituted a danger to the peace of China, whether in victory or

defeat, and perhaps there was a certain cynical calculation in the

release by the Japanese of prisoners, that they might swell the ranks of

brigands. It was believed by many friends of China that the dispersion

of these troops would make room for an army built up on a different

system, should the government be at last aroused to a sense of the

necessity for military reform.

[Illustration: PORT ARTHUR—TRANSPORTS ENTERING THE INNER HARBOR.]

Until this time, the government of China properly so called, had not

been able to bring its intelligence to bear on the question of imperial

defense. That had been left in the hands of the imperial viceroy Li Hung

Chang, who has for many years conducted the foreign as well as the naval

and military affairs of the empire. But during the fall the Peking

government was gradually gathering the reins into its own hands. The

return of Prince Kung to the counsels of the emperor was a marked

expression of the new resolution. The summoning of Von Hannecken by

imperial edict to Peking was another indication of the suspension of Li

Hung Chang’s function of general middleman between the empire and the

world. Whether this new born energy for affairs was to have staying

power sufficient to launch the government on the unknown sea of foreign

science, and save the empire from disruption was problematical, but the

war still raged on, and out of its immediate issues, it was predicted by

many, was to arise a state of thing which would mock the slow progress

of mere evolutionary reform, by a cataclysm which might do in one day

what a century of deliberation could not accomplish.

[Illustration: LIEUT. GEN. VISCOUNT NODZU.]

THE ADVANCE UPON PORT ARTHUR.

--------------

Landing of the Second Japanese Army at Kwa-yuen-ken—Capture of

Kinchow—Taking of Talien-wan—Flight of the Chinese to Port

Arthur—General Nodzu’s Force and its Action—Pekin Authorities

Despondent—Prince Kung Asks Foreign Intervention—Propositions for Peace

Fail—Contractors Want to Destroy Japanese Fleet—Foreigners in Chinese

Service—The Emperor Receives Visitors—Drawing Near to Port Arthur—People

of the Peninsula—Skirmishes on the Way—The Night Before the Battle.

The troops of the second Japanese army landed at a place called

Kwa-yuen-ken near the mouth of the Pili River, northeast of Talien-wan

Bay. From the mouth of the Pili to Kinchow, the principal town in the

peninsula, the distance is fifty-four miles. The debarkation was

completed without interruption, and the march southwestward began. The

capture of Kinchow, at the narrowest point in the Adams Isthmus, was

made without difficulty, and the victorious forces continued on their

way. November 7 the Japanese occupied Talien-wan. The more the captured

Chinese position here was examined, the greater became the astonishment

at the poor defense made. The defensive works were excellent in design.

Six large and strongly constructed forts commanded Talien-wan bay,

mounting all together eighty guns of various sizes and patterns. Many of

them were comparatively modern and excellent of their kind. All of these

guns, as well as large stores of ammunition, fell into the hands of the

Japanese.

Beside the forts on the bay, the Chinese had constructed across the

narrow neck of the peninsula, which was here about seven miles wide, a

series of earthworks of an elaborate kind. The whole system had

evidently been planned by an engineer of high skill. It was completely

fitted with telephones and other modern appliances for communication.

The works had been designed to facilitate a concentration of troops at

any threatened point in the shortest possible time. The batteries were

powerfully constructed and well armed. The greatest strength of the

forts on the bay was on the side facing the sea. Some successful

reconnoitering revealed weakness upon the land side. An intimation was

conveyed to Count Ito that the seaward forts were of such strength that

a bombardment from the Japanese fleet would assuredly result in serious

damage to some of the ships. Marshal Oyama informed his colleague that

he believed a land attack would be attended with success, and that idea

was therefore put into effect.

The Japanese fleet took a station off the bay, and opened a tremendous

bombardment of the forts on the 6th of November. For many hours the

firing scarcely ceased, and on the following day it was resumed. On the

7th, covered by the bombardment, the land force attacked Talien-wan at

daybreak by a general assault, and the success was complete. The

Chinese, taken by surprise, fled panic-stricken towards Port Arthur.

[Illustration: CHINESE EARTHWORKS.]

The losses in the capture of these two fortifications, Kinchow and

Talien-wan, were not great on either side. The Chinese garrison at the

former place consisted of one thousand infantry and one hundred cavalry.

They fled to Talien-wan, which was defended by three thousand infantry

and one hundred and eighty cavalry, and all together retreated thence

towards Port Arthur. On the Japanese side the losses were only ten

killed and wounded, and the losses of the Chinese, who offered

practically no resistance, were not much greater. As in previous

retreats, the Chinese threw away their arms in their flight, and reached

Port Arthur with nothing but the clothes they wore.

During these days of action by the force under Oyama, General Nodzu’s

troops had not been idle. Immediately after the capture of Chiu-lien,

the Japanese headquarters’ staff moved there from Wi-ju. Two columns

were sent after the fleeing Chinese. Colonel Sato moved upon An-tung,

which was taken without fighting. General Tachimi, with the first

division, moved upon Feng-hwang on October 27, and on the 31st the town

surrendered. No prisoners were taken by the Japanese. The orders were to

disarm and scatter the enemy wherever found, and this was done with

vigor. By Marshal Yamagata’s orders, the peaceable inhabitants were

treated with the utmost consideration. All food purchased was paid for

and laborers were paid for any extra help required. As a result the

Japanese camp was thronged with Chinese peasants offering produce, and

more Chinese laborers asked for work than could be engaged.

[Illustration: VIEW OF TALIEN-WAN BAY.]

The enemy divided in flight from Feng-hwang, some going to Mukden,

others to Hai-tcheng, and others to Taku-shan. Most of the generals fled

to Mukden. As the last fugitives left Feng-hwang it was set on fire, and

the flames wrecked the village before the Japanese could extinguish

them. Cold had set in among the Manchoorian hills by this time and some

snow had fallen. The victorious army therefore took pains to make itself

as comfortable as possible, advancing slowly, living off the country,

and driving all enemies before it.

In Peking at this time the authorities were busy attempting to devise

means of safety for their armies, and to provide for their own escape

from threatening danger. Li Hung Chang was deprived of all his

decorative honors. Liu Kunyi, viceroy of Nanking, was made viceroy of

Tien-tsin. Chang Chi Stung, viceroy of Wu-chang, was appointed viceroy

of Nanking. Hu Yuff, a judge of Kwang-hsi, and Captain Von Hannecken

were ordered to enlist and equip a force of troops after the German

model, as the nucleus of a new grand army of China. Finally Prince Kung

was appointed Chief Controller of Military Affairs, with Prince Chung to

assist him, thus further centralizing the power.

Another imperial edict gave executive effect to the sentence passed by

the military courts upon General Wei. It declared that by his withdrawal

from the battle of Ping-Yang he caused the defeat of the entire army.

Furthermore, he was adjudged guilty of embezzling public funds entrusted

to him for the specific purpose of paying his soldiers, and of gross

incompetence and violation of duty in that he permitted the troops with

whom he retreated to maltreat and rob the people along the line of

route, thereby lowering the national character. For these offenses

General Wei was degraded from military rank and deprived of all his

honors. It was also announced that Admiral Ting kept from the knowledge

of the throne many important matters connected with the naval battle of

the Yalu, and that while losing some ships and getting others crippled

he inflicted scarcely any damage upon the enemy. The admiral was

therefore deprived of all the honors recently bestowed upon him under a

misapprehension of the facts.

How despondent was the view of the situation held by the Chinese

authorities may be judged by the first action taken by Prince Kung after

his promotion. On Sunday, November 4, before the news of the Japanese

success at Talien-wan had reached the Chinese, owing to the cutting of

the telegraph wires, he invited the representatives all the powers to

assemble at the Tsung-li Yamen to hear what the Chinese government had

to say respecting the critical situation. At this audience Prince Kung

calmly avowed the complete impotence of his country to withstand the

Japanese attack, and appealed to the powers to intervene. He made an

appeal for their assistance in bringing about some agreement for the

termination of the war, indicating as a basis of negotiation a

willingness of China to abandon her claim to the suzerainty of Corea,

and to pay a war indemnity to Japan. This appeal was made formally and

officially, and marked for the first time the fact that China recognized

her utter defeat.

Having concluded his speech, Prince Kung handed to each minister a note

embodying his remarks. The ministers were favorably impressed, and they

applauded the frankness of China’s confession. They promised to support

her appeal to their respective governments, with a view to the

restoration of peace, and in order to avert the dangers threatening all

interested. Simultaneously with this action of Prince Kung, the Chinese

minister to Great Britain and France endeavored to enlist the assistance

of the foreign offices of those countries, but again the effort to

secure peace for China by the intervention of western nations met with

little encouragement.

A diplomatic complication arose between Japan and France early in

November which had an element of comedy in it and is of interest here.

Two American citizens, John Brown and George Howie, of British

extraction, offered their services to the Chinese government in the

capacity of torpedo experts. They claimed to be in possession of an

invention capable of most destructive effects in naval warfare, and

having succeeded in convincing a Chinese agent of the validity of their

claim, they were engaged to employ the invention against the Japanese

navy, in consideration of a payment of $100,000 down, $1,000,000 for

each naval squadron destroyed, and a proportion of the value of each

merchantman sent to the bottom. With their contract in their pocket,

they sailed from San Francisco, and at Yokahama transferred themselves

to the French steamer Sydney. Meanwhile the Japanese authorities, having

obtained intelligence of the two men’s proceedings, telegraphed

instructions to Kobe, and in that port the alleged inventors were taken

off the ship, together with their Chinese companions. The French

minister inclined to push the case in their favor, but diplomacy and

international law was so clearly on the side of the Japanese that he

withdrew his efforts. After their arrest however, the two men signed a

stringent guarantee binding themselves not to assist the Chinese during

the present war, and this with the representation of the American

minister secured their release.

The Japanese forces occupying Talien-wan used their time to advantage in

strengthening their positions, completing the telegraph line along the

north shore of Corea Bay, to a junction with the line which had already

been built across the Yalu River from Corea, and in preparing for their

investment of Port Arthur. Admiral Ito’s sailors and marines destroyed

all the torpedoes placed by the enemy in the bay and its approaches.

They also captured several torpedo boats and apparatus. The fleet and

the transports all entered the bay, and there remained to act in harmony

with the land forces. A few days after the occupation of Talien-wan, the

advance column of the first Japanese army, pursuing from Feng-hwang that

portion of the divided fugitive Chinese who were seeking Port Arthur,

met the outposts of the second invading army, and communication was

thereby established, both by telegraph and by messenger service, through

Japanese garrisons, in a chain extending the full length of the Corean

peninsula and around Corea Bay to Talien-wan.

Consternation was caused in Peking by the discovery, which one would

have supposed not difficult, that the Pei-yang squadron was caught in a

trap at Port Arthur. Li Hung Chang had made efforts to bring all the

damaged war ships out of that harbor, ordering the squadron to keep

within range of the guns of Wei-hai-wei. But on account of somebody’s

violation of orders, a dozen Chinese vessels of war were now within the

Port Arthur harbor, hemmed in by the neighboring Japanese fleet. The

responsible Chinese officials appeared to be callous to the fate of the

empire, giving their chief attention to matters of personal interest and

gain.

[Illustration: PORT ARTHUR—JAPANESE COOLIES REMOVING CHINESE DEAD.]

Port Arthur was now effectively invested and threatened, and to provide

for their personal safety, Kung, the taotai of the place, together with

several military leaders, abandoned Port Arthur as hastily as possible.

The effort made by one Englishman, anxious to preserve some Chinese

dignity, to save Port Arthur, was received with considerable surprise

and not by any means appreciated.

The position of foreigners in the employ of the Chinese government has

always been anomalous, but the exigencies of the war have shown up the

relationship between Chinese and foreigners in a vivid and highly

instructive light. Their rooted aversion to foreigners, which springs

from fear, does not withhold the Chinese from flying to seek foreign aid

in their extremity. On these occasions they betray a superstitious

feeling towards the foreigners, regarding him as a sort of medicine man

who can see through a millstone or work any other miracle. Their idea is

to hire him by the job, and when the job is done cast him off as any

other laborer. When war came upon them, the Chinese fleet was in a

quandary, scuttling about from one snug harbor to another, the officers

knowing nothing of their enemy, his movements, or his capacities. Though

they were told they had the strongest fleet, they would have preferred

not to put its presumed superiority to too severe a test, yet they had

the imperial order to destroy the enemy unconditionally. In this

extremity, the authorities cast about for extemporized foreigners to

help them.

A hardy Scandinavian came first to the rescue, offering to scout, pilot,

or fight for them, run a torpedo boat, or do anything that youthful

daring might legitimately venture. Only he stipulated for a twenty-knot

steamer, performing, however, in the meantime, the emergency service in

a common tugboat of less than half that speed. The promise of a fast

steamer was broken, as every promise of every Chinese official, with few

exceptions, from the beginning of time has been broken, and until the

end of the war the hardy Norseman had to content himself on the deck of

that same wet and lively tugboat. Comical indeed were the adventures he

had with his convoys of troops, munitions, and stores, which never would

follow the program laid down for them, sometimes bolting from the smoke

of their own escort, and he chasing them back into their own ports whose

forts would open fire on him. This was the uniform experience of

Europeans who served the Chinese. The zeal and loyalty were all on the

side of the aliens, whose hearts were broken in hopeless efforts to make

the Chinese do their duty to their own country. Every foreigner who

served China, no matter in what capacity, unless he belonged to the

class which is content to draw pay and say nothing, had the same

strenuous battle with his employers to compel them to interest

themselves in their own service. The Chinese, on their part, failed to

comprehend the folly of the foreigner who was not content to draw his

pay and keep quiet.

At Port Arthur there were some half dozen rival generals, but no one in

command, each caring only for his own camp, and all at loggerheads with

the others. The head of the port, the poor taotai, of the literary

graduate order, was a brother of the present minister to England. There

was also the admiral of the Pei-yang squadron, the most likely man to

assume the responsibility of a general command; but for fear of getting

himself disliked by Taotai Kung or the generals, he kept his hands out

of mischief. Finally, the English harbor master at Port Arthur went to

Tien-tsin, and showed the condition of affairs to the viceroy. The

result was that the viceroy sent instructions to Kung, which the latter

ignored, flying from Port Arthur at the first chance. The collapse of

Chinese resistance was proceeding at a rate which more than astonished

the Japanese themselves. With Kinchow and Talien-wan captured almost

without a blow, although amply supplied with the means of making a

vigorous and protracted defense, and all the soldiers joining in an

ignominious rush for Port Arthur, it seemed that the Chinese were

exhibiting all that reluctance to make trouble which characterized

Crockett’s famous 'coon, demonstrating their willingness to come down to

any required extent if Marshal Oyama would only consent not to shoot.

The force under Yamagata, advancing from Feng-hwang in two divisions,

one towards Port Arthur and one on the road to Mukden, met no resistance

that was strong enough to intercept their advance, although there was

some fighting at two or three stands. The right division advanced

northwestward and entered the Manchoorian highlands by the Mo-thien-ling

pass where a force was gathered to oppose it. The left division marched

towards Siu-Yen where another Chinese force was encamped. It was the

outpost of this division, pursuing the Chinese fugitives through

Taku-shan, which made junction with the second army and completed the

chain of communication.

On the 9th of November the Japanese advanced and attacked Namquan pass,

a strongly fortified neck between Society Bay and Talien-wan. There was

no concerted defense, and each Chinese detachment was separately routed.

Some thousands of refugees from Kinchow, who were flying towards

villages in the vicinity, were mistaken for the enemy and were fired

upon from the rear of the defenses, many being killed.

Again the Chinese authorities in Peking decided to seek peace through

the influence and intervention of western powers between herself and

Japan. On the morning of November 15 the emperor gave an audience to the

diplomatic representatives in Peking, and all the ministers were

present. His Majesty’s action in thus receiving the diplomatists caused

considerable stir in high Chinese circles, such a violation was it of

imperial Chinese etiquette. This audience was granted on the occasion of

the presentation of letters of congratulation by the ministers, on the

sixtieth birthday of the dowager empress. For the first time in Chinese

history the audience was held in the imperial palace itself. As an

especial mark of courtesy the foreign ministers entered by the central

gate, the gate through which the emperor only is usually allowed to

pass.

The ministers had audience with the emperor separately, and the

reception was of a distinctly formal character, lasting but a few

minutes. The audience took place in the hall where His Majesty was

accustomed to hear the Confucian classics expounded. He was seated

cross-legged on the Dragon Throne, surrounded by a numerous body of

princes and officials. In front of His Majesty was placed a small table

covered with yellow satin, which concealed the lower half of his person.

In the short interviews with each minister, who stood some ten feet from

His Majesty, Prince Kung and Prince Ching acted alternately as masters

of the ceremonies, and interpreted the speeches. The emperor spoke

entirely in the Manchoo tongue. He appeared small and delicate,

possessing a fine forehead, with expressive brown eyes, and an

intellectual countenance. The emperor’s position, surrounded as he was

by the dignitaries of his court, gave him an imposing appearance,

although to a close observer he looked and spoke like a lad of sixteen

or seventeen years. His Majesty did not indulge in any social

conversation with the visitors, but spoke formally to all. The interview

was granted in the hope that western sympathy would be secured for the

threatened orientals.

Now that the approach to Port Arthur has brought the Japanese army

almost to the walls, let us take a brief retrospect of the operations of

the month. On the 24th of October the debarkation of the second army on

the Liao-Tung peninsula began, to the northwest of the Elliot islands,

at Kwa-yuen. No opposition of any kind was encountered, but natural

difficulties such as shallow beaches and great range of tides impeded

the operation, so that all the stores were not landed until the evening

of the 30th. The troops however were put in motion at once, and on

October 28th the advance guard reached Pitszwo, a place of some

importance at the junction of the Niuchwang, Port Arthur, and Taku-shan

road. This place was twenty-five miles from the port of debarkation.

Forty-five miles farther southwest, the troops came upon Kinchow, at the

point where the two post roads of the peninsula met. On November 6 the

Japanese captured this town without difficulty, and the next day Field

Marshal Oyama’s troops, pressing close on the heels of the flying enemy,

reached the formidable isthmus a couple of hours after them, and to the

accompaniment of a thunderous bombardment from the fleet, seized the

defenses without a struggle. After such a singular display of blundering

and cowardice on the part of the Chinese, what followed was not

astonishing. The troops passing the isthmus, found themselves on the

shore of Talien-wan Bay, one of the best harbors in North China. Ample

preparations for defense had indeed been made, but they were not

utilized by the cowardly soldiers. The Japanese themselves were taken by

surprise. They had not contemplated such a fiasco.

Meanwhile the army had continued its march towards Port Arthur. Their

line of communication to the rear, both by land and sea, was perfect.

The commissariat was in the best condition for service. The hospital

corps was active and modern in its manner of work. Nurses of the Red

Cross Society, both men and women, accompanied the army and were

provided with everything in the power of the commander to grant, being

shown every courtesy. On the other hand, efforts made by hospital corps

to reach the Chinese wounded from the Chinese side of the lines, met

with utter failure. Two Red Cross nurses were turned back by the Chinese

authorities at Tien-tsin, they declining to be responsible for the

safety of non-combatants. The Taotai Sheng said, “We do not want to save

our wounded. A Chinaman cheerfully accepts the fates that befall him.”

More than a fortnight had Marshal Oyama’s army been marching in two

divisions, eastern and western, down the peninsula to Port Arthur. The

distance was less than fifty miles, but the country was a difficult one,

there being practically no roads available except in the cultivated

valleys. As the army approached the objective point, there were

occasional brushes with the enemy. At Ye-jo-shu on November 18, the army

was more than half way from Kinchow to Port Arthur, and almost within

sight of the goal. The next day’s march was expected to bring the forces

to camp on the safe side of the hills, within an hour’s ride of Port

Arthur, unless the Chinese should prevent. The next day was to be

devoted to rest and to making sure that everything was properly arranged

and ready for the fray; and it was confidently asserted that on the

evening of the day after, November 21, the Japanese army would sleep

peacefully in Port Arthur with Dragon Flags for bed quilts.

On the morning of the 18th the Chinese made a reconnoissance in force,

but retired without discovering much except a Japanese scouting party,

which had a narrow escape. The army was moving along steadily with

General Nishi leading the vanguard, General Yamaji, his staff, and the

war correspondents all with the main body, and General Nogi bringing up

the rear. The field marshal and his staff were also behind, and General

Hasegawa was on the left wing, with his forces practically covering the

country down to the south coast. In front and on the right as far as the

not very distant north coast, small bodies of cavalry and infantry were

thrown out along the valleys. The country was magnificent for defensive

purposes, studded with moderately steep hills, ranging from low

undulations up to huge crags two thousand feet high, with hundreds of

rocky ravines and gulleys; broad fertile valleys never very level,

intersected by winding water courses, like a labyrinth, almost dry at

this season.

Every two or three miles there were small villages roughly built of

stone, nestling in hollows, with a few trees here and there. In and

about the villages scores of natives crowded, curious to see the

foreigners they feared; on the hilltops were the more timorous ones,

watching awhile and then hurrying away perhaps to tell the Chinese army

what they had seen, but no attempt was ever made to stop them, except

occasionally to ask a question or two. The road was the military road

connecting Port Arthur with Kinchow, Niuchwang and Peking. There was not

the least sign of anything having been done to keep it in repair since

it was first cut a quarter of a century ago, the soft parts were deep

rutted, and would be well-nigh impassable after heavy rain, while the

rocky parts were jagged and strewn with stones of all sizes and shapes.

Over the plains dust drove in black clouds which enveloped the column,

suggesting the great dust storms of North China. There was bright sunny

weather, but the nights were cold during the march down the peninsula.

The day’s march which had begun at seven in the morning, was to end at

Ye-jo-shu, a big village near the sea, about ten miles northeast of Port

Arthur. Before entering the village General Yamaji was met by an

aid-de-camp with news of fighting ahead, half way to Port Arthur. After

a little hesitation the general granted the request of two of the

correspondents to permit them to go forward, and they galloped off to

the left in a southwesterly direction. Five miles away, among the

hilltops, they caught a glimpse of a small, square, stone building, like

a fort or watchtower, and all around it could be discerned figures

moving amidst clouds of smoke. The road was lined many yards on either

side with men and animals, all racing in the same direction, spurting to

be first at a ford or a narrow defile, urging and helping each other,

and only afraid the enemy might retire too soon.

[Illustration: JAPANESE SKIRMISHERS BEFORE PORT ARTHUR.]

It was an hour after midday, and Nishi’s force had just begun to pitch

camp south of Ye-jo-shu, when a courier arrived and announced that the

outer pickets were being forced and cut off. Firing had begun at eleven

o’clock, but did not become serious until an hour later. Cavalry were

rushed to the front, then infantry, then artillery and ammunition trains

as they could be mustered and got away. The correspondents galloped hard

where the land allowed, past soldiers looking to their rifles and

pouches as they ran, past lumbering guns and kicking mules, past panting

coolies and Red Cross men, threading their way through the throng,

cheering the wounded as they were taken to the rear, smiling bravely in

spite of pain. Progress was delayed in the narrow lanes of a picturesque

village, in a little wooded hollow where the artillery stuck in a broad,

shallow stream. But by eager efforts it was got clear, and went on

scrambling up the bank, splashing and stumbling through half dried

ditches, plunging in the soft sand, and bumping over boulders, sparing

neither man nor beast in the rush up the glen to the top of the hill.

There stood Brigadier-General Nishi, watching a “strategic rearward”

movement of the Chinese in the plain beyond, and directing operations

intended to cut them off if possible. Two strong columns were pushed out

right and left, like the horns of a crescent among the hills encircling

the valley, towards the sea northwest and Port Arthur southwest. The

artillery was already on the spot, but was not used yet; there was no

need to let the Chinese know how much strength was massing before Port

Arthur.

The engagement originated simply in a surprise meeting of opposing

scouts. The Chinese had been creeping all over the valley and

surrounding hills, along the ravines and behind the ridges; Japanese had

been striking out in twos and threes, reconnoitering many miles into the

enemy’s country. Suddenly shots were heard, and a general move was made

on both sides for the main road in the center. The Japanese seeing no

great force in front, and knowing how quickly help could be brought from

behind them, stood their ground at first. About noon however three

strong columns of Chinese with cavalry and artillery, probably three

thousand in all, filed out through the hills from main roads and

by-paths leading from Port Arthur. The Japanese were in great danger of

being surrounded before the advance guard could arrive. Only a score of

cavalry and about two hundred infantry, they had to fight their way back

at pretty close quarters, hand to hand at one point. The Chinese

advanced with an immense display of banners almost to the foot of the

hill where Nishi stood; but the small force of three hundred Japanese

cavalry sent out to draw them on, seemed to scare them off, for by half

past one they were in full retreat, in good order, over the same paths

by which they had come, only just in time to escape the consummation of

the Japanese flank movements. It was no use trying to pursue them into

the hills about Port Arthur; for as the full force of Nishi’s brigade

was collecting about the old stone monument the Chinese army was

disappearing through the passes six miles away.

[Illustration: RETREAT OF CHINESE SOLDIERS AFTER THE FALL OF PORT

ARTHUR.]

A cavalry patrol of seven went forward and followed cautiously along the

main road until dusk, turning back at a village just under the hills.

They saw the bodies of the seven Japanese who had been left dead on the

field, hacked, stripped, beheaded, and in two cases minus the right

hand; they saw the cavalryman’s horse lying partly flayed with the skin

turned back where two large pieces of flesh had been carved out and

carried away. They saw traces of the Chinese every few yards, but no

bodies; they must have been removed, for the men of Satsuma had not died

for nothing. They saw no signs of life except the patrols and men with

stretchers for the dead, as they rode back slowly into camp at

Ye-jo-shu, over ten miles of wretched roads, the horses nearly dead with

the fatigue of a long day’s work, stumbling at every step, and finally

having to be left with the coolies while the riders walked most of the

way. These coolies were simply wonderful in their endurance; after the

helter-skelter race for the monument they came up smiling only a few

minutes behind, in spite of their forty pound pack on their shoulders.

[Illustration: JAPANESE SOLDIERS REMOVING DEAD BODIES.]

The advance was slow during the 19th and 20th, the desire being to give

the soldiers as much rest as possible before the hard work of the

assault. On arriving at Dojoshu, a village at the foot of the hills near

Port Arthur, about noon on the 20th, the troops were halted. Oyama had

gone around to survey the field, and was expected back every minute, so

the time of waiting was passed in a hurried midday meal. Suddenly the

boom of heavy guns was heard, and the Chinese were seen advancing in two

columns, the right one by Suishiyeh, under the eyes of the troops who

held the hill where the army had halted, and the left by way of the west

side of the valley, out of sight behind the foot hills. They had at last

learned that the invading armies had almost surrounded them, and must be

dislodged if possible. But it was not possible now. It was too late.

As soon as the advancing left column got within a mile, a portion of the

Japanese artillery opened with shrapnel. The forts replied as soon as

the positions were revealed. About 3:00 o’clock the Chinese column got

within short range of the Japanese batteries, and was struck fairly in

the center by the first two shells. The foolish banners dropped at once,

and the column lay down. Bravely the line was reformed twice, but the

shelling was too hot and too accurate. The Chinese got their field guns

into position but could do nothing for practically none of the Japanese

were exposed to them or to the forts. There was a little musketry fire

on both sides, but of no importance. The artillery settled the affair,

and by 5:00 o’clock the whole of the Chinese army had marched back into

camp. The forts away on the sea-front got into action before dusk, and

dropped a few 12-inch shells uselessly on the hilltops a mile beyond the

Japanese; but when the last streak of daylight had disappeared, all was

quiet. During the rest of the night there was no sound nor sign on

either side.

THE CAPTURE OF PORT ARTHUR AND THE MASSACRE.

--------------

Description of the Great Chinese Naval Station—Strength of its

position—The Defenses—Arrangement of Japanese Troops, and Plan of

Attack—The First Assault—Attack and Counter-Attack—Fall of the Chinese

Forts—Action of the Fleet—The Japanese in the Streets of Port

Arthur—Massacre of Fugitives—Japanese Red Cross Society and Its Previous

Good Work—Shocking Details of the Atrocities Committed After the Taking

of the Town—Four Days of Violence and Cruelty—Stories of

Eyewitnesses—Japanese Explanations and Excuses—Effects of the Capture of

Port Arthur on the War.

Port Arthur, or to give it its native name, Lu-shun-kou, was the largest

naval station possessed by the Chinese. Situated at the extreme southern

end of the Liao-Tung peninsula, Port Arthur in its earlier days afforded

convenient shelter for winter-bound junks employed in carrying timber

from the Yalu River to the ports westward. At that period it was merely

a small village consisting of less than one hundred mud houses, an

occasional shop, and three or four inns. The prosperity of the town

began with the determination of the authorities in 1881 to establish a

naval dockyard at the port. At first the work was entrusted to native

contractors, who however proved to be quite incapable of carrying out so

extended an undertaking, and in 1887 a French company took up the

contract, completing the work in three years. The port then boasted of a

large basin with a depth of twenty-five feet at low water. Spacious

wharves and quays bordered this basin, and were connected with the

workshops by a railroad. Two dry-docks were built ready for repairing

ships of all sizes, from iron clads to torpedo vessels. Foundries and

workshops were constructed on the most improved models, and containing

the best modern machinery. The fact that the harbor was always free from

ice, even in the coldest of winter, added to its value. By the time of

the beginning of the war, the number of houses had multiplied until they

were able to contain a population of about six thousand, exclusive of

the garrison. There were also two large temples, two theatres, and

several banks, besides the necessary stores and warehouses.

Such land defenses as this important dockyard possessed when the war

broke out, were limited to nine small redoubts, connected by mud walls

in some cases, on the north and northeast, and three redoubts on the

southwest. On the north side a range of hills from three hundred and

fifty to six hundred and fifty feet high, running from the sea to a

shallow inlet of the harbor, enclosed the position. The tops of these

hills were not more than two thousand five hundred yards from the

dockyard and town. The original line of defenses was still closer to the

town, and on the northern side was only about one thousand yards in

advance of the vital point. The strongest part of the position was a

group of three coast batteries surrounded by a continuous mud wall, and

crowning a hill on the right of the entrance to the harbor. The works

all appeared to be designed for the protection of the narrow harbor

mouth, which at the entrance was only a few hundred yards wide.

Upon the outbreak of the war, much additional fortification was carried

out. The normal garrison of four thousand was greatly increased, and the

troops who were drilled on the European model garrisoned the

fortifications, and were to be further assisted in the defense of the

port by submarine mines and a fleet of torpedo boats. The forts were

armed with heavy Krupp guns, and the artillery men were especially

trained by a German officer. Within the defenses there were all of the

most recent scientific appliances, electric search lights, torpedo

factories, etc., and the forts were connected by telephone.

The Japanese army broke camp at Dojoshu village before Port Arthur at

1:00 A.M. on November 21, and marching by circuitous and very difficult

routes over the outlying hills, sometimes quite close to the sea at

Pigeon Bay, got into line of battle before daylight. The moon was in the

last quarter, and gave very little light; the sky was quite clear, and

the weather dry and cool. The positions were as heretofore described.

The key of the position was the northwest triple fort on Table Mountain,

and there the whole weight of the opening attack was concentrated. The

field marshal and his staff were mostly near the center of the line, and

the heavy siege artillery was planted on the best position available

near the center, and north to northeast of Port Arthur, five or six

miles away, with Suishiyeh and the forts right opposite and well in

range. The first division under General Yamaji occupied the right wing,

and had the roughest and most broken country to traverse. Nine batteries

of field and mountain guns were got into fine positions, on lofty

ridges, nearly on the same level and almost within rifle shot of the

forts; while behind the artillery lay large bodies of infantry ready for

a rush. Brigadier-General Nishi had charge of the extreme right, and

Brigadier-General Nogi the right center, near the field marshal. On the

left, Brigadier-General Hasegawa had his mixed brigade rather wider

apart, as the hills were not near enough to aid greatly in an assault on

the forts; nor were the hills very good as artillery positions. Hasegawa

had only two batteries, but the flying column under Lieutenant-Colonel

Masamitsu, that had moved from San-ju-li Ho on the south shore road was

with him, and had a mountain battery beside two battalions of infantry

and a thousand cavalry.

The first shot was fired within two or three minutes of seven o’clock,

from a battery of thirty guns, just as the day was becoming light enough

for gun practice. Then for an hour the Japanese guns blazed into the

Table-Top forts, which with their guns of all sizes kept up a spirited

reply. In the forts, and in the rifle pits on the hillside under the

walls, were about one thousand infantry; near the Japanese batteries

trenches had been dug in the stony ground during the night, and

sheltered ravines had been carefully selected, where practically the

whole of the first division, at least ten thousand men, lay in wait. The

Chinese shells came close by their ears in dozens, bursting or burying

themselves on the other side of the little ravine behind. Many of the

boulders about were struck, but strange to say not a man was killed. In

the first half hour there must have been three hundred shells over an

area of as many yards, but the average elevation was slightly too high,

and no damage was done.

Meantime the Japanese were getting to work all along the line. Each

battery had a telescope fixed to bear on the desired target, though the

dense morning mist and the thick clouds of smoke frequently made it

quite impossible to see for a time. It was easy enough to tell that the

Japanese had got the reins from the very first. The opening shot of the

day, which all watched with intense interest, had struck within five

yards short of a Krupp gun in the nearest of the three forts. The

closeness of this shot, in semi-darkness, at an unknown range estimated

to be one thousand yards, was a fair indication of what followed. One by

one the Chinese guns ceased fire towards eight o’clock, and suddenly a

great shouting came across the valley from the fort. The Japanese

infantry were singing a march song as they charged the forts, and in a

few minutes a huge cheer ran all along the line over the hilltops and In

the valleys where the rest of the Japanese were, and great cries of

“Kot-ta—Victory!” The Chinese emptied their guns and small arms as the

Japanese swarmed up on three sides, firing every few yards and then

rushing forward. The enemy, not numerous enough for hand-to-hand combat,

waited no longer but fled over the edge of the hill, down to the

fortified camps before the town, and the Table Mountain forts displayed

the flag of the Rising Sun.

After this first success, the rest of the battle was practically little

more than a question of time, although there was still a great deal of

hard fighting to follow. Neither side had yet lost more than fifty or

sixty in killed and wounded, and there were still many thousand Chinese

soldiers to be considered. Had the forts been fully manned with plenty

of picked marksmen, they should have cost the invaders several hundreds

if not thousands and should have held out longer. And if the Chinese

artillery had been as accurate and steady as the Japanese, the vast

difference in position and shelter should have more than compensated for

the disparity in numbers. Careful planning, rapidity of attack, and

individual bravery were all on the Japanese side. The Chinese did not,

indeed, run at the sound of shooting, as has been said. They stood their

ground manfully and tried their best to shoot straight up to the last

minute; but they never attempted to face the foe hand to hand to “Die in

the last ditch.”

Only one definite counter-attack was made; a large force, probably near

two thousand of Chinese infantry with a few cavalry, marched out around

the hills westward, north of the Port Arthur lagoon, to turn the

Japanese right flank. General Yamaji, who never showed fatigue all day

but kept near the front calmly and resolutely at every move, detected

the attempt at once, and dispatched Brigadier-General Nishi with the

third regiment and the mountain battery to meet it. The extremely rough,

broken country rendered movement slow, and this part of the battle

dragged on until the afternoon.

[Illustration: JAPANESE ATTACK ON PORT ARTHUR.]

The second regiment had occupied the Isusen forts shortly after eight

o’clock, and the artillery was then ordered forward. The guns had come

on late from Talien-wan, by forced marches night and day, over a very

difficult route, and only arrived at Dojoshu on the night of the 20th,

after the enemy’s attempt to dislodge the field and mountain guns. The

same night twenty of these large guns had been taken into position for

the fight north and west of Suishiyeh, and from one to three kilometers

from the nearest forts. They were supported by the whole of the first

division, fifteen thousand men less twenty-four hundred men detailed to

garrison Kinchow and Talien-wan. Deducting also the regiment of

twenty-four hundred sent to head off the flank movement in the west,

there were ten thousand left before the Table Mountain forts. Not more

than a third actually took part in the storming. The rest were waiting

ready for use if needed, all along the line from the advance guard under

Nishi, near the lagoon, to the center under Nogi, about Peh-ka-shu

village, where the skirmish was on the 19th. Here, midway between the

camp at Dojoshu and the large village of Suishiyeh, Field Marshal Oyama

and his staff remained during the first part of the day, communicating

his orders by aides-de-camp, never by flag, or flash signal, or bugle,

to Yemaji and Hasegawa on the left.

Peh-ka-shu was about a kilometer north of Suishiyeh, and Suishiyeh about

five kilometers north of Port Arthur town, and one kilometer from Table

Mountain fort on the east, and Pine Tree fort on the west. About half

way between Peh-ka-shu and the sea, southeastward, was So-tai-shu where

Hasegawa faced the line of eight forts along a wall of five or six

kilometers. Of course this brigade did not cover all the country; he had

about five thousand men near the center and two thousand near the sea.

The five thousand were about equally divided between Shoju and Niryo,

each one regiment of two thousand four hundred with artillery. In

attacking, two battalions of eight hundred each formed the front, and

one was held behind until within range. Then the whole opened out in

skirmishing order and charged, and the Chinese exploded several mines,

but without effect, as the fuses were not well timed. Some electric

mines were also used but wrongly timed.

[Illustration:

THE ATTACK ON KINCHOW.

Japanese Drawing.

]

While Yamaji was attacking the northwest forts, Hasegawa engaged the

attention of the northeast forts, in order to prevent them from

concentrating fire on the Japanese right. No serious attack was made by

the mixed brigade until the first division had made the winning move.

Thus the Chinese right wasted their energy on almost bare country, while

the weight of the Japanese attack fell on the almost entirely isolated

Chinese left. The strategy succeeded completely, for by the time the

Chinese discovered their mistake it was too late. The Shoju, or Pine

Tree Hill forts opened a heavy fire across Suishiyeh plain, on the hills

occupied by the Japanese; but Isu was already finished and the whole

weight of Japanese artillery was centered on the largest Shoju fort.

Thus the Japanese right wing, which had been briefly threatened by the

forts on its left and the Chinese column on its right, was never really

in any danger, for while the third regiment under Nishi was storming

Isu, the second regiment with its back to the third beat off the enemy’s

infantry, and the mountain, field, and siege batteries gave Shoju far

more than it could face.

It was surprising how the Chinese stood to their guns; they worked like

heroes and aimed their guns well. But what could a fort or a half-dozen

of forts do, against fifty guns hidden in the mountains, moving to get

better positions when possible, and firing systematically and

simultaneously at one point.

A furious fusillade was maintained by both sides for nearly two hours;

but the Chinese shots got wilder and wilder as the Japanese improved,

until finally the Shoju magazine blew up and set fire to the sheds

inside of the forts. Then shortly after eleven o’clock, Hasegawa charged

all along the line, and took all the eight forts one by one. The big

Shoju fort, which had done such determined work was, of course,

evacuated as soon as it caught fire, and for two hours afterward the

ruined wood-work burned and the piles of ammunition continued to

explode. The second largest fort, Liang Leong, or Double Dragon, held

out longest. Twice the Japanese advancing along a ravine tried to break

cover and rush up the hill, but were met by bombs from the mortars, and

had to get back into shelter and try musketry again. Again they came up

magnificently at their officers’ call, and scrambled up the mountain

side in the teeth of a galling cross fire. At the ramparts, not a

Chinaman remained. They fled from fort to fort along the high wall,

firing as they went, and making a stand at every point till too close

for rifles. All over the hills they were chased and for many miles

around hardly a hundred yards could be passed without sight of a Chinese

corpse. Those who escaped got down into the town with the main body of

the Chinese army.

Meanwhile there had been heavy firing, chiefly infantry, between

Suishiyeh, Isu and Port Arthur. There was a flat tract about three miles

square, with low ridges of mud and stones across, behind which the

Chines riflemen lay. They had tried to make a stand about the walled

camps below Isu, but shells and shrapnel soon cleared them out. The

Japanese then mustered in the same place about two thousand men from the

right wing and right center, increasing in number every minute, and

ready to force the town itself. Between these camps and the big drill

ground at the entrance to Port Arthur were some three thousand Chinese

in skirmishing order, making the most of every bit of cover and firing

desperately. Behind them the Chinese field guns, some dozen in number,

tried to locate the enemy and occasionally succeeded; one shell

shattered the corner of the largest camp, where a dense body of Japanese

stood behind the wall waiting for orders, and killed several of them.

Still farther back, a big hill which threatened the town swarmed with

riflemen, who were sheltered by piles of stones and abundantly supplied

with ammunition. Last of all the shore forts were firing a little, but

could not aid much in the melee.

Steadily the Japanese crept forward from cover to cover, assisted by

artillery from Suishiyeh, until the parade ground and the general’s

pavilion overlooking it had been mastered and cleared, and nothing

remained but the trenches of Boulder hill, or Hakugoku, the town itself,

and the shore forts. Along the south of the parade ground ran a broad,

shallow stream that came down the Suishiyeh valley, flowing into a creek

west of Hakugoku. Three times the Japanese came out from behind the

parade ground wall, to cross the bridge, but were driven back by a

withering hail of bullets. At last they forced it and rushed across with

a cheer, and spread out over the face of the hill pursuing the Chinese

up to the town itself. The Second Regiment fired volleys as it advanced

to the town. Not a shot was fired in reply. The battle was over as far

as Port Arthur was concerned.

The Japanese fleet was not inactive during the assault by the land

forces. At 10:30 A.M. the Japanese vessels, comprising the Matsusima,

Chiyoda, Itsukusima, Hasidate, Yoshino, Naniwa, Akitsushima, Takachiho,

Fuso, Hiyei, and Kongo steamed past Port Arthur, rounding the

promontory. The Chiyoda here began to fire shells over the forts at a

very long range. A tugboat from Taku was searched by the Japanese, but

was allowed to proceed. At 4:00 o’clock the fleet returned, passing Port

Arthur again, at a distance of about six miles, and one of the big forts

fired at the Chiyoda but failed to hit her. The admiral did not respond

to the fire nor alter his course but steamed slowly on. A few minutes

later, as the Chinese troops were hurrying down to the harbor, ten

torpedo boats dashed from the fleet, separating in pairs and firing

three-pounder Hotchkiss guns at the exposed soldiers. The fire was

briskly responded to by one fort to the left of the harbor, but not a

single shot told. A steamer which had towed a junk out of Port Arthur

with Taotai Kung in it, making his escape, was cut off on her return and

ran ashore, where the crew deserted her and took to the hills.

[Illustration: PORT ARTHUR FROM THE BAY.]

As the Japanese troops reached the edge of the town, driving the Chinese

before them, a halt was called before the army marched in, as the force

was not yet assembled in strength. This delay enabled the Chinese to

take to boats, and scores of sampans and junks were soon moving off,

some over the lagoon to the mountain fastnesses of Lao-tieh-shan

promontory in the southwest, and some out to sea, in full view of the

Japanese fleet. When the first division was all assembled before the

town, with the left wing to the northeast in case the enemy should rally

and try to dash out, the order was given to enter the town and storm the

inner fort, Golden Hill. The Second Regiment led, firing volleys file by

file through the streets, past the docks, and the burning army stores,

up the hill, and into Ogunsan, which was practically abandoned without

an effort at defense.

During the evening Hasegawa’s brigade went over the hills, and occupied

the two eastern shore forts called the “Mule’s Jaws.” The following

morning Yamaji’s first regiment marched around the lagoon and occupied

the peninsula forts, which had been deserted during the night. Where the

Chinese all vanished to, appeared rather a mystery to the victors. It

was found that most of them got away along the beach past Hasegawa, and

the rest westward in small parties under cover of darkness. In such a

wide stretch of hilly country, it was easy for them to conceal

themselves if they once escaped the vicinity of their foes. Port Arthur

was in full possession of Marshal Oyama, with the fleet under Admiral

Ito safe in the harbor.

Now comes the most painful recital of the war. It is difficult to

reconcile in any one’s mind the pretensions to enlightened civilization

which the Japanese had claimed, with the horrible atrocities committed

by the victorious army during the days following the capture of Port

Arthur. Let us glance at what had been the history of Japanese treatment

of the wounded in previous battles.

It will be remembered that in a foregoing chapter of this work, the

proclamation of the Japanese minister of war enjoining humanity upon all

his soldiers was quoted, and that it was stipulated that the ignorance

of the Chinese as to the true meaning of humanity would cause them to

commit atrocities no doubt, which must not be imitated in retaliation by

Japanese troops. At Hiroshima, the military headquarters of Japan during

the war, was the principal military hospital and the establishment of

the Red Cross society, which to investigators were a remarkable

revelation after all that had been said about Japanese inhumanity and

indifference to suffering. As long ago as 1877, when the Satsuma clan

raised the standard of rebellion, a benevolent society was founded to

aid and care for the sick and wounded, enemies as well as friends, after

the manner of the European Red Cross societies. Subscriptions at once

began to pour in, the emperor and empress helping greatly, and

throughout the Satsuma war the young organization distinguished itself

admirably. From that time special efforts were made to bring the society

up to the high standard of its western models in every way; and when the

government of Japan in 1886 declared its adhesion to the Geneva

convention, the “Hakuaisha” was reorganized and formally enrolled on the

international list of Red Cross societies. Since then it had made rapid

progress, its membership reaching nearly thirty thousand in 1893, with

funds liberally augmented by the emperor, and an annual income before

the war with China of $70,000. Since 1887, a large number of women,

including members of the royal family and of the nobility, have become

qualified nurses of the order and have taken instruction in the making

of articles for use in its work. The objects of the society, as set

forth in the rules, are to help the sick and wounded in time of war, and

to prepare for the same by organizing a trained staff in time of peace.

The last activity of the Red Cross society prior to the war in 1891, was

when the central provinces of Japan were devastated by an earthquake

which caused the loss of more than seven thousand lives, besides untold

suffering.

With the object of training a staff properly, the society in 1886

established a hospital of its own in Tokio, and three years later, when

this one was outgrown, a new one was erected on a splendid site provided

by the emperor and empress. The hospital itself covers some two acres,

and the grounds about ten. After the war began, the membership funds and

operations of the society were all multiplied about three times above

normal. All the working staff was under the control of the army medical

staff, and operated in conjunction with the army corps. At Hiroshima in

the permanent military hospital, Chinese wounded by the scores and

hundreds were received and treated with the same care that was given to

the Japanese. For order, cleanliness, and convenience these institutions

would reflect credit on any country. Just prior to the battle of Port

Arthur, the female nurses of the Red Cross societies in Hiroshima

numbered eighty-eight and more were soon to come from Tokio. Like the

men they had uniforms of European pattern, and all wore the badge of

membership. Many had other badges representing special qualifications or

services.

In Corea there were two hospitals managed by the Red Cross society, one

near Chemulpo and the other near Ping-Yang. At the seat of war the

society had a staff of forty, consisting of a chief manager, a

secretary, a treasurer, five doctors, two pharmacists in charge of the

drug supplies and thirty male nurses.

To those who love contrasts, it will be startling to note the difference

between the spirit of the Japanese Red Cross society, which was doing

everything that humanity and science could suggest for wounded Chinamen,

and that of the victorious army at Port Arthur in its atrocious butchery

of unarmed fugitives.

The execrable deeds which followed the taking of the place pushed into

the background the question of how many hundreds on one side or the

other fell in the battle. The massacre of the whole remaining population

of Port Arthur, between two and three thousand, without distinction of

age or sex, and that by the soldiers of Marshal Oyama’s army, for a time

passed practically without mention in the newspapers of England and the

United States. Three of the famous correspondents who entered the town

with the Japanese army were Creelman of the New York _World_, Villiers

of the London _Standard_, and Cowan of the London _Times_. The first

detailed description of the atrocities witnessed by these correspondents

was that made by Creelman, and for a time after his story was published,

other leading American journals denounced it as false. One month later

it was found that Creelman’s shocking story was true in every essential

particular. No words except those from the lips of men who saw the acts

of inhuman barbarity can justly describe the scenes. Said Cowan, in a

letter dated at Kobe twelve days after the taking of Port Arthur:

“What happened after Port Arthur fell into Japanese hands, it would have

been impossible and even dangerous to report while on the spot. At the

earliest possible moment, every foreign correspondent escaped from the

horrifying scene to a place where freedom of speech would be safe; and

as we sailed away from Port Arthur on the Nagoto Maru eight days ago,

almost astonished to find ourselves escaping alive from the awful

epidemic of incredible brutality, the last sounds we heard were those of

shooting, of wanton murder, continued the fifth day after the great

battle. When the Japanese army entered Port Arthur on the 21st,

beginning a little after two o’clock in the afternoon, the Chinese had

resisted desperately till the last, retreating slowly from cover to

cover, until they got back among the buildings on the outskirts of the

town. Then at last all resistance ceased; they were thoroughly defeated,

and made a stampede through the streets trying to hide or to escape,

east or west as best they might. I was on the brow of a steep hill

called “White Boulders,” in Japanese Hakugoku, commanding a close view

of the whole town at my feet. When I saw the Japanese march in, firing

up the streets and into the houses, chasing and killing every live thing

that crossed their path, I looked hard for the cause. I saw practically

every shot fired, and I swear positively that not one came from any but

Japanese. I saw scores of Chinese hunted out of cover, shot down, and

hacked to pieces, and never a man made any attempt to fight. All were in

plain clothes, but that meant nothing for the soldiers flying from death

got rid of their uniforms how they might. Many went down on their knees,

supplicating with heads bent to the ground in kowtow, and in that

attitude were butchered mercilessly by the conquering army. Those who

fled were pursued and sooner or later were done to death. Never a shot

came from a house as far as I could see, and I could hardly believe my

eyes, for, as my letters have shown, the indisputable evidence of

previous proceedings had filled me with admiration of the gentle

Japanese. So I watched intensely for the slightest sign of cause,

confident that there must be some, but I saw none whatever. If my eyes

deceived me, others were in the same plight; the military attaches of

England and America were also on Boulder Hill and were equally amazed

and horrified. It was a gratuitous ebullition of barbarism they

declared, a revolting repudiation of pretended humanity.

“Gun shots behind us turned our attention to the north creek leading

into the broad lagoon. Here swarms of boats were moving away to the

west, loaded to twice their normal limit with panic-stricken fugitives,

men, women, and children, who had stayed too late in the beleaguered

town. A troop of Japanese cavalry with an officer, was at the head of

the creek, firing seaward, slaughtering all within range. An old man and

two children of ten and twelve years had started to wade across the

creek; a horseman rode into the water and slashed them a dozen times

with his sword. The sight was more than mortal man could stand. Another

poor wretch rushed out at the back of a house as the invaders entered

the front door, firing promiscuously. He got into a back lane, and a

moment later found himself cornered between two fires. We could hear his

cry for quarter as he bowed his head in the dust three times; the third

time he rose no more, but fell on his side, bent double in the posture

of petition for the greatly vaunted mercy of the Japanese, who stood ten

paces off and exultantly emptied their guns into him.

“More of these piteous deaths we saw, unable to stay the hands of the

murderers; more and more, far more than one can relate, until sick and

saddened beyond the power of words to tell, we slowly made our way in

the gathering gloom down the hill, picking a path through rifle-pits

thick with Chinese cartridge cases, and back to headquarters. There at

the Chinese general’s pavilion, facing a spacious parade ground, Field

Marshal Oyama and all his officers assembled, amid the strains of

strange music from the military band, now a weird, characteristic

Japanese march, now a lively French waltz, and ending with the

impressive national anthem, “Kaminoga,” and a huge roar from twenty

thousand throats, “Banzai Nippon!” All were overflowing with

enthusiastic patriotism and the delight of a day’s work done, a splendid

triumph after a hard fought fight; none of the Japanese dreamed that

their guests from the west were filled with horror, indignation, and

disgust. It was a relief to get away from that flood of fiendish

exultation, to escape from the effusive glee of our former friends, who

would overwhelm us with their attention which we loathed like caresses

from the ghouls of hell. To have to remain among men who could do what

we had seen was little short of torture.

[Illustration: JAPANESE SOLDIERS MUTILATING BODIES.]

“Robbed of our sleep on the eve of the battle, and utterly exhausted, we

lay long next morning until the sound of shooting roused us. To our

surprise and dismay we found that the massacre of Wednesday, which might

have been explained though certainly not excused on the ground of

excitement in the heat of battle, the flush of victory, and the

knowledge of dead comrades mutilated, was being continued in cold blood

now. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were spent by the soldiery

in murder and pillage from dawn to dark, in mutilation, in every

conceivable kind of nameless atrocity, until the town became a ghastly

Inferno to be remembered with a fearsome shudder until one’s dying day.

I saw corpses of women and children, three or four in the streets, more

in the water; I stooped to pick some of them out to make sure that there

could be no possibility of mistake. Bodies of men strewed the streets in

hundreds, perhaps thousands, for we could not count—some with not a limb

unsevered, some with heads hacked, cross-cut, and split lengthwise, some

ripped open, not by chance but with careful precision, down and across,

disemboweled and dismembered, with occasionally a dagger or bayonet

thrust in private parts. I saw groups of prisoners tied together in a

bunch with their hands behind their backs, riddled with bullets for five

minutes, and then hewn in pieces. I saw a junk stranded on the beach,

filled with fugitives of either sex and of all ages, struck by volley

after volley until—I can say no more.

“Meanwhile every building in the town was thoroughly ransacked, every

door burst open, every box and closet, every nook and cranny looted.

What was worth taking was taken, and the rest destroyed or thrown into

the gutter. Even Mr. Hart, Reuter’s war correspondent on the Chinese

side, whom we found when we entered Port Arthur, was robbed of

everything but the clothes he had on, while his cook and two scully boys

in the same house were shot at their kitchen stove, while doing nothing

but their regular work. Mr. Hart himself had told the Chinese hotel

keeper before the battle not to leave the town, because the Japanese

would certainly do no harm to citizens or property. So thoroughly had

been the discipline maintained, and so perfect the show of civilized

methods in warfare, that the present outburst of cold-blooded brutality

was the very last thing to have been thought possible.

“The Japanese alleged that the populace of the town had been armed with

guns and express ammunition, and that the army when entering the town

had been attacked from the houses. I did afterward find cartridges such

as these lying about; but I never saw one fired. I never saw any attack

from the houses. I saw the Japanese firing before they entered, and as

they entered, without intermission.

“The Japanese who had been wounded and killed or captured in several

skirmishes before the day of the battle, had been horribly mutilated by

the Chinese. We saw several bodies along the line of march, and it is

said others were found in the town, with hands and heads cut off,

stomachs opened, etc. And some were burnt at Kinchow, and one said to be

burnt in Port Arthur. Moreover, placards have been found offering

rewards and stating prices, for heads, hands, or prisoners. So the

Japanese soldiers swore revenge, and they carried out their vow

thoroughly in barbarous eastern style. All that can be said is that the

Chinese committed nameless atrocities which the Japanese repaid a

hundred fold.

“It is unavoidable that innocent persons must be killed in war. I do not

blame the Japanese for that alone; Chinese soldiers dress as peasants

and retain their weapons, and attack when they can under cover of

disguise. It therefore becomes excusable to some extent to regard all

Chinese as enemies, with or without uniform; in that the Japanese are

plainly justified. But regarding them as enemies, it is not humanity to

kill them; they should be taken alive. I saw hundreds killed after being

captured and tied. Perhaps that is not barbarity; at any rate it is the

truth. On the day of the battle, soldiers fresh from the excitement of a

hard struggle cannot help being somewhat bloodthirsty, perhaps. At any

rate their nerves are tense, their blood is up, they are violently

excited. Not that it is right to be so, but it is usual. But the battle

was on the 21st, and still on the 25th, after four nights’ sleep, the

slaughter was continued. Some allowance must be made for the intense

indignation of the soldiers whose comrades had been mutilated by the

Chinese. Indignation is perfectly justifiable; the Japanese were quite

right to feel incensed. But why should they express themselves in the

very same barbarous manner? Is it because they are also barbarous at

heart like the Chinese? Of course they say ‘No.’ Then they will have to

prove it, for the fact remains that a dozen white men saw these Japanese

commit these savageries for four clear days after the day of the fight.”

Creelman’s story was as graphic and as shocking in its details, and

included many of the same sights which were related by Cowan. He says in

part: “The story of the taking of Port Arthur will be one of the

blackest pages in history. An easy victory over a Chinese mob, and the

possession of one of the most powerful strongholds in the world, was too

great a strain upon the Japanese character, which relapsed in a few

hours back to the state from which it awakened a generation ago. Almost

the entire population found in Port Arthur have been massacred, and the

work of butchering unarmed and unresisting inhabitants has continued day

after day until the streets are choked with corpses. The march upon

helpless Peking or a surrender of China to her foe is a small matter in

its vital significance compared with this appalling crime against the

nineteenth century, at a moment when Japan asks to be admitted as an

equal into the family of civilized nations. The Japanese lost about

fifty dead and two hundred and fifty wounded in carrying a fortress that

would have cost them ten thousand men had it been occupied by European

or American troops, and yet the sense of uncontrolled power which let

loose the savagery which had been pent up in the Japanese under the

external forms of civilization, has proved the utter incapability of the

nation to stand the one sure test. Japan stands disgraced before the

world. She has violated the Geneva convention, dishonored and profaned

the Red Cross, and banished humanity and mercy from her councils.

Victory and a new lust for dominion have set her mad.

“All attempts to justify the massacre of the wretched people of Port

Arthur and the mutilation of their bodies, are mere afterthoughts. The

evidence is clear and overwhelming that it was the sudden breaking down

of Japanese civilization under the stress of conscious power. The

tremendous facts revealed by the war so far are, that there is

practically no Chinese army in existence; that Japan has been arraying

herself in the outward garb of civilization, without having gone through

the process of moral and intellectual development necessary to grasp the

ideas upon which modern civilization is founded; that Japan at heart is

a barbarous nation, not yet to be trusted with sovereign power over the

lives and property of civilized men. Up to the moment Port Arthur was

entered I can bear witness that both of her armies now in the field were

chivalrous and generous to the enemy. There was not a stain on her flag.

But it was all blind sentiment. The Japanese were playing with the Red

Cross as with a new toy and their leaders were never weary of calling

the attention of other nations to the spectacle.

“When Port Arthur fell, not even the presence of the horrified British

and American military attaches and of foreign newspaper correspondents

served to check the carnival of murder. I have again and again tried to

save helpless men from slaughter by protest and entreaty, but in vain.

The sign of the Red Cross was jeered at, and in the midst of the orgies

of blood and rapine, with troops tramping over the bodies of unarmed

victims who lost their homes, the fat field marshal and his generals

paced smiling, content at the sound of rifle shots mingling with the

music of the national hymn and the clink of wine glasses. I am satisfied

that not more than one hundred Chinamen were killed in fair battle at

Port Arthur and that at least two thousand unarmed men were put to

death. It may be called the natural result of the fury of troops who

have seen the mutilated corpses of their comrades, or it may be called

retaliation, but no civilized nation could be capable of the atrocities

I have witnessed in Port Arthur. Every scene I have described I have

looked upon myself, either in the presence of the American and British

military attaches, or in the company of Mr. Cowan or Mr. Villiers. The

field marshal and all his generals were aware that the massacre was

being continued day after day.

[Illustration: MARSHAL OYAMA.]

“We watched the Second regiment as it marched into town, firing volleys

as it advanced. Not a shot was fired in reply. The soldiers had made

their escape, and the frightened inhabitants were cowering in the

streets. As the troops moved on they saw the heads of their slain

comrades hanging by cords with the noses and ears gone. There was a rude

arch in the main street decorated with bloody Japanese heads. A great

slaughter followed. The infuriated soldiers killed every one they saw. I

can say as an eyewitness that the wretched people of Port Arthur made no

attempt to resist the invaders. Just below me was a hospital flying the

Red Cross flag, but the Japanese fired upon the unarmed men who came out

of the doorway. A merchant in fur cap knelt down and raised his hands in

entreaty. As the soldiers shot him he put his hands over his face. I saw

his corpse the next day, slashed beyond recognition. Women and children

were hunted and shot at as they fled to the hills with their protectors.

All along the streets I could see the bleeding store keepers shot and

sabered. A junk was discovered in the harbor crowded with fugitives. A

platoon was stretched across the end of a wharf, and fired into the boat

until every man, woman and child was killed. The torpedo boats outside

had already sunk ten junks filled with terror stricken people.

“The Japanese had tasted blood, and the work went on the second day. I

saw four men walking peaceably along the edge of the town, one man in

the street carried a naked infant in his arms. As he ran he dropped the

baby. I found it an hour later, dead. The third, the father of the baby

tripped and fell. In an instant a soldier had pounced upon his back with

a naked bayonet in his hand. I ran forward and made the sign of the Red

Cross on the white non-combatant’s bandage around my arm, but the appeal

was useless. The bayonet was plunged three or four times into the neck

of the prostrate man, and then he was left to gasp his life out on the

ground. I hurried back to my quarters and awakened Frederick Villiers,

who went with me to the spot where I left the dying man. He was dead,

but his wounds were still smoking.

“While we were bending over the corpse we heard shooting a few yards

around a road, and went forward to see what it was. We saw an old man

standing with his hands tied behind his back. On the ground beside him

were the writhing bodies of three other pinioned men who had just been

shot. As we advanced a soldier shot the old man down. This was the third

day after the battle. Next day I went in company with Mr. Villiers to

see a courtyard filled with mutilated corpses. As we entered we

surprised two soldiers bending over one of the bodies. They had ripped

open the corpse. When they saw us they cowered and tried to hide their

faces.”

It is but fair to the Japanese to relate what they had to offer in

contravention of these shocking reports so well substantiated. The

Japanese minister to Great Britain, Mr. Takaki Kato, while passing

through New York some weeks after the taking of Port Arthur, offered

these explanations.

“Port Arthur, while vastly important as a strategic point, was scarcely

more than a village as far as the number of its inhabitants was

concerned. These, which at the outside could not have numbered more than

two or three thousand, consisted of a few petty merchants, laborers, and

workmen in the docks, their families, and the wives and children of some

of the soldiers. This was all that Port Arthur consisted of, as far as

population was concerned in times of peace, except the military forces

that manned the forts. Second, it had long been known that the Japanese

forces were advancing on the fort. All the non-combatants, women and

children, were removed to places of safety long before the battle began;

indeed the exodus was begun fully a month beforehand. Third, in the face

of these reports of wholesale slaughter, how do you account for the fact

that between three and four hundred Chinese soldiers were taken

prisoners in and about the town of Port Arthur immediately after its

occupation?

“The victorious army was compelled before entering the town to pass

through a narrow defile which was strewn with the mutilated bodies of

their advance troops. There lay their comrades in arms, not only dead,

but with every evidence that they had been tortured to death by the most

revolting and brutal methods. Picture such a scene of horror, and you

will have a faint conception of the sight that greeted our victorious

soldiers as they marched through that narrow pass. These were their

comrades, their companions, that lay before them as ghastly evidences of

inhuman brutality. Can you appreciate the low murmur of horror that

passed along the line? Can you understand how each man then and there in

his heart determined to avenge such fiendishness, and then can you blame

our men for killing every Chinese soldier found hidden in the town when

they first entered? Yes, there were excesses, regrettable but surely

exhonorable excesses, after the battle of Port Arthur. But these wild

tales of the wholesale slaughter of innocent women are fiction pure and

simple. A few women may have been killed in the general melee that

followed the first entrance into the town, but that was accident, not

intention, if it occurred at all. With a very few exceptions all the men

killed proved to be Chinese soldiers who had discarded their arms and

uniforms.

“What our troops saw of Chinese barbarity did not begin with Port Arthur

nor did it end there. The most atrocious cruelties were the rule at

Ping-Yang, Kinchow, and indeed every engagement. Before accepting this

reported wantonness of our troops at Port Arthur we must take into

consideration what the Japanese troops did before and what they have

done since. Nowhere has there been butchery or cruelty, but kindness,

moderation and nobility. This in spite of all that our soldiers saw of

the fate of their unhappy companions; this in the face of new

barbarities that were revealed almost daily. Is this not a credit to our

soldiers worthy of national pride and international appreciations?”

The variety of explanations offered to excuse the atrocities was

considerable. It was reported from Port Arthur a few days after the

charges had been made, that the capture of the place was indeed marked

by regrettable excesses, but the offenders were not regular soldiers. It

was said that the night after the capture of the stronghold, a number of

coolies attached to the army as laborers came into the town from the

camps. These men carried swords, in order to obviate the necessity of

always having regular troops told off for their protection.

Unfortunately they obtained access to some Chinese stores of liquor, and

became intoxicated. While in this condition they were reminded of the

atrocious cruelties committed by the Chinese upon defenseless Japanese

prisoners, and became frenzied. All the coolies practically ran amock,

and no Chinamen whom they met was spared. It was declared that some of

the coolies were at once arrested, and that Marshal Oyama was already

investigating the affair, when he received instructions from imperial

headquarters at Hiroshima to institute a rigorous inquiry.

The barbarities practised by the Chinese against the Japanese, which

resulted in the atrocious retaliation, were fully corroborated from many

sources. A correspondent of the American Bible Society wrote thus from

Shanghai:

“The reported inhuman atrocities of the Chinese are fully confirmed.

They were guilty of barbarities too revolting to mention. A scouting

party of Japanese, including an interpreter, were captured by the

Chinese near Port Arthur just before the attack on the fortress. They

were fastened to stakes by nails through their shoulders, burned alive,

and then quartered and their ghastly remains stuck up on poles by the

roadside. Some Japanese members of the Red Cross society were captured

by the Chinese soldiers and flayed alive. During the attack on Port

Arthur the defenders used explosive bullets. Is it any wonder that the

Japanese generals issued the order that no quarter should be shown? The

track of the retreating army has been marked by pillage, rapine, wanton

destruction and outrage, so that the people welcome the Japanese.”

Japanese diplomats in Washington did not take kindly to the civilized

censure of Japanese atrocities. They had read up on Andersonville, Libby

Prison, Fort Pillow, Wounded Knee, the British cruelties in India and

Africa, the Russian record, and they were ready to compare notes with

civilized armies on the subject of cruelty in war. They also brought

forward native Japanese papers which described the taking of Port

Arthur, and declared that those who were killed after the assault

suffered only because of the frenzy of a few Japanese, shocked by what

they had seen of the cruelties to their own comrades. It was declared

that the Japanese officers and the body of the troops did all in their

power to stop the bloodshed. Furthermore, the Japanese government asked

for a suspension of judgment until the merits of the case could be

investigated.

The savage massacres which marked the capture of Port Arthur were not

the first, nor will they be the last which will disgrace the conduct of

troops calling themselves civilized. English troops were guilty of

similar massacre in the Peninsular campaign, at least one time in the

Crimea, and repeatedly in suppressing rebellion in India. Our own troops

in the west have been stung to ruthless massacre by the discovery of

their tortured dead in Indian villages. Fort Pillow gave ghastly proof

of the readiness to butcher in our war. French troops in Algeria, New

Zealand colonists in suppressing a Maori rising, and Boers in South

Africa have slaughtered without mercy. These occasions neither palliate

nor excuse barbarity. It is wrong in all races, and in all races from

time to time it will come to the surface. The amazing fact about Japan

is that it is the first Asiatic nation in all history which has fought

any battles and conducted any military operations without massacre. The

slaughter or slavery of surrendered troops has been the unbroken rule of

Asiatic warfare for centuries. Japan has actually been able to reverse

the practice and habit of generations, to school its soldiers to mercy,

and even in the present instance it has been followed, as Wellington’s

massacres in the Peninsula never were, by investigation and an attempt

at repressing like disorder in the future.

As an indication of the trend of thought of Chinese newspapers, and of

ignorance of the Chinese people concerning the truth of the war, it is

amusing to note the report of one of the vernacular papers on the fall

of Port Arthur. This paper editorially says:—“In allowing the Japanese

to take Port Arthur, General Tso was actuated by motives of the deepest

strategy, and the able manner in which he attained his end, without

allowing his opponents to penetrate his designs, stamps him as one of

the greatest military commanders China has ever seen. Knowing Peking to

be the ultimate goal of the Japanese, General Tso was satisfied that

should a too obstinate resistance be offered at any point, the Japanese

would leave the Chinese unconquered in his rear, and would push on to

the capital; whereas, if an important place like Port Arthur should fall

into their hands, the little men would enjoy the sensation as they would

a new toy, and it would delay them in their march while the road to

Peking was rendered impregnable. General Tso, therefore, inflicted all

the loss possible upon the Japanese, without allowing them to be

absolutely discouraged, and then when defeat was staring his opponents

in the face, gave the signal to his troops to retreat, which they did in

good order. So great was the loss of the Japanese, that it was not until

some hours after the last Chinese soldier had departed, that they

ventured to enter the forts.

“General Tso displayed marked military skill in his defensive tactics,

and by ordering half-charges of powder to be used in the big guns, and

filling the shell and torpedoes with sand, deluded the innocent

commander of the Japanese fleet into the belief that the defenses and

sea forts of Port Arthur were innocuous. As a result the Japanese fleet

boldly ventured close to the forts and within the line of the torpedo

defenses, and before they discovered their mistake three men-of-war,

seven transports, and twenty-one torpedo boats were sunk by the Chinese

fire and submarine mines. The result of General Tso’s actions prove, as

we have always maintained, that it is inadvisable for China to employ

other than native commanders in the present war. In hand-to-hand combats

the savage and flesh-eating Fanquoi is physically superior to our men,

but no man other than one conversant with the military wisdom of our

enlightened race could have planned and brought to a successful

conclusion the train of events which ended in the offering of Port

Arthur as a bait to our diminutive opponents.”

From a military point of view, the capture of Port Arthur by the

Japanese was an event of the first importance, while its moral effect

and its consequent influence upon the diplomatic situation was very

great. It transferred from one side to the other all the advantages of a

fully equipped arsenal and dockyard, occupying a commanding strategical

position, and therefore modified all the conditions, naval as well as

military, of the campaign. It made the defense more hopeless than ever,

and extended the chain of Chinese disaster.

[Illustration:

CHANG YEN HOON.

Envoy sent by China to Japan to negotiate terms of peace before the

despatch of

Li Hung Chang.—See pages 623 and 655.

]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FROM PORT ARTHUR TO WEI-HAI-WEI.

--------------

China Makes Another Attempt towards Peace—The Envoy Rejected Because of

lack of Credentials and Rank—President Cleveland Offers to Help Create

Peace—Chinese and Manchoos at War—Japanese Victories Immediately after

the Taking of Port Arthur—More Corean Politics—The Third Japanese

Army—Preparing for a Descent on the Chinese Mainland—Wei-hai-wei and Its

Capture.

Even before Port Arthur had fallen, China was making another attempt to

secure peace through the intervention of foreign nations. As this seemed

slow in coming, however, it was decided that an informal effort to stop

hostilities would be made, one indeed of such a sort that it might be

disavowed if criticism seemed to demand. Consequently, Mr. Gustav

Detring, the Chinese Commissioner of Customs under Sir Robert Hart, was

sent to Japan to feel the way in preliminary negotiations. In its

perplexity and distress, the Chinese government took the step which only

extremity could have driven it to take. It swallowed the pill which was

of all things most bitter. The emperor, on the advice of his council and

at the instigation of Prince Kung and Li Hung Chang, appointed a

foreigner as envoy to Japan. The office was not one which timid Chinamen

would envy, because none of them were ambitious to hand down their names

to posterity in connection with the humiliation of their country. The

wisest man in office was Prince Kung, but he was not the dictator which

he was supposed to be. He was thwarted by other influences, among them

the Grand Council, of which he was not but ought to have been a member.

In this confusion, the grand imperial effort towards centralization of

authority had partially at least failed, and the failure had the effect

of rehabilitating for the moment the Viceroy Li Hung Chang, who once

more stood out as the only possible practical man. This aged statesman

had many faults, which those who were nearest to him saw most clearly,

but if we compare even his faults with the wisdom of his compeers, he

was still the one-eyed man among the blind, the only man at the time in

the empire who was capable of anything, and whose removal from the scene

would have been regarded with grave apprehension by all who were

interested in the maintenance of order against chaos.

Mr. Detring, with his suite, left Tien-tsin November 22 by rail to

Tung-ku, embarked there on a steamer, under the German flag, called the

Li-yu, and steamed down the Gulf of Pechili past Chefoo and Wei-hai-wei.

Not until the vessel reached Japan did they know of the fall of Port

Arthur. The vessel proceeded to Kobe, where no one was permitted to land

at first. The envoy at once sought communication with Count Ito, and

applied to the local authorities to inform His Excellency thereof. The

result was not an invitation to Mr. Detring to visit Hiroshima, but the

dispatch of the Secretary-General of the cabinet, Mr. Ito Moiji, to

confer with him at Kobe. From this point there is a difference of

statement as to what occurred. The Chinese declare that before the

arrival of the secretary, Mr. Detring had been recalled by his

government, and having taken leave of the governor he left at daylight

on the 29th without waiting to see Mr. Ito, who had arrived the previous

night. The Japanese, on the contrary, assert that they refused to

entertain any proposals from Mr. Detring, as he was not properly

accredited and had no authority whatever to make peace negotiations.

However that may be, it is certain that he returned to China without

having an audience with any Japanese officials, and that the peace

negotiations were never even begun.

The next surprise was that whereas the United States had declined to

entertain England’s proposal for a coalition of powers to restore peace

to the orient, President Cleveland subsequently tendered to Japan his

good offices as mediator. He hoped that by his aid peace might be

restored, and restored in such a manner as to secure to Japan the just

fruits of her victories. A reply declining his proposal, couched in duly

grateful terms, was conveyed to the president by Japan, and he having

learned in the interval that the European powers would not agree to

intervene conjointly, ceased his own activity. It was still hoped

however that Minister Denby at Peking and Minister Dun at Tokio would be

able to use their good offices in advancing peace. Japan was holding out

the insistence that China must speak for herself if she wanted peace.

Japan however did go so far as to say that if China had any propositions

of peace to make, they might be transmitted in the beginning through the

United States ministers in Japan and China. It was still evident

however, that China would hold off as long as possible, in the hope that

something would turn up to relieve her of the necessity of suing for

peace.

The Manchoo princes feared and mistrusted the Chinese, who seemed to be

indifferent to the issue of the war, and intent only on obtaining

individual advantage. It was reiterated again and again, that the

Chinese secret societies desired Japanese success in order that the

Manchoo dynasty be overthrown and the Chinese restored to power. Captain

Von Hannecken, at the request of the Tsung-li Yamen, submitted a

comprehensive scheme of military reorganization. This was approved by

the emperor and the Manchoo statesmen, but was frustrated by the

strategem of certain wealthy taotais, on the alleged ground of economy.

The question was then referred from Peking to Tien-tsin. Thus the

central and provincial governments reduced each other to impotence.

Genuine reform in China appeared to be hopeless, owing to the invincible

ignorance of the rulers. There was much popular discontent at the

imbecility of the government.

Let us now return to the other forces of Chinese and Japanese, whose

movements, comparatively unimportant, have been neglected for the

advance on Port Arthur. A considerable portion of the Chinese fleet was

still in the harbor at Wei-hai-wei, sometimes cruising out for a little

while, but usually safe at anchor. Several of the Chinese vessels had

slipped out of Port Arthur harbor when Japanese backs were turned, and

steamed across to supposed safety at Wei-hai-wei. On November 22 the

Chen-Yuen, the largest and most formidable battle ship remaining to the

Chinese, ran ashore while entering Wei-hai-wei harbor, and trying to

avoid the torpedoes placed in the channel. She was somewhat damaged by a

torpedo, and was finally beached and rendered useless for the time.

Commodore Liu Taitsan, who was in command of the vessel, anticipated

official condemnation by committing suicide.

The fall of Port Arthur was followed immediately by a succession of

victories for the Japanese arms in Manchooria, the first Japanese army

continuing its success. The advance of this army towards Mukden

terrorized the people of Manchooria, and the abandonment of the sacred

city by its inhabitants began. The country around was in a state of

desolation. The wounded mostly remained in villages between Niuchwang

and Mukden, the state of the country preventing the Chinese medical

staff and foreign volunteers from proceeding thither. Mukden was

evacuated in the beginning of November by the foreign residents, who

remained at Niuchwang. The Roman Catholic fathers remained at their

station in Manchooria, but the Protestant missionaries returned to safer

regions.

At Jeh-ho the Mongols rose in rebellion, in revenge for the

assassination of six Mongolian princes. Troops had to be called to put

down the insurrection, as had so often occurred before during the war.

On the day of the taking of Port Arthur, a large body of Chinese troops

under General Sung attacked Talien-wan and Kinchow, where Japanese had

been left to guard baggage trains and provisions. The conflicts were

sharp, and a number was killed on both sides, but the Chinese were

finally forced to retire. The day after Port Arthur’s fall, the greater

portion of Count Oyama’s army turned and marched northward through the

Laio-Tung promontory, in the direction of Niuchwang. Ten thousand troops

were left behind to guard Japanese interests at Port Arthur.

November 25, sharp fighting took place near the Mo-thien-ling pass,

between a portion of General Sung’s army and the Japanese under Count

Yamagata. After the Chinese troops had retired from Chiu-lien, they

concentrated north of Mo-thien-ling, and the engagement was an attempt

to turn the Japanese right flank at Tsokow. The conflict opened with a

sharp fusillade, and the Chinese fought with considerable stubbornness

for a time, losing heavily before they finally retired. The attack was

the most determined effort that the Chinese had made since Ping-Yang.

The alarm which existed among the residents of Manchooria, causing their

exodus to Niuchwang, was caused quite as much by Chinese soldiery

retreating or disbanded, as by the Japanese army’s advance. Many

deserters had joined the bands of robbers and brigands to raid the

country in every direction.

The first army, under Field Marshal Yamagata, finding the country in the

direction of Mukden wasted and deserted, while guerrilla troops harassed

them continually, now abandoned the march to Mukden and joined the

second army, which had turned north, near Niuchwang, Field Marshal Oyama

had sent his transports and a portion of his fleet around the Liao-Tung

peninsula, to move towards Niuchwang, paralled with his army. General

Techimi’s division met the enemy December 10, and after a pitched battle

defeated them with heavy loss. It being reported that a large force of

Chinese under General I was encamped near Kinkua-hu, General Techimi was

ordered to advance upon that place. His scouts reported the Chinese to

be in considerable force, and to consist of cavalry as well as infantry.

General Techimi separated his division into two columns, and delivered a

simultaneous attack early in the morning. The Chinese offered a stout

resistance, and severe fighting ensued. The superior shooting and

discipline of the Japanese soon told. The enemy were gradually driven

back, and finally they broke and fled in disorder, the Japanese pursuing

them for several miles. The majority of the Chinese escaped in the

direction of Tso-hun-kou. The Japanese lost about forty killed and

wounded, and their opponents one hundred.

Field Marshal Yamagata, who had been in command of the first army since

its organization, at last broke down in health under the strain of his

responsibility and labor, and was compelled to return home in the hope

of restoring his health. He was succeeded by Lieutenant-General Nodzu,

his friend and adviser with the troops. The news of Yamagata’s illness

caused much distress in Japan, and he was welcomed with the highest

honors, both from the government and the people.

In China the position of the government seemed to be precarious.

Dissatisfaction was rife in Peking and Tien-tsin over the conduct of the

war, and every one in turn was accused of responsibility in the matter.

The Manchoo and Chinese elements were bitterly opposed, and an anti-war

which advocated peace at any price was increasing rapidly. The court of

inquiry which sat at Peking to inquire into the circumstances connected

with the loss of Kinchow and Talien-wan, held that Kinchow was strong

and well-garrisoned and ought never to have been surrendered. The

commandant was therefore sentenced to degradation from military ranks

for allowing the Japanese to take the place. The foreign residents in

Peking, Tien-tsin, and Chefoo were by this time getting nervous over

their own prospects for safety, owing to the disorder and rioting that

prevailed, enhanced by the threatened invasion of the Japanese army.

Marines were sent to Peking from the war ships of all western nations in

Japanese waters, and attached to the legation for the protection of

their countrymen in China. Anti foreign feeling in the capital was on

the increase, and the blue jackets were welcomed most heartily when they

landed.

Early in December Corea suffered another political crisis, owing to the

duplicity of the government. All the Corean ministers professed

gratitude to Japan, for giving them the opportunity of undertaking the

administrative and social regeneration of their country. They promised

Count Inouye, the Japanese resident, faithfully to follow his advice and

to carry out with the least possible delay the program of reforms

recommended by him. Count Inouye however discovered, that while making

these professions, the ministers were plotting to obstruct his policy of

reform, and had even gone so far as to send messengers to various parts

of the country to incite the people to rise against the Japanese. He

therefore informed the Corean government that Japan would give no

further assistance to the king in suppressing the Tonghak rebellion. The

minister of the interior at once resigned, and the king promised to make

inquiry and punish those guilty of treachery. In a private audience,

Count Inouye sharply remonstrated with His Majesty, explained that

reforms were necessary to save the country from barbarism, complained of

the encouragement given to the plotters and repeated his threat to

recall the Japanese troops sent out against the Tonghaks. The king

promised that matters would be put right. The following day the

ministers called in a body upon Count Inouye. They admitted that they

had behaved in a deceitful manner, begged that he would pardon their

duplicity and assured him that they would in future give faithful

consideration to his suggestions and his schemes of internal reform.

There is a little confusion in the names of towns around the Gulf of

Liao-Tung, owing to the duplication of names. Kinchow is a village to

the north of Talien-wan Bay, and was one of the first points of attack

by the Japanese when they landed on the promontory. At the extreme

northern point of the gulf is a city of the same name, and several

reports that were made as to the capture of Kinchow were discredited

because of this confusion. The first Kinchow was indeed occupied by

Japanese troops from the time of its capture. The other one, however,

was not threatened at all. Unless mention is made here to the contrary,

references to troop movements around Kinchow refer to the village at the

head of the promontory.

The bulk of the second Japanese army moved to Kinchow, on its way

northward after the capture of Port Arthur, and the Chinese force which

attacked the Japanese garrison at Kinchow on November 22, fell back to

Foochow, a little to the northward of Port Arthur, on the road to

Niuchwang. About the 1st of December General Nogi’s brigade left

Kinchow, with orders from Marshal Oyama to attack Foochow. The garrison

of the city was reported to number five thousand, and the position was

favorable for defense. The brigade moved forward very rapidly, as there

was no organized opposition to its advance. On the 4th, General Nogi

heard that the Chinese were retreating, and on the following day the

Japanese entered Foochow without firing a shot. The Chinese had

evacuated the city and had retreated northward towards Niuchwang.

The first Japanese army continued clearing the country north of the

Yalu. Large bodies of Chinese were in the triangle formed by lines drawn

between Chiu-lien, Niuchwang, and Mukden. The mountains around about

Feng-hwang, which constituted a strong strategic position, had been in

the hands of the Japanese since October, and now General Tatsumi

attacked the highest pass, Lien-shan-kuan, from the east. On December 12

a strong Japanese scouting party from Feng-hwang sighted a large force

of Chinese advancing from the west. The Japanese, who consisted entirely

of cavalry, sent word back to Feng-hwang, and keeping the Chinese in

sight fell back upon the main body. The Chinese pushed on as far as

Yih-man-shan, where they encamped for the night. The Japanese force set

out to attack the Chinese position, and at dawn the next morning the

fight began. The Chinese were fully four thousand strong, and while the

fight was in progress two more regiments joined them. The Japanese fell

back to a stronger position, and adopted defensive tactics. The Chinese

forces, emboldened by their temporary success, made repeated efforts to

break through the Japanese lines, but each attack was repulsed. Seeing

that the Chinese were in such force, General Nodzu ordered one battalion

of the fifth division to reinforce the garrison of Feng-hwang. This

reinforced garrison then started on Thursday night, December 13, to

strengthen the Japanese advance posts at Yih-man-shan. Colonel Tomayasu

was in command of the Japanese force, which numbered one thousand four

hundred men with six field guns.

At daybreak an attack was made upon the Chinese left flank. The enemy

was well posted, and fought better than any troops heretofore

encountered by the Japanese in Manchooria. The struggle was a severe

one, but the Chinese left wing gave way before the Japanese charge, and

threw the center into confusion. A hot and continuous fire prevented the

Chinese from recovering their formation, and a second charge drove them

into a disorderly retreat. The contents of the camp and thirty prisoners

fell into the hands of the Japanese. The Chinese lost some two hundred

and fifty killed and wounded and the Japanese about one hundred.

It is difficult to convey a clear idea of the various operations in

Manchooria, for no map accessible to general readers is sufficiently

accurate to afford trustworthy indications, and the field of fighting

extended over a considerable area among places too small in many

instances to be recorded on a map. There were in fact, at this time,

December, three Japanese and three Chinese armies operating in

Manchooria. The Japanese forces consisted of the second army under

Oyama, in the Liao-Tung peninsula, and the right and left wings of

Yamagata’s force, who had been succeeded by Nodzu. The first army,

Yamagata’s, after passing the Yalu and capturing Chiu-lien, separated

into two parts, the right wing nominally twelve thousand five hundred

strong, moving northward along the Mukden road under the command of

Nodzu, and the left wing of equal strength, under the command of

Katsura, moving westward down the Yalu, its object being ultimately to

establish communication with Oyama’s forces, twenty-two thousand strong,

when the capture of Port Arthur should have freed the latter to advance

northeastward up the peninsula.

The Chinese armies were also three. One of these armies was massed at

the north, defending the approaches to Mukden. It aggregated about

twenty-five thousand men so far as could be ascertained, but its

fragmentary fashion of fighting rendered a total estimate difficult. The

second army was grouped in the southwest, guarding the coast roads to

China proper, via Niuchwang. This army, according to the accounts,

aggregated about thirty thousand. Its headquarters were at Kai-phing,

where a junction would naturally be effected between Oyama’s forces and

the left wing of Yamagata’s army. The easiest method of obtaining a

clear idea of the situation, is to follow in outline, the operations of

the various armies.

The southeastern Chinese army was composed of the Amoor frontier forces,

under General I. It was moved down under direct orders from the throne,

the strategical idea being to strike swiftly and secretly at Marshal

Yamagata’s weak point, namely, his long line of communications between

the Yalu River and his outposts, fifty miles north of Feng-hwang. Thus

General I's operations ultimately resolved themselves into an attempt to

recover Feng-hwang. He marched against it from three directions, the

main northerly road, and two easterly roads. The Japanese did not wait

to receive his attack. On December 10, Major-General Techimi, who

commanded the van of the Japanese right wing, launched his battalion at

I's van of three thousand men on the main road, and by consecutive

onsets cut the enemy in two, driving a part of his force into the

mountains eastward, and a part along the main road northward. Two days

later a reconnoissance sent eastward from Feng-hwang found the main body

of I's forces on the Aiyang-pien road, and the following morning a

battalion moved out to attack him. But it having been seen that he

mustered fully six thousand, and that advancing along two roads his

front extended over a distance of more than three miles, the Japanese

plan was modified so as to deliver the chief assault against his left

wing, orders being also forwarded to Techimi, then operating north of

Feng-hwang to move east and south with the object of taking I's right

wing in the rear. December 14 saw the attack on the Tartar general’s

left wing. It was completely rolled back and broken, the Japanese

pursuing its remnants far into the mountains. The Chinese lost one

hundred and fifty killed and sixteen prisoners, and abandoned four Krupp

guns, a number of horses, and a quantity of war material. The Japanese

had twelve killed and sixty-three wounded. I's right wing made no

attempt to hold its ground after the defeat of the left. It retired in a

northeasterly direction and its retreat was subsequently changed into a

route by collision with a Japanese pursuing column sent out from

Techimi’s position.

The northerly army of China consisted of that portion of General Sung’s

troops that retreated along the main road towards Mukden after the fall

of Chiu-lien and Feng-hwang, together with the Mukden garrison. They

held the pass of Mo-thien-ling against several attacks of the Japanese,

and remained there in force after severe winter set in. They had several

collisions with Techimi’s outposts, but none of importance to the

general conduct of the war.

The western Chinese army consisted partly of troops originally engaged

in the defense of Chiu-lien and Feng-hwang, partly of the Niuchwang

garrison, and partly of a Mongolian force that had come down to join

them from the northwest. This was the largest force and aggregated

nearly sixty thousand. After the battles around the lower Yalu, these

troops had been driven inland by the Japanese, taking Hai-tcheng as

their objective point, but halting on the way at Siu-Yen. They were

driven out of here by the Japanese, and moved westward to Simu-tcheng, a

town eighteen miles southeast of Hai-tcheng. On December 11, the

Japanese troops under Osako, moving northward from Siu-Yan, reached the

advance posts of the enemy and made an attack. The Chinese force

consisting of three thousand infantry and four hundred cavalry, with

eight guns, was driven back after a brief resistance, and the next day

another body four thousand five hundred strong, with six guns, was

dislodged from a position three or four miles further on. The Japanese,

following up their advantage, took possession of the Simu-tcheng the

same afternoon. This division and the co-operating division which had

taken another road, entered the place almost simultaneously after two

days of unbroken success. They advanced together on the following day,

and at 11:00 A.M. Hai-tcheng was in their possession. Its garrison was

found to consist of only one thousand five hundred men, who after a show

of resistance retired northeastward in the direction of Liao-Yang. The

occupation of Hai-tcheng placed the Japanese on the high road from

Niuchwang to Mukden, some twenty miles from Niuchwang and eighty from

Mukden. This was a position of considerable strategical importance. For

the moment however, Japanese troops turned southward a few miles in the

direction of Kao-Khan, a fortified town not far from the mouth of the

Liao River. This movement was connected with the march of the second

army up the Laio-Tung peninsula, to which reference must now be made.

After the capture of Port Arthur and the completion of arrangements

relating to the occupation of that place, Marshal Oyama returned to

Kinchow and made preparations to advance northward against Foochow, an

important walled town of twenty-five thousand inhabitants fifty-three

miles to the northward. General Sung, with some six thousand men held

Foochow, and a vigorous resistance was anticipated. But on December 5,

the Japanese van entered the town unopposed. The advance was then

resumed to Kai-phing, a city of still greater importance sixty-three

miles distant. And as this army moved northward, the left wing of the

first army moved southward from Hai-tcheng, as has just been said,

threatening Kai-phing from the other side and cutting off the garrison’s

direct line of retreat. It is interesting to note that wherever Japanese

troops took possession of a city or district, an officer was immediately

appointed to be military governor, the inhabitants were kindly treated,

and every effort was made to preserve peace and free the natives from

annoyance or oppression.

On the 17th and 18th of December the scouts of General Katsura’s

division brought word to him of important movements of the enemy, who

appeared to be advancing in strong force. All this proved to be nothing

more formidable than the flight of General Sung’s army northward. On the

night of the 18th the Chinese army was ascertained to be passing within

a few miles of the Japanese camp, and Katsura therefore moved against

them with his full strength. The Chinese were overtaken on the following

morning. Osako’s brigade was the first to be engaged. The enemy made a

stand at the village of Kungwasai and severe fighting ensued. While this

was proceeding Oshima’s brigade coming from Hai-tcheng entered the field

and joined hands with Osako. The combined force consisted of four

complete regiments, five batteries of artillery, besides other troops.

The Japanese artillery, which was well placed, played havoc with the

Chinese, who stubbornly stood their ground. The Japanese infantry

charged splendidly and cut their way through the Chinese army, but the

enemy rallied and fired steadily. A desperate hand-to-hand struggle took

place. After five hours’ fighting, the Chinese began to falter and soon

they were in full and disorderly flight, some to the westward and others

north. The Chinese lost probably five hundred killed and wounded and the

Japanese loss, too, was very severe. This was probably the most

obstinate engagement yet fought by the armies in Manchooria. The Chinese

had strongly entrenched themselves at the little village of Kung-wasai,

near Hai-tcheng, and they defended their position most vigorously. The

ground was thick with snow, and the battle was a desperate one. Charge

after charge made by the Japanese was faced and the assaulting troops

driven back. But with a fourth charge the battle ended, the Japanese

rushing into the Chinese works and carrying everything before them.

The constant succession of defeats of the Chinese forces, made imperial

circles in Peking a nest of nervous uncertainty. Factional fights

existed among the officials, and no one knew when his position or his

head was safe. The empress dowager remained firm in her confidence in Li

Hung Chang, and this fact served to retain him the title of viceroy. All

of his decorative honors had however by this time been stripped from

him, and only the queen’s favor and the fact that it was not wise to

make of him an open enemy saved him from losing his last title. Early in

December Prince Kung was appointed president of the Grand Council. He

lost no time in moving towards severe punishment the military and naval

officers who for being defeated were adjudged traitors. An imperial

decree imperatively ordered the arrest of Taotai Kung the civil

commandant and the four generals who commanded at Port Arthur in order

that they should be sent to Peking to be tried and punished for the loss

of the fortress. Admiral Ting was also arrested for failing to defend

the dockyard. Generals Yeh and Wei of Ping-Yang fame were handed over to

the same board of punishment. The foreign officers serving in the

Chinese fleet sent to Prince Kung a unanimous protest against the

infliction of punishment upon Admiral Ting, declaring that the charges

made against him were unjust and that they would resign if he was

punished. In response to this protest therefore an edict was issued

continuing the admiral in command of the fleet.