The Awakening of China by W.A.P. Martin

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On June 20, the German minister, Baron von Ketteler, was on his
way to the Foreign Office to obtain an extension of time, when he
was shot dead in the street by a man in the uniform of a soldier.
His secretary, though wounded, gave the alarm; and all the legations,
with all their respective countrymen, took refuge in the British
Legation, with the exception of Bishop Favier and his people who,
with the aid of forty marines, bravely defended themselves in the
new cathedral.

In the evening we were fired on by the Government troops, and from
that time we were closely besieged and exposed to murderous attacks
day and night for eight weeks, when a combined force under the
flags of eight nations carried the walls by storm, just in time
to prevent such a massacre as the world has never seen. Massacres
on a larger scale have not been a rare spectacle; but never before
in the history of the world had any government been seen attempting
to destroy an entire diplomatic body, every member of whom is made
sacred by the law of nations.[*]

[Footnote *: AN APPEAL FROM THE LION'S DEN

(Written four weeks before the end of the siege, this appeal failed
to reach the outside world. It is now printed for the first time.
Nothing that I could now write would show the situation with half
such vividness. It reveals the scene as with a lightning flash.)

"British Legation, July 16, 1900.

"TO THE CHRISTIAN WORLD

"On the 19th ult. the Chinese declared war on account of the attack
on the forts at Taku. Since then we have been shut up in the British
Legation and others adjacent, and bombarded day and night with shot
and shell. The defence has been magnificent. About 1,000 foreigners
(of both sexes) have held their ground against the forces of the
Empire. Some thousands of Chinese converts are dependent on us for
protection. The City Wall near the legations is held by our men,
but the Chinese are forcing them back and driving in our outposts.
The mortality in our ranks is very great; and unless relief comes
soon we must all perish. Our men have fought bravely, and our women
have shown sublime courage. May this terrible sacrifice prove not
to be in vain! We are the victims of pagan fanaticism. Let this
pagan empire be partitioned among Christian powers, and may a new
order of things open on China with a new century!

"The chief asylum for native Christians is the Roman Catholic Cathedral,
where Bishop Favier aided by forty marines gives protection to four
or five thousand. The perils of the siege have obliterated the lines
of creed and nation, making a unity, not merely of Christians, but
bringing the Japanese into brotherhood with us. To them the siege
is a step toward Christianity."

"(Signed) DR. W. A. P. MARTIN."]

[Page 177]
On August 14 Gen. Gaseles and his contingent entered the British
Legation. The Court, conscious of guilt, fled to the northwest,
leaving the city once more at the mercy of the hated foreigner;
and so the curtain falls on the closing scene.

What feats of heroism were performed in the course of those eventful
weeks; how delicate women rose to the height of the occasion in
patient endurance and helpful charity; how international jealousies
were merged in the one feeling of devotion to the common good--all
this and more I should like to relate for the honour of human nature.

How an unseen power appeared to hold our enemies in check and to
sustain the courage of the besieged, I would also like to place on
record, to the glory of the Most High; but space fails for dealing
with anything but general principles.[1]

[Footnote 1: See the author's "The Siege in Peking," New York: Fleming
H. Revell Company.]

On the day following our rescue, at a thanksgiving meeting, which
was largely attended, Dr. Arthur
[Page 178]
Smith pointed out ten instances--most of us agreed that he might
have made the number ten times ten--in which the providence of
God had intervened on our behalf.

It was a role of an ancient critic that a god should not be brought
on the stage unless the occasion were such as to require the presence
of a more than human power. _Nec deus intersit nisi dignus vindice
nodus._ How many such occasions we have had to notice in the
course of this narrative! What a theodicaea we have in the result
of all this tribulation! We see at last, a government convinced
of the folly of a policy which brought on such a succession of
disastrous wars. We see missionaries and native Christians fairly
well protected throughout the whole extent of the Empire. We see,
moreover, a national movement in the direction of educational reform,
which, along with the Gospel of Christ, promises to impart new
life to that ancient people.

The following incident may serve to show the state of uncertainty
in which we lived during the interregnum preceding the return of
the Court.

While waiting for an opportunity to get my "train (the university)
on the track," I spent the summer of 1901 at Pearl Grotto, my usual
retreat, on the top of a hill over a thousand feet high, overlooking
the capital. "The Boxers are coming!" cried my writer and servants
one evening about twilight. "Haste--hide in the rocks--they will
soon be on us!" "I shall not hide," I replied; and seizing my rifle
I rested it on a wall which commanded the approach. They soon became
visible at the distance of a hundred yards,
[Page 179]
waving flambeaux, and yelling like a troop of devils. Happily I
reserved my fire for closer range; for leaving the path at that
point they betook themselves to the top of another hill where they
waved their torches and shouted like madmen. We were safe for the
night; and in the morning I reported the occurrence to Mr. O'Conor,
the British charge d'affaires, who was at a large temple at the
foot of the hills. "They were not Boxers," he remarked, "but a
party we sent out _to look for a lost student_."

POSTSCRIPT

It is the fashion to speak slightingly of the Boxer troubles, and
to blink the fact that the movement which led to the second capture
of Peking and the flight of the Court was a serious war. The southern
viceroys had undertaken to maintain order in the south. Operations were
therefore localised somewhat, as they were in the Russo-Japanese War.
It is even said that the combined forces were under the impression
that they were coming to the rescue of a helpless government which
was doing all in its power to protect foreigners. Whether this was
the effect of diplomatic dust thrown in their eyes or not, _it
was a fiction_.

How bitterly the Empress Dowager was bent on exterminating the
foreigner, may be inferred from her decree ordering the massacre of
foreigners and their adherents--a savage edict which the southern
satraps refused to obey. A similar inference may be drawn from the
summary execution of four ministers of state for remonstrating against
throwing in the fortunes of the empire with the Boxer party. China
[Page 180]
should be made to do penance on her knees for those shocking displays
of barbarism. At Taiyuan-fu, forty-five missionaries were murdered
by the governor, and sixteen at Paoting-fu. Such atrocities are
only possible among a _half-civilised people_.

[Page 181]
CHAPTER XXVIII

THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

_Russia's Schemes for Conquest--Conflicting Interests in
Korea--Hostilities Begin--The First Battles--The Blockade--Dispersion
of the Russian Fleet--Battle of Liao-yang--Fall of Port Arthur--Battle
of Mukden--The Armada--Battle of Tsushima--The Peace of Portsmouth--The
Effect on China_

To the Chinese the retrospect of these five wars left little room
for those pompous pretensions which appeared to be their vital
breath.

Beaten by Western powers and by the new power of the East, their
capital taken a second time after forty years' opportunity to fortify
it, and their fugitive court recalled a second time to reign on
sufferance or during good behaviour, what had they left to boast
of except the antiquity of their country and the number of their
people? Dazed and paralysed, most of them gave way to a sullen
resignation that differed little from despair.

There were, indeed, a few who, before things came to the worst,
saw that China's misfortunes were due to folly, not fate. Ignorant
conservatism had made her weak; vigorous reform might make her
strong. But another war was required to turn the feeling of the
few into a conviction of the many. This change was
[Page 182]
accomplished by a war waged within their borders but to which they
were not a party--a war which was not an act in their national
drama, but a spectacle for which they furnished the stage. That
spectacle calls for notice in the present work on account of its
influence on the destinies of China.

For the springs of action it will be necessary to go back three
centuries, to the time when Yermak crossed the Ural Mountains and
made Russia an Asiatic power. The conquest of Siberia was not to
end in Siberia. Russia saw in it a chance to enrich herself at
the expense of weaker neighbours. What but that motive led her, in
1858, to demand the Manchurian seacoast as the price of neutrality?
What but that led her to construct the longest railway in the world?
What but that impelled her to seek for it a second terminus on
the Gulf of Pechili?

The occupation of Port Arthur and Liao-tung by the Japanese, in
1895, was a checkmate to Russia's little game; and, supported by
France and Germany, she gave her notice to quit. During the Boxer
War of 1900, Russia increased her forces in Manchuria to provide
for the eventualities of a probable break-up, and after the peace
her delay in fulfilling her promise of evacuation was tantamount
to a refusal.

Had the Russians confined their attention to Manchuria they might
have continued to remain in possession; but another feeble state
offered itself as a tempting prize. They set greedy eyes on Korea,
made interest with an impoverished court, and obtained the privilege
of navigating the Yalu and cutting
[Page 183]
timber on its banks. This proceeding, though explained by the
requirements of railway construction, aroused the suspicion and
jealousy of the Japanese. They knew it meant more than seeking
an outlet for a lumber industry. They knew it portended vassalage
for Korea and ejection for themselves. Had they not made war on
China ten years before because they could brook no rival in the
peninsula? How could they tolerate the intrusion of Russia? Not
merely were their interests in Korea at stake; every advance of
Russia in that quarter, with Korea for vassal or ally, was a menace
to the existence of Japan.

The Japanese lost no time in entering a protest. Russia resorted
to the Fabian policy of delay as before; but she was dealing with
a people whose pride and patriotism were not to be trifled with.
After protracted negotiations Japan sent an ultimatum in which she
proposed to recognise Manchuria as Russia's sphere of influence,
provided Russia would recognise Japanese influence as paramount
in Korea. For a fortnight or more the Czar vouchsafed no reply.
Accustomed to being waited on, he put the paper in his pocket and
kept it there while every train on the railway was pouring fresh
troops into Manchuria. Without waiting for a formal reply, or deigning
to discuss modifications intended to gain time, the Japanese heard
the hour strike and cleared for action.

They are reproached for opening hostilities without first formally
declaring war. In the age of chivalry a declaration of war was a
solemn ceremony. A herald standing on the border read or recited his
[Page 184]
master's complaint and then hurled a spear across the boundary
as an act of defiance. In later times nothing more than a formal
announcement is required, except for the information of neutrals
and the belligerents' own people. The rupture of relations leaves
both parties free to choose their line of action. Japan, the newest
of nations, naturally adopted the most modern method.

Recalling her ambassador on February 6, 1904, Japan was ready to
strike simultaneous blows at two points. On February 8, Admiral
Uriu challenged two Russian cruisers at Chemulpo to come out and
fight, otherwise he would attack them in the harbour. Steaming
out they fired the first shots of the war, and both were captured
or destroyed. A little later on the same day Admiral Togo opened
his broadsides on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur, and resumed
the attack the following morning. Without challenge or notification
of any kind, his attack had the effect of a genuine surprise. The
Russians, whether from confidence in their position or contempt
for their enemy, were unprepared and replied feebly. They had seven
battleships to Togo's six, but the big ships of Japan were supported
by a flotilla of torpedo-boats which outnumbered those of Russia.
These alert little craft did great execution. Creeping into the
harbour while the bombardment kept the enemy occupied they sank
two battleships and one armoured cruiser. Other Russian vessels
were badly damaged; but, according to Togo's report, on the side
of Japan not one vessel was incapacitated for actual service.

Land forces, fully equipped and waiting for this
[Page 185]
special service, commenced operations without delay and began to
cut off communication from the land side while Togo's squadron
corked up every inlet from the sea. Alexieff, whose title of viceroy
revealed the intentions of Russia in regard to Manchuria, taking
alarm at the prospect of a siege, escaped to Harbin near the Siberian
frontier--a safer place for headquarters. To screen his flight he made
unwarrantable use of an ambulance train of the Red Cross Society.
Disagreeing with General Kuropatkin as to the plan of campaign,
he resigned the command of the army in April, and Kuropatkin was
promoted to the vacant place. Beaten in several engagements on
the Liao-tung peninsula, the Russians began to fall back, followed
by the Japanese under Field-Marshal Oyama; and the siege of the
fortress was prosecuted with unremitting vigour.

By July the Japanese had secured possession of the outer line of
forts, and, planting heavy guns on the top of a high hill, they were
able to throw plunging shot into the bosom of the harbour. No longer
safe at their inner anchorage, the Russian naval officers resolved
to attempt to reach Vladivostok, where the combined squadrons might
assume the offensive or at least be secure from blockade. Scarcely
had they gained the open sea when (on August 10) the Japanese fell on
them like a whirlwind and scattered their ships in all directions.
A few reentered the harbour to await their doom; two or three found
their way to Vladivostok; two sought refuge at the German port of
Tsing-tao; two put into Shanghai; and one continued its flight
as far south as Saigon.

[Page 186]
One gunboat sought shelter at Chefoo, where I was passing my summer
vacation. The Japanese, in hot pursuit, showed no more respect to
the neutrality of China than they had shown to Korea. Boarding
the fugitive vessel, they summoned the captain to surrender. He
replied by seizing the Japanese officer in his arms and throwing
himself into the sea. They were rescued; and the Japanese then
carried off the boat under the guns of a Chinese admiral. Of this
incident in its main features I was an eye-witness. I may add that
we were near enough to bear witness to the fact of the siege; for,
in the words of Helen Sterling:

"We heard the boom of guns by day
And saw their flash by night,
And almost thought, tho' miles away,
That we were in the fight.

The Chinese admiral, feeling the affront to the Dragon flag and
fearing that he would be called to account, promptly tendered his
resignation. He was told to keep his place; and, by way of consoling
him for his inaction, the Minister of Marine added, "You are not
to blame for not firing on the Japanese. They are fighting our
battles--we can't do anything against them." So much for Chinese
neutrality in theory and in practice.

Kuropatkin, like the Parthian, "most dreaded when in flight," renouncing
any further attempt to break through the cordon which the Japanese
had drawn around the doomed fortress, intrenched his forces in
and around Liaoyang. His position was strong by
[Page 187]
nature, and he strengthened it by every device known to a military
engineer; yet he was driven from it in a battle which lasted nine
days.

The Japanese, though not slow to close around his outposts, were
too cautious to deliver their main attack until they could be certain
of success. The combat thickened till, on August 24, cannon thundered
along a line of forty miles. Outflanked by his assailants, the
Russian general, perceiving that he must secure his communications
on the north or sustain a siege, abandoned his ground and fell
back on Mukden.

In this, the greatest battle of the campaign thus far, 400,000
men were engaged, the Japanese, as usual, having a considerable
majority. The loss of life was appalling. The Russian losses were
reported at 22,000; and those of Japan could not have been less.
Yet Liaoyang with all its horrors was only a prelude to a more
obstinate conflict on a more extended arena.

Without hope of succour by land, and without a fleet to bring relief
by sea, the Russians defended their fortress with the courage of
despair. Ten years before this date the Japanese under Field-marshal
Oyama had carried this same stronghold almost by assault. Taking
it in the rear, a move which the Chinese thought so contrary to
the rules of war that they had neglected their landward defences,
they were masters of the place on the morning of the third day.

How different their reception on the present occasion! How changed
the aspect! The hills, range after range, were now crowned with
forts. Fifty thousand of Russia's best soldiers were behind those
batteries, many of which were provided with casemates impenetrable
[Page 188]
to any ordinary projectile. General Stoessel, a man of science,
courage and experience, was in command; and he held General Nogi
with a force of sixty or seventy thousand at bay for eleven months.
Prodigies of valour were performed on both sides, some of the more
commanding positions being taken and retaken three or four times.

When, in September, the besiegers got possession of Wolf Hill, and
with plunging shot smashed the remnant of the fleet, they offered
generous terms to the defenders. General Stoessel declined the
offer, resolving to emulate Thermopylae, or believing, perhaps, in
the possibility of rescue. When, however, he saw the "203 Metre
Hill" in their hands and knew his casemates would soon be riddled
by heavy shot, in sheer despair he was forced to capitulate. This
was on the first day of the new year (1905). His force had been
reduced to half its original numbers, and of these no fewer than
14,000 were in hospital.

General Stoessel has been censured for not holding out until the
arrival of the armada; but what could the armada have done had it
appeared in the offing? It certainly could not have penetrated the
harbour, for in addition to fixed or floating mines it would have
had to run the gauntlet of Togo's fleet and its doom would have
been precipitated. One critic of distinction denounced Stoessel's
surrender as "shameful"; but is it not a complete vindication that
his enemies applaud his gallant defence, and that his own government
was satisfied that he had done his duty.[*]

[Footnote *: Since writing this I have read the finding of the
court-martial. It has the air of an attempt to diminish the national
disgrace by throwing blame on a brave commander.]

[Page 189]
The Russian commander had marked out a new camp at Mukden, the
chief city of the province and the cradle of the Manchu dynasty.
There he was allowed once more to intrench himself. Was this because
the Japanese were confident of their ability to compel him again
to retire, or were they occupied with the task of filling up their
depleted ranks? If the latter was the cause, the Russians were
doing the same; but near to their base and with full command of
the sea, the Japanese were able to do it more expeditiously than
their enemy. Yet with all their facilities they were not ready to
move on his works until winter imposed a suspension of hostilities.

On October 2 Kuropatkin published a boastful manifesto expressing
confidence in the issue of the coming conflict--trusting no doubt
to the help of the three generals, December, January, and February.
Five months later, on March 8, 1905, he sent two telegrams to the
Czar: the first said "I am surrounded;" the second, a few hours
later, conveyed the comforting intelligence "the army has escaped."

The Japanese, not choosing to encounter the rigours of a Manchurian
winter, waited till the advent of spring. The air was mild and the
streams spanned by bridges of ice. The manoeuvres need not be
described here in detail. After more than ten days of continuous
fighting on a line of battle nearly two hundred miles long, with
scarcely less than a million of men engaged (Japanese in majority
as before), the great Russian strategist broke camp and retired
in good order. His army had escaped, but it had lost in killed
and wounded 150,000. The losses of Japan amounted to 50,000.

[Page 190]
The greatest battle of this latest war, the Battle of Mukden was
in some respects the greatest in modern history. In length of line,
in numbers engaged, and in the resulting casualties its figures
are double those of Waterloo. Once more by masterly strategy a
rout was converted into a retreat; and the Russian army withdrew
to the northwest.

Weary of crawfish tactics the Czar appointed General Lineivitch
to the chief command; and the ablest of the Russian generals was
relieved of the duty of contriving ways of "escape." To cover the
rear of a defeated force is always reckoned a post of honour; but
it is not the sort of distinction that satisfies the ambition of
a great commander.

By dint of efforts and sacrifices an enormous fleet was assembled
for the relief of Port Arthur. It sailed from Cronstadt on August 11,
1905, leaving the Baltic seaports unprotected save by the benevolent
neutrality of the German Kaiser, who granted passage through his
ship canal, although he knew the fleet was going to wage war on
one of his friends.

Part of the fleet proceeded via Suez, and part went round the Cape
of Good Hope--to them a name of mockery. The ships moved leisurely,
their commanders not doubting that Stoessel would be able to hold
his ground; but scarcely had they reached a rendezvous which, by
the favour of France, they had fixed in the waters adjacent to
Madagascar, when they heard of the fall of Port Arthur. Of the
annihilation of the fleet attached to the fortress, and of the
destruction of a squadron coming to the rescue from the north they
had previously learned. With what dismay did they
[Page 191]
now hear that the key of the ocean was lost. Almost at the same
moment the last of Job's messengers arrived with the heavier tidings
that Mukden, the key of the province, had been abandoned by a defeated
army--stunning intelligence for a forlorn hope! Should they turn
back or push ahead? Anxious question this for Admiral Rozhesvenski
and his officers. Too late for Port Arthur, might they not reenforce
Vladivostok and save it from a like fate? The signal to "steam
ahead" was displayed on the flagship.

Slowly and painfully, its propellers clogged by seaweed, its keels
overgrown with barnacles, the grand armada crossed the Indian Ocean
and headed northward for the China Sea. On May 27, steering for
the Korean channel, it fell into a snare which a blind man ought
to have been able to foresee. Togo's fleet had the freedom of the
seas. Where could it be, if not in that very channel? Yet on the
Russians went:

"Unmindful of the whirlwind's sway
That hushed in grim repose
Expects his evening prey."

The struggle was short and decisive--finished, it is said, in less
than one hour. While Togo's battleships, fresh and in good condition,
poured shot and shell into the wayworn strangers, his torpedo-boats,
greatly increased in number, glided almost unobservedly among the
enemy and launched their thunderbolts with fatal effect. Battleships
and cruisers went down with all on board. The Russian flagship was
disabled, and the admiral, severely wounded, was transferred
[Page 192]
to the hold of a destroyer. Without signals from their commander
the vessels of the whole fleet fought or fled or perished separately;
of 18,000 men, 1,000 escaped and 3,000 were made prisoners. What
of the other 14,000?

"Ask of the winds that far around
With fragments strewed the sea."

The much vaunted armada was a thing of the past; and Tsushima or,
as Togo officially named it, the Battle of the Sea of Japan, has
taken its place along with Trafalgar and Salamis.

Tired of a spectacle that had grown somewhat monotonous, the world
was clamorous for peace. The belligerents, hitherto deaf to every
suggestion of the kind, now accepted an invitation from President
Roosevelt and appointed commissioners to arrange the terms of a
treaty. They met in August, 1905, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and
after a good deal of diplomatic fencing the sword was sheathed. In
the treaty, since ratified, Russia acknowledges Japan's exceptional
position in Korea, transfers to Japan her rights in Port Arthur
and Liao-tung, and hands over to Japan her railways in Manchuria.
Both parties agree to evacuate Manchuria within eighteen months.

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