The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-11-08
China.

The news Just received via New
York from China, to the effect that
the Chinese Government has deelar-
ed its intention of siding with Corea
in the event of the present dispute
between that country and Japan
ending In an open rupture, gives an
additional interest to the INQUIRY,
IN what state of preparation would
war find the Chinese forces at the
present time !? From an article
which appeared In a recent number
of the RsUue des DeBa Mondes, by III.
Giquel, the superintendent of the
FOOchOw arsenal, and from various
notices contained in some of the
later issues of the Overland China
Mail, we gather the following par
ticulars on the subject
Like al the rest of the world,
China has, during the last few years,
been arn4ing rapidly.
AT the present moment the Gov
eminent has under its orders a force
of $4,000 men armed with Enfield
and Remington rifles, and drilled on
the European model by European
officers, supplemented by thirty
field and mountain batteries. AT
Shanghai, Nanking, Foochow, and
TEN tsin, arsenals and dock-yards
have been established under foreign
superintendent, where the manu-
facture of guns, powder, and rifer,
and the construction OF ships ofwar,
have for some time been actively
carried on. At tFochow $500 Chinese
artisans work under the superintend-
ence of seventy-fve Europeans, and
have so far become skilled at their
labor as to be able to build and
fit up three steamers year. Five
men-of-war have already been
launched from the dock-yard at
Shanghai, and at the present mo-
ment there are two iron dispatch
boats and sister frigate to the one
just launched on the stocks at that
place. Besides these. a large iron
steamer is to be built, measuring 22O
feet in length, and of 1,300 tons in
burden, and also feet Of sailing
transports.
If we turn to the coast defences,
we find an equal degree of activity,
notably in the neighborhood of the
capital and on the approaches there
to- The Taku forts, which proved
so fatally destructive to our gun
boats in 1869, and which offered
such firm resistance to the allied
armies in the following year, have
been completely rebuilt, and the old
| fashioned native smooth-bOre guns
been displaced by riied cannon o.
| foreign manufacture. The compar
atively harmless Notifications at the
mouth of the Peh-tang River have
been made into formidable works
| while along the coast connecting
these two fortified places, as well a.
above and below them, series o.
rife-pits have been dug. The road
between Taku and Pekin has beer
raised, and made available for the
rapid transport of men and war ma
terial, and half way between The
former place and Tien-stin q forti
fed camp has been constructed anC
armed with five Krupp guns. These
military reforms, however, appear on
| ly in the neighborhood of the prin
cipal ports and of Pekin. Else
/ where, in Kweichow, Yunnap, anC
the northwestern provinces, th'
| Nian-tsze and MoLammedan rebel
have to contend with forces armed
and drilled after the manner o
their forefathers.
A correspondent writing from th,
frst-named province, gives an &C
count Of the melancholy condition
of the troops who are supposed t.
be there engaged in combating tn
| Main-tsze. OF the numerous battal
ions returned by the General as ful
ly manned, the merest skeletons onl
exist in reality. The pay issued t.
those actually serving is uncertain
and various in kind. Someti ef
but very rarely, it is represented b
specie; at other times rice is givel
as an equivalent, and often the me-
are sent away from the pay-offic
empty handeded. The natural re
suits follow. Powder is to be bougn
for two pence a pound in the street
of Kwei-yang Foo, and matchbox
are offered at sometimes less tina,
two shillings a piece. These ar
constantly purchased and repurchas
ed by the General who thus sue
ceeds in satisfying the wants Of hi
men at the same time that be gain
to himself credit for buying militar
stores at a remarkably cheap rat
Mr.. Cooper, in his book Of travel
gives much the same account of th
Imperial forces operating In th
, province of YunBan.