The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1872-11-14
China.

sciously lighted.
China.
The news Just received via New
York from China, to the effect that
the Chinese Government has declar-
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
u war find the Chinese forces at the
present time? From an article
which appeared in recent number
of the Rerue deS Demr MondeS, by NJ
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 arming rapidly.
At the present moment the Gov
ernment has under its orders 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, Marking, Foochow, and
lien tsin, arsenals and dock-yards
have been established under foreign
superintendent, where the manu-
tacture OF guns, powder, and rifle,
and the construction OF ships of war,
have for some time been actively
carried on. At Fochow $500 Chinese
artisans work under thesuperintend-
ence of sevcnty-fve Europeans, and
have so far become skilled at their
labor as to be able to build and
fit up three steamers Il 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
lust launched on the stocks at that
place. Besides these, II large iron
steamer is to be built, measuring 22C
feet III length, and of 1900 tons III
burden, and also a fleet 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 1863, and which offered
such firm resistance to the allied
armies in the following year, have
been completelyrebuilt, and the old
fashioned native smooth-bore guns
been displaced by riiled cannon o
foreign manufacture. The compar
atiyely harmless Notifications at tn
mouth of the Peh-tang River hay'
been made into formidable works
while along the coast connecting
these two fortified places, as well a
above and below them, II series o
rihe-pits have been dug. The roat
between Taku and Pekin has beel
raised, and made available for tn
,, rapid transport of men and war ma
terial, and half way between TIN
former place and Tienstln a forti
: fed camp has been constructed an'
armed with five Krupp guns. Thes
military reforms, however, appear on
ly in the neighborhood of the prin
cipal ports and of Pekin. Else
where, in Kweichow, Yunnan, ant
the northwestern provinces, th'
Nian-tsze and Mohammedan rebels
have to contend with forces armeC
and drilled after the manner o
their forefathers.
A correspondent writing from tn
first-named province, gives an ac
count of the melancholy condition
of the troops who are supposed tt
be there engaged in combating th
, Main -tsze. OF the numerous battal
ions returned by the General as full
, ly manned, the merest skeletons onl,
exist in reality. The pay issued t.
! those actually serving is uncertain
and various in kind. Sometimes
but very rarely, it is represented b.
, specie; at other times rice is givel
:. as an equivalent, and often the mel
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 thai
t two shillings piece. These ar
: constantly purchased and repurchas
!. ed by the General who thus sue
> ceeds in satisfying the wants of hi
4 men at the same time that he gain
y to himself credit for buying militar
+ stores at u remarkably cheap rat
Mr.. Cooper, in his book of travel
4 gives much the same account of IL
4 I'm perial forces operating in Il
province of Yunnan.
:
/, Wish chastely and love dearly,