The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1884-08-31
CHINA'S STRENGTH.
csLEsTlALs' FIGHTING For,ce
Two separate Armies, Composing 7eo. GEO
Men-Tho Imperial Guard MUM.
tions of Wharf.-The Crms--
The Fleet Etc,

nana
innnoriol army n,o,o. Ho
' li'P0i = known under
the Haile ul inc Army the Eight Ban
ners. II is divided inttl aigbt rorns ooob
boinv distinynisbed f. Pc '''0"
nov mi. o,.,,,,. Mn, " poV'liur oaiN-
"O'' "'9 ~ NY ana asst iorms military
caste, for 1t is comp oSed exclusively Il
the descendants of tl,o Ni,,4.t \,
,-lIi,,,,,, ont. nus N'
5V''",'' CIV O''"' 'Ne Hepels VINO in lOl
invaded emma nj dethroned the old
imperial lamllN. During peace the men
OF TINS caste are. allowed To conduct any
common b, in c>s, being furbiddel only
10 leaVe n city without permit
from TIL commanding officer, the
oiii1es excel their men only
III gSmhas! lr,. According to the Chinese
less he is an athlete. This army nun
bers 2lO,OO men. OF these over one-half
are static ned in PCkin andt le rest i'm n
lew largo provincial cities. This mill
tary cassie can by no means be regarded
as regular army. The second. or
provln ciul army, is called the Army of
the CIR eat Banner. Each of the eighteen
provi nces OF the Empire is Obliged bv
law 10 keep Il certain number OF sol tiorS
and their aggregate, according to the
official statistics, is 100000 men. There
are 50 generals aud over 1000 officers.
The provincial army is composed chiefly
of mercenaries, while the majority Of
the officers are of the military estate.
These two armies, amounting To 76OODO
men, are all the force the Celestial
Empire has to RELY on i'm cass of war
THE lNPERlAL
The Imperial Guard. about lSOOO
strong, is the flower of the army, or The
Guard infantry 500 men are provided
with muZZle-lOaders presented nv the
Gar OF Russia; the resi- are armed with
flint guns, lances and shields. Half OF
the cavalry, about 20DO men. are or,nad
with ChassepOt rifles. Thu artillery has
thirty-twO bronze guns, bought in Rus
STA, and few mortars. There are 100
educated artillerymen. The army Of
the Governor OF Chilly, about SO.OOD
strong, is also reOrganized. The men
are instructed by English and
French officers. the army has
breech-lOading rifles and krupp steel
cannon. According. to German writer's,
up to 1879 Krupp had sent to China lji
heavy guns and % field guns. The
army Of the Govorn'r OF khm-Xu and
Shgn-Hee, 1000 strong, is said to besup
piled with all the moderu arms and to
be drilled according to the PRINCIPLES uf
Moltke aud Manteulel. The army
fought successfully against Yakoob Beg,
and indeed, proved Itself the best dis
cipined army i'm Chinn. Ii is obvious
then, that in China there are only about
l2O,U00 men properly armed and drilled.
while the rest Of the .nldiors can be re-
garded only as uudiSclplined and I'M
armed reserves.
MUNITIONS or WAR.
As to gunpDWdcr and arms, the China
men apparently have an abundant sun
ply of their Nwn. There are eirht excel
lent arse mails, directed chiefly nv Eng
lishmen. The arsenal of Jian-Xiu, for
instance, turns out d lilly $500 pounds of
powder. At the arseuals OF Naukin and
Shanghai the American guns of Rem
ingtOn and Spencer are manufactured.
At the FOo-Chpw arsenal submarine
mines are prepared. AT the Lan-Choo
arsenal cartridges and arms are man
ufactured. The forts are found at
the mouths of the great rivers Tsi Kiang,
Min and Yang-tse- kiang, to protect the
great cities, Canton, FOO-thow and
Shanghai. In the in eriOr of the coun-
try all the large cities are also defended
by forts. The capital city of Pekin il,
of course, the most strongly protected.
1t is defended by Fort Dallu, amply pro-
vided with Krupp cannon, and is sur
rounded by stone walls from forty to
seventy feet thick and about forty feet
high. Nine gates lead to the city,
aud these are defended by cannon
mounted in the numerous towers.
THE FLEET.
China has three separate fleets. The
Canton Feet comprises twelve gunboats,
of which nine were made IN England
and nre In charge OF English officers.
The Fu-kiang tlect is conpo ed of six
gunboats and few transport vessels.
These were made ut Foo-Chow under the
supervision of Frenchmen. THIS fleet
l. IN excellent order, and ii is in charge
oil Cinnamon, Inc shanghai fleet is