The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-10-06
HOMO HAWAII ISLANDS TURDAY.O OCToBER6 61s 5

suit OF so mighty an inspiration there
has been slow, steady, glacier-like
tendency To edge away from the tradi-
tions and give the sword the place it
holds among Christian people. This
is due TO the influence of Ii Hung
Chang, the Emperor's most powerful
subject and among the first to preach
the gospel of war.
/ saw u striking evidence of this
change some years ago. 1t was my
duty TO make an official visit to Ming
po, and exchange courtesies with the
ruling Mandarin, in company with
the late Admiral John Lee Davis,
then commanding our squadron in
Asia. 1t was part of our mission to
impress our Chinese friends with the
strength of our navy, and especially
its discipline. And where could this
better be done than on q man-of-war?
When the mandarin made his visit he
inspected the ship and witnessed q
drill. The function was finely done,
and the Admiral was proud of his
brave and skilled men.
CHINESE DRILLED TO PERFECTION.
We returned the visit next day, and
were received with fine Chinese cere-
| mOny, Admiral Davis paying the
Mandarin the compliment of taking
with him, as an escort, in the blaze of
full dress uniform, as many of his Off
GERS as could be spared. After the tea
drinking and gracious speeches, our
host rendered Admiral Davis a review
| of his Chinese soldiery. A battalion
was put through the manual of arms.
The tactics and word of command
were English. The business was per-
feet, no military performance of that
| nature more commendable. / recall
the AdmiraI's astonishment, amount
ing to chagrin. ''To Think" he said,
''that should have asked that Chi
nese Mandarin to look at my people,
when his own soldiers could show
them how to drill" The incident
made a deep impression. There in
that quadrangle of Ningpo, visible to
the AdmiraPs keen, professional eyes,
was unit of the force which, under
proper conditions, might make q
strange dream come true. 1t was my
first evidence of the awakening of the
warlike spirit of China, and not only
awakened, but trained to the best Of
fees of war.
L saw something at that time of
Chinese troops at various ports. While
in no case was there the perfection of
Ningpo, the development of the mill
tary art was evident. At some points
| there were parcels of Bannermen, gro
tesque, not military, tumbling over
one another, guarding some Tartar
general. This was the incongruous
| mass, dumped into some semblance or
martial form, pensioners, loungers,
who had never felt the real test of war.
The Tae Ping rebellion was little more
than one body of Chinese troops fall
| ing over one another, soldiers pausing
| in the middle of an action to dine,
and resume hostilities after dinner.
| Battles were continued like some Of
those Chinese dramas which require q
| week for the exemplification of the
plot. Matters, however. We're chang
| ing with emphasis. The Nlngpo in
| cident was pregnant lesson. There
| is no reason why the same discipline,
| the same teaching in the art of war,
daZed and grieving out of the quad
rangle at Ningpo, should not, if ap-
| piled to the Chinese empire, result in
| an army as large as the armies of
| Europe combined. 1t would be as
| well armed, as we'll drilled, and as
| brave, and more easily handled in the
cOmmissary and quartermasters de-
partments. 1t would need alone the
| motive and the leadership to induce
| such an army to try conclusions with
| the Asiatic and European world.
ToNQUIN OPENED EURoPE's EYES.
War is the science OF force against
| force-mind against mind. There is
no reason why a Chiuaman may not
acquire it. In 1860 a French official
reported to his Government that few
regiments of French troops could con-
| quer China. This was hut generation
ago. Tonquin supervened, as Jules
Ferry sadly remembered, and in Ton
quin the advance that China had
| made. That forlorn campaign was to
the European Powers The first glimpse
of reawakened China. The world
learned that China had OWNED the
futility of matchIocks and calico forts,
that she was studying, like the rest of
us, the appalling litaDy of war. To
measure the pace of Chinese progress
in this sinister doctrine, we have but
to compare China as seen by the
French officers in 1S60-an empire
! that could have been ridden down by
few French regiments-and the
China which checked France in Ton
quin. We have but to turn from the
shuffling rabble which was wont to
guard the Tartar General to the firm,
steady lines at NingpO. We have but
to contrast the discipline of the troops
who followed Ii Hung Chang and
Gordon against the Tae Pings with
the army now under his command in
the northern provinces. AS to the
power of this army in battle with
Western troops it would be idle to
speculate. / presume that its condi-
tion is not so good as that of the
Japanese army; that it suffers from
lax administration from cOnfiding
too much to foreigners, who do not
show their best side to China; from
an innate, inherited and piOus aver
sion to war.
CHINESE LACK ENTHUSIASM.
Then, remember that the Chinese
are not enthusiastic people" They
are not ''easily fired" They are not
prone to outbursts of public emotion.
| She moves as the glacier rather than