The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-28
CHINA AND HER ARMIES.
MEN, INVENTIONS 4SD TACTICS WITH
 WHICH TO FACE JAPAN.

unorganired Hordes Lacking Discipiins
 and Modern Arms, and Without Com.
 missiariat. Medical Service, or Means ol
 Transportati ation-rroops ard Leaders She
 Must Rely on-Onielal Corruption. From the New York snn.l
 Now that China and Japan are al
 war, and fighting has begun. it be- comes an Interesting matter to know
 what preparations the huge Mongo-
 Han empire has made for military pur-
 poses. and what may be the size and
 discipline. condition and equipment of
 the armies she may bring into the
 field.
 China has its blue books" the same
 IS any other civilized power. These
 show her battalions to be like the sands
 of the sea. her soldiers to be counted by
 millions. her equipment to be splendid
 and complete. But the figures of mill
 itary strength in a Chinese blue book" are vastly exaggerated. and are con
 tradicted by the consular reports of
 the different powers and the statements
 of observant travellers who have vis-
 ited the leading cities of the land
 At least one-half the entire grown
 male population Is liable to military duty. This is one of the relics os the
 Manchu conquest of China in the sev- enteenth century. At that time the Tartar troops were arranged according to banners, where nowadays they are divided into divisions and brigade From this fact they took the name of Bannermen. which. from motives ot imperial policy. as been preserved ever since The war was not, as Is too ere- quently supposed. struggle between two nations, the one Chinese and the other Tartar. It was really between a decaying and odious dynasty, the Mings on the one side and on the other all its foes. domestic and foreign. The victorious opposition was headed by the Manchus. who have reigned ever since. This will explain why the original Bannermen were Chinese and Mongol as we'll as Manchu in national ity. In honor of their success, the Tar tar conquerors decreed that the faith full Bannermen and their descendants should enjoy exclusively forever the privilege of being members of the I'm perial Banner Force" Two centuries and more have witnessed these descend ants increase in numbers until they are now said to aggregate 5000, 900 poten- tial warriors, and, 1t may be added with perfect truth, not 5000 actual ones. 'f
 Second in point of numbers, and even more worthless in military efficiency, is the army of the Green Standard, which is provincial rather than impe- rial in character Its muster roll is anywhere between 300, 600 and 1,000, 900. It is a nondescript organization, {. or non-organization, its separate units do- ing duty as policemen. constabulary, revenue officers, tax gatherers. road makers, caretakers. court attendants. farm hands, stable boys, and a great, variety of other civil occupations. The green standard is undoubtedly his- torical relic or heirloom. whose mean Ing is forgotten by the people of to- day.
 Third. and more important than the two preceding combined, is the brave pr irregular soldier. He constitutes at least two-thirds of the actual soldiery' of the empire. He enlists and is dis as frequently as a hired girl. and has a knowledge of drill and fre- arms scarcely on par with that of western boy in his first year at school. An American in China met one, boatman by vocation, who had been soldierman off and on twenty years. Ill that period he had carried a spear. a pole-axe, a shield, and 8 ban- ner. but had never handled. much less discharged, gun of any sort. The American met others who had carried musket five years, but did not know that 1t should be borne in any way different from a. cane or a fishing pole, When on duty he poked and pushed with 1t very much as Broadway po- iceman might use a night-stick.
 The fourth class comprises the SOL aiers who have been trained and drilled by Europeans. They are more numerous than is popularly supposed. Up to the Taiping rebellion European tactics and warcraft were either un- knnur 0r 1NontraI L> the Flowery empire. The remarkable success of General Gordon and his corps of British and American freeL ances called attention even from the 'leepiest mandarin to the superiority of christian modes of warfare. The impression then made has. never been forgotten and has borne fruit in many fields. European officers have been acting as teachers to the raw .levies ,f China ever since. In the rebellion at east 100000 men were drilled to greater or less extent, and Of these a luarter still survive who can do mill tary service. The European teachers n the past twenty years have trained thousands more who can 50 through he manual of arms as we'll as anyscor-, body of men in Europe. s
 This movement has not been a gener- ] one. l. represents the energy and tendencies of only few of he great leaders of the empire. In he north the premier; u Hung Chang. las done his utmost to a develop the strength of his country. At he present time he has an army of o,Ooo men, drilled g nd equipped accord nY to the latest ideas in warfare. The