The herald., 1894-10-06
ORIENTAL WAR NEWS.

ORIENTAL WAR NEWS.
Reliable Information Is Hard to Get.
Stories OF Late Arrivals.
SAN FRANcIsco. Oct. 5.--J. S. Van
Buren,. agent of the Pacific Mail Steam
ship company at Hong Kong, was one
of the passengers on the steamer Gaelic.
Mr.. Van Buren, says that it is impossible
to get reliable news OF the war at any
place in the Orient. All news
received at Hong Kong comes
by way of Shanghai, and as the govern
ment controls the wires north OF that
point, all information concerning the
engagements between the two contend
ing forces is gsrbled to suit the Chinese
authorities. The news obtainable at
Yokohama is no more satisfactory, as it
is modified or exaggerated to suit the
ideas OF the Japanese authorities.
II am credibly informed" he said,
''that the correspondents who are fol-
lowing the Japanese army were only
permitted to do 80 under an agreement
that their correspondence should be
submitted to the Japanese authorities
for revision, and was startled to learn
at Yokohama that letters sent by the
officers of the U. S. S. Baltimore to
their families while the vessel was
at Chemulpo, we're inspected by the
Japanese. The letters necessarily had
to 20 by way of Yokohama, and the
Japanese took upon themselves the
privilege OF opening the letters for fear
they might contain information of
nature which might be detrimental to
Japanese interests.
Or. Antonio MARQUES d'Oliveirs. chief
justice of the Portuguese province OF
Macao, South China, and DR.. j. Comes
da Silva. chief surgeon and head OF the
health department of the same province,
were among the arrivals on the
steamer Gaelic. Speaking of the
war between Japan and China the
two officials expressed the belief thai
Japan would administer severe drub-
bing to her sister nation and predicted.
as q result, that China would see bitter
internal revolution, and be divided into
two or three separate and distinct king
dows.
"China is not prepared for war;" said
DR.. d'Oliveira. "She has no troops
worthy of the name, The great bulk OF
the men who comprise China's army are
coolies of the lowest strata of human in
telligence, who are poorly paid and poor
assurance that there will be no fighting
1t is no wonder that these men have
turned in their tracks and run away
from the enemy at the fret sign of hos
klities.
Japan will prove the victor in the
existing hostilities, and then there will
be riot and bloodshed in China. The
present government mas not too strong q
hold on the people. They are now on
the verge of rising en- masse and estRb-
fishing q new government. There will
be no less than two or three distinct
kingdoms in China before the Japan
war has progressed much farther"
Fuminira Sivas, Japanese artist, had
been spending several months in the
interior when the government issued
call for troops to be semitic Corea.
''At the place where l was stop
ping the troops had to march 20 miles
to Hiroshima," he said, from which
place they were conveyed in vessels to
Corea. There were no sad leave-takings.
Poor farmers, too poor to pay their way,
ran after the army 20 miles to cheer
them to victory. The whole country
went wild ct the prospect of war, and
danger to life and limb was the
last thing that the fathers
and mothers thought of in
bidding their sons goodby. Mothers are
not praying in Japan today that their
sons may be spared. They gather in
the places of worship in great numbers
and pray, but their prayers are offered
up that Japan might win.
Japan has the sympathy of the en-
tire foreign population Of the orient,
except the English. Englieh sentiment,
as far az have been able to observe, ia
with the Chinese. In Yokohama few
weeks ago a wealthy English merchant
made a wager with q French resi-
dent that the first important land
engagement would result in victory
for the Chinese. He bet $40, 900 against
$4,000, and the odds were go great that
it was the talk Of the country. The
battle Of Ping Yang decided the wager.
The English gentleman lost his $40. 900.
II notice that the American papers
have been indulging in q great deal OF
speculation on the probable fate of the
thousands of Chinese soldiers who were
made captive at that battle. Let me say
that they will be treated most cordial>
ly. That is the outlined policy
Of the Japanese government. They are
prisoners of war but they will not be
unlimited to the barbarities and cruel
ties which have been heaped upon my
countrymen by the Chinese. The jap
Anese government does not want
10 be hard on the Chinese
any more than it wants to be
hard on the people of Corea. Az evil
dence of the great consideration which
Japan wants to show the people of
Corea. the Japanese army is not forag-
ing on the poor Corean farmers. All
the supplies for the Japanese army in
Corea are being sent from Japan"