The Portland daily press., 1895-01-01
There is Wide Diversity Of Opinion
in Japan
AS TO JUST HOW EASILY CHINA
SHOULD BE LET OFF.
1t Ranges from Payment of $500, ,ooO, 900
to the Ceding of the Greater Part of the
Chinese Empire-Further Details of the
Port Arthur Massacre-It was in Retalia-


Port Arthur Massacre-It was in Retalia
tion.
Washington, December 3l.-A little ad-
ditionaI information concerning the report
ed massacre at Port Arthur after the Jap
anese troops had entered that stronghold is
contained in unofficial mail from Toxic de-
livered at I he Japanese legation here today.
One account of the battle says that in the
engagement at Suchiatun just before Port
Arthur fell the Chinese behaved with their
usual brutality. behead.ng the bodies Of the
Japanese. cutting of their hands, ripping
open their stomachs and tearing out their
Hve1s. The mutilated remains presented a
revolving spectacle. The fury of the jap
anese troops at the sight was deep and tho
officers and men swore to take vengeance
for their unhappy comrades"
telegram from Shanghai published in a
Japanese newspaper says that the Japan
ese to avenge the inhuman treatment 'ex-
tended by the Chinese to their prisoners.
gave no qual ter to the troops that marched
from Fu-Chow to recapture Chin Chow, but
cut down the greater part of them. Four
hundred Chinese were encountered and yir-
tnally annihilated at Ma-Kwo-Ling and are
said to have been fugitives from Port Ar
thur. The fugitives encountered battal-
lion of Japanese in narrow pass. The
Chinese fancied that their only chance of
escape lay in lighting and the result was a
heavy slaughter. The Japanese Mail, an
English newspaper, published in Yokoha-
ma. credits the stories of the massacre in
this paragraph: From Shanghai tele-
grams are being circulated broadcast to the
effect that the Japanese troops exhibited a
merciless disposition at Port Arthur and
that the killing of the Chinese took place
on an unnecessary scalos, We think it very
probable. Soldiers are human beings after
all and when they learn that two Of their
countrymen have had their bones crushed
and been roasted alive by the Chinese:
when they see the
AWFULLY MUTILATED REMAINsH
of their comrades killed or wounded in bat.
tie. it is small wounder if they set their
teeth when they meet the foe and kill as
long as muscle and thew hold out. 1.-THE TAX
ing of Port Arthur has been celebrated in
patriotic fashion all over Japan.
On the date of the advices, December /,
the question as to the conditions of the
peace was the principal topic of CONVEX
sation ana discussion. A suggestion of one
Japanese newspaper that. aomng other
things. an indemnity of $500. 100000 in gold
should be demanded, and that the money
thus realized should be used for introduce
ing a gold standard into Japan. has not OBJ
tained any considerable support from other
journals. Some pei sons suggest the cession
of Formosa, some of the cession of three
provinces, Kirin, Chinking and Chill. and
few others advocate the absorption of the
better half of the Chinese Empire. Various
as are the opinions of the japanese on the
subject, most persons seem agreed that the
possession by Japan of Formosa and the
Liau Tung Peninsula is imperative1y nec-
essarY for the maintenance of permanent
peace In the east.
1t is asserted. with some degree of posi-
tiveness that the events of the war may
necessitate the cession of even more terri
tory than the above mentioned. but in all
pI obab bility the Japanese demands will not
be more mode than the basis mentioned.
Tai Won Kun, father of the Korean King,
and regent of Korea, is reported to have
retired into private life. This has probably
been followed by the restoration of the
King to real power.