Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-11
MAGNIFICENT CHINESE SCHEMES.
Pl.ns to OverwheIm the Japanese
Corruption Among Officers.

corruption Among O1nCef9s
Tien Tsin correspondence of the New
York Times gives a graphic, and in some
respects, an amusing picture Of the state
of affairs in China.
Magnificent schemes have been prepared
by the military mandarins. One is to en-
gage two determined men, one Of whom
must be a good swimmer and diver. These
heroes, when the Japanese fleet shall an
Choir off n-Hai-Kuan, are to go off in a
junk with a torpedo, and, while one man
engages the enemy in conversation, the
diver is to go down. fix the. torpedo to the
ships propeller, explode it,, and escape by
swimming.
Another scheme is to fill junk with
dynamite covering it over with fresh vege-
tables. A devoted hero is to take this
alongside the flagship, and blow it and
himself to smithereens! The rewards for
these will be family pension and the en-
nobling of ancestors to three generations.
Yet another scheme is that each soldier
shall carry bag of pepper, and at given
signal throw 1t in the aig. and, while the
enemy Is blinded and sneezing, the valiant
Cinnamon will slaughter the helpless Japs
1t is assumed, of course, that the Japanese
will time their attack SO that the wind
may be right for this, aid also that the
Cinnamon will stand within pepper range!
Regarding trip to Port arthur the
correspondent says:
/ was at Port Arthur week after its
capture. What a prize it is for the Japa-
nese, and just the thing they have been
wanting. Now, they have an impregnable
depot close to the,sEUres Of Chilli. and only
seven hours by steam from Wei-Hai-Wei.
They can, from it, patrol the Gulf of Lao
tung, and effectually seal up the Chinese
fleet. AS a base from which to start an
expedition, it is admirable; in it's basin
tWenty-four steamers can lie al the same
time, and the Chinese troops left basin,
dockyard and machinery in good order,
as also were the forts and guns, and none
of the ammunition was destroyed. Nearly
10000 tons of coal, with fifty or more miles
of steel rails, were also captured.
Working for the Japanese.
When I was there I saw Chinese soldiers
working as coolies for the Japanese and
dragging guns UP the hills. The captors
said many of the soldiers who had fled
We're coming in to be employed; the civil
population was bringing in provisions and
had reopened the Chinese theater for their
amusement. Before boiling. the Chinese
troops killed their wounded, and they also
tortured tc death some of their prisoners
The evaporation of the Japanese at the
sight of the mangled bodies is quite intel
ligible and their giving no quarter was
justiiiable. This accounts for the 1900
Cinnamon killed.
"DOn't Fight Fair
Taotai Kung, who was a great man at
Port Arthur, and escaped from there dur
ing the fighting-to do him justice, he is
not military official, but civil one-has
a lovely theory to account for the success
of the Japanese. He says the latter did
mot fight like men at all; the Chinese
soldiers were all standing UP ready to re-
ceive them, but the Japs separated into
small bodies, ran on few yards, then lay
down; then got up and advanced, and lay
down before they could be fired at. What
could Cinnamon do against such idiots as
these? Besides, they fought SO unfairly;
;y,t- of tlo f1rf
actually turned the guns on the Chinese
soldiers. 1t is most unfair! The guns were
never meant to do that!' Delicious idea
of tactics, is it not?
l had almost forgotten to tell you about
Taotai Sheng. The steamship Fetching in
crossing the bar ran into and damaged a
torpedo. Sheng made a complaint against
the captain for damaging one of the con-
tact torpedoeS laid in defense of Taku.
Useful torpedoes! This is the same gentle
man who made a corner in rice. and were
1t not that the season is unusually open
there would not be enough rice for the SOL
diers for the southern provinces.
The Corruption.
The correspondent describes the Chinese
government as mass of corruption.
The introduction of modern arms, fortifi-
cations and railways has been hailed as a
fruitful source of peculation by Chinese
officials. All the old rifles and ammunition
which foreign firms could induce them, or
rather bride them to buy, they have taken
You should see some of the rifles! Stocks
unfinished, barrels roughly filed down. and
the parts simply screws with the
heads nipped off and filed, while the sights
are put on anyhow.
No Chinese official receives a salary on
which he can live and 1t is the practice to
supplement salaries by embeZzlement and
"squeeZes' up to certain point fixed by
! custom Beyond that point commences Off
cial dishonesty in a Chinese sense.
Take the case of the Taotai here. He Is
| really coolie; his salary is but 1000 taels
u year, not enough to support the crowd of
yamen runners and secretaries which he is
obliged to have. and, to keep up his posi-
ton, he must take something out of the
public funds passing through his hands
1t is the same with the army; the generals
have no standing or influence among the
civil and educated class, their salaries are
utterly inadequate, and they are expected
| to increase their incomes by false returns
and embezzling, and do it.
AS for respect to their officers, 1t does not
exist. The other morning a troop train was
starting for Shang Hal Kuan. A first-class
carriage had been put on for the officers,
but these, coming late, found it occupied by
soldiers, who, on being told to get out, said
No; We are quite comfortable here, and
don't intend to move" Thus the officers
had to travel in an open coal truck, with
| the baggage!
Tien Tsin is perfectly safe for foreigners,
for, between sailors, marines and volun-
teers, there are nearly 1000 armed men.