The morning times., 1895-11-29
'PRAIsEFO JAPAN'S TROOPS
Capt. Elliott, q. s. N, on the Be
cent War in the East.
His Report to the Government an In
teresting Addition to the Liter
ature OF the Campaign.

ChineSe- Japanese war 10 cscap De from the
secret archives of the government. is that
of Capt. g. r. Elicit, commanding the
marines on the flagship Baltimore, who
guarded the legations at Seoul u nd TieHtsin.
| as well as landed at Port Arthur.
Capt. Eiiiott's observations are all in
| teresting, and Particularly his technical
! criticisms OF the Japanese army, which
he found worthy of high eommeniatio,.
In describing the outbreak or the war he
says that when the Baltimore was oplsrcd
TO Korea i'll '94, to give u feeling of Sc
eurity TO the missionaries aud the legation,
Chinese AID JAPANESE fleets were constantly
stcaminS into the hartor OF Cheinulpo, an
ehoring and moving out with the evident
intention of watching each others move
Dients.
The existing treaty Of Iich,siil between
China and Japan stipulated that neither
country should iaf,d tro'ps M kor,zi with
out due notification eaca To the other.
| Early in July The CEiIesc lan,i. d 4, 600
| soiulers, sixteen mites spEtn CL.niuIpo.
al a snail village ci,l:ed AIsaii, amt wUut
mac entrepcIeu camp, winch was IniaEd
| sufficiently TO lie out Cf IaIge OF navy
guns.
AS soon as this move On tie part OF the
Chinese was positively known, thc Jara-
nesc landed III light order NJ u sei!crs Iiora
the ileet, hire1 Korean coolies 10 carry
| supplies ana baggage, ,aiidsteibpteti . night
march TO Seoai. Tne rCat.s beng lad. they
did not reach there uniil evening of the
next day. ..... - -.,. ,.......
| They remained in charge or their Il ga
! CATION in Seoul iCr abCut zen cays, wien
they We're rciieve: by TIE Japanese troops.
Willy they did not go by the river in their
bouts was never satisfactorily answered
within week after the sii!urs had oe-
cupied Seoul transports cunvuyed by Jap
aiese neH-of-war diScmbIrkcd 6.Gc0 iu-
! fautry, a single h"rsr- battery, f3pid-fire
guns and 210 cavalry.
''Ali We're laEded IroEl saulI,liis on the
| single mole. rapidly, without noise, con-
fusion. or loss uI amy ,irnr. They were beau
tirally equipped In all the necessities for
field service. The cavalry were a picked
| body OF men. their mounts siaiiiuDs. about
/ fifteen hands. vicious and not up 10 hard
. work. having peculiar ilatness of the
tanks that | have never reticcti IN the
horses OF any other country -'' -'-'
| ''On July % tcleeEanis urgent in tone
1 were received on beard from our minister
in Seoul asking for guards To protect the
legation. also stating that tie Japanese had
| seized the palace and king the night be-
fore. after 4, small ssir,nish in which forty
Koreans and three Japanese were killed or
| wounded
l "A urlslI Oh lWtHt -out HldtInes anu
twenty nine sailors, with the usual officers,
was it 0nc. made to proceed 10 Seoul, and
il was landed about O'Clock at night.
! The ia pa nese consul furnished guide. The
read was lttlc more than II tootpath Tor
pack an.nisls and varied in every degree
/ vI wrctcneuH-ss, over clay hills, deep sand,
with good sized streams to ford.
The nignt WAS extremely hot, and it
was necessary 10 nIake. detour to avoid a
Ia, an
Tnerc tue rirst hand fight OF the war took
place two days later. This divergence took
the command through three miles or par
tally submerged rice fields, without road,
hat The entire distance OF thiriy-one miles
| was iu;isie III eleven hours As the men
iiad 10; drilled on sLore for a year, they
were severely taxed, bat there was no strag-
CLING.
Many fugitive Koreans fleeing from the
CITY with their women and children were
met three miles below Seoul and, it was
said, over a hundred Thousand had gone into
tire country. On entering the gates not an
| inhabtant was 10 be seen. The houses were
all closed, and the market place, usually
thronged At that early hour OF the morning,
| was entirely deserted.
! The gates We're heavily qua rded by JAP
| anese infantry. The men Were Immediately
marched into the legation compound, where
they remained on guard continuously for
nearly two months. Regarding this sojourn
| Capt. Elliott SAYS:
D! Up TO the 26th of August no man left the
compound. All thoroughly understood the
situation, that the japanese garrison had
been depleted to 800 men in order to send
| troops 10 PinEyang, and that in case they
We're defeated their legation would prob
| ably be attacked in Seoul.
IAN even, OF this kind would endanger
the lives of all foreigners for there is a
| ~ s.e Ii -hnS cry iS
! Korea FOR Koreans: also a religious sect
| OF fanatics calling themselves Tonghaks,
| organized tu do away with Christianity.
| but the term is now generally applied
| to reheiiiOus Koreans.
! This belief proved to be true, for o
letter written by the kings father, the
cid regent, 10 the commanding Chinese
general in Pingyang, stated: You gain Il
victory and | viii stir The foreigners up
here in the rear The regent was con-
fronted by this letter In the hands OF the.
Japanese minister in Seoul later and
admitted he wrote 1t, and for this lost most
of the power to which they had restored
him.
The conduct of the men up to August &c
was exemplary in the extreme. Money
was served out after this, and they were
allowed liberty until p. M, when they
could lie spared. Temptations To Snug
gle liquor We're offered by Koreans con
stantly. StlH there were but few cases
of drunscnness or oyerstaying liberty.
Their general conduct was good, and, al
though they would have been glad to get
back to the ship, Inever heard Il compiaint"s
Capt. Elliott gives vivid account of the
dangers the detail for guard at Peliin ex-
perienced in frozen country, amid a dam
gcrous, disorganiZed army. on his march
he noticed that the bodies of troops were
armed with all manner OF weapons. among
them tower muskets, gingals, Beming-
ton rifles of several caliberS, German car
hines, magazine rifles of small caiiber.
bamboo poles with a small flag and spike,
tridents, swords with handles four feet
long, and o variety of similar implements.
He saw thousand men mustered to pay
honor to Ii Hung Chang. and they were uu-
armed. He did not believe that the troops
near Pekin had single cartridge. In
his opinion, had the japanese landed in the
district OF Pechil!i, 10000 Chinese sol
diers would have been defeated and an i'm
mense rabble of armed men swanning
through the country would have made the
best of their way home. He also noted
that there was not q hayersack in the Chi
nese army.