The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-31
STRENGTAOF ARMED CHINA.
Continued from Page L.

(Cvntinued from Page L.
mas present force would certainly have
no show in a stand-up fight with
armored ships, but with her cruisers
and gunboats told off for commerce
destroying and transport attack, and
her torpedo boats and destroyers in
hardy hands set against the enemy s
forces of all sorts-for a torpedo boats
sting may mean batt1eship's death
the Chinese navy becomes anything but
a passive force.
In fact, inspired by that reckless
spirit easily aroused in the Chinaman
halfway we'll led, Chinese torpedo
boat or destroyer" might accomplish
a great deal more than a modern bat
tleship in the same hands, for the fear
of death and the facing of appalling
odds are things weighed lightly by the
Monaghan mind when once thoroughly
aroused.
THE CHINESE SAILOR.
Generally the ships of the Chinese
navy have been undermined, but
there are water-bred and seafaring ma
tives enough to man any number of
Chinese fighting ships. In physique the
native sailorman is a fine man, and of
his endurance the whole world knows.
In the battle of the Yalu the Chinaman
proved in many instances the sterner
stuff in him, and that baptism of fire
has done vast deal to strengthen the
fighting spirit of the present Chinese
jacky. Mentally he is a fatalist, and
the prospect of oeath does not phase
him II he be properly led, and there are
plenty of his own countrymen and men
of other nations only too ready to lead
him If occasion require.
NAVAL SCHOOLS
1t Is not generally known that the
two, in fact-and that they are nc
longer dependent upon foreigners fol
their engineer and executive officers
The sum granted yearly from the i'm
perial eXchequer for the whole of this
work is $4,000 fsaoping taels, approx
imately $4,000. Each student costs
the government to house, feed, clothe
provide with books and instruments
and even liberal pocket money from
Chinese point of view, $3.50 a year, OF
$1,000 to turn out an efficient executiv,
or engineer officer, pledged to govern
ment service for life.
| Everything is done in the English
| language, and no better proof of tn,
work done by the student can be haC
than the testimony of a British nava
attache: Il have been very much in
1 tcIcSltu III the SluuenIS
| pers. i consider them exceedingly wei
done. They are wonderfully good witt
regard to style, neatness and clearness
| as well as regard to correctness of an
swers. Papers worked by our owl
students would not be generally bette
DONE"
The present Chinese minister to En-
gland, Lo-FunLoh, is graduate of tn
now abandoned Foochow Naval Col
| 1aOQ. mr. tho % -fn Of 10
Tsin Naval College today, Taotai Yen
Foo. completed his studies in England
| and was the first man of his year a
Greenwich.
The students, like those at Tiep Tsir
are sons of gentlemen, and are admit
ted from sixteen to twenty years Q
age.
| RIVER GUNBOATS.
In addition to the regular naval fore
there are a dozen pretty heavily arm
ed river gunboats that have done rev
enue service. These vessels range 1
speed from seven to twelve knots, hav
been built since SO and would prov
invaluable adjuncts to the Chimes
army when working In the shoa
reaches of the rivers beyond the ap
proach of the heavier foreign vessels {
the gunboat type. There are severa
transports-vessels from 1,200 to 1 AZ
tons-which could be made considerabl
factors of naval force, while the wa
junks which have filled many of tn
southern rivers would easily afford dis
ciplined compliments for the moder
fighting craft of the navy.
1t must not be forgotten that pirac
has been daily calling with thousand
OF the coast-born Chinese for hundred
of years, and men with that under
current of desperation can be foun
In plenty to do the Dad of reckless lead
ers of torpedo boat "destroyers' an
the like in the pursuit of guerill
warfare.
CHINA'S REGULAR ARMY.
OF trained military force, as we un
derstand the modern application of tn
term, it is not likely that China ca
| boast at present of more than sixty O
seventy thousand men; but of militar
retainers or unframed coolies there ar
in reserve quite three hundred or fou
hundred thousand.
OF the trained troops, the bulk @
whom are armed with Mauser patter
repeating rifle, most of which hav
been made right in the Chinese arse
nails, our military and naval attache
speak in complimentary terms. TIL
men are fine lot physically, well Sc
up and very snappy in their movement
~ VI iiis hCli QiSClDllIlt Is GAcGlIeI
and they hesitate at the performance
of no maneuver, no matter how move
The cavalry proper and the irregula
cavalry are also a fine body of me
and mounted on their sturdy nativ
ponies, they go through their evolu
tons with the same quick, elasti
movement characteristic of the othe
trained troops that have felt the in
fiuence of European teaching eithe
directly or indirectly
The artillery, equipped with a larg
number of typically up-to-date orc
nance, are capable of very effectiy
, work, and the same active spirit pre-
walls there as with the two other arm
or the service. 1t is in transportatio
and organized commissariat that til
J Chinese army is weak, but with th
vast numbers of available coolies til
dlfhculty of efficient transport can /
remedied to large extent.
A SOURCE OF WEAKNESS.
, The provincial independence of eac
division of the Chinese military force
Is the source of it's greatest weakness
as was proved in the war with japan