Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-11
Military Resources Of the Flowery
Kingdom.
LORD BERESFORD'S OBSERVATIONS
Few of the Bodies in Good State
Of Discipline.
n BERS OVERSTATED

The best and most recent authority on
| China and its military resources is Lord
| Charles Beresfords book The Breakup
of China" published last year.
In 1898 Lord Beresford, at the request Of
| the associated chambers Of commerce of
| Great Britain. visited China for the purpose
| of fully investigating the military. COM
| mercial and financial condition of the en-
| pire. He spent three or four months in
| China, during which time he visited all
the principal cities and had repeated and
| confidential interviews with the tsung II
yamen a Pekin and the viceroys of the va
| rious provinces. These authorities, he says.
afforded him every means of observation
| and information and his book Is most In
structive report Of what he saw and what
| he learned from the most reliable sources.
| In chapter on the Armies and Navies
| of China" he gives interesting account
of the military and naval forces of the en-
pire. OF the Chinese army in general he
says:
The Chinese Army.
NO one knows the real strength of the
Chinese army. not even the Chinese govern
ment itself The military forces di-
vided: some are Manchu and some are Chi
nese. The Manchu forces quite exclu-
sive. no Chinese serving in their ranks: but
the Chinese forces have some Manchus
among them. The armies in the north and
about Pek-n nearly all commanded by
Manchu princes. The Manchu armies are
supposed to be 11O,00O strong, but there Is
no Manchu army efficient either in drill,
discipline or organization throughout the
empire. The Manchu force is divided and
quartered in most of he bg towns through
out China, such as Marking. Hangchow,
foochow, Canton and other places. The
viceroys of the provinces have no command
or authority over Manchu armies command
| ed by Manchu generals
"All the armies in the provinces MAIN
tanned at the expense of the viceroys. with
| the exception of the Manchu yarrisons. In
| the province Of Chill the scene Of the
| present disturbances General Yuan Shi
kai's army and the imnerial armies at and
around Pekin are maintained by the board
| of revenue out of imperial taxes These
| state-paid imperial armies not supposed
| to be sent away from the vicinity of Pc
kin. Every soldier throughout the empire
is supposed to receive three taels mine
Shillings) month. There are different sys-
TENS in every province and in every army
as to pay. food and clothing. In some
armies the men are paid to feed and cloth he
| themselves: in other armies they are fed
and clothed. This matter is left entirely
i'll the hands of the general commanding
A. the generals, like all authorities in
China. only have a nominal salary. they
make large profits or squeeZes during their
command. In order to report an ins lance
! questioned one of those in command when
in Pekin. He informed ME that he COM
nanded 10000 men. I ascertaired that all
he actually commanded was SO HIS
method is common to China. He receives
the money to pay. feed and clothe IO,0pO
men. If. his army is to be inspected he
hires coolies at ~ pence day to appear
on parade. This is well known to the in
speeding officer. but he receives "A douceur
to report that he has inspected the army
and has found it in perfect order
Inspection of Armies.
Lord Beresford visited and inspected scv-
eral of these armies and gives the details:
"On October II, 1898, I went TO Hsiao
Chan to visit Gen. Yuan Shi Kai and to at
tend a review of his troops. L stayed two
days and one night with the general and
during that time 1 not only saw all his
troops paraded and unanswered but had
ample opportunity to examine the eauuu-
ment OF all their arms. The strength of
the army was 400 men. mostly Shautung
men. These and the Huanese are reported
TO make the best soldiers in China. Gen
Yuan Shi kai is Chinaman, and his army
is composed Of Chinese. The infantry were.
armed with Mauser rifles. He had ten six
gun batteries of different caiibers throwing
from one pound TO six-pound projectiles
The cavalry were armed with lances and
Mauser infantry rife. On parade the whole
force appeared an exceptionally smart pody
of men of extremely fine physique. They
were evidently well fed, and their uni
forms were very serviceable and we'll kept
Most other armies are clothed in an or'ii-
nary Chinese dress. with a large badge
the general put them through various
parade movements and then carried out
maneuvers in the surrounding country.
which proved to me that both officers ard
men We're thoroughly conversant with their
duties. With the exception of the artillery
and the Mains all equipment was service
able and efficient. 1 suggested to the gen
eral to practically test the equipment of
the artillery and Maxms by gallopinf then
over some rough ground. The result was
to prove conclusively that the equipment
useless. This army is the only army
complete in all detail according to Euro
pean ideas, that found in China"
AT and around kinchOw he found Gen.
Sungs army, supposed to be about 2,.Wn
strong" but he says: LAS a matter OF
fact | could not make out that there were
more tLan 10,GO men," At Lutai there were
estimated to be 1000 troops under Gen.
Soon Ching. but Lord Beresford says there
were only between 1000 and 5000 these
had been drilled by Russian and German
officers. but at the time of his visit there
was drill and very little discipline among
these men.
Dfsor,lerIy and Undfscipllned Rabbie.
General Tung Flu Chan had 10000 Kanush
troops, mostly Mohammedans. encamped a
short distance from Pekin. They were a
most disorderly and undisciplned rabble,
badly armed and undrilled. but good fight
,ers. While l there they assaulted and
nearly killed two British engineers who
We're working the line at Fungtai. The
foreign ministers demanded their withdraw
al" Between Hsao and Tien Tsin he found
General Nieh's army, containing about
1900 men, but was not allowed to inspect
the camps THE Pekin field force, COM
manded from the palace. is composed of
especially picked men, 10000 strong. They
well armed but indifferently drilled
There was a cavalry camp of leo men at
Kaiping being drilled by Russian officers,
but short of horses.
Besides these armies Lord Beresford says
that there in Mongolia about 100000
cavalry ruled by their own princes and
unpaid. with the exception of Yuan Shi
kai's army all the armies above referred to
have little no firing practice and none
of them have any organization for trans
port. II seems incredible, but some of the
soldiers still practiced in shooting with
bows and arrows at a target. When at
Pekin l them practicing.' At WI
chang he saw a battery of six guns and
450 infantry. The guns were drawn by men
instead of horses THE viceroy has 600
troops under his command, undiscplined.
but fairly armed. Between the Tung Ting
lake and Ichan there were 10000 Manchu
troops under General Ching Heng. "undisci-