Little Falls herald., 1900-08-31
| TIE IOHM n I A|IKIN'
OF CH|INA'N 4 I |
he is a Fierce Fighter, But he is
Different lcons.Ensland's Soldier.
. or Uncle Sans Warrior. j.

- AAS% ~ SoSAAI~C 1nhINlna- aHOT0Sa
I hitting opportunity. for giving some
facts< - about the ragged rabble which
serves as the Celestial army In the
war: with Japan it was clearly proved
I that against trained troops the Chinese
nave no chance. They were simply
paralyzed by the movements of the Ja-
panese. '.s - ~ Safs| i y ~ SSS
+! The state of the Chinese army may. be
guaged byy the following piece of yinfor-
nation: The Chinese method of
changing guard consists in the privates
Q) exchanging clothes, (2) rifles. so
belts "a the etceteras This occupies
! about a quarter of an hour, and then
| the sentry sits down with the rifle be-
! tween his knees and meditates.
1t is not merely il drill but it is every
military essential that the army is
wanting, from the generals to the coolie
wearing the distinguishing garb of the
| ''brave::'' The last-nanaed is a mon,
| ignorant creature, whose ideal of fight
ing is hunting down half-starved peas
antry rising in rebellion-so called
from desperation. One cou,d pity such
| helpless wretch being sent to face the
breech-loaGing and ma azine rifles of
the modern army. We're it not for the
brutal, coWardly instincts which
prompt him to murder, plumber and
mEtilate whenever it can be done with
Out any risk.
To see him attempting drill in his ri
d!cu!ous garments awakens n1irth, and
When one goes through the camps and
sees fine modern rifles thrown about in
bundles like faggots, or stuck into the
ground With fixed bayonets, the sights
ruined, the weapon grossly misused:
While bundles, baskets, umbrellas, and
teapots are jumbled up in tents in lud-
lcrouS confusion, and haWkers are sell
ling cakes and sweets in the encamp-
ments; with martial decorations of
spears and flags galore embellisling the
scene-surely one has to admit that the
Chinese soldier is a carica ture and his
camp like market fair.
Unfortunately he is not only funny.
but he is extremely dangerous to the
Isolated traveller and other defenceless
people. He is totally ignorant of dis
cipllne. and plumbers at every oDpor-
tunity.
Although some of the troops are sup
piled with modern rifles and artillery
they nave no modern military training
The generals are strong men, who
nave gone through course Of archery
and Weight-lifting, and their power is
balanced theoretically, by civil officials
What they want is money, and a posi-
ton to make it by 'squeezing" Take.
for instance, an officer equivalent to a
major IN command Of a camp or bat
talon; he commands nominally 500 men
and draws pay for that number whether
he has them or not.
He is almost sure not to have that
number for the following reason: It is
a recognized custom that he must add
to his pay so taels a month, and his first
step is to have eight or ten imaginary
prlVates in each of his five companies.
and his next is to keep back as much
OF the pay of the real privates as he
can manage with his Chinese ingenuity.
The captains, in their turn, have a few
imaginary priVates for their pecuniary
benefit, and the lieutenants enjoy a
similar privilege. The pay of a cap
tain is twelve taels, that of leuten-
ant eight taels a month /
A battalion, or camp Of infantry, is
divided into five companies, known as
| the front" rear" fright" left" and
centre companies, the first four ma
med being commanded by the major
| assisted by a lieutenant. The men are
divided into pOrters and riflemen: that
ls men with rifles and flag bearers
There is no regular outpost duty in
the Chinese army, but at night some
times a couple of companies may be
sent out as a kind of advance post.
when the men make themselves as conf
Portable as they: can, light fires and
huddle round; there are no sentries or
patrols as in Europe.
Each battalion has it's own artillery
theoretically, four field pieces; but
there are no trained artillerymen, and
the, pieces are not horsed, such is the
lack OF draught animals. Among the
rifles of the infantry, atleast nine diff
ferent patterns are in use. siIt may
be of interest to know that in the 1871
war between Great Britain and China
the British forces captured no less than
1885 cannon. = I {
In the Japan war, they esta blished a
complete uniformity of procedure In all
their defensive operations. j, They held
the outworks of a place for time, and
having lost them, they abandoned the
main position. incontinuently without
further resistance. It was only when
cut off that they fought hard on a: few
occasions against the Japanese, doubt
less fearing that they would be sub
jected to the same. chastity as
they We're in the habit Of inflicting upon
the wretched, ill-armed rebels who fell
into their hands. a. :
The Chinese treat their prisoners bru-
tally. ~ In their war against Japan four
bodies of the enemy's soldiers, to quote
one instance, were taken in triumph
to Port Arthur. They were paraded at
the Yamen, and after the promised
blood money (ffty taels for each head
had been weighed out by the clerk of
the Taotoi,. the eorpse> were handed
over to the Chinese braves" The
ears, nose, etc, were cut off, and the
mangled heads hung up by q 81, string
through the lower lip to the trees along
the roadside. : es-:.:ss q q S. s. II.
In all cases where prisoners were cap
tured this horrible scene was repeated.
The! Chinese exhibited the same pecul-
iarltles against the Japanese in 1855, as
they did against the British. Not be-
ng able to>depand upon the stoutness Of
the individual soldier or upon the train
ing Of their masses they built fortif1-
cations, or got behind such as existed.
whenever possible, and collected guns
ana rifles, rifles, relying upon the weapons