The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-08-17
Relative Strength
of COntending
Forces.
HE THINKS HARD
CAMPAIGN LIKELY
Adiutant General of the United
States Tells Ills
Views.

"a events now occurring In China are
ebgrosslng the attention Of the civilized
wcrid, some account of the Chinese army. |
OF tho forces the powers can bring against
the m and Of the operations likely to take
place will be Of interest. Telegraphic re-
ports from China have been so m'ager
and 80 confusing that. before proceeding
place to give a brief synopsis OF what has
occurred up TO date.
THE BEGINNING or THE TROUBLE.
| Cn May 81 there were at Taku seven
Russian. one French. two British and one
Italian warships. all OF which landed de-
tachments Of sailors and marines; other
ships afterward arrived. and on June
the number OF ships had been increased
g. twenty-three. two OF which were
An crican. Meanwhile. detachments OF
various nationaiities had been sent into
.Ptking TO guard the legations. The troops
when landed. proceeded to take possession
lof and repair the railroad. June 10 n
force Of about 1000 men. under Admiral
seymour. left Tien-Tsin for Peking. Ar
irving about forty miles from the capital.
n was found that the railroad had been
destroyed. and that further progress
would have 10 be made by marching. For
lscmc time nothing was heard from this
column. on June n the Taku forts. at
} the mouth Of the Peiho river. were at
tackled and captured. On June 2i an at
tack on Tlen-Tsin began. and Il was nee
essary 20 send a force 70 its relief The
lnfst detachment. consisting of about 4O0
Russians and 100 American marines. un-
der Major Waller. met with serious re-
distance and were In great danger until
. reinforced by about 600 British troops.
The rest OF the relieving force arriving.
/, an entrance into Tien-Tsin, which had
/, been held by about 3Oo0 men. principally
4 Russians. was effected on June q II
was then learned that SeymOur's col
umn not only had been unable TO do any
thing for the relief OF Peking. after hard
= dghtng against greatly superior forces
lhaf been compelled 20 withdraw and had
lintrenched near iien-Tsin. June -. 2,Oos
men went from Tien-Tsin TO Seymour
relief. The arsenal was destroyed and
J. the whole force returned TO Tien-Tsin. Ir
=. the early part OF the troubles The Boxers
had been opposed by Chinese troops, bu
- laftervard the latter Joined the Boxers
a and In the recent fghting their forces
:. have been combined. Prince Tuan. thor
}. loCEhly opposed 10 all foreigners. II r.
portcd 90 have poisoned the emperor. q
- have put himself az the head OF the anti
"a foreign movement and 10 be actively di
A. lrcctlng the troops. While the news o
e the assassination of the German Minis
ter and Of the massacre OF all foreigner
- In Toking In agitating the civilized world
the combined forces OF the powers are a
"a present at Tien-Tsin and Taku. and ur
able with their present strength TO max
forward movement The steps taken b
the powers 20 increase their strength
china win bo referred to hereafter.
~ THE CHINESE ARMY.
- The total strength Of the Chinese arm
n cannot be accurately given. and II
~ could. the statement would have but III
tie value. as many Of tho men who M
carried on the rolls arc neither armed ND
- equipped. and large number are 10
or lowing civii vocations and performing 4
military duty whatever.
These troops are organized into eigi
. banners of from ten TO twelve arm
lcCrps each. The Banners XII are distii
ier and are further divided into two class
,m a. follows:
riy The Three Superior Banners-No.
"a yellow with red border: No. 2 plain -
.ve low No. 3. plain white.
The Five Inferior Banners--So. 4. whi
with rcd border; No. s. plain red; No.
red with blue border. No. :. plain blu
No g. blue with red border.
p'- These eight hampers nominaliy conta
{. AT cut 10000 men. but the number mai
- tained on war footing II very mu
less. men being taken from the banne
m men TO form other corps The nationa
ties comprising the banner force a
three In number. VIZ: Manchu. Mons
har and Chinese, the latter being desceu
n' arts OF those natives OF northern Chi
81 who Joined the Manchu Invaders duri
lths period OF their contest with the MI
ldyrasty In the early part OF the seve
dg- lteenth century. The soldiers are distr
na luted under each color according to tn
ST., nationality. Thus. there being three =
Iticnafities, each banner IL sutdivided
- Ito three parts uku-saD. There are. the
fore, twenty-four kusai-three In each
~ The ku-sai are more administrative IN
10 tactical units.
:, Under one or other OF these divisions
living Manchus. and all descendants
'er- the Monaghan and Chinese soidiery
nu- the conquest. are enrolled. The hann
an. constitute IN fact. the population OF
=, king. with offshoots In various provinC
~ FErrisons. and a certain number OF
'ed, adult males of the force receive paw
ap- members OF one or the other militi
!, ~ corps. into which they have. from a
-, 90 time. been organized. In addition 90
,u pittancs they receive as soldiers of
] II banner.
Tho various corps are divided Into &C