CHINA. 



173 



obliged to suffer and perish for lack of proper 

 medical relief. At last a mutiny broke out on 

 board the Bayard, and twelve men were shot 

 by sentence of court-martial. Admiral Courbet 

 at this point gave up his plan of operations, 

 and departed for the coast of the mainland to 

 cruise against any Chinese naval vessels that 

 ventured away from the safe refuge of the riv- 

 ers and the ports, and to capture rice-junks 

 bound for northern China in accordance with 

 the new doctrine of international law that the 

 French Government advanced to suit his pur- 

 pose. He telegraphed to France that 5,000 

 fresh troops would be required for the con- 

 quest of Formosa. On board the Cachar and 

 the Annamite 1,434 men were sent out, and 

 preparations were made to send 2,500 more. 

 Admiral Courbet left Rear- Admiral Lespes 

 with five of the ships to hold Kelung. The 

 first Chinese attack on the French positions 

 occurred Jan. 31, in the direction of the Ke- 

 lung mines. The Chinese force, said to num- 

 ber from 1,000 to 2,000, was repelled, leaving 

 200 dead on the field, including several man- 

 darins and one European. On Feb. 10 the 

 Chinese were again repelled in the attack on 

 the French lines. The blockading squadron, 

 though unable to prevent the landing of troops, 

 munitions, and supplies, patrolled the coast and 

 destroyed great numbers of small craft, carry- 

 ing off the crews that were not killed to Ke- 

 lung, where they were forced to work on the 

 earthworks. 



The distance between Kehmg and Tamsui is 

 only sixteen miles, but the road was exceed- 

 ingly difficult, lying along the bed of a stream 

 with steep, wooded hill-sides, affording cover 

 for the hill-men, who are good sharp-shooters 

 and expert in jungle warfare, while at many 

 places the Chinese troops were strongly posted. 



On the 4th of March Colonel Duchesne, 

 the military commander at Kelung, undertook 

 another attack on the Chinese positions. He 

 advanced with 1,300 men, and after fighting 

 five days carried the last of the Chinese forts 

 on the Tamsui road, forcing the Chinese to 

 fall back upon Tamsui. The French losses 

 were 400, the Chinese losses 1,100 men. 



In March the French had 24 war- vessels 

 with 6,000 men in Chinese waters, and 40,000 

 land-forces in Tonquin and Formosa. 



Occupation of the Pescadores Islands. On the 

 29th of March Admiral Courbet with a squad- 

 ron of six ships and several landing companies 

 of troops undertook the occupation of the Pes- 

 cadores, The operations began with the bom- 

 bardment of the forts, provided with four bat- 

 teries, that guarded the entrance to the harbors 

 of Ponghu and Makung. The town of Makung 

 was set on fire. The obstacles in the harbor 

 channel were destroyed. The troops were 

 landed the same day, and on the 30th they 

 marched upon Makung. On the 31st, after a 

 succession of assaults, the fort, which was de- 

 fended by 2,500 Chinese, was captured, with 

 14 rifled cannon, a large number of smooth- 



bore guns, and stores of arms and ammunition. 

 In the three days that the assaults lasted, from 

 300 to 400 Chinese were slain, while the 

 French loss was small. 



The Conclusion of Peace. The withdrawal of 

 the French demand for indemnity gave the 

 Imperial Government a welcome opportunity 

 to embrace without dishonor the proffered 

 peace. (The history of the negotiations and 

 the terms of the treaty of peace are given in 

 the article on ANNAM.) China, in the improved 

 state of her army and coast defenses, was better 

 able to continue the struggle, notwithstanding 

 the emptiness of the imperial treasury, than 

 was the French Government, taking account 

 of the temper of the French nation, which for- 

 bade the expenditure of the military strength 

 of France in colonial adventures. The aristoc- 

 racy of China, who influenced the counsels of 

 the Tsung-li-Yamen, were the first to grow 

 tired of the conflict, because those of them 

 who were wealthy were mulcted in war con- 

 tributions now that the imperial treasury was 

 exhausted. The people became more and more 

 inflamed with the spirit of war as the temper 

 of the ruling class grew cooler. The French, 

 demoralized by being pitted against soldiers 

 whose civilization and modes of warfare are 

 different from their own, conducted the repris- 

 als with a ruthlessness not usual in the fiercest 

 military conflicts between European nations. 

 Admiral Courbet, chafing under the inaction 

 to which he was doomed by the decisions of 

 his Government, permitted a barbarous war- 

 fare against innocent junkmen and fishermen 

 that horrified the people of Japan and roused 

 the spirit of revenge among the Chinese troops 

 and the people of the seaboard provinces. The 

 Chinese were angry against the English, who 

 aided the French in various ways that were 

 not warranted by international law, although 

 they received similar aid wherever profits could 

 be earned from it. There were, however, in 

 the treaty ports, or even in Formosa, no savage 

 outbreaks against foreigners, such as have oc- 

 curred in former Chinese wars. 



Disturbances in Kashgaria and Hi. In the prov- 

 ince of Hi from 2,000 to 3,000 Chinese soldiers 

 mutinied and killed their officers on the ground 

 that their pay was withheld from them, the 

 governor having kept it, as was alleged, for 

 his own use. Soon afterward, in the begin- 

 ning of March, Hakim Beg Toreh, the third 

 son of Yakoob Beg, who had been living in 

 Bokhara on a pension of 7,200 rubles, paid 

 by the Ameer, but furnished probably by the 

 Russian Government, left Bokhara on the pre- 

 tense of assisting exiles from Kashgaria. Ac- 

 companied by several hundreds of his expelled 

 countrymen, he proceeded to Kegul, on the 

 Chinese frontier, and from there issued a proc- 

 lamation, declaring that he had returned with 

 the help of the Czar to deliver his brethren 

 from the yoke of idolaters and to set np in 

 Kashgar the empire of God and his Prophet. 

 Among the acts of tyranny the Chinese Vice- 



