CHINA. 



129 



sent troops thither. We, by virtue of the provisions 

 of the convention of 1885, dispatched troops to Korea 

 to deal with the emergency, and also we nave made 

 efforts to relieve Korea from internal disturbance, and 

 by maintaining peace in that country to secure the 

 peace of the East. We asked China to co-operate 

 with us to that end. China, however, on various 

 pleas, declined our request. We thereupon advised 

 Korea to remedy the abuses in her administration and 

 strengthen the guarantees of domestic peace and 

 order, while also "perfecting her privileges as an inde- 

 pendent nation. Korea adopted the suggestions of 

 this country. China, however, offered every obstruc- 

 tion to, and caused delay in, the carrying out of re- 

 forms ; and that country, moreover, began the prepa- 

 ration of land and sea forces with a view to war. On 

 the completion of her preparations she attempted to 

 achieve the object of her ambition with reference to 

 Korea, dispatching more troops to Korea and attack- 

 ing our men-of-war in the, Korean Sea. She thus 

 acted toward Japan in an exceedingly lawless fash- 

 ion. It is now beyond doubt that the project of 

 China is to destroy the authority responsible for the 

 maintenance of peace in Korea, and to degrade into 

 obscurity that country which Japan introduced to 

 the world as an independent nation, to ignore the 

 treaties which clearly defined her independent status, 

 and thereby to injure the rights and interests of 

 Japan and destroy forever all assurance of peace in 

 the East. Judging from the actions of China so far, 

 her scheme must have aimed at the sacrifice of all 

 peaceful guarantees and the accomplishment at all 

 costs of her own objects. To this stage the situation 

 has now developed. 



Though it has always been our desire to maintain 

 peace with all nations, and in doing so to display the 

 glory of our empire at home and abroad, we have now 

 no course open to us but to declare war, in the hope 

 that we may be able to restore peace in good time, 

 and thus to vindicate the prestige of Japan by the 

 loyalty and bravery of our subjects. 



The Chinese declaration of war bore the fol- 

 lowing tenor : 



Whereas : That Chu-san has been a border depend- 

 ency of our great Ch'ing Empire for more than two 

 hundred years, and has dutifully paid annual tribute 

 as such, is known well, whether to the people of the 

 Middle Kingdom or foreigners. For the last ten 

 years and upward in that kingdom there has been 

 much internal disorder. Our Imperial Majesty, hav- 

 ing regard to the smallness and weakness of the 

 kingdom, has treated it with the utmost tenderness 

 and care, frequently dispatching soldiers to maintain 

 its peace. We have also appointed officers to reside 

 in the capital and act as occasion required for its pro- 

 tection. 



In the fourth month of this year there was a rebel- 

 lious uprising of seditious peopl'e, and the King begged 

 us to go to nis deliverance, and that with extreme 

 urgency. 



We at once directed Li-Hung-Chang to dispatch 

 troops for his relief. As soon as these troops arrived 

 at Asan the rebels dispersed ; but the Japanese, 

 without any reason whatever, sent troops and occu- 

 pied Seoul. They subsequently sent more than 10,000 

 soldiers, and, putting the Koreans under extreme 

 pressure, began to force upon them alterations in 

 their government with a violence altogether beyond 

 reason. 



Our Imperial Majesty has consistently protected 

 the dependency, leaving the inner arrangement of its 

 government to its own management. Japan has 

 made treaties with Korea as an equal power, and 

 hence is not entitled to use force for the alteration of 

 its government. 



The various powers, deliberating together, decided 

 that this was a disreputable and unrighteous course 

 on the part of Japan, and advised her to withdraw 

 her troops and settle the dispute in a pacific manner. 

 She stubbornly refused to listen, and no conclusion 

 VOL. xxxiv. 9 A 



was reached. During this time she continued to 

 send soldiers to Korea, from which the people ot 

 Korea and the merchants of China and other coun- 

 tries have been placed in great and daily perturba- 

 tion. 



We therefore dispatched soldiers for Korea's pro- 

 tection, little thinking that on their way they would 

 encounter a number of Japanese ships, which, taking 

 advantage of our unpreparedness, attacked our trans- 

 port vessels outside the port of Asan, firing on them 

 and inflicting great damage. Such treachery was 

 beyond all expectation. This Kingdom of Japan 

 pays no regard to treaty or international law, and 

 disturbs the peace at its own will, carrying out the 

 most deceptive devices. That the present strife has 

 been begun by them is most manifest to all nations. 

 We therefore publish this edict to inform the whole 

 empire that we have already carried benevolence and 

 regard for right to the utmost limit, but the Japanese 

 have broken treaty and commenced war in the most 

 unjustifiable manner. 



Our forbearance can go no further, and we com- 

 mand that Li-Hung-Chang with the utmost austerity 

 dispatch our armies to destroy them. Let him send 

 large numbers of soldiers, and that without intermis- 

 sion, for the deliverance of the Koreans out of their 

 distressful state. We also command that all the 

 viceroys and governors of the provinces bordering 

 on the coast and on the great rivers, together with 

 the generals of the army, prepare their troops, so that 

 when Japanese ships enter any port they may meet 

 them with determination and utterly destroy all who 

 appear, without the smallest reluctance or fear, which 

 will be regarded and punished as criminal. 



'A formal treaty of alliance against China was 

 concluded by Mr. Otori with the Korean Gov- 

 ernment on Aug. 26. The treaty set forth as 

 the object of the alliance the strengthening and 

 perpetuation of the independence of Korea, and 

 the promotion of the mutual interests of Japan 

 and Korea by compelling the Chinese forces to 

 evacuate Korea, and by obliging China to aban- 

 don her claim to a right to dominate the affairs 

 of Korea. It bound the Japanese Government 

 to carry on military operations, both offensive 

 and defensive, against China, and the Korean 

 Government to afford every facility to the Jap- 

 anese forces in their movements, 'and furnish 

 them with supplies at a fair remuneration if any 

 should be needed. The treaty was to terminate 

 as soon as a treaty of peace should be concluded 

 between Japan and China. 



The whole burden of the war fell upon Li- 

 Hung-Chang, who had employed every diplo- 

 matic resource to avoid hostilities in some way 

 that would not imply national humiliation or 

 bring himself into disgrace at court. At first 

 he represented to the Pekin authorities, under- 

 rating the strength of Japan, that with his 

 army and Admiral Ting's fleet he was able to 

 cope with the Japanese, but, conscious of un- 

 preparedness, he appealed to Russia and to 

 England to intervene. When the war was 

 begun he appealed in vain to the other viceroys 

 and governors for assistance. His army was 

 strong, but not one quarter as strong as the na- 

 tional army of Japan. His fleet was stronger 

 in material than that of Japan, but in naval 

 science, organization, and seamanship the Japa- 

 nese were greatly superior. The Chinese navy 

 had indeed degenerated and fallen into the old 

 lax and corrupt ways since the dismissal of 

 the European commanders. It was further 

 crippled by the resignation of all the Scotch 

 and English engineers on the breaking out of 



