JAPAN. 



389 



tion were real or prospective officeholders, the 

 entire class of gentry and nobles living at 

 Government expense npon the people. Twenty 

 years afterward, in 1892, despite the increase in 

 population from 30,857,271 to 41,089,940, the 

 total number of national (31,211) and local (17,- 

 771) civil officers was but 48,982, whose salaries 

 amounted to yen 11.426,740. These function- 

 aries are thus classified : Personal administra- 

 tion, 21,261; justice, 4,538; police and prison 

 agents, 20,670. The consular and diplomatic 

 corps number 140, against the 123 foreign min- 

 isters and consuls, etc., residing in Japan. In 

 1892, the number of domiciled citizens paying at 

 least yen 15 in national taxes, and having there- 

 fore the right to vote or be voted for, was 460,- 

 914. Other persons paying the tax, but for 

 various reasons (specified in the Constitution) 

 ineligible to all the elector's rights of being 

 elected as well as of electing, numbered 511,209. 

 Notable Events. The year 1894 opened with 

 the Government's dissolution, Jan. 10, of the 

 hostile Diet (which demands that the ministry 

 shall be responsible to the Diet, and not to the 

 Emperor) and suppression of the Great Japan 

 and other societies noted for their antiforeign 

 and antigovernment tendencies. Under minis-., 

 terial orders, several political parties were 

 obliged to dissolve or reorganize, and many 

 newspapers were suspended or suppressed. At 

 the general election held in March the Radicals 

 and Independents gained 161 out of the 300 seats 

 in the Lower House. The imperial silver wed- 

 ding called forth extraordinary manifestations 

 of popular joy, March 9; and the issue of 14,- 

 300,000 commemorative red 2-sen and 700,000 

 blue 5-sen stamps. The Diet met May 12, thor- 

 oughly hostile to the Government. A resolu- 

 tion to impeach the ministry failed for want of 

 5 votes, but a vote of want of confidence in the 

 action of the ministry was passed. The Diet 

 was dissolved June 2, by imperial order, after a 

 session of less than three weeks. At the elec- 

 tions of Sept. 1, 130 new members were chosen, 

 and at the special session of the Diet for one 

 week at Hiroshima the war credit of yen 150,- 

 000,000 was unanimously voted. The revision 

 of the treaties (originally fixed in the first or 

 American treaty for 1872), after twenty-two 

 years of agitation, was inaugurated by Great 

 Britain on Aug. 26, when a new instrument, in 

 which Japan is practically treated as an equal, 

 was signed by Lord Kimberley and Viscount 

 Mutsu. Each of the old commercial treaties 

 with Japan (except that of Mexico in 1890) is 

 based on that negotiated by Townsend Harris in 

 1858. The new American treaty was signed by 

 Secretary Gresham and Minister Kurino Nov. 22, 

 and ratified by the United States Senate Dec. 8. 

 The minister of Japan at Washington is Shini- 

 chiro Kurino, formerly a student in Harvard 

 University, and the minister of the United States 

 at Tokio is Edwin Dunn. In the war between 

 China and Japan the following is the order of 

 events : By the treaty of Feb. 27, 1876, in which 

 Korea was recognized by Japan as an independ- 

 ent nation on equal terms, the Japanese" con- 

 sidered that they had equal rights with the 

 Chinese in the peninsula. The assassination at 

 Shanghai, in April, of a Korean refugee, Kim 

 Ok Kiun, who had found asylum in Japan for 



nine years, and the subsequent honors paid by 

 China and Korea to the murderer, roused Japa- 

 nese popular excitement to fever heat. When, 

 early in June, the insurrection of the Tong Haks 

 broke out in southern Korea, and Li-Hung- 

 Chang sent a force of Chinese soldiery to subdue 

 them, the Japanese Government also, according 

 to the Tientsin treaty of 1885, dispatched a force 

 to Seoul. Having had her legation buildings 

 burned and her subjects murdered in two former 

 uprisings, Japan now demanded from Korea a 

 series of reforms. Diplomatic complications 

 arising between the authorities of Tokio and 

 Pekin, the Japanese envoys left the Chinese 

 capital. A formal declaration of war with 

 China was made by Japan, Aug. 1. Both bel- 

 ligerents poured their forces into Korea the 

 Chinese by land and sea and the Japanese at 

 Chemulpo and Gensan. On land the battles of 

 Asan, July 29 and 30, and Ping Yang, Sept. 16, 

 resulted in victories for the Japanese, and a few 

 days later Korea was cleared of Chinese soldiery. 

 On the water, the transport " Kow Shing," laden 

 with 1,100 Chinese troops for Asan, was sunk 

 by the " Naniwa," and a Chinese dispatch vessel 

 was captured, July 25. On Sept. 17 the first 

 great naval battle between modern armored ves- 

 sels of war took place off the mouth of the Yalu 

 river, in which the Chinese lost four ships. The 

 Japanese army crossed into Manchurian terri- 

 tory and won a series of victories. An expedi- 

 tion under Marshal Oyama besieged and cap- 

 tured Port Arthur. Near the close of the year 

 the Chinese sued for peace. 



The Campaign in China. After the taking 

 of Port Arthur (see CHINA) the reserves of the 

 second army were mobilized and a landing was 

 made on the Chinese coast in the Gulf of Liao 

 Tung near Kinchow, between the Great Wall 

 and Niuchwang. Resting upon the fleet, the 

 two divisions of the second army operated along 

 the shore and soon established communications 

 with the two divisions of the first army, which 

 advanced through Manchuria in the direction of 

 Niuchwang, not venturing to march upon Muk- 

 den, while two Chinese armies remained on their 

 flank to cut off communications with the other 

 army and the sea base. The operations were im- 

 peded by snow and cold, but, as weather permit- 

 ted, the Japanese advanced to Haicheng, near 

 which place at Kungwasai the most desperate 

 engagement of the war was fought on Dec. 19. 

 The Cninese had intrenched themselves in a 

 strong position, having 11 field pieces and some 

 machine guns. The Japanese could not pursue 

 their usual flanking tactics, owing to the nature 

 of the ground, though they were superior in 

 numbers and in artillery. Gen. Osaka's fire was 

 returned vigorously, and when he was tempted 

 to make a charge after seeing some of the Chi- 

 nese guns dismounted, his men were driven back 

 with heavy loss by the mitrailleuses suddenly 

 brought into play. A second assault was like- 

 wise repulsed, and the fighting was kept up by 

 the artillery alone until Gen. Katsura, with great 

 difficulty, brought up fresh guns and re-enforce- 

 ments of infantry from Haicheng. Another 

 charge carried the first line of defenses, but the 

 Chinese kept up a galling fire from behind the 

 second line of intrenchments until a fourth 

 charge ended the battle. The Japanese lost 450 



