134 



CHINA. 



and had a hard flfht 

 When the troop? a 



Wei-Hai-Wei, 

 expected't" find the Chinese army 



' 



where they expected to find the 



r , ' ..... '- . . 



fff^Hi| Instead that iht place had 



town and the adja- 

 forts on Feb*. On Feb. 8 a bearj 

 of Uu-Kung-Tao was begun on 

 .r-nchvl "Ting. Yuen "and 

 Ibecroiwr U th two gunboats, took 



Ml adit* i*rt in the defense, leayfng the thelter 

 of the island ai. , !.- fire ..f the Jap- 



anese cruinpra. Fort Zhih wat greatly damaged 

 by UM Japanese shells, and tome of the Chinese 

 whit The Japanese torpedo flotilla 

 a flnt unsuoeaNsful attempt to enter the 

 la UM night of Jan. 80. The Japanese 

 (tinners in the western forts mistook them for 

 rMissi craft and began firing, thus calling the 

 attention of the Chinese, and comix llin^; the tor- 

 pedo fleet to retreat. Two nights later they 

 Wed again to steal in, but found that the Chi- 

 nese scouts were this time on the watch. The 

 onlr place where they could pass the booms and 

 mines was a narrow eddying passage 

 If it had not been for the booms 

 and torpedo mines at the entrance of the harbor, 

 the " IW-Ynen " and "Chen- Yuen" armor- 

 clads could have dashed out and engaged the 

 Japanese cruisers with a fair chance of success. 

 The bombardment was renewed on Feb. 4, and 

 in the night the Japanese torpedo boats succeed- 

 ed in creeping into the harbor and disabled the 



-Ting- Yuen,* with the loss of one torpedo boat 

 and injury to others. The firing was continued 

 the next "day. and at i.i-ht the torpedo boats 

 again altered the harbor and, haying cut the 

 boom, they returned night after night. They 

 attacked and sank the I*i-Ytien " and a gun- 

 boat, and disabled the "Ch n Yum." Another 

 snip, the -Wei- Yuen/' was sunk by the fire 

 from the eastern forts. A fort on the island of 

 JiUu that had been renr active was demolished 

 on the 8th by toe explosion of the magazine. 

 The cannonading was continued day after day. 

 The Chinese battered the land forts till three of 

 them were practically destroyed, but they could 

 not touch the Japanese ships, which the Japanese 

 commander took extreme care not to expose to 

 danger. On the 7th the Japanese opened fire 

 at daybreak on tne north side of the island, in- 

 tending to coror a landing. As the island could 



The J 



Two cruisers also made their way out. 

 were on the alert, and after the tor- 



paboau had passed the boom the "Yc* 

 -T*kacWno,--AkiUa f w -Chioda, w and " 



Nani- 



a" appeared at once. The torpedo boats, which 

 w* procmiing in two lines, broke their order 

 and pot back at full speed, but they were unable 

 to reach the passage, and were almost surround- 

 ed by the cruisers, 



SO knots to their 



most of which could steam 

 18. These soon had their 



quick-firm* guns leveled at the torpedo boats, 

 which broke through the line before It closedin 

 upon them and fled westward near the shore, 

 badly damaged hy the ihot< fmm machine guns 

 and hotly pursued by the cruisers. Seren of 



the torpedo boats were pv. 1 raptured 



or sunk, and th.- remaining 6 were driven into 

 the inlet* ami abandoned, their civws making 

 th.-ir way across the ice to the beach, where 

 most of them were taken prisoner-, of the 

 18 boats 8 were found to be -uiVu-i. ntl\ *,.. 

 v and \\. re M.I.I.. I to the Japanese fleet. 

 The boom where the Japanese hud made t In- 

 first breach was cut away, so that free ingress 

 was assured at any stage of the ti.lr. The 

 " Chin^- Yuen " went down on Jan. 1. struck by 

 a shell from the eastern fort-. < >n the following 

 day the Japanese got a mortar liattery int.. j.o- 

 Mtion in th.- western fort-, and partly BJ 

 the fort at Koto and hindered the ships by an 

 exceedingly accurate lire of shrapnel. The big 

 guns of the Chit useless, owing to poor 



gunnery and adulterated powder. 



All Admiral Tint's plans of defense had 

 failed. The land forces, which could i 

 ed the approaches to \\Vi-Hai-\V.-i against much 

 superior numKcrs. had run away without first 

 dismantling the forts. Admiral" Tin^r had de- 

 cided to dismantle both forts before the tiuhtin^ 

 began, but the Chinese general refund to allow 

 it, and telegraphed t<> IVkin a report of treach- 

 ery. Aft. r they had fallen into Japanese hands. 

 the guns of the eastern fort s prevented the ( hi- 

 nese shins from ^uardin^ the harbor obst ruc- 

 tions, and the Japanese torpedo boats were there- 

 fore enabled to destroy the ships one after an- 

 other. After the loss of the torpedo flotilla and 

 of more than half the fleet, the fall of the fortress 

 could not be delayed many days. 



In a letter addressed on Jan. 20 to Admiral 

 Ting, a friend of many years' standing, b\ 

 Admiral I to, signed also by Marshal <\v;una. 

 the Japanese commander begged the Chinese 

 admiral to surrender and take refuge in Japan 

 until he could return to China to take a lead- 

 ing part in the reformation of his country, 

 which could no longer hold its place in the 

 world if it continued to pursue ancient methods 

 ami to confide its destinies to literary scholars 

 trained only in the traditions of a thousand years 

 ago. To this letter Admiral Ting retained no 

 answer, deeming the proposals dishonorable. 

 On Feb. 12 he addressed to Admiral Ito the 

 following le 



ived the letter of sujrtfwtipns addresned t. me 

 tli.-.-r commanding the united Japanese wquad- 

 ronn, but did not reply because our countries 

 war. Now, however, haying fought resolutely, hay- 

 iiitr had my shipa sunk and my men decimated, I am 

 t" _'i\ up the contest, and to ask for a ces- 

 sation of h<*tiliticH in order to nave th. li\<- of my 

 people. I will surrender to Japan the ships of war 

 now in Wei-Hai-Wei harbor, together with t! 

 kung bland forts and the ann.iin.iit. pr-.vH.-.l that 

 my request be complied with namely, that the lives 

 or all persons connected with the army and navy, 

 Chinese and foreign, be uninjured, and that they be 

 allowed to return t<> t)..-ir hmncH. If this be acceded 

 to, the commander in chief of t naval 



squadron will become guarantor. I submit this pro- 

 posal, and shall be glad to have a speedy reply. 



iral Ito at once accepted these terms of 

 surrender and dispensed with the foreign guar- 

 antee, writing that he placed implicit reliance 

 niiral Ting's assurances as an officer. A f t- 

 er writing a second letter asking to have the 

 date of the surrender postponed till Feb. 16, 



