Although Not So Strong As
Port Arthur, This Harbor Is Considered One Of The Keys To The Gulf Of
Pechihli.
On January 20 the Japanese troops began to land at Yungchang, a
little west of the point to be attacked, and, on the 26th, they appeared
at the gates of Wei-hai-Wei.
About half of the beleaguered garrison
consisted of 4,000 sailors from the fleet, under Admiral Ting, who was to
show himself a leader of courage and energy. The assault on the land side
of Wei-hai-Wei began on January 29, and continued throughout that and the
following day. At certain points, where Admiral Ting's squadron was able
to act with effect, the Japanese were repulsed, but, eventually, the whole
of the land garrison fled panic-stricken to Chefoo. Even then Ting's
squadron and the island force continued to resist, and it was not until
February 9, when almost all the vessels had been taken or sunk, that he
consented to capitulate, after receiving a telegram from Li Hung Chang to
the effect that no help could be given him. No sooner were the terms of
capitulation agreed upon than Admiral Ting retired to his cabin and took a
fatal dose of opium. He had held out for three weeks, whereas Port Arthur
had been lost in a day. The war continued for a few weeks longer, the
Japanese pursuing their advance in Manchuria, and capturing the two places
which are collectively called Newchang, thus threatening Pekin. They now
possessed an army of 100,000 men ready to advance upon the Chinese
capital. As there was no reason to suppose that Pekin could be
successfully defended, the necessity of concluding peace as promptly as
possible was recognized. To that end it was needful to appoint a
plenipotentiary whose name would convince the Japanese government that the
Chinese were in earnest in their overtures. The only two men who possessed
the requisite qualifications were Prince Kung and Li Hung Chang. The
former, however, being a prince of the imperial family, and the uncle of
the reigning emperor, Kwangsu, could not be induced to submit to the
humiliation of proceeding to Japan and suing for peace. The only possible
selection, therefore, was Li Hung Chang, who was, accordingly, appointed
plenipotentiary. He reached Shimonoseki on March 20, 1895, and, four days
after his arrival, the success of his mission was greatly promoted by the
attempt of a fanatic to assassinate him during his conference with Count
Ito, the Japanese representative. The wound was not very serious, but the
outrage caused a unanimous expression of sympathy and regret on the part
of the Japanese people, and the Mikado sent his own physician to attend
the wounded minister. To attest their sorrow for this incident, the
Japanese at once granted an armistice, and the terms of peace which they
at first proposed were materially mitigated. On April 17 the Treaty of
Shimonoseki was signed, and, on May 8, the ratifications were exchanged at
Chefoo. The terms of the original treaty were these: First, China was to
surrender Formosa and the Pescadores Islands and the southern part of the
Shingking province, including the Liau-Tung, or Regent's Sword Peninsula,
and of course, also, the naval fortress of Port Arthur. China was likewise
to pay in eight installments a money indemnity of 200,000,000 Kuping
taels, or, say, $160,000,000. She was also to grant certain commercial
concessions, including the admission of ships under the Japanese flag to
the Chinese lakes and rivers, and the appointment of consuls. In view of
the completeness of Japan's triumph, these conditions could not be
considered onerous, but they, undoubtedly, disturbed the balance of power
in the Far East, and, had they been permitted to stand, would have
effectually thwarted Russia's plan of advancing southward, and of
obtaining an ice-free port. The Czar's government, accordingly, determined
to interpose, and, having secured the co-operation of its French ally, and
also of Germany, it presented to the Mikado, in the name of the three
powers, a request that he should waive that part of the Shimonoseki Treaty
which provided for the surrender of the Liau-Tung Peninsula. It was
proposed that, in return for the renunciation of this territory on the
Chinese mainland, the pecuniary indemnity should be increased by
$30,000,000, and that Wei-hai-Wei should be retained until the whole sum
should have been paid. The demand was, obviously, one that could not be
rejected without war against the three interposing powers, and the odds
were too great for Japan to face without the assistance of Great Britain,
which Lord Rosebery, then prime minister, did not see fit to offer. The
Mikado, accordingly, submitted to the loss of the best part of the fruits
of victory, retaining only Formosa and the Pescadores, the value of which
is, as yet, undetermined; with the money indemnity, however, Japan has
been enabled so greatly to strengthen her fleet that, when all the vessels
building for her are completed, she will take rank as a naval power of the
first class in the Pacific.
For some time after the revision of the Shimonoseki Treaty, the Chinese
seem to have imagined that the Czar had intervened from disinterested
motives, but Count Cassini, the Russian minister at Pekin, eventually made
it clear that the interposition would not be gratuitous. In what form the
payment for Russia's services should be made was, for some time, the
subject of debate, but, before Li Hung Chang left China in the spring of
1896, as a special embassador to attend the coronation of Nicholas II. at
Moscow, the heads of a convention had been drawn up, and, on Li's arrival
in Russia, he signed an agreement which embodied the concessions to be
made to the Czar in return for his services. This secret treaty gave
Russia the control of the Liau-Tung Peninsula, which she had ostensibly
saved, at the cost to China of $30,000,000, and the St. Petersburg
government was also to be allowed to build a branch of the Trans-Siberian
Railway through Manchuria to Talienwan and Port Arthur.
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