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.
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