How Strong This Conviction Had Become May Be Gathered From The
Fact That The Compulsory Retreat, In March, 1885, Of
The French from
before Langson, where some of the Chinese regular troops were drawn up
with a large force of
Black and Yellow Flags - the latter of whom were in
Chinese pay - did not imperil the negotiations which were then far advanced
toward completion. On June 9 of the same year a treaty of peace was signed
by M. Patenotre and Li Hung Chang which gave France nothing more than the
Fournier Convention.
The military lessons of this war must be pronounced inconclusive, for the
new forces which China had organized since the Pekin campaign were never
fully engaged, and the struggle ended before the regular regiments sent to
Langson had any opportunity of showing their quality. But the impression
conveyed by the fighting in Formosa and the northern districts of Tonquin
was that China had made considerable progress in the military art, and
that she possessed the nucleus of an army that might become formidable.
But while the soldiers had made no inconsiderable improvement, as much
could not be said of the officers, and among the commanders there seemed
no grasp of the situation, and a complete inability to conduct a campaign.
Probably these deficiencies will long remain the really weak spot in the
Chinese war organization, and although they have men who will fight well,
the only capacity their commanders showed in Tonquin and Formosa was in
selecting strong positions and in fortifying them with consummate art.
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