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Page 16
Strongly as the massacre by the Japanese troops in Port Arthur is to
be condemned, there is not the slightest doubt in the world that the
Chinese brought it on themselves by their own vindictive savagery
towards their enemies. The attacking armies, advancing down the
Peninsula in touch with the fleet, were now within a day or two's
march of the inland forts. Bodies of Chinese troops harassed and
resisted them, and brushes between the opposing forces frequently took
place. The Chinese took some prisoners, whom they slew mercilessly,
and one of the first things I saw on the morning of the 19th was a
pair of corpses suspended by the feet from the branches of a huge
camphor tree near the parade-ground. They were hideously mutilated.
They had been disembowelled; the eyes were gouged out, the throat cut,
and the right hand severed. They were perfectly naked, and groups of
children were pelting them with mud and stones.
Similar ghastly spectacles were to be seen in other parts, both inside
the town and beyond it. Nor was this the worst; the walls exhibited
placards, in the sacred imperial yellow, inciting to these atrocities.
This I know by means of Chung, whom I usually took out with me. The
tenor, as he translated, was this:--"To the soldiers and subjects of
the Celestial Lord of the Dragon Throne. So much for every Japanese
dog alive. So much for his head or hand. In the name of the Sacred Son
of Heaven," etc. Then came the date and the signature of the Taotai.
The exact amount of the rewards I forget. I think it was fifty taels
for a live prisoner, and a less amount for heads or hands. The bodies
of the Japanese soldiers killed in encounters with the enemy as they
closed on the place, were often found minus the head or right hand,
sometimes both, besides being ferociously gashed and slashed. Corpses
were still hanging on the trees when the fortress fell, and it is not
surprising that their former comrades should have been maddened by the
sight, though of course the officers are greatly to blame for
permitting the fearful retaliation which ensued to be carried to such
lengths. The massacre seems to have been allowed to continue
unchecked until no more victims could be found.
This, however, is to anticipate. On the 19th the enemy were close upon
the forts, and everything was bustle and commotion. Business was
suspended nearly everywhere, and the movements of the troops were the
chief attraction. Great crowds gathered in the vicinity of the
general's pavilion overlooking the parade-ground, where a council was
held in the afternoon. A strong armed force held back the mob. All the
principal military officers arrived from their posts at the head of
their staffs one by one. The Taotai was brought from his residence in
a magnificent sedan-chair, carried by ten or twelve bearers. The
pavilion itself is a splendid structure, adorned with the most gaudy
and brilliant colours, and covered with Chinese characters beautifully
worked in gold. The consultation lasted for at least three hours. I
had only a distant view of Kung over the heads of the soldiers. The
fighting outside continued, and on the next day more Japanese corpses
had been brought in by the vengeful soldiery, and left for the rabble
to amuse themselves with. I do not think that any Japanese was brought
into the town alive.
Towards noon the next day (20th) the first guns were heard. Cannon
rumbled away in the distance all the afternoon, ceasing as night came
on. A wild and anxious night it was. There was no certain news of the
fighting, and the most contradictory rumours were prevalent. Excited
crowds filled the streets, which blazed with great coloured paper
lanterns, of which nearly every individual carried one; indeed, the
person who is seen outside without a lantern after dark becomes an
object of suspicion to the police watch.
I determined to see, if possible, something of the fighting next day.
All the ground around Port Arthur is, as I have before remarked, very
hilly. Outside the town, and between it and the north-western forts,
is a lofty elevation named White Boulders, for an obvious reason--the
ground is full of chalk. This spot I determined upon as my point of
observation. Most of the front face had been covered with trenches,
but the rear was easy of attainment, and I was struggling up the steep
ascent at day-break. The summit is very uneven, covered with huge
crags and deep indentations, and there were any number of secure
enough nooks to pick and choose from.
The field of action seen from White Boulders is very simple and may be
described in a few words. Behind me was the West Port; on my left the
north-western fortifications, called the Table Mountain forts; on my
right the East Port and the sea, and in front the greater part of the
town, with the north-eastern forts beyond. Of these latter there are,
I think, eight, all connected by a wall. I had only a partial view of
them. Between the elevations on which stand the north-eastern and
north-western forts, the ground sinks deeply, and there is a wide
space comparatively level, part of it occupied by a village. This
tract is defended by redoubts and earthworks, and can be swept by the
fire of the higher fortifications, particularly by those of the
north-east, but still it is a weak point in the defence, though
capable, it seemed to me, of being greatly strengthened.
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