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August 27, 1896.]
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
tire arms
Fighting in the interior is specially difficult, for the irregularity of the ground, the numerous plats of underbrush and jungle, offers an oppor- tunity for guerilla warfare which could be scarcely equalled.
Wounded.
Killed
Total loss.
13
7
20
22
28
.114
* 53:
166
}
14
24
The insurgents have all fled to the mountains. Those about Tai-ping-ting are supposed not to exceed two or three hundred in number. At present one battalion is garrisoned at Hoonlin and another at Lim-ki-po. These troops hold the insurgents in their mountainous strong-
As to the Chinese report of an engagement, holds, cutting off all communication with the sent by a correspondent from the south, in - outside. Tai-ping-ting has the savage ter.which it was stated that the Japanese loss was ritory to the rear and a steep rocky pathway 200, I refer to the records at headquarters, which from the plain below is the only entrance. gives the total loss up to the present day As a stronghold it is almost impregnable and with provisions and ammunition could be held against a considerable force of invaders for an unlimited time. There are some few small tracts of cultivated land within their enclosure, yet not sufficient to afford the re- quired food. Formerly this clan, who were but a little better than banditti, resorted to Lim-ki- the village in the plain below, during times po, of peace and retreated to their mountainous resorts upon the approach of danger. Under the Chinese Government it is said that the pre- fecture of Hoonlin, which was originallly es tablished at Lim-ki-po, was so often threatened with plunder and attack that it was thought best to remove it to Tau-lak.
Officers Sub-officers Soldiers... Gendarme officer...
Sub-officers 2
Gendarmes Policemen Civilians Native coolies
Total
....168 * 1 drowned.
82
*
247
The Chinese loss has not been ascertained. Several villages in which the residents have taken part in the rebellion have been burnt. In these districts there were many innocent people who necessarily suffered as a result of the rebellion. With such people Their Majes ties the Emperor and Empress of Japan have shown their sympathy by graciously presenting 3,000 yen to be distributed among them. 50,000. yen for the same purpose will follow from the state funds. This amount is more than-an abun- dance and it is hoped that the Chinese in their ignorance and simplicity will not receive it with the idea that it has been given by the donors through fear and that all that is necessary to receive a similiar amount is to rebel again.
showed no signs of pain, he was at once at as a consequence of war been prevented | serted his camp when he might have
to, and was then given $2 as a solatium, or not is where they differ. At all events until reinforcements arrived While the that amount being all the gentleman con-
the affair was not of such seriousness or were considerable in numbers they were e corned in the accident had with him, but a of such magnitude as one would be led provided with weapons, from one fifth to one- promise of another dollar upon reaching the to believe after reading the voluminous reports half only of their number possessing launch was given. With this compensation that have been published during the last month, No doubt the officer referred to seeing he was perfectly satisfied and apparently the editor of one journal bring so far deceived comparatively great number advancing over he was really none the worse for the as to express editorially that the whole island estimated their strength, and fearing that his slight bruises; indeed for an hour after- was seething with rebellion. It touched the troops might be surrounded and communication wards he continued to carry the basket distriot in which the foreign merchants of out off withdrew to a safer district. Of and showed no signs of fatigue. It was not Anping have camphor interests, subjecting different metal was the commander of the troops until he met his two fellow carriers that them to a heavy loss. This has led to a thorough at Nantow for with only 200 men he held his he shirked this work, so it is probable ventilation of the subject, which may be for-post against the attack of four times the number that he related the circumstances of the hotunate in the respect that it will lead to a care- of rebels for four days, when reinforcements
arrived to release him. cident to his companions and mentioned the ful investigation." amount which had been given to him, and they doubtless reproached him for accepting what they perhaps said was paltry compensation. At any rate he went away, but the Hongkong gentlemen had not the faintest idea that serious trouble was to follow. Towards five o'clock they all returned to the beach for the purpose of setting off for home and, very fortunately as it happened, they met another Bhooting party, consisting of four gentlemen, who were also returning to their launch. On arriving at the beach the ten gentlemen found a gang of quite sixty villagers waiting to give them a warm reception. Evidently the man who was shot bad apprised the whole village of the shooting incident and they had now turned up determined, if possible, to get their share of compensation. It seems to be one of the established ethics amongst natives in cases of this kind to enforce smart money suffi- cient to provide the whole village with free board and lodging for six months as a re- paration for a trivial personal injury to one of their number. In the present instance, however, the natives' little scheme was shattered by the plucky fighting of the ten men against a howl- ing: mob, which increased in numbers every
Now that the Japanese have garrisoned the minute. The natives were armed with bamboos village, shutting off the rebels from supplies, and their threatening attitude soon convinced the latter have made several attacks upon them. the shooting parties that they would have a
The latest report received from Tai-chung stiff encounter before reaching the launch (Taiwanfu) states that on the morning of the again. The mob demanded money; the de- 9th inst. the rebels opened up a continued fire mand was instantly refused. The natives then on the Japanese sentinels stationed at Lim-ki- produced ropes and rushed at the gentleman who po; also during the darkness of early morning a had shot the man with the object of binding few shots were fired at the sentinels at close his legs and arms, and before they were beaten range, the rebels retreating to the south. It off his gun and hat were wrested from him, but will be the policy of the Japanese to guard they did not suceed in fixing the ropes on his these places carefully and to attack the body. There was now a most exciting scrim-rebels when they are eventually forced to mage. Bamboos were freely used, guns damaged, evacuate their strongholds from want of food. and many blows were given and returned. The Major-General Tachimi, Commander of the ten men struggled their hardest and not a few troops in Formosa, returned to the capital on of the natives were hurled with considerable the 12th, after being satisfied of the thorough force on to the soft mud and ignominiously routing of the rebels. At an interview I had rolled in it. The fighting lasted a quarter of with him on his arrival I gained some informa- an hour altogether, and then the wild mob, tion regarding affairs in the south. The causes seeing that they could not hold their own with of the rebellion he thought were not difficult to all their numbers, scattered themselves in all account for. The Chinese who started the directions, leaving the gallant little party rebellion no doubt found it easier to live under masters of the situation. But the victors had
the Chinese then the Japanese Government. It not escaped scot free. Their clothing was torn
was a well-known fact that many of the bands and damaged, most of the guns were rendered who took the lead in the late trouble had never useless, and they were generally in a sad plight been thoroughly subjugated by the Chinese as they reached their launch once more. They authorities and in certain districts it had been arrived in Hongkong about 10.30 on Sunday the custom to pay tribute to these robber bands. night, This is certainly a case which the For such classes to come under the laws of any Chinese officials should be compelled to deal government would be to sacrifice the life of ease effectively with, as at present a shooting party they were enabled to live as a result of their cannot land anywhere on the mainland without raids. The worse part of this was that these feeling that they are risking their lives.
banditti often forced the country people to join them in opposing the Japanese. The poor country people not having the force to resist were obliged to desert their homes and fields to carry on a conflict with which they had no sympathy. In answer to the report published in the Japanese papers that certain foreigners had supplied. the rebels with ammunition, the General informed me that he was unable to ac count for its origin. In examination of the pri- soners it was found that the rifles were either those that had been distributed by or secured from the Chinese troops or had been in the pos- session of the rebels for a long time. One pri- soner had claimed that he had received powder from a foreigner, but there was no evidence to support this nor any reason to believe that, if secured from that source, it had not been pro- cured before the arrival of the Japanese, as it was formerly found necessary to protect them selves against the savages, The General ex. pressed his dissatisfaction with the commander of the troops at Hun-lim, who he thought de- | Governor Sir W. Robinson. -
ぎ
AFFAIRS IN FORMOSA. {FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.]
TAIPEHFU, 15th August. The reports that have been circulating in the north regarding the Mid Formosa rebellion are as legion as they are contradictory. It is with the hope of gaining a closer insight into the trne condition of affairs that I am leaving to-morrow morning for a several weeks' trip through the lately disturbed districts. Unfor- tunately there has not been much of an attempt made to get at the facts, the enemies of the Japanese seemingly being satisfied in accepting the Chinese reports as authentic, and the Ja panese and their new friends inclined to stamp the same reports as exaggerated, if not false
ods without a semblance of truth. That nocent people have suffered during the is a point upon which they both but whether such suffering could have
A report appeared in the Kokumin Shimbun from its Formosa correspondent at Changwha under date of 10th July, which was generally copied in the foreign papers, stating that Li Chung Sing (Li-shun-sei), the well-known merchant of the north, was of doubtful loyalty to the Japanese and even going so far as to state that he had aided the rebellion. To the higher Japanese officials and to the foreigners who are acquainted with this most estimable gentleman it is unnecessary to state that the whole report is a lie plain and unvarnished: What the petty Japanese who give life to such reports expect to gain by it is difficult to imagine. But at the present time, while the island is slightly disturbed, to circulate such reports is criminal and should be considered as such, for the loss of liberty and even life of the perfectly innocent is endangered by them.
JAMES WHEELER DAVIDSON,
HER MAJESTY AND THE UN- VEILING OF THE STATUE. H.E. the Governor has received the following despatch from the Secretary of State
damian Downing Street, A andrean mendeteksi (eg by 17th July, 1896. Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 134 of the 3rd ultime enclosing papers and photographs rela tive to the ceremony of unveiling the statue of the Queen which has been erected upon the Praya reclamation.
Your despatch and its enclos seen by Her Majesty who has r of the proceedings with interest and and has kept some of the you were good enough to send am commanded to thank you
for