THE OPPOSING FORCES. 551 and two mountain batteries, each of six guns. The cavalry attached to the division was only two squadrons of ioo sabres each. Cavalry was throughout the weakest arm of the Japanese. The division had also its engineer corps, signallers,medical corps, and transport and supply trains.

Third-class unprotected cruisers: Chao-yung and Yung-wet.

Besides these, there were a number of gunboats, torpedo boats, despatch boats, etc. Tlae fleet wascommandedby Admiral Ting, who had formerly been a general of cavalry. Many of the senior officers had no more professional knowledge than their chief, but several of the juniorshadhad a goodscientifictraining. There were about 300 officers and 2,800 men in the squadron.

Theinfantry wasarmed witha breech-loading rifle, the Murata, the invention of a Japanese officer. A new magazine rifle was just being introduced, but it had only been issued to the Imperial Guard and the 4th or Osaka Division.

The artillery was armed with bronze Krupps, throwing a shell weighing a little over nine pounds.

Butunfortunately for China the fleethadbeen allowed to drift into a state of hopeless inefficiency and indiscipline. Captain Lang, of the British Navy, had once made it a respectable fighting force, but the mandarins had got rid of him, because while he was in command there wasan end to the system of wholesalepeculation that made any connection with the navy an easy way to wealth. On the eve of the war the foreign officers to whom the PekinGovernment appealedfor help did something to improve the condition of affairs in the Northern fleet,but the mismanagementof years could not be set right in a few days. " The discipline of the Chinese fleet," writesMr.H.W. Wilson," may be judged from the fact that Admiral Ting would play pitch and toss with the sentry at his cabindoor, and when he had won all the man's money wouldorder the paymaster to advance his subordinate more, that his game might continue.

As to its efficiency, the ships were filthily dirty, whichis, after all, only what we should expect; the water-tight doors were seldom closed or used, a fact which we must rememberwhen we come to the Yalu. The guns were employedby the sailors as receptacles for pickles, rice, and chopsticks. The heavy Krupps were kept in shocking order, and the rings on them were beginning to open out. As a foreign instructor said to Mr. Norman, so far from the Chinese squadrons being formidable,it wasonly a question whoshould get them as prizes. The officers were either inefficient nominees of the authorities, or more able but powerless. Quick-firers were not bought because there was littlemoney to be 'squeezed' out of them. One Chinese battleship is stated to have gone to the Yalu withoutoneof her guns, which her captain had pawned. There were shells loaded with charcoal;charges for heavy guns of stuff that would not burn, instead of powder;and there were docks silted up from neglect, or useless, owing to the bad arrangement of their pumping machinery. In vain did the English and The ist Reserve was called out to bring the active army up to war strength, and to form depots and keep it up to this level. The 2nd Reserve was allotted to garrison duty and work on the lines ofcommunication.

But, asJapan is anisland empire, this highly efficient army couldonly act against the enemy ifthe navy could secure the commandof the sea and safeguard the passage of the transports that would convey the fighting force to the scene of operations. But at the outset the balance of force upon the sea was not so clearly on the side of Japan. Manyheld that the possession of two small but powerful battleships would turn the scale in favour of China, for Japan as yet possessed'forthe fighting line nothing heavier than ships of the protectedcruiser type.

The Chinese navy at the outset of the war consisted of four squadrons— theNorthern squadron (depending on Pekin), the Southern squadron (depending on Nankin), the Foochow squadron, and the Canton squadron. Each 01 these fleets took its orders and depended for its administration and supplies on one of the provincial governors, and there was no central admiralty, no regular means of securing their co-operation.

The Northern squadron contained the most powerfulships, and was the only one that took direct part in the war,though it was reinforced by a few small vessels from the other fleets. It depended upon the Viceroy of Pe-chi-li, and its special duty was to defend the approach by sea to the capital. Its principal ships were:— Second-class battleships:Ting-yuen and Chenyuen.

Armouredcruisers:King-yuen, Lai-yuen,and Png-yucn.

Third - class protected cruisers : Chi-yuen, Ching-yuen, and Tsi-yuen.