The War in the East: Japan, China, and Corea

by Trumbull White

FIGHTING AT FOO-CHOW.
Japanese Drawing.

It was natural to expect that complications would arise between the belligerent nations and the European and American nations having commercial interests in the orient. Japan and China had not been long enough acquainted with the rules of international comity and international war to be familiar with the exactions that would be made by the other nations which might be affected. The diplomatic representatives from the west lost no time in stipulating the neutrality of the more important treaty ports where foreigners were settled, and in arranging that certain branches of commerce should not be interfered with. Trade, however, was seriously affected and the price of coal doubled at one leap. China prohibited the export of rice from its own ports whence large quantities are usually shipped to Japan. Chinese lighthouses were darkened, and pilots were specifically warned not to assist Japanese vessels.

The term contraband[contraband] was found to apply to many articles the transport of which in time of peace gave employment to many steamers, mainly coal, rice, and materials for building and repairing ships. The British government published a declaration that rice would not be recognized as contraband[contraband], and the prices of grain and rates for freight and insurance ruled high. The whole trade was, therefore, dislocated, for the Yang-tsze is the chief granary for the far east.

The British steamer Chungking suffered an aggression from the Chinese that drew upon[upon] them a severe rebuke and punishment. The vessel was at anchor in the harbor of Tongku, and among its passengers were sixty Japanese, many of them women and children, who were leaving China to return to Japan for safety during the impending troubles. While the vessel lay in the harbor a large number of Chinese soldiers forced their way on board with hostile intent. They began chasing the Japanese with threats of punishment, and the women and children fled to hide themselves. Many were found and were dragged from their places of concealment with violence. When they were found, their feet were tightly fastened together and their hands were tied behind their backs. They were then thrown upon the wharf, where they lay helpless, and several of them fainted under the severe treatment. As soon as the report of the outrage reached the superior officer commanding the district, he commanded the release of the victims, and the ship moved on to Shanghai where it arrived August 7. Viceroy Li Hung Chang tendered a most humble apology to the British consul for the aggression, the soldiers who committed the outrage were severely punished, and the officers who were responsible for it were degraded and sent into the interior.

The Japanese who were living in various Chinese treaty ports, engaged in business or connected with the various foreign concessions, took pains during the early period of the war to keep themselves as much as possible sequestered from Chinese view, to avoid giving offense to the people. Many of them had for years worn Chinese dress, and others now adopted the same costume, thinking thus to lessen the danger to which they were undoubtedly exposed. The Chinese authorities of Shanghai became convinced that the Japanese remaining there, under the protection of various foreign flags, constituted so many menaces to the national security. The precaution which the Japanese took in adopting Chinese costume, was made the pretext for a demand upon the consuls for the arrest of all who had resorted to it, but in each instance the demand was refused.

The first complication of American diplomatic interests with those of China came in this connection. On the morning of August 18, two Japanese who were walking within the limits of the French concession were pounced upon by Chinese guards and carried off to prison, charged with being spies in the service of the Japanese government. The accused were young men of good position and repute, and it seemed without the opportunity of spying, even if they were prepared to take the risk. They were placed in prison, however, pending, it was explained, the appointment of a proper tribunal to try them, and it was alleged by the Chinese authorities that there were found concealed about their clothes, plans of Chinese fortifications and cipher notes on Chinese movements. The following day the Japanese residing in Shanghai moved from the Chinese quarters into the American concession, where they placed themselves formally under the protection of the United States. The two who were arrested were immediately handed over to the American consul-general at his demand, he agreeing to keep them until charges should be formulated and presented. After a careful examination of the merits of the case, the consul, Mr. Jernigan, and the United States minister to China, Mr. Denby, became convinced that the charges were groundless, and that the young men were innocent of any guilt or evil intent. They were mere boys, students at the schools maintained in the American and French concessions, where they had resided for many years. The fact that they were dressed in Chinese costume proved nothing, inasmuch as they had worn that costume for many years. The charges that plans and notes had been found upon them, were also discredited by the American representatives. Americans in private life in Shanghai, as well as Europeans, both in official and private position, united to sustain the position taken by the American representatives. These representations were submitted to the state department at Washington, where Secretary Gresham gave them careful and painstaking review. He lost no time in deciding that the opinions of the diplomatic representatives of the United States, who were on the ground and able to make a personal investigation of the merits of the case, were worthless, and that the allegations of the Chinese officials were those which were to be accepted in their entirety. The result was that the United States consul-general at Shanghai was commanded by the state department at Washington to surrender to the Chinese officials these students, without delay. He did, however, delay sufficiently to make a strenuous protest against this action, offering further explanations why it should not be done, and in all he was sustained by the other diplomats in Shanghai. He declared that the surrender of these young men to China would be the signal for the torture, and that the only true wisdom and kindness would be to send them back to Japan. His protests were unavailing, and he was again instructed to deliver them at once, only exacted from the Chinese a promise that they should have fair trial and kind treatment.

To the distress of every friend of civilization in China, these two students were therefore surrendered to the Chinese, and two days later, after a trial which would be considered a mockery among ourselves, without the semblance of judicial fairness, they were condemned to death. The sentence was executed by means of the most shocking tortures which Chinese fiendish barbarity has been able to devise, to the horror of all foreigners living in that dark empire. The blot thus placed on American state-craft as exemplified in its first test during this war, can never be eradicated from the minds of those familiar with the circumstances of the sad case.

The surrender of the two Japanese to the Chinese officials, by the United States consul-general, threw the Japanese of Shanghai into a state of the greatest consternation, as they had hitherto believed themselves to be perfectly secure under the protection of the American government. Their dismay was doubled a month later, when on October 8, the two students were tortured to death, in spite of the promise which had been made to Secretary Gresham by the Chinese minister at Washington, that they should be properly treated. The pledge given by the Chinese government was that these students should be treated as prisoners of war, and tried by a competent court, after the manner of civilized countries; and that their trial would be postponed until Colonel Denby, the United States minister, could be present. Information furnished to the American state department at Washington, its representative in China, the American minister and the American consul-general at Shanghai, was to the effect that the young men were not spies, but were students in a commercial school established in Tokio with a branch at Shanghai, the chief object of which was to impart a knowledge of the commerce of China and Japan, and promote the trade relations between the two countries. Under date of September 1, Colonel Denby wrote to the secretary of state as follows:

“To give up these boys unconditionally is generally believed to be to give them up to death. The viceroy of Nanking has, I am informed, already demanded of the taotai of Shanghai why the heads of the two spies have not been sent to him. They are judged and condemned in advance. The governor of Formosa has posted a proclamation offering prizes for Japanese heads. In a country where such a thing is possible, it is needless to inquire what chance a Japanese accused as a spy would have for his life. This case has attracted much attention in Japan. The American minister at Tokio telegraphed this legation that these men were innocent. Should any harm befall them, retaliation is inevitable. These young men have the fullest sympathy of all foreigners in China, and the advice of the high officials of all nationalities has been not to give them up without conditions.”