Battles of the Nineteenth Century, Page 315.

The Surrender of Wei-Hai-Wei.

            Soon after sunrise next morning a Chinese gunboat, flying a flag of truce, was seen steaming out of the eastern entrance of the harbour.  She headed for Ito’s flagship, the Matsushima.  Fearing possible treachery, three of the Japanese torpedo boats came rushing through the water and lay between the flagship and the gunboat as the latter slowed down her engines and stopped near the great cruiser.  The gunboat was hailed, and answered that Commander Ching Peih Kwang, of the cruiser Kwang-Ping, was on board, and was the bearer of a letter from Admiral Ting to Admiral Ito.  He was told to lower a boat and come n board the flagship with the letter.

           It proved to be a belated reply to the long letter, which Ito had addressed to his brave opponent before the first attacks on Wei-hei-wei.  At the time, Ting had not even acknowledged it.  The letter ran thus: -

            “I Ting Zu Chang, commander-in-chief of the Northern Squadron, acknowledge having previously received a letter from Vice-Admiral Ito.  This letter I have not answered until today, owing to the hostilities going on between our fleets.  It had been my intention to continue fighting until every one of my men-of-war was sunk and the last seaman killed.  But I have reconsidered the matter, and now request a truce, hoping thereby to save many lives.  I most earnestly beseech you to refrain from further harming the Chinese and Westerners in the service of the army and navy of China, as well as the civilians of Wei-hai-wei.  In return for this I offer to surrender all my warships, the forts on Liu-kung-tao, and all the warlike material in and about Wei-hai-wei to the Empire of Japan.”  Ting ended by offering to ask that the Commander of the British squadron, which now lay off the port watching the operations, should be asked to guarantee the handing over of the ships and forts, and suggesting that the Chinese soldiers and sailors should not be made prisoners, but should be allowed to return to their homes.  He asked for a reply within twenty-four hours.

            Admiral Ito assembled a council on board the flagship, sent word to Marshal Oyama of what had occurred, and after a brief discussion agreed t accept Ting’s proposal.  Sor for the first time for nearly a fortnight the cannon were silent on sea and shore.  Commander Ching was given a letter from the Japanese admiral to take back to Ting, and with it a few courteous presents, including a box of dried fruits, a dozen of champagne, and a dozen of beer.  Ito wrote to the Chinese admiral: -

            “I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, and to accept the proposal it contains.  I shall, accordingly, take over from you all the men-of-war, the forts and the material of war. As to the time when this surrender is to take place, I shall consult with you again when I receive your reply to this.  My own idea is, after taking over everything; to escort you and your colleagues in one of our warships to some safe place, as will best suit your convenience.  If I may speak quite frankly, I would advise you, for your own sake and for the sake of your country, to stay in Japan until after the war.  I assure you that you will be treated with the most honourable consideration if you decide to come to my country.  If, however, you wish to return to your native land, I shall, of course, put no obstacle in your way.  As for any British guarantee of your good faith, I consider it quite unnecessary, for I trust absolutely in your honour as an officer and a brave man.”  Finally, Ting was requested to send a reply by 10 a.m. on the 13^th at latest.

            Commander Ching returned to the harbour in the gunboat and handed the letter to Ting.  Then followed one of the saddest tragedies of the war.  It will be noticed that Ito was throughout most anxious to persuade his old friend the Chinese admiral to come to Japan.  He knew that if he returned to Pekin he would be made a scapegoat by the mandarins, and sentenced to death for is failure.  And more than this, the barbarous Chinese code would, perhaps, include in the sentence all his near relatives, even old men, women, and children.  Ting also knew the fate that awaited him and all who were dear to him, but he hesitated to take refuge with those who had fought against his country.  After reading the Japanese admiral’s letter, he said, “there was nothing left for him to desire, as all he had asked for had been granted.”  He then gave the necessary orders to his staff, and wrote a letter, which was to be sent to Admiral Ito next morning.  In the afternoon he went into the cabin of the Chen-Yuen and committed suicide by taking a large dose of opium.  Commodore Liu, the former commander of the sunken flagship Ting-Yuen, Chang Wang Sen, the commandant of the forts on Liu-kung-tao, and several other officers of rank, on hearing of what had happened, followed the admiral’s example, and died by their own two hands.

           The Japanese did not hear the news of this grim ending to the defence of Wei-hai-wei till the morning of the 13^th, when Commander Ching again came out to the Matsushima, in a gunboat flying the flag of truce, and with the Chinese Dragon Flag hoisted half mast high.  Ching came on board the flagship, returned the cases of presents to Admiral Ito, and handed him Ting’s last letter.

            “Your answer,” wrote the Chinese admiral “just received, gives me much satisfaction, on account of the lives of my men.  I have also to express gratitude for the things you have sent me; but, as the state of war existing between our countries makes it difficult for me to accept them, I beg to return them herewith, though I thank you for your thought.  Your letter states that the arms, forts and ships should be handed over tomorrow, but that leaves us a very brief interval at our disposal.  Some time in needed for the naval and military folk to exchange their uniforms for travelling garments, and it would be difficult to conform to the date named by you.  I therefore beg that you will extend the period until February 16^th, and on that day enter the harbour and take over the island forts; the arms and the ships now remaining.  I pledge y good faith in the matter.”

            It will be noticed that Ting was keenly anxious about the interests of his officers and men.  His request that they should be given time to procure civilian clothes was an effort to save them from the insults and annoyance they would experience if they journeyed through the cities an villages bearing the badges that marked them as the disbanded remnant of a beaten army.

            The news of his old friend and gallant opponent’s death came as a heavy shock to Admiral Ito.  Nothing in the correspondence had led him to anticipate such an ending.  In the negotiations that followed he made special provision for due honour being paid to the memory of the dead admiral.  Liu-kung-tao, and Commander Ching on the part of the Chinese carried on these negotiations.  They found Admiral Ito and Marshal Oyama anxious to do all they could to lighten the lot of the vanquished defenders of Wei-hai-wei.

             It was agreed that the forts on the island, the ships, and all arms, ammunition, and naval and military stores, should be handed over to the Japanese.  The civil population was to be protected, and the Chinese soldiers and sailors were to be allowed to return to their homes after being disarmed.  The Chinese officers and the little party of “Foreign Military Advisers,” who had done so much for the defence of Wei-hai-wei, were to be liberated on giving their parole to serve again in the war against Japan, Admiral Ito further agreed that one of the surrendered ships, the gunboat Kwang-Tsi, should be given back to the Chinese authorities, in order that she might be used to convey back to China the body of Admiral Ting.  The Chinese and European officers were to be allowed to make the journey to Cheefoo on board this gunboat, forming thus a guard of honour to the dead admiral.

            The Kwang-Tsi, when she surrendered, had on board three torpedoes, four light guns, and thirty rifles.  The Japanese removed the torpedoes, rifles and shells, but the guns and some blank ammunition were left on board, so that she might be able to fire salutes.  She was to be commanded and manned by her own officers and crew.

            The gunboat received on board not only Ting’s coffin but also those of the other officers who had shared his fate.  A heavy gale and rough seas delayed her departure till February 16^th.  Admiral Ito had already, on the 13^th issued the following general order to the Japanese fleet: -

           “Vice-Admiral Ting, the enemy’s Commander-in-Chief committed suicide yesterday, after surrendering his ships, the forts on Liu-kung Island, and the armaments, garrison, and crews.  Great honour and respect must be shown to the spirit of our late gallant foe, who manfully did his duty to his country.  His remains will be conveyed to a Chinese port in the prize, Kwang-Tsi, which the Commander-in-Chief will return to the Chinese for the purpose.  Ships bands are to play only funeral marches or dirges until the Kwang-Tsi shall have passed out of the lines.  Vice Admiral’s honour are to be paid to the remains by all ships as the Kwang-Tsi passes them.”

            The final scene will best be described in the words of Mr. Arthur Diosy, who staunch friend as he is of Japan, is rightly proud of Ito’s chivalrous generosity: -

            “Before the Kwang-Tsi on her mournful voyage, the officers of the Japanese fleet and many from the troops on shore visited her to pay their last tribute of respect to the fallen foe.  Slowly they passed before the coffin, each one solemnly and reverently saluting the remains of the enemy ho had fought so stoutly for his country.  The Chinese officers and civil authorities and the foreigners who witnessed the impressive scene were deeply moved.  As one of the foreign officers in Chinese pay expressed it, ‘you would have thought the Japanese were mourning for their own admiral.’  The Chinese gun-vessel, having taken on board the coffins of the other officers who had died by their own hand, as a grim staff to sail with the admiral on his last voyage, embarked the Chinese officers and foreign instructors liberated on parole, and steamed for Cheefoo.  As she passed though the long lines of the Japanese squadron, flying at half mast the Dragoon Flag that Ting had served so faithfully to the end, every Japanese ship dipped her victorious ensign, minute-guns were fired and the Admiral Salute rang out from Japanese bugles in honour of the gallant enemy who would fight no more.”

            So ended the defence of Wei-hai-wei.  There, as in almost every other instance, the Chinese army had collapsed hopelessly.  But the navy had made a brave fight, though from the first victory was hopeless.  Admiral Ting had at least proved that Chinamen could fight, and so had done something to retrieve the sadly damaged prestige of the once-conquering Dragon Standard.  The “foreign instructors,” mostly British seaman, had taken no small share in the defence.  There were, in all, about a dozen of them.  And there is no doubt their presence was of the utmost value to the Chinese admiral.  What they did at Wei-hai-wei was a repetition of what Gordon and his officers had done years before in China, and a good earnest of what may be done by the Chinese battalion commanded by British officers that has since been raised in this same naval station of Wei-hai-wei.

             What were the Chinese losses in these days and nights of battle among the ice and snow will never be known.  They must have lost fully as much illness resulting from exposure as from the fire of the besiegers.  Even the Japanese, who were better equipped in every way, lost large numbers by sickness during the siege, and had many men disabled and crippled by frost bites.  In the actual fighting the Japanese losses were not heavy.  The army had 74 killed, and 214 wounded; the navy 27 killed, and 34 wounded-349 casualties in all.

            Of the captured prizes, the wrecked Ting-Yuen could not be saved.  After the war what remained of her was sold for a small sum to a Chinese speculator, who broke up the wreck with gun cotton charges, and carried off the old iron.  The consort, the Chen-Yuen, was found to be leaking badly from having come into contact with a rock, and she was to Port Arthur to be docked and repaired before being taken to Japan.  She had since been fitted with a secondary battery of quick-firers, and now figures in the Japanese navy list as the battleship Chin-Yen.  The belted cruiser Ping-Yuen, another of the prizes, has been renamed the Hei-Yen, and is now classed as a Japanese coast defence ship.  The Tsi-Yuen, renamed the Sai-Yen, also appears in the list as a protected cruiser.  Six gunboats were also transferred to the Japanese navy, and six of the Chinese torpedo boats were got off the rocks, repaired and added to the Japanese torpedo flotilla.

            No attempt was made to affect any further conquests in Shang-tung.  The object of the expedition had been accomplished when the Chinese warships were captured or destroyed.  The Japanese partially demolished the land forts with explosives, and dismounted all their guns, taking away some of the best of them.  They left a garrison only I the forts of Liu-kung-tao.  The rest of the victorious army was transferred to Port Arthur and Ta-lien-wan, where Ito and Oyama began to prepare for the invasion of Pe-chi-li and the march on Pekin.