preferred fighting at a distance, and considered 600 metres as uncomfortably near. The fall of night prevented the Japanese taking Hsin-yen, and its capture was reserved for the next day; but on the morning of the 18th, when they advanced, they found the town abandoned: the double attack of the preceding day had entirely disconcerted the Chinese, who, fearing to be surrounded, retreated westwards. The main body of Oseko's detachment at 8.30 P.M. entered Hsin-yen, where they found nine guns and a number of rifles.

Colonel Mihara, who led the flank attack, left Feng Huang on the 14th of November with a battalion of infantry and a troop of cavalry videttes. On the 15th the cavalry had reached Huang-hua-tien (yellow-flower field), and the infantry Lau-yeh-mias (gentleman temple). On the 16th the infantry arrived at Ling-kou (collar-hook); as the cavalry was insufficient, a section of foot-soldiers assisted as scouts. This mixed vanguard met the Chinese near Huangchin-tzu (yellow-peak), and had a sharp engagement. On the 17th Mihara came up with his whole force and attacked Huang-chin-tzù (yellow-peak). The Chinese had already engaged Oseko's force at Tu-men-tzù (mud-door) on the 16th, and they were obliged now to divide their forces to meet the double attack. Huang-chin-tzu (yellow-peak), the Chinese stationed four camps of infantry and one camp of cavalry;

At

This should give a force of 2,250 men; but probably after so many defeats the Chinese cadres were very deficient.

this force, availing itself of its advantageous position on the brow of the hill, opposed a determined resistance to the Japanese. Mihara ordered two companies to deploy on the right and left of the road, and to climb up the hill. Lieutenant Machida, who commanded the forty picked soldiers of the vanguard, distinguished himself on the right, driving the Chinese from rock to rock; but as soon as the Japanese had taken one height, they found, as is usual in a very mountainous country, another height to be stormed. After a succession of these attacks they took the crowning height Huang-chin-tzù (yellow-peak) itself, and captured a mountain gun. The Chinese retired to Hsing-lung-kou (eminent hook), but the principal force at Hsin-yen, during the night, retired to To-mu-cheng (knocker-wood town). While engaged with Oseko at Tu-men-tzù (mud door), the unexpected attack of Mihara from the rear alarmed them, and they retired for fear of having their communications cut off. A rear-guard was left to defend Hsin-yen, and delay the Japanese advance, but Colonel Mihara soon defeated this force and entered the city.

From the names on the captured flags, and from the reports of the inhabitants it was ascertained that Generals Feng, Nieh, and Chia were in Hsin-yen, with about ten camps of infantry and 1,000 cavalry. The Japanese mention, that, during Mihara's advance, Sergeant Kawasaki with a cavalry soldier were sent by another road to keep up communications with

Oseko's detachment. the sergeant separated from his companion for a short time, but when he came back, he only found his headless trunk. This was the second narrow escape of Sergeant Kawasaki; he was one of the mounted scouts that were sent towards Phyöng-yang at the end of July, and after swimming across the Tai-dong he luckily saved himself during the Chinese surprise at Chung-hwa, where almost all his comrades were killed.

On passing through a village,

The combined attack of Oseko and Mihara who started from Tai-ku-shan (Great Orphan Mountain) and Feng-huang-cheng (Phoenix City), two points over fifty miles distant, was so exactly timed that it succeeded completely. A garrison was left in Hsinyen with the captured guns, but Oseko with his main body withdrew to Tai-ku-shan. The Japanese did not intend to advance the First Army until the Second Army, which had already landed and was marching on Port Arthur, should be in a condition to co-operate by advancing north. The First Army confined itself to spreading out detachments like a fan, radiating from Chiu-lien-ch'eng; the outposts were situated at Tai-ku-shan, Hsin-yen and Lienshan-kuan, in touch with the enemy, and ready to be reinforced if the enemy advanced. The Japanese in these advanced stations suffered great hardships; they were often without food for days, the provisions having to be brought over very steep mountain roads in carts dragged by Japanese army-coolies.

For the present the plan was a defensive one, and had for its object to keep up a line of communications by driving away any attack from the north. Of course this plan was not divulged, and it was popularly supposed that the First Army intended to march on Mukden, a city which from its having been the ancient capital of the Manchu dynasty, and containing the imperial ancestral tombs, had a great moral importance for the Chinese Government. This grand scheme which was openly discussed, and probably feared by the Chinese, kept a large force occupied in defending the northern passes. People were astonished at the Japanese delay in taking Mukden. This rest in the military operations of the First Army, will enable us to turn our attention to the Second Army which was very active about this time.

The First Army, as soon as it had occupied a part of Manchuria, began to organise a civil administration in the principal places, with the the civil employés which were sent over from Japan. The successes in Manchuria deeply moved the hearts of the people of Japan; their soldiers had crossed the Yalu, the river which their poets had always sung should slacken the thirst of their war-horses. A civil administration in Manchuria-the extension of Japanese laws to a portion of the great Asiatic continent--roused the pride of an insular people that for millenniums had been confined by the ocean.

CHAPTER III.

THE CAMPAIGN IN THE REGENT'S SWORD PENINSULA.

The Landing of the Second Army.

AFTER the naval victory of the 17th of September the Second Army was rapidly prepared for the war. It was to consist of a division (the first) and a Mixed Brigade (from the sixth division), commanded respectively by Lieutenant-General Yamaji and MajorGeneral Hasegawa. The former is considered the representative of stern determination in the Japanese army, and from having lost an eye he is called the One-eyed Dragon.* The mobilisation of the first division took place on the 22nd of September, and on the 27th the whole division was quartered at Hiroshima, the imperial headquarters. On the 26th Marshal Oyama, Minister of War, was appointed commander-in-chief.

The brigade was first landed in Corea near the mouth of the Tai-dong, and on the 15th of October transports were ready at Ujina (the port of Hiroshima) to embark the division, which left at various dates from the 15th to the 20th of October. As on former occasions, the greatest popular enthusiasm

* A name which the Japanese have given also to Gambetta.