HOW THE CHINESE FIGHT.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1217, 26 June 1885, Page 3

HOW THE CHINESE FIGHT.

The account transmitted by the correspon'ent of the London Standard’ of the orpture of Lang-son by the French is inter esting as he'tig the first narrative by an eye-witness of any of the fighting which has taken place in Tonqnin since operations egan on a large scale, and the Oh nese took part in the stru ge. The events recorded are alreoly almost a matter of past history, inasmuch as the French success has been reversed, and the invaders hj ive been driven, wiili hj avv loss, from Lang son l Dongsnnsr. Moreover, the terms of peace have • ■ecn agreed unon "et.we n ihs contending parties. Never heless, these details of the btitle before Long son are not wi hou value, for they enable us to form an es iin ite of the progress which the Chinese have made in the use of arms since they were last engaged in war with a civilise i nation. The advance is less than might have neen specie d. They an .ear to have fought with bravery—their courage, indeed, was n-ver doubtful— but th-ir tactics were ch'ldish. i'hey brought no military into action, and they operated rather as an armed mob rather than as soldiers. The erection of a hundred and fifty little forts, amongst which the fort was filtered away in garrisons of a hundred or a hundred and fifty men, incapable of giving any support to each other, was a p ! an of action calcu bated to render aefeat a certain y, especially as the highest-place ! forts were those which were neare-t to rhe invaders, and their o ip tore gave the Pencil positions command n; all the forts in th dr car. It may be pileslione , too, whether the new breech-loa ing rifl s were more us ful to the Chinese than their old matchlocks would have hern. T e Imperial Government have purchased arms and ammunition of a 1 comers,, and the men are, consequently, armed with rifl s of a dozen different systems, each sysr.em reqii'riug a apeci il ammunition! From whac the conesp indent of the ‘ Stan lard’ saw of the mailer it w ml i appear that both weap .ns an 1 e ireri'ges have been serve 1 out miscellaneously to the troops, with the re« suit ihat half a-dozen kinds of cartri .ges were found in the belts of some of the fallen soldiers, none ■ f which, perha s, we e d‘signed for Ids rifl l . Dnderthese circumstances oii“ can only be surprised th t anything bko a heay Hra .was kept np. The French tnops seem'to have fought wi hj great ga lantry. but the shooting down in cold blood of all wounded, prisoners, and stragglers who fell in 6 their hands shows that the nsa ;es of civilised war. to say nothing of humanity, were entirely ignored by them when warring in China.