their horses a rouble and so on. He considered the officers inferior to the men and declared that he had often told them that with their men he would gain victories. He had himself seen officers hiding and did not consider them much better than the Chinese. Kuropatkin was a capable general, but Linyevitch merely an old gas-bag. The supply of food, clothing, medical service etc. among the Russians he thought excellent. — The Japanese had treated the Chinese most unscrupulously, mere suspicion being sufficient to condemn Chinese to execution, women being carried off and payment being seldom, if ever, made for anything requisitioned from the population. He believed this was principally due to the fact that they simply had no money. If the war had gone on for another three months, the Japanese would have been unable to continue it, but would have had to sue for peace. They had not dared to demand an indemnity on the assumption that Russia would prefer to continue the war with the same funds and they were themselves too exhausted for that. Now, too, they were weakened to a very great extent and could not think of another campaign. — He was surprised that the Japanese lived so simply. He had once been invited to dine with a Japanese general. The fish that was served gave forth such a stench that he could not touch it and nothing else was offered, but the general seemed to enjoy it as if it were a feast. — The Japanese intelligence service and spy system had astonished even the Chinese. Mukden was alive with spies. Shortly after the Japanese had entered the town a general called on him, riding into the courtyard of his yamen with a mounted escort. The man's face seemed very familiar and he asked the general whether they had met before. »Very possibly», replied the general, »for I lived in Mukden for a long time and ran a brothel*. The most curious part was that, when he turned into the Taotai's yamen at the head of his escort, he heard someone in the crowd of sightseers exclaim that his face seemed familiar. The general pulled up his horse, turned to the crowd with a smile and informed them that he had been the owner of one of the most renowned brothels in the town. »I1 n'y a pas de sale métier, it n'y a que de sales gens», says the proverb.
To return to the Viceroy and his reforms, it is worth mentioning that he is said to have been accused by the all-powerful Yuan Shih-K'ai of having neglected the troops. It seems likely that his tenure of office will not be renewed, when his three years' term expires in July. He seems to stick stubbornly to the idea that the principal thing is the rapid construction of the railway and with this in view he hurries on work in a gold and copper mine in order, with this source of revenue, to undertake to carry out the railway scheme during the next three years.
March rst. In examining the work of reform more closely I have formed the conviction that the
Lanchow. Viceroy's term of three years, which will soon come to an end, has been nothing but preparatory work. — The building of the railway does not appear to have been planned very seriously. Its present terminus is at Chenchow, 12 days' journey from Hing-anfu, and even if, as people maintain here, its construction is proceeding, it is impossible for anyone to determine, even approximately, when it will be completed. The expenditure is said to amount to no more than 600,000 taels a year, Honan, Shensi and Kan Su paying 200, 000 taels each. When it reaches Hing-anfu, the idea is to reduce the number of troops
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