Wei-hai-wei would appear to have fallen at last. There has
been an unintelligible amount of misrepresentation or misconception as to details, but it is difficult to doubt that in the torpedo raids of February 4th and 5th, only one of the great ironclads was destroyed, that Admiral Ting still struggled with unfaltering courage, that the Japanese could not carry either his ship or the island forts, and that it was not until his ammunition was nearly exhausted, that the Admiral, the one determined officer China has yet produced, thought it honourable to yield. He proposed to surrender his fleet and the island on condition that the lives of his sailors and of the seven Europeans on board should be guaranteed, and Admiral Ito gladly accepted the conditions. He obtains the last great arsenal of China, the whole fleet with the exception of one ironclad, and presumably an immense quantity of stores. The Chinese Navy disappears just after it had been proved that, under decent leadership, it was capable of fighting an effective battle. Admiral Ting deserves every credit ; but it must not be forgotten that defeat had humbled Chinese arrogance, and that beside him stood Captain Nielsen, a competent Danish officer, in whom the Chinese believed. The Japanese, too, deserve every credit for their courage and tenacity; and we have pointed out else- where the serious bearing which their success and their conduct have upon our own position in the East.
