Are we in the China of the twentieth century or in the Jerusalem or Antioch of the Caesars? It was under this mild old gentleman's regime that the Christians,
were martyred four years ago in this very city. Just outside the south gate stands the wreck of the cathedral where the massacre was carried out.
Poor Pere has to say Mass now in a little shanty hung around with tawdry Chinese decorations, but I think I can say that I generally hear Mass there with more devotion than I ever experienced in any of the historic churches of the Continent. The strange, nasal, strident chanting of the Chinese congregation is not, it is true, conducive to devotion, but many of these men bear scars that they received at the sack of the cathedral; and, though they wear pigtails, I fail to see the difference between them and the Georges and Andrews whose emblems are embroidered on royal standards. Some Polish soldiers also turn up every Sunday and thumb their way religiously through greasy prayer-books, and, on one occasion, I met there the late General Gerard, the British attach^ who probably never expected at that time that in a few months more he would be dead at Irkutsk.
Meanwhile the Jan-June continues his march — but, hark! Clear and unmistakable above the roar of the busy street comes the boom of distant cannon. If his triumphal progress through the city has lulled the hoary persecutor of the Christians into a sense of false security that ominous sound will quickly awaken him.
The Japanese are thundering at the gates of Mukden!
CHAPTER VIII
In the beginning of March 1905, three great Russian armies lay in a line south of Mukden. On the extreme left of this line, in fact away over near the Yalu river, was Colonel Madridoff, with a small force of Cossacks and Russified Hunghuze. On the left was Linievitch with the first army. On the extreme right, that is, near the Liao river, were the Cossacks of Mishchenko and Tolmatcheff. On the right was General Kaulbars, who commanded the Second Army, composed of the 8th and 10th corps and of a mixed command made up of three rifle brigades, and whose headquarters were at Meturan. The headquarters of General Tserpitsky, who commanded the 8th corps, and to whom I was attached during the battle, were in a village a little east of Meturan.
The space between Kaulbars and Linievitch was occupied by General Bilderling, whose headquarters were at Suiatun or Suchiatun station on the railway.
Against Kaulbars came Oku with the 2nd Japanese army. Against Bilderling came Nodzu with the 4th army. Against Linievitch came Kuroki with the 1 st army. I need hardly say that Nogi with the 3rd army turned our right flank, and that on our right therefore the fighting was hotter and more desperate than at any other point in the battle-field.
On Friday, February 24, I happened to be in a village called Ubanyula, some ten or fifteen versts south-west of Sifontai, and, therefore, near the Liao River, and on the extreme right of the Russians. In this village, Rennenkampf temporarily commanded Mishchenkos Cossacks, Mishchenko being, as I have already intimated, in a hospital at Mukden, wounded in the knee. On this day a typical Cossack banquet was given by the colonel and officers of the Verkhnyudinsky regiment to commemorate the departure next day of Rennenkampf s whole detachment for the south. Orders had been received to march next morning as far as Davan, a place on the Liao-ho, some dozen miles further south. Nobody knew what was to be done after they had reached Davan, but the general impression was that they were then to march on Yinkow, or east on the Japanese railway. Next day however, this order was countermanded, and, shortly after, Rennenkampf was sent east to replace Alexeieff, who seemed to be handling his corps very badly. Mishchenko's cavalry force was then broken up to some extent, and Grekoff took what remained of it.