Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 2.djvu/85

a secondary matter) rusty guns, jingalls, spears, heavy swords, and (very occasionally) fairly good rifles and cartridges of a date always behind the time." Such a description may have wide ap- plicability, but it must be qualified to the extent of admitting that there are sections of the army to-day which leave little if anything to be desired in the matter of equipment. Most conspicuous formerly among such sections were one organised by the great viceroy, the late Li Hung-chang, in Chili; others organised by the Yangtse viceroys. Chang and Liu in their respective administrations, and yet another organised by Governor Yuan in Shantung. It is estimated that there are now about a hundred thousand troops in the province of Chili, well armed and tolerably trained, but as to the Green Banner-men throughout the provinces, no competent critic attaches any importance to them as fighting forces. Nor indeed can any one venture to speak with even approximate assurance about the army in Chili. People have been taught by experience to refrain from prediction where China's forces are concerned. For if in her modern career occasions have repeated themselves when the outside world agreed to take a serious view of her military capacity, invariably these seasons of hopefulness were followed by practical demonstrations of her inefficiency.

The first of such occasions was the period immediately succeeding the Taiping rebellion of 1860. This involves a brief analysis. If Chinese