apanese cruiser to the steamer, her papers were examined, and orders
given that she should follow the Naniwa. This the Chinese generals
refused to do, excitedly declaring that they would perish rather than be
taken prisoners. Their excitement was shared by the troops, who ran
wildly about the deck, threatening the officers and the Europeans on
board with death if they attempted to obey the order of the enemy.

They trusted to the protection of the British flag, but it proved of no
avail, for the captain of the Naniwa, finding his orders defied, opened
fire on the transport, with such effect that in half an hour it went to
the bottom, carrying down with it over one thousand souls. The officers,
the Europeans, and many of the Chinese sprang overboard, but numbers of
these were shot in the water by the frantic soldiers on board. In all
only about one hundred and seventy escaped.

This terrible act of war at sea was accompanied by a warlike movement on
land, the Japanese forces leaving Seoul on the same day to march on Asan
and expel the Chinese. On the 29th they attacked the enemy in their
works and quickly drove them out, little resistance being made. These
events preceded the declaration of war, which was made by both countries
on August 1, 1894.

The story of the war that followed was one of unceasing victory for the
Japanese, their enemy making scarcely an effort at resistance, and
fleeing from powerful strongholds on which they had expended months of
hard labor with scarcely a blow in their defence. Such was the case with
Port Arthur, which in other hands might have proved a Gibraltar to
assailing troops. The war continued until April 17, 1895, when a treaty
of peace was signed, which remarkably changed the relative positions of
the two powers before the world, China having met with utter and
irretrievable defeat. The war yielded but a single event of novel
interest, the famous naval battle of Hai-yang, which we shall describe
more at length.

_THE BATTLE OF THE IRON-CLADS._

In these latter days the world seems overturned. Events of startling
interest are every year taking place, new discoveries are made, new
inventions produced, new explorations completed, peoples and tribes
formerly not even known by name are becoming prominent in daily history,
and nations which seemed sunk in a death-like slumber are awakening and
claiming a place among the leading powers of the world. And of all these
events perhaps