CHAPTER XXI
MY RECALL TO CHINA
In 1894-5 war broke out between China and
Japan on account of Korea. My sympathies
were enlisted on the side of China, not because
I am a Chinese, but because China had the right
on her side, and Japan was simply trumping up
a pretext to go to war with China, in order to
show her military and naval prowess. Before
the close of the war, it was impossible for me to
be indifferent to the situation — I could not
repress my love for China. I wrote to my
former legation interpreter and secretary, two
letters setting forth a plan by which China might
prosecute the war for an indefinite time.
My first plan was to go over to London to negotiate a loan of $15,000,000, with which sum to purchase three or four ready built iron-clads, to raise a foreign force of 5,000 men to attack Japan in the rear from the Pacific coast — thus creating a diversion to draw the Japanese forces from Korea and give the Chinese government a breathing spell to recruit a fresh army and a new
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