[Illustration: A FACSIMILE OF THE AUTHOR’S INSTRUCTIONS.] A SECRET AGENT IN PORT ARTHUR BY WILLIAM GREENER LONDON ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO LTD 16 JAMES STREET, HAYMARKET 1905 PREFATORY NOTE No one who has seen anything of the fighting between the Russians and the Japanese needs to make any apology when presenting to the public a truthful account of any events of which he was an eye-witness. Very little was actually seen by any newspaper correspondent, and every history of the war, and even of each campaign, must depend for many particulars upon official reports, with which the public are familiar. I do not profess to have attempted to compile anything like a detailed story of the siege. Instead, I have preferred to give merely my own experiences in Port Arthur and elsewhere in Manchuria and the Far East; to describe what I saw, to repeat something of what was told to me, to say what I thought of such happenings as interested me, and to write of the people whom I met when in quest of information. Some of the things I have set down may throw sidelights upon certain phases of the war, and if what I have written induces readers to think for themselves what ought to be the policy in the Far East of Great Britain and the United States, then my object will have been attained. CONTENTS I SECRET AGENTS, CORRESPONDENTS AND SPIES 1 II RUSSIA AND MANCHURIA BEFORE THE WAR 18 III LIFE AT PORT ARTHUR 39 IV WAR 58 V HIDING IN PORT ARTHUR 78 VI LAST DAYS IN PORT ARTHUR 114 VII THE DAY’S WORK 136 VIII IN NEUTRAL TERRITORY 158 IX CONSULS, CORRESPONDENTS AND OTHERS 179 X THE BATTLE OF TASHICHIAO 204 XI THE JAPANESE AS CONQUERORS 222 XII CONTRASTS AND COMPARISONS 233 XIII THE ATTACK ON PORT ARTHUR 249 XIV THE DEFENCE OF PORT ARTHUR 268 XV JAPAN’S REQUIREMENTS AND CHINA’S FUTURE 295 ILLUSTRATIONS Facsimile of Author’s Instructions _frontispiece_ Facsimile of an order in the Chinese Telegraph Office at Tientsin. _to face_ 190 The Battle of Tashichiao. 207 The Russian Retreat 216 The Fortress of Port Arthur. 269 Addendum