The Chinese fleet at Wei-hai-Wei consisted of 15 war vessels including the iron-clad battleships _Ting-yuen_ and _Chen-yuen_, besides 13 torpedo boats, as against 25 men-of-war and 16 torpedo-boats on the Japanese side. The Japanese forces not only possessing a numerical advantage on the sea, but also having captured the land forts from which the army could coöperate with the fleet, a Chinese defeat appeared a foregone conclusion. Under these circumstances, Admiral S. Itō, commanding the Japanese fleet, sent to Admiral Ting Ju-chang, his personal friend, who held supreme command of the enemy's squadron, a touching letter in which former expressed his regret that the old acquaintances had been obliged to meet each other in hostility, appealed to the latter's enlightened patriotism by pointing out the retrogressive policy which Ting had been called upon to defend and which could only end in disaster, and then counseled him to prevent a certain defeat and unnecessary loss of life by capitulating. Itō further advised Ting to become Japan's honored guest till the end of the war, and then return to his native land in order to aid China in setting her policy on a sound basis. When Ting read this message he was visibly moved, and said to his attendants: "Kill me," meaning probably that he wished to die alone and let all others surrender. Then he again remarked: "I am thankful for the admiral's friendship, but I cannot forsake my duties to the state. The only thing now remaining for me to do is to die." The Japanese fleet, which made Yung-cheng Bay its headquarters, began to attack the forts of Jih and Liu-kung Islands on January 30, 1895, continuing with frequent interruptions till February 7, when a steady general attack began. During this time, the daring night attacks made by Japanese torpedo boats had succeeded in sinking the _Ting-yuen_ and three other vessels, and the thirteen torpedo boats of the Chinese fleet which tried to escape toward Chifu had had six destroyed and all the others captured by the Japanese. The _Ching-yuen_ was sunk on the 9th; soon afterward Jih Island fell and the eastern forts of Liu-kung Island were silenced. On the morning of the 12th Ching, commander of the _Kwang-ping_, approached the Japanese flagship _Matsushima_ in a small gunboat flying a white flag, and delivered a letter from Admiral Ting, containing a formal surrender of all the war vessels in the harbor and the forts and stores of Liu-kung Island. Ting requested that the Chinese and foreign officers, troops, and civilians on land and sea around Wei-hai-Wei be allowed to depart unmolested, and proposed that the commander of the British China squadron should guarantee the faithful performance of the conditions of surrender on the part of the Chinese. On receipt of this letter Admiral Itō held a council of his officers, in which many of the latter advised, as was later seconded by the army officers, that the men