Mr. Sill to Mr. Gresham.
Seoul, Korea, September 17, 1894. (Received October 27.)
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that, hearing reports of a Japanese victory in the north, I at once wrote to the Japanese minister, Mr. Otori, for information on the subject and promptly received a reply, from which I quote as follows:
I can give you the following official information dispatched from Ping-yang by General Nodzu, commander of the division which had actually taken part in the battle at Ping-yang:
“We began attack on the Chinese at Ping-yang on the 15th and at the dawn of the 16th Ping-yang fell into the hands of our troops. The attack was made from all sides, no retreat was possible for the Chinese. The Chinese killed and captured are numberless.”
I then asked Mr. Otori to send the inclosed message in Japanese over his military line to Mr. Dun, to be translated and forwarded to you. He kindly agreed to do so.
This is the first news of any importance that I have had for the past six weeks. The telegraph lines are entirely in the hands of the Japanese who have not cared to give out information. We have been aware of the constant movement of troops, but estimates of numbers were not reliable.
The Chinese force at Ping-yang has been variously estimated at from 20,000 to 108,000; probably 40,000 is near the correct number. The Japanese force engaged is said to have been one division, or 35,000 all told. The total Japanese force in Korea is estimated to be as great as 80,000. The actual figures are not given officially, however, and until a few days past we have known of but one army division, 35,000.
I have, etc.,