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Rh the Chinese fleet was partially destroyed by Admiral Gonrbet at Pagoda Island. In 1888 he married his daughter to Chang P*ei-lun, the poltroon whose contemptible conduct in reference to Admiral Coarbet*s exploit bad caused him to be sent into banishment. In 1892 he celebrated his 70th birthday with much pomp, his colleague, Chang Chih-tung, pro?iding a highly-coloured eulogium for the occasion. He had then the chance

immeasurable power

Unsated to resign

but the old man clung to ofiSce, and in 1894 the war with Japan broke out. China's military system, over which Li had spent vast sums of money, crumbled away before the Japanese assault. Port Arthur and Wei-hai-wei were captured, and most of the vessels forming the Chinese fleet were either taken or sunk. He himself, after being stripped of all his honours, was deprived of his Viceroyalty and sent as envoy to Japan to sue for peace; and while there he was shot in the cheek by a fanatical member of the Soshi class. This act caused a revulsion of feeling in favour of the humbled statesman, and in the treaty of Shimonoseki which he negotiated he obtained perhaps somewhat better terms than would have otherwise been the case. In 1896 he was appointed Special Commissioner to attend the coronation of the Czar at Moscow, from which ceremony he returned to China via Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, England, and the United States, receiving from Her Majesty the Grand Cross of the Victorian Order. He made quite a triumphal progress, and was everywhere received with open arms. He was photographed with Mr. Gladstone, and publicly spoken of as the '^Bismarck of the East." But since his return to Peking he seems to have occupied the position rather of an extinct volcano. By some he has been regarded as a friend to foreigners and to national progress on liberal lines. It is more than probable, however.