The San Francisco call., 1898-02-04
ENGLAND
 STRENGTHENS HER FLEET Will Not Take Any
 .... Chances in the
 Orient. Preparing to Meet the
 Forces of Any Com
 bination ofPowers. Denial of the Report of a ...= Backdown at Talien Wan. SALISBURY VERY FIRM. 1fRussia Does Not Grant His Request ..1::-=. :HesWiu Appeal to Wash :-...-. ington.
Denial of the Report of a .>=@@ .= Backdown at Talien Wan.
SALISBURY VERY FIRM.
. .-5:.. HetWiu Appeal to Wash
 = ington.
Special Dispatch to The Call.


 SHANGHAI, Feb S.-The China Gazette says the British Indian, Aus tralian and Pacific squadrons have been ordered to be ready to re-enforce the fleet in the far East, thus giving the British admiral 8 fleet capable of coping with "any combination oppos- ing British policy"
 In the meanwhile, adds the China Gazette. the British claims in the Yang t:Tse Kiang will be supported by a strong squadron stationed at Gnu san, to which place two other war ships are en route. In the event of Russia hoisting her flag over the forts at Port Arthur the British admiral has been ordered to raise the flag over Chusan, and the Japanese will ascend the Yang Tse Kiang as soon as the river rises.
 About 7500 Russian artillery and cavalry, with stores and munitions. have arrived at Kirin, the capital of the: Manchurian province of Kirin.
 LONDON, Feb. 3.-According to a special dispatch from Shanghai, pub lished to-day, two British warships entered Port Arthur yesterday and left without anchoring.
 On -incontrovertible authority 1t Is learned that Great Britain has not backed down on the question of mak7 ing Talien Wan free port. The Mar quis of Salisbury, MT. Curzon Ghe Parliamentary Secretary of the For eign Ofice), the Russian Ambassador and the Chinese Minister each said yesterday, in conversation, that they had not heard of any backdown.
 The opening of Talien Wan, it is pointed out, was never made a condi- tion in any sense in connection with China. The preliminary negotiations on that subject, the opening of Talien Wan was "sketched" in neutral tints, Great Britain only suggesting it as one condition favoring a speedy com 'pIetion of the loan. She never de- manded 1t, and therefore in no sense can be said to have backed down, if the desire was not persisted in. The Talien Wan question is, however, with other suggested conditions of the loan still negotiating.
 The heat of the Russian press on the subject is in no sense shown by the Russian Government in it's communi- cations which have reached the For
 
 tested and means to continue to pro- test in the stoutest manner against Ia lien Wan being opened by British in f1uence, she will not carry her protest to the point of making it a casus belli Further, it is by no means Russia's intention to close China to other na- tions in any concessions made to Rus sia by China The irritation in Great Britain and the disappointment in the United States over the so-called back ing down of the Marquis of Salisbury Is therefore not yet Justified. Great Britain. is. acting strenuously in favor s of=free- ports in China and hopes sin cerely to have the moral support of the United States in this policy. If events should push Great Britain from this position, at the prospect of defeat therein, she will ask for the support of Washington.
 Some of the afternoon papers to-day refer to the absence of Russian and German Ambassadors at the Marquis of Salisbury's regular Wednesday re- ception of the diplomatic corps as be- ing disquieting portend
 BERLIN, Feb. 3.-It was announced here in a dispatch from Kiaochau that the murderer of Schultz the sentry whowas killed while on duty at Tsimo, has been executed after trial by Chi neseE court.
 *PEKING, Feb. 3-There have been two further conferences on the sub ject*of the. proposed loan, but without definite. r esults
 ST. PETERSBURG, Feb 3-It Is as- serted that although NJ. Dewitte, the Minister of Finance, has ordered a sus- pension of sales of stock on the mar :ket< as a preliminary to an issue of a Chinese loan, nothing has yet been de- cided upon.
 China. 1t Is rumored, now refuses the loan on the ground that Japan declines to evacuate Wef-Hai- Wei before the stipulated time, even if the indemnity is paid.