Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1900-08-16
CONFIDENTIAL MESSAGE
Mr. Conger Sends Cipher Cable
gram Which Is Kept Secret.
NO NEWS FROM GENERAL CHAFFEI

Assault on PcI>in, Yet Officials Are
Hopeful That 81 solution May soon
BE Reached.
Washington. Aug. 15.-The state de-
partment gave out the following Of
fetal announcement last evening:
'The department of state announces
that a message from Minister Conger
has been received, but of uncertain
date and not in reply to the telegram
sent to him on Aug. 8. 1t will not be
made public"
This came at the conclusion of "a
period of intense expectancy, and yet
one devoid of any actual developments,
save in the foregoing meagre an
nouncement. Minister COnger's message
was received in Washington shortly
before noon, coming first to the Chi
nese legation by the usual route
through Chinese officials. 1t was in the
American cipher, without date, and
signed with the minister's name.
1t was stated authoratively that
while the message was of a confidential
character, and fos that reason could
not and would nes be given out, vet,
as a means of allaying possible misin-
depreciation, II could be said that the
dispatch showed neither a better con-
dition nor worse condition on the
part of the legationers at PeSin. 1t did
not indicate whether Minister Conger
has, or has not, received any messages
from this government Nothing was
contained in the message which vii!
cause any change in the instructions
to Gen Chaffee
No word came from Gen. Chaffee as
to the development of the military sit
uation near Pekin, nor did Admiral
Remey send anything on the situation.
The officials are taking into account
that an advance even up to Pekin
leaves much to be accomplished in a
military way 1t was stated yesterday
by an official who has lived at Pekin
that nothing short of the heaviest ar
tillery could make any impression upon
the walls Of the imperial city. He said
light artillery would be of no avail,
and for this reason the advance of a
flying column, even up to the walls
of the city, could effect little if stub
born defense were determined upon.
The walls are some so feet high. and
wide enough on top for two coaches to
pass abreast. From an offensive stand
point the walls afford opportunity for
planting guns, while from a defensive
standpoint they could not be preached.
except by the use of very heavy pro-
jectiles.
Although the situation admits of the
prospect of an assault upon Pekin, yet
government officials were decidedly
more hopeful yesterday that a solution
Of the Chinese problem would be found
without recourse to such heroic meas
lres. The improved feeling is based
largely on the belief that China, re-
alizing that her sacred capital is about
to be besieged by the armies Of the
world, will yield everything. and that
the legations will be delivered on the
terms of the allies.
While the war department has no
specific information as to the future
movements of Gen. Chaffee it is
thought that he may have covered the
20 miles between Ho 81 WI and Tung
Chow Here are stored the immense
supplies of grain on which Pekin would
depend in case of siege. The city would
be almost as hard to carry as was Tien
Tsin, probably more so, owing to the
labyrinth of streets and houses out
side its walls, where. IN case of de-
termined resistance, mines and ambu
scades of all sorts would naturally be
encountered at every street corner. In
case determined stand is made by the
Chinese at this point. there is no
question that the international column
will be forced to wait and form all the
reserve force it can command But the
officials here are very much in hope
that China will come TO reasonable
terms before our forces are committed
to the extremity of forcing this key to
the gates of Pakin.