The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-06-23

dispatches from Shanghai dated at 7:20 |
p. m. give additional details of the bonn |
bardment of Tien Tsin. 1t is reported |
that Tien TSin has been necessarily /
bombarded for the last three days. The |
entire British and French settlements |
have been destroyed Heavy casualties |
are reported The Chinese number at |
least $4,000 inside the city while. their |
emissaries crowd the foreign quarters, |
setting fire. to the building. The Chinese |
guns are being worked steadily from the |
walls of the native city. The cOnSulateS |
all being destroyed, the foreigners flock |
to the town hall The assistance of re- |
Inducements is implored- The Russians |
are now entrenched in the depot They |
are resisting the advance which the en- |
emy is making in overwhelming num- |
bers. No word has been received from
Admiral Seymour, and it is feared that
the relief column Jared badly There is |
an exodus of foreigners from the Yang
Use Kiang forts to Shanghai and Japan |
Many consider Shanghai unsafe, owing
to the absence of foreign troops.
MORE INSURRECTION.
Paris, June 2S.-T French consul
general in emma telegraphs, under date
of Friday, June %, as follows
1.-The Chinese have bombarded the
Tien Tsin concessions and have destroy
ed the American consulate"
A dispatch received here from the
French consul. M. Francois, sent from
Yunnan-Sen under date of Sunday, June
II, expresses fear of an insurrection
against the mandarins In Yunnan-Sen
owing to apprehenSiOns of a war. He
explains that this is the reason why he
is detained.
Another telegram dated June 20, an
nounces that the mandarins had re-
established tranquility in MOng Use
and that the situation in Yunnan-Sen
was unchanged. 1t was added that two
Europeans from the latter place had
succeeded in reaching Mong Use with
out having encountered great obstacles,
and that four Chinese convicted of par
ticipating in the burning of a church
and five European houses, June 16, had
been executed.
| COULDN'T BREAK CHINESE LINE
Washington, June 23-The navy de-
! partment this morning received an I'M
portant dispatch from Admiral Kempff
stating that an engagement is now in
/ progress between the United States
marines and other forces against the
| Chinese army, outside of Tien TSin. The
| following bulletin has been issued by
| the department:
Acting Secretary Hackett has this
| morning received a dispatch from Ad-
miral Kempff dated Che Foo, June %,
| to the effect that our marines under
| Major Waller, together with 400 Rus
slams have had an engagement with the
| ChinSe- army near Tien TSin. They
could not break through the line. A
force numbering 1000, the admiral re-
| ports, is now ready to make another
| attempt"
Inc main importance OF InlS Q1SpaICn
| is Admiral Kempff's disclosure that it
| is the Chinese army and not the boxers
who are fighting the foreign troops.
Il. HUNG CHANGES POLICY.
Hong Kong, June 23.-Li Hung Chang
! who was interviewed in Canton said he
would leave for Pekin on June 27, in
obedience to an order from the EN-
press to suppress the boxers and to
make peace with the powers.
He endorsed the opinion that he was
l. 4T-x.,
with the situation He said he believed
the boxers to be 'rabble led away by
fanaticism and anti-Christian feeling.
| But he also declared that the native
Christian leaders were much to blame
inasmuch as they engendered litigation
in the native courts. He asserted that
he did not regard the boxers as a pO-
litical society, and that in his opinion
the empress had been misled and mis-
informed.
Prince Ii said he had been officially
informed that the Taku forts fired
upOn the allied fleet because the ad-
mirals sent an ultimatum calling fol
the removal of the soldiers. He does
not interpret that action as a declara-
ton of war. and he has not received
any instructions to the effect that wal
has been declared
His remedy for the situation is Il
decapitate the leaders Of the boxers, t.
send their ignorant followers home
and to make peace with the powers.
RUSSIA MODELLING SIBERIAN
ARMY.
London. June 23-The St Peters
; burg correspondent of the Daily Mai
telegraphing Thursday, says: ''Th
Russian minister of war, General KOu
= ropatkin yesterday ordered a mobiliZa
tion of all the Siberian regiments of tn
/ line.
PRINCE Ii ASKS PERMISSION.
Washington. June 23.-The state de
| h1 a her of i'm
; ! portant communications concernin
China. One is from Ii Hung CHAM
:. asking permission to proceed to Peki
l to help restore order The Unite
\ States and it is believed other powers
= have given the desired permission.
: Other communications give promis
+ Of Chinese officials to maintain orde
in their provinces.
= A CLIMAX REACHED
: London. June 23.-Matters in Chin
u appear to have reached nearly tn
: climax of seriousness judging from thi
that Prince Tuan has assumed activ
d command of the Chinese troops and tn
= bombarding of Tien Tsin seem conclU
= sive evidence that the dowager empires
t has declared war on the combine
e European powers and that the who
q military strength of China is to +
employed in behalf of the boxers.
n is considered significant that the Ch
IS nese merchants of Shanghai are rC
le aIizing on their effects in specie and r.
n tiring into the interior. Evidently ths
anticipate a spread of the trOubl
50 Consequently it is urged the forts
IS Woo Fung should be seized by the il
e, ternational forces in order to foresta
possible eVentualities. Possibly
IS preliminary to some excitement of tn
kind the consuls at Shanghai tods
r addressed a note to the Chinese al
4 niiral asking him to remove his f1e
from Shanghai In compliance Wi
3. this request two Chinese warships a
- to sail today and the rest tomorrow.
ID The gravity Of the situation at Til
n Tsin can hardly be overestimated.. T.
n critical state Of affairs seems Dla
7e 1 from the haste with which the sms
force of 2OeO men was dispatched fro
Taku to the relief of the Ten Tsin ga