Arizona republican., 1900-07-07
MARINES IN CHINA
Not the First Time They Have
 Been Called Upon
The Good Work of the Old Monocacy in Protecting American Interests in the Winter of 1894 5.-Simi- lar Conditions.

Washington. July 6.-The present in ternational expedition to Pekin is not the first one that has been organized to guard the interests of foreigners resident at China's capital and for many years it has been the practice of the United States especially to keep a gunboat within a reasonable sphere of influence of Pekin, The old Monocacy has stood guard over our interests out there for thirty-five years, and while she would not be rated as a formidable craft in modern naval classification, still in the eyes of the conservative Chinaman she has represented great deal of potential force.
 Built in Baltimore in 1863, and as a double-ended paddle-wheel steamer, especially designed for river service, she was at once detailed to the orient when she could be spared to look out for our commercial welfare, which had suffered through stress of our domestic difficulties In 1865 she reached the Asi- attic station, and from that day to this, in concert with her sister ship, the Ashuelot, lost in 1889, proved a tower of strength in more than one emergency. Actual conflict won her renown and the open mouths of her ancient ordnance have had persuasiveness enough to win the grace of many a ''jacketed' man. darian not too kindly disposed toward our citizens resident in the fiowery kingdom.
 Could the old craft have been at her erstwhile anchorage we should not have had to bear the recent anxious days over the safety of our representatives at the court of Pekin. In years gone by in fact, as recently as 1S95-it was possible for the Monocacy to lie at Tierf Tsin, only eighty odd miles from Pekin, then the head waters of steam navfga- tion. For months at a time the old ship lay off Tfen Tsin, and by the aid of each spring freshet made her way back to the sea over the changing channels and through the soft mud of the Pei Ho, only to 'feeP' her way back later in the year when the waters had once more determined their way. Today Taku is the nearest port of approach, and there our vessels must be content to halt on the highway to the capital.
 The old MCnocacy boasts a time-hon- ored battery of four muzzle-loading, smooth-bore S-inch guns and a couple of 6O-pounder breech-loading rifles, to which the desecrating spirit of mod ernity has added nearly a dozen rapid fire guns of very light calibre. She draws only nine feet of water, has to her credit a speed of eleven knots and carries a compartment of 15S people
 With the "flOwery flag" as the Chin csc have been pleased to term our en- sign, floating at her peak, this quaint craft of other days has exerted a very wholesome moral influence through all her years of usefulness; and that she did not participate in the attack on the Taku forts can be explained only by her temporary absence or the assured efficiency of the foreign fleet of more modern vessels.
 In 1871, however, she was not so con- tent to remain in the rear, and at the fateful attack on the defenses of Boi see, on the Salee river of Corea, she led the procession which drove the Coredn commanding general from his batteries, and with the same old guns she carries today tumbled their walls about their defenders ears, and made the broad breaches through which our sturdy forces fought a hand-to-hand fight to victory.
 The story of that two-days' conflict is a bright one in the annals of our navy; and the manner in which the Monocacy and Palos, With their convoy of nineteen cutters, steamed up that treacherous river against a dangerous current and the fire of those powerful batteries is something of which we may well be proud. The part the Mono cacy played in her baptism of fire and blood Was more than enough to win the respectful awe of every mandarin afterward, and even the long-headed Prince Ii has seen the diplomatic force of her silent eloquence.
 The last occasion when it became ne- cessary to send an international force toward Pel1in was in the latter part of 1894, during the height of the war be- tween China and Japan. The success of the Japanese let loose upon the country great hordes of fleeing Chinese soldiery, camp followers and other dan gerous bodies, and the fear that the foreign legations and missionaries in Pellin might suffer in consequence led to the detail of an eXpeditionaFy force to Tien Tsin.
 The United States ship Baltimore. then at Nagasaki, left on the second of December and reached Che Foo in the evening of the fourth. and just after the arrival of a British steamer bound for Tien Tsin. By quick management passage was secured for three officers and forty-two marines, although lhe accommodations for the latter were poor in the extreme, and at 10 o'clock of the same night our troops were on their way up the river. By evening of the following day, the. fifth of De- cember, the detail arrived off Taku bar.
 A PRINCESS BIRTHDAY.