The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-07-23
The Pekin NINsterN.

The Chinese situation is decidedly and
deplOrably confusing today. The United
States Government alone among the pow
ers is acting upon the assumption that the
ministers and foreigners who were in Pc
kin on June %, huddled in the British com
pound and being bombarded with heavy ar
tillery. and then having but one day S
provisions. are alive and safe. England
Europe. and Japan are too skeptical OF
such theory to make it a basis Of policy
OF action.
The message Of Mr.. Conger. alleged to
have been written and sent out from Pc
kin through the Tsung-Ii-Yamen on July
IS, is not credited as of that date anywhere
except in oiiciaI circles here. It is essen
tially paraphraSe OF the messages from
Sir Claude Macdonald and Baron Nissi. OF
June q and June %, respectively; and the
press correspondents in Shanghai are sat
isfed that il was forwarded on the latter
day and intercepted. II We ignore that
opinion, and accept the view Of Secretary
Hay there is still serious discrepancy 20
overcome before allowing the despatch the
slightest value. II contradicts the Impe-
rial edict Of assumed even date which dc
liareS that although the legations had been
attacked. the ministers were safe and
sound with the exception, Of Baron vor
Ketteler who had been murdered. and were
being protected by the Government. Mr..
Conger. on the contrary, suppOsiDs that he
wrote on Wednesday last, represented that
the British Legation was under a storm Of
shot and shell from Chinese troops. and
that only immediate RELIEF could avert a
general massacre. All the internal evil
dence is in support Of che belief that the
Conser message is II !.ast three weeas
old, although that il is genuine, there is
no apparent reason for doubling.
The powers generally are unques-
tionably right in their insistence that, if
the Imperial Government at Pekin can for
ward appeals for mediation to the United
States and France, il can also place the
ministers in communication with their re
spective foreign Offices. All the Chinese
assertions regarding their alleged safety
will be necessarily treated as falsehoods,
and mere subterfuges to gain time. until
that has been done. It is reported that
Minister WI has offered to deliver Mr.
Conger alive TO Admiral Remey II that
is true, the test will be supreme, but il is
which will involve not a little time,
and. while such an offer should be prompt
ly accepted, it should not be permitted to
interfere with the demand for cable COM
municatiOn pending fulfIlment.
Concerning the Pekin massacre question
at large. it must be remembered that we
have native stories asserting the fact from
every point in China where there are con-
suls, and which could be reached by this
time by natives escaping from the capital.
They all agree as to the massacre, though
some are contradictory in relation to the
aSeRss to Justify a suspension of judgment
Vic truth of the matter. Ever since the
sixth instant, when the first story of the
horror reached Tientsin, a succession of
Chinese witnesses coming into Shanghai.
ChefoO. and other cities have corroborated
it in tho -esin. Today we hear that ma
tive, protesting to have been servant 10 a
foreigner in Pekin, has arrived at New
Chwang. declaring that the British Lega-
ton was destroyed on July II and all the
foreigners butchered Allowing for calen-
dar differences, this might men the sixth,
seventh, or eighth OF the month. Against
these persistent statements from widely
separated sources. originating in ways
which render ridiculous any idea of col
fusion, We have nothing but the bare de-