The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-07-21

mediate relief Long"
sessee o o G Q o o Q o o @ esseos
its possession to obtain authentic news
of the besleged ministers and the United
States is the first TO give to he world
authentic and absolutely reliable word
direct from the place in which the be-
leaguered ministers are garrisoned. There
is now good reason TO believe that the
ministers will be able to hold out until a
relieving force reaches them. If they
have been able TO stand the siege for
almost a month, after the outside world
had given UP hope. there seems no rea-
son to fear that they will MOI be able to
hold out a little longer"
do you regard the fact that the mess
age is in the state department code as
conclusive evidence that it emanated
from Minister Conger? Might It not 20
possible that, having massacred the people
In the American legation. the code fell
into the hands of the leaders OF The Box
er movement, and If such were the fact,
hey might have framed the reply In the
state department code and attached Min
lister Conger's signature to it2' was asked
81 regard such Il suEge stion as daalins
with possibility too remote to be Sc
riously considered, replied the secrcJ ary
Il am of The opinion hat outsiders could
not have made use of our code and besides
the nature of the reply, with its strong
appeal for immediate relief, is such as
would not have been sent by any one
seeking 70 conceal catastrophe to the
/ foreigners m Pekin.'
Does this message in any way change
The situa ion or the policy of our gov
ernment?"
/ Il do not see that It does or will re-
suit in change OF policy. The allies arc
! organizing column for the relief of the
! foreigners at Pekin, and nov that 1t is
known they are alive, the news can only
result in pressing forward the column At
the earliest possible moment"
Naturally in view of the Importance OF
the message from Minister Conger, the
first impulse was TO make sure OF its
authentcy Secretary Hay was him
self perfectly satisfied on that score. Just
as Secretary Long had suggested he fel,
no doubt that the message conveyed in
ternal evidence OF authenticity. Suppose
the Chinese had possession OF the state
department code II could not be CON
ceived what purpose i would serve to
represent the urgency Of pushing .reliei
forces toward Pekin II the imperial
government s making war on the interna-
tional world II would surely not forward
an effort TO get foreign troops into ITS
own capital Az least that was the line
of reasoning AT the state department.
most significant feature of the Con-
ger message was the statement that tbs
British lepltion was under constant fire
by the Chinese troops
Without qualification or explana: lon
that expression would seem TO Identify
the imperial government with the attack
upon the foreign ministers. He made NJ
mention of the Boxers, but simply re-
ferred TO the tro5ps, As he state de-
partment was Obliged to psraphrase the
message to protect ITS code from uiscios-
ure IL Is not possible at present to ex-
actly estimate the full sEn,hHanc OF
the minister's language m this point. But
in HIS last message preceding tllia he
specified Boxers attacking ard it may
he that he has now purposely made cis-
tinctlon.
The department officials, however. feel
that Mr.. Conger, IN asilg lno term 'Ohi'
nese troops" meant troops l rebeilior
against the imperial government; ttose
under Prince Trans direction. They
found this contention entirely Logical II
the FIRST place, he Chinese government
i;selt has admitted that its :r7ops lac
participated in many cases durihg th'
Boxer movement Tin appeals Of Mn
lister WI and Of other Chinese minister
abroad to the powers 10 hasten tnel
, forces TO Pekin also were based on th'
, theory that the iuperal g;vernmeni Wa
resisting the rehelllous troops and hox
! crs. Furhermore, # can not be accept
cd as probable ihat II the Chinese GOV
eminent were attacking the locations
! self it would permit Mr. Conger to ad
wise his own government and the wor.'
al large q that fact. Ai.ogc hor II ma
be stated again that the state tetsrtmeu
is satisfied OF these facts
! l. That Minister Conger was alive o.
the 18th instant This date is supple
: by Consul General Goodnow. II ma
!. also have been in the original elpre
Q from Mr. Conger. though the fact doe
not appear in the baraphrase glvon on