The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-07-21
Powers Appealed To
To Hasten Relief.
Secretary Longs Urgent Message to
Admiral Esemey.

Washington, July 9O.--Like flash of
sunlight out of the dark came the intelli-
gence at an early hour today that United
States Minister Conger had sent cipher
despatch from Pekin to the state depart
ment at Washington making known that
two days ago he was alive and that the
foreigners were fighting for their safety.
The minister Mr.. Wa Ting Fang received
the message. Within an hour the well
come intelligence that Conger had been
heard from, after weeks of silence and
evil report, was flashed through the
country and in fact throughout the
world, dispelling the gloom which had
prevailed everywhere and bringing to
officials and to the public generally a
sense OF profound relief. The despatch
was in reply to Secretary Hays cable in
quiry to Minister Conger on July Il and
as both messages were in the American
cipher code, they. are regarded by the
officials as above the suspicion of having
been tampered with in the course of
transmission through the Chinese cham
nels. Mr.. WI promptly communicated
the despatch to the state department.
where the translation was made from the
cipher figures and soon all Washington
was astir with the intelligence. It was
teIegraphed by Secretary Hay to the
President who responded with q whole
some expression of qualification and word
of it was sent to the various cabinet ofi-
GERS. They gathered in Secretary Hay
Office and an impromptu cabinet confer
ence was held in the diplomatic chamber,
mainly for the purpose Of exchanging
congratulations ana of taking a survey OF
the situation to see if it had been materi-
ally changed by this important develop
ment. First of all from the standpoint
of the administration officials the most
welcome feature Of the message was the
assurance that the minister himself was
alive two days ago. But with this cheer
ing news came the ominOus statement
from Minister Conger that the beseiged
foreigners were in the British legation
under continued shot and shell from Chi
nes5 troops and that only quick relief
could avert q general massacre. After the
first flash of thankfulness this grayer feat
ure Of the message began to impress itself
upon the cabinet officials most deeply. AS
one Of them remarked,
There are the poor creatures, penned
N-ACe -@-@~-
appealing to us for help.
The consultation brought about no pro-
nOunced change Of policy for it was felt
that already every energy had been bent
toward meeting the situation and that
there was absolutely nothing more that
officials felt. and so stated, that the mes
sage was an evidence of friendliness and
good faith of the prO-foreign element of
the Chinese and that wisdom dictated
course which would continue to utilize
this friendship.
The government accepted the message
as authentic q 1d Secretary Hay trans
mitted it to all our ambassadors and
ministers abroad with instructions to lay
it before the respective governments to
which they are accredited, and to urge
upon them the necessity of cooperation
for the Immediate relief Of the foreigners
In Pekin,
A message was also sent by Secretary
Long to Admiral Remey conveying the
intelligence of the desperate situation in
Pekin, and instructing him to ''use and
urge every possible endeavor for relief. -
This me ssage Secretary Long explained
meant for Admiral Remey to himself
fuse and to urge" upon the command
ing officers of the other powers the use OF
every endeavor for the relief Of Pekin.
Secretary Root sent similar notification
to Col. Coolidge, the senior American
was the result of the conference of Secre-
taries Hay, Long and Root. 1t was real
lied that the land and naval forces OF the
United States now in China. could not
single handed push on to Pekin and the
other powers accordingly were appealed
to on the basis of Minister Conger' mes
sage to co operate for instant relief. sec
retary Hay expressed his reasons for
placing reliance in the authenticity of
Minister Conger's despatch, saying that
it was complete reply in code to the
code message sent to him and that it's
au thenticity was vouchei for by the
Tsung LII Yamen.
"Of course" said Secretary Hay,
smiling, II am not omnisoient and may
be fooled, but l cannot sec how the au-
thenticity of Minister Conger's cable can
be questioned. =
secretary Hay said he attached no inn
portance to the use OF the words sChinese
troops in the message. They did not,
in his opinion mean that the Chinese
q 0vernmeit troops were beseiging the
foreig ners. He seemed to entertain little
doub6 that the Chinese government itself
was doing all in It's power to suppress the
Boxers insurrection. In this connection
the message Of Consul Fowler that Gen.