The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-06-21
AMERICANS WE'RE INACTIVE.
Did Not Take Part i'm the lombard
mcnt of the Taku Forts.

ment of the Taku Forts.
WASHINGTON. June 2O.-The Navy De-
partment has just given out the follow
ing statement regarding the contents of
dispatch from Admiral KempG. brought
from Taku to Che-Foc and forwarded by
1.-THE department has received a cable
gram from Admiral Kempff, dated June 20.
He says the Taku forts were captured by
the other foreign forces; that heavy firing
was heard at Tien-Tsin on the evening of
the nth inst. He is making common cause
with the foreign powers for general pro-
lection. There are 600 Americans ashore.
On May 81 the number of foreign troops
at Peking was 43O There are 5000 men
ashore now at Che-Foo and about 5000
troops. Russian, German and English
have just arrived"
Owing to the disinclination of Acting
bility upon his shoulders of making public
any portion of Admiral Kempff's dispatch,
it was not until late in the afternoon and
after the President had given his approval
that the rather meager statement of the
admirals communication was given out
1t was then found to contain little that is
new. Persistent inquiry developed the fact
that the date of the cablegram was Che
Foo, June 20. The admirars statement
that heavy firing was heard at Tien-Tsin
on the evening of the 17th, possibly is the
basis for the report current in Europe that
Peking was attacked that day by the fer
cign column, though it seems incredible
that the sound of any such artillery as
could have been carried by Admiral Sey-
mour's light column could have been heard
seventy-five miles, the distance from Pek-
ing 10 Tien-Tsin. 1t is possible that the
admiral means that he himself at Taku
heard heavy firing in progress at Tien-
Tsin, thirty miles distant, though with an
open river above him to that point the
gunboats capable of navigating the chan
mel lying at Tien-Tsin, it would seem that
he should have been able to ascertain what
the firing meant i'm the two days that
elapsed between the 18th and the date of
his dispatch.
Naval officers generally bitterly regret
that Admiral Kempff was not in the fight
\
patch this afternoon they had continued
to hope, even in the face of the foreign
reports to the contrary. that the American
naval forces had taken some part i'm re-
pelling the attack of the Chinese forts.
But the admirals statement that the forts
were captured by 'the other foreign
forces,'' dismisses that hope. The pre-
vailing idea among the naval officers is
that this reduction of these forts was
absolutely necessary to the safe progress
of any international relief expedition to
Peking. and that Admiral Kempf should
have found it to be within his duty In the
protection of "all" American interests to
have borne his part in the burden. Much
depends, however, on the exact terms of
his instructions, and in fact it is not yet
known definitely whether or not he actu-
ally received all of his instructions. The
responsible officials therefore, are making
no criticisms of the admiral1s conduct.
The administration is said to be very
much embarrassed because of the length of
time which necessarily will elapse before
the United States military reinforcements
reach China. When General Macarthur.
at Manila, received instructions to send
a regiment of infantry to Taku with all
possible dispatch it was impossible for him
to comply Immediately because of raging
storms. Had the orders for troops been
issued when the troubles at Peking were
reported to be inevitable it is more than
likely that troops in the Philippines would
have started before the prevailing typhoon
made such step impossible. and now
would be on Chinese soil. There is every
assurance that General Macarthur ex-
ecuted his instructions as promptly as pos
sible and that the delay in the departure
of the troops was due entirely to condi-
tions that could not have been anticipated
or guarded against
An evidence of the total unpreparedness
of the foreign colony in Peking for the
Boxer uprising is afforded by a mail report
to the State Department from Minister
Conger, in which he wrote from Peking,
April 16, 1900, that he had succeeded in
obtaining permission from the Tsung Lii
Yamen to admit free of duty the goods
to be placed on exhibition in the American
warehouse in Shanghai to be established
by the National Association of Manu-
facturers. Bond was to be given that none
OF the goods would be sold. Evidently the
minister was zealously devoting his at
tention to the introduction OF American
wares into China, without apprehension
of reactionary movement.