The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1900-07-24
THE CHINESE PROBLEM.
Are the Foreigners at Peking
Dead or Alive?

The Chinese situation is still complex
and perplexing. The lack of direct
and certain communication with the
Chinese capital, and the fact that ''for
ways that are dark and tricks that are
vain, the heather Chinese is peculiar"
makes it hard to get at the exact truth,
and people are divided both in this
country and in Europe, in their opinions
as to what is the true situation.
Our Government received dispatch,
Friday, through the Chinese Minister
at Washington, purporting to be re-
ply in cipher from Minister Conger, in
response to cipher dispatch sent to
him week before by our Government.
The dispatch was as follows:
'Tn British legation. Under contin-
ued shot and shell from Chinese troops.
Quick relief only can prevent general
massacre. CONGER."
This message was not dated, but pur-
ports to have been sent from Peking on
the 18th.
At Washington. the message is &C.
cepted by Secretary Hay, the President
and'others, as genuine. In England and
Europe it is considered bogus. And in
this country, many newspapers argue
that it is either bogus or is an old dis.
patch of Conger that had been detained
by the Chinese, and sent now to de.
ceive our Government.
The reasons given for questioning
the genuineness of the dispatch are,
l. That it has no date. The answe,
to this is, that it is common thing II
diplomacy where the wires are;sos busy
that often dispatches cannot beseEt fol
several days. p
2. That an answer could not have
been received so soon, as the only
means of communication with Pekine
is by runners, and this would take nine
days. This is built on false premises.
The English and French armies march.
ed from Tien Using to Pekin in four
days, in 1880, and runners could make
the distance in half the time it woulo
take an army. In the next place. Pe
kin is not cut off from other parts ot
China but has telegraph communication
with other parts of the kingdom.
3. It is said that the Chinese might
have obtained our cipher; that Congel
might have left it behind when he fec
from the American Legation, and they
made out this dispatch by that
means. But if it is impossible to get 9
dispatch from Peking in two or three
days, it would be immpossible to ge,
one to Peking in that time, and the
answer could not have come from Pc
king, and the supposition about the
cipher being found by the Chinese al
COnger's quarters is all bosh, and there
is no guess made beyond this, how
the dispatch could have been made il
Conger's cipher, and one objection thu.
knocks the other in the head. In addi
tion, the Chinese, if they had secured
the cipher, could not have made heae
nor tail out Of it, without the key
which was given to Conger by word O.
mouth, and was not in print or writing
But why should the dispatch be dis
credited? Not reason is given, and
it is discredited simply because it re.
flutes the sensational stories that have
been sent by newspaper correspondents
from Shanghai, about the foreigners ali
being murdered, their wives and chill
dren tortured, and the wounded shot by
their own friends, to prevent their be-
ing tortured; and because it shows that
the foreigners in Peking were alive or
| the 18th and might be rescued. Ir
short, people that believe the foreign
ers are dead, don't want to give uI
their theory.
Look at the dispatch itself and SET
the evidences of genuineness in it:
If the Chinese sent it in order to de
ceive our Government by the story
that our Minister was alive, would they
date the despatch "In British Lega
tion," showing that for safety tn,
Americans had been compelled to aban
don their own legation? That would
have been u confession of the truth tina
the foreign Legations had been attack
ed by the Chinese. Intending to de
ceive us, would they have made con
fession of that kind If they had in
tended to deceive us, would they hav
made up despatch, the main part o
which was confession that the lega
tion was in great danger. 1t says Gun
der continued shot and shell from Chi
nese troops" If there had been a pur
pose to suppress the truth, that woul
have been suppressed, if true. Agai
the m essage says, ''Quick relief onl
can avoid general massacre" If tn
} Chinese were seeking to delay tn
movement of the allied forces on Pe
king, would they have sent that me.
sage?
Not at all. If they wanted an early az
, vance of our troops, and the foreigner
= were all dead, they wouldn't have wal
ed at Peking, but would have marche
. their army on Tien Tsin to crush OF
forces there, before they could be r
y enforced. The message itself, ther
Tfore, bears internal evidence of bein
genuine.