The Portland daily press., 1900-08-16
Direct Messages Being Received
From Minister Conger.
Allied Armies Are Now at MatOw---Specu-
IatiOn sss to Future Progress.

Washington, August 15.-The tension
on the Chinese situation has been Intense
throughout the day for it is appreciated
by officials that the crisis has reached an
acute stage which cannot be continued
many hours without bringing word of
momentous import, determining. either
for good or evil, the entire course of
events. It has been day of extreme
anxiety, of watching and waiting, with
only meagre and fragmentary inforlna-
tion as to the military and diplomatic
! phases. One of the new developments
today was the statement that messages
are being received from Minister Conger,
which are not transmitted through any
of our officials IN China, or through the
Chinese minister here. but directly at
the state department. The messages come
by the way of Isl Nan. Some of them
cannot be fully deciphered and for this
reason the statement cannot be definite
" made that the dispatches sent by the
government to Minister Conger are re-
ceived by him. So far as the messages
have been deciphered there is adjudication
that Minister Conger received any in
formation or dispatches from our state
department. Nothing could be learned
of the contents of the dispatches received
although ii was stated that there were
quite q number from Minister Conger
coming from the consular officers and
Gen. Cha1fee besides those which came
direct.
The message transmitted through
Minister WI was entirely deciphered IN
the department.
In a conversation today between Secre-
tary Root and Baron Speck Won Stern
berg. the German charge 'affaires, Mr..
Root gained considerable information
concerning the route which has yet TO be
traversed by the allied armies. Baron
Stern berg told him that lung Chow was
a strong place and if the Chinese army
should make a stand at this point the
International forces would find 1t d1ih-
cult to overcome the forts and walls,
While it Is not known what resistance
may have been or VIII be made to the
advance at Tung Chow, Secretary Root
and other officials would not be surprised
to learn of a serious battle at that place.
1t is expected that the German force now
on its way to China, Will land III the
vicinity of Lin Yu, which is directly east
of Pekin. The advantages OF this point
are found IN the fact that ice will not
interfere with the going and coming OF
ships with supplies 1t also IS said that
the road from Lin Yu to Pek1n is much
better than that between lien Tsin and
Pekin as the ground is higher and the
country more suitable for military opera
tions.
Word came early in the day to the navy
department. that Gen Chaffee had reached
Matow, about 20 miles from Pek1n. Ihls
occurred Friday or Saturday, through the
despatch from Gen Chahee sent through
Admiral Remey, was not sufficiently
definite to locate the exact time OF reach
ing Matow. But in any event, three or
four days have elapsed since then and
there has been time for still further
advance toward the imperial city. The
feeling among officials was shown In
the extreme circumspection shown about
all messages relating to China ana 1t was
announced both at the state ana war de-
partments that any communication from
Minister COnger or the United States
oonsuls, concerning affairs in China,
would be made public. 1T was explained
that this was in no way due to any de-
sire to keep from the public tnforma-
tion of an Important character, but was
based solely on the fact that the crisis
involved SO many possibilities of extreme
hazard to the 50 legationers In Pekin,
that the greatest caution must be OBJ
served against disclosures which would
further imperil those in danger.
The actual Developments OF the day
consisted OF the Remey despatch hereto
fore alluded to and one from Consul GEN.
eraI Goodnow at Shanghai The state de
declined to make known the
contents Of the Goodnow despatch. This
hopened a wide field for conjecture, the
most generally accepted view being that
Mr.. Goodnow had advised against the
plan of delivering the legationers OUT
side of Pekin.
The cipher experts were busy with a
despatch from Consul Fowler at Che
Foo, which was so unintelligible that it
had to be returned to the telegraph COM
pany to be repeated So far as it could be
deciphered it appeared to repeat mes
sage sent by Minister Conger to Fowler,
telling the latter that the situation was
becoming more critical at Pekin and that
the Chinese authorities were seeking to
compel the legationers to leave the city
under Chinese escort.
1t Is possible that the message which
is quite long, viii convey additional in
formation when it's complications are
unravelled.
With the army at Matow, it is felt that
any one of several conditions might be
presented soon, The Chinese officials
concurred In the belief expressed by the
Chinese minister at London that there
would be speedy and sudden change