The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-16
ALLIES MAY Be BEFORE NALLS0F PEE|N
Reported From London That the Chinese Cap
ital Has Been Reached
In Washington the Tension Is Extreme-News
of Momentous Import Expected
Hourly.

WASHINGTON, Aug 15.-The tension
on the Chinese situation has been fntense
] 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
mentous import determining either for
good or evil the entire course of events.
1t has been day Of EXTREMIST anxiety.
OF watching and waiting, with only mea-
ger and fragmentary information as to
the military and diplomatic phases. One
of the new developments today. was the
statement that messages are being re-
| ceived from Minister Conger. which ara
not transmitted through any of our off,
Gals in China or through the Chinese
minister here, but directly at the stats
, department. These messages come bv
way of Tsi-Nan. Some Of them cannot
be fully dcciphered, and for this reason
the statement cannot be definitely made
that the dispatches sent by the giveyn-
ment to Minister Conger are received by
him. So far as the messages have been
deciphered, there is no indication that
| Minister Conger received any informa-
! ton or dispatches from our state depart
/ ment Nothing could be learned Of the
! contents of the dispatches received, al
though it was stated that there vera
quite a number from Minister Conger.
| some coming from the consular officers
! and Gen. Chafee, besides those which
came direct. The message transmitted
| by WI was entirely decipehered in the
state department
TUNG CHOW IS FORTIFIED.
During the course Of a conversation
! by Secretary Root and Baron Spreck Won
Sternberg, the German charge daffaires.
Mr.. Root gained considerable information
| concerning the route which has yet to be
traversed by the allied armies. Baron
Sternberg told him that Tung Chow was
! a very strong place, and If the Chinese
army should make a stand at this point
| the international forces would find 1t
| quite difficult to overcome the forts and
! walls. While 1t is not known what re-
| sistence may have been made or will be
made to the advance at Tung Chow Sec
| rotary Root and other officials would not
be surprised to learn OF a very serious
battle at that place.
1t Is expected that the German force
now on its way to China Will land in the
vicinity of Lin Yu, which is directly east
Of PelSin. The advantages Of this point
are found in the fact that rice will not
interfere with the going and coming Of
ships with supplies. 1t is also said that
| the road from Lin Yu to Pekin is much
better than that between Tien Ts.n and
Pekin, as the ground is higher and the
country more suitable for military opera
tions.
WITHIN TWENTY MILES.
Word came IN ealy today to the navy
department that Gen. Chaffee had reach
ed Matow, about twenty miles from Pc
kin. This occurred Friday, though the
dispatch from Gen. Chaffee, sent through
Admiral Remey. was not sufficiently def
mite to locate the exact time of reaching
Matow. But, in any event, three or four
days have elapsed since then, and there
has been time for a still further advance
| toward the imperial city The feeling
| among officials was shown in the extreme
| circumsepction thrown about all messages
| relating to China and it was announced,
| both at the state and war departments,
| that any cOmmunica tons from Minister
Conger or the United States consuls con-
corning affairs in China would not be
made public. 1t was explained that this
was in no way due to any desire to keep
from the public information Of an i'm
portant character, but was based solely
on the fact that the crisis involved so
many responsibilities Of extreme hazard
to the 500 legahoners in Pekin that the
greatest caution must be observed against
disclosures which would further imperil
those In danger.
The actual developments Of the day
consisted Of the Remey dispatch hereto
fore alluded to, and one from Consul
General GoodnOw at Shanghai The state
! department declined to make known the
contents Of the Goodnow dispatch This
| opened a wide field for conjecture, tho
most generally accepted view being that
Mr. Goodnow had advised against the
plan Of delivering the legationers outside
the city of Pekin.