Connecticut western news., 1900-08-16
NEW FEARS FOR C0NGER
He Reports Efforts to Force
 Him to Leave Picking.
HIS LATEST CABLE KEPT SECRET.

Anxiety at Washington Is Again
 Aroused by a Message From the
 American Minister Which the State
 Departments Refuses to Publish.
 Washington, Aug. 15.-News of a seri- ous character regarding the situation of the foreigners in Picking came to the state department yesterday in a cipher dispatch from Mir. Conger, the United States minister to China. The govern ment officials declined to make the dis patch public, and the reason may possi- bly be found in Mir. Conger's statement that the Chinese government was trying to force him to leave Peking. This re- tiection on the good faith of the imperial authorities brought to the officials the grave fear that after all the efforts of the powers, when relief was so near at hand, the allies might arrive at the Chi nese capital too late to save the diplo- matic representatives and those in their care from massacre at the hands of their fanatical enemies.
 While hopeful that the allies are by this time at the gates of Picking, the govern ment deemed it wise to take no chances in regard to the carrying out of the ar engagements to rescue the foreigners, and the secretary of war, after a conference with President Mckinley over the long distance telephone line between the White House and the presidents Canton residence, telegraphed instructions to Ma jor General Chaffee at Tung Chow to hurry up the advance and relieve the members of the legation without delay. The substance of Mir. Conger's message was given in his telegram to General Chaffee.
 Mir. Conger says, after stating that the Chinese government is trying to force him to leave the capital, that he has re- fused to go. He says also that the situa- ton is most critical Whether Mir. Con- ger intended his reference to the coercive efforts of the Chinese authorities to ap- ply to himself personally or to the entire diplomatic body is not known, but he used the words force me-" It Is pre- stunned here that the Chinese government is endeavoring to compel all the minis ters to leave the capital under Chinese escort, as there would be no object in singling out MT. Conger.
 The Picking date of the message is not known even to the officials who have read it. They say that it is of uncertain date. They issued the following bulletin concerning it:
 1.-The department of state announces that message from Minister Conger has been received. but of uncertain date and not in reply to the telegram sent to him on Aug. s. It will not be made pub lie"
 Message Came Through wu.
 The message came to the government in the usual way, through Chinese chan nels. It was not prefaced by the GUS Nnt, ~R it,. Al tsung-li-yamen. It was forwarded, as all Chinese official messages from Picking are now sent, to Yuan Shin Kal, gov ernor of ShangGlng. at Tsinan and was sent by him to the taotai of Shanghai, who cabled it to Minister Wu Ting Fang in Washington. It bore the Shanghai date of Aug. 14. Minister Wu received 1t about noon and sent it to the state department by Mir. Chung Nun Yew. the secretary interpreter of the Chinese legation. MT. Chung delivered it to Act ing Secretary of State Adee, who, as soon as the dispatch had been translat- ed from the cipher. hurried to the office of the secretary of war and showed it to Mir. Root During the afternoon there were several conferences between Mir. Root and Mir. Adee. and later MT. Root read the message to the president over the long distance telephone. As a re- suit of the conference between the pres ident and the secretary of war the in- structions to General Chaffee were sent.
 The advices from Mir. Conger have caused the keenest anxiety after the feeling of hope that prevailed for sev- eral days. It is realized here that China must declare her intention toward the powers very soon. The attempt to keep the allies out of Picking by force of arms would mean war, and the allies by this time may have fought battle with the imperial forces. a battle that will place China at war with the civilized world. But the officials have felt confident that when the crisis came the Chinese gov ernment would be only too willing to compromise on the basis of the sugges- tion sent to General Chaffee by Secre- tary Root that sufficient number of the allies be permitted to enter Picking and take the foreigners therefrom. This scheme successfully accomplished would probably mean an end to the existing hostilties. and China and the powers would then be able to arrange their diff ferences by diplomatic negotiations.