The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-08-06
HOT FIGHTING HAS BEGUN

tions ordering every foot of the road
from Tien Tsin to Pekin to be disputed.
All the Chinese troops have evidently
been paid in full and troops, money and
supplies are going to Pekin from the
southern provinces. 1t is deemed quite
probable by military men in London
that the Chinese will make a fierce night
at. Pek1n on much greater scale than
during the defense of Tien Tsin.
AdviceS received at the war office in
st. Petersburg from General Grodekoff
dated Khabrovsk August 4, says two
squadrons accommodating near Teche
engaged 1000 Chinese with two guns
and $50 cavalry. After a stubborn fight
the Russians were reinforced by another
squadron with two guns and defeated
the Chinese, killing 200. The Russian
loss was eight men killed and eight
wounded.
This dispatch adds that the battle
around Aigun was continued August g.
the Cossacks losing six men killed and
25 wounded and driving back the Chi
nese, killing 200 and capturing two guns
and two flags. An inscription on one
of the flags read: THE people of the
large fist"
Aigun, when the dispatch was sent,
was burning.
other dispatches report Russian sue
cesses near Port Arthur.
HOW IT LOOKS TO WASHINGTON
Washington, Aug. 6.-Interest in the
Chinese situation was intensified this
morning by the receipt of two dis
patches from naval officers at Che Foo,
repeating unofficial but apparently re-
liable reports of active and extensive
hostilities between the allied forces and
the Chinese on the line between Tien
Tsin and Pekin. The dispatches indi-
cate Enthusiastically that the relief
column has started in earnest and
that it is meeting with determined OPP
position. Although neither of the naval
dispatches mentions the presence of
American troops in the reported en-
gagement it is generally assumed at
Z la ri q g a T11T
of General Chaffee'S small army was on
hand and took an active and aggressive
part in the affairs.
According to the information in pos
session of the war department, the town
of Peitsang where the engagement is
reported to have taken place is at the
head of tide water on the Pei IIo, be-
tween IL and II miles by road beyond
Tien Tsin. 1t is a village of mud hutS
of considerable size but not walled. The
river at this point is not navigable by
anything larger than a good sized steam
launch and it is thought that the troops
probably reached there in small boats
tOWed by the naval launches. The cOun-
try all along the river between Pekin
and Tien Tsin is a low, alluvial plain al
most impaSSa Bile for wheeled vehicles
in the wet season and under quite a
high state of cultivation 1t presents no
natural defensive features and the war
department knows no strategic reason
why the Chinese have made a stand
there rather than at any other Of the
dozen villages east of the walled town
of Tung Chow, where is stored an i'm
mense amount of provisions upon which
the city of Pekin would have to depend
in case of siege.
From the fact that the engagement
lasted seven and a half hours, it is
argued in the department that either
the Chinese must have been heavily en-
trenched~ or there was an immense horde
of them to so stubbornly contest the ad-
vance of the 10000 international troops.
1t is figured by military experts that a
loss of 200 killed and wounded on the
part of the allies probably means a loss
of from three to six times as many by
the Chinese. 1t is possible that a blow
of this magnitude may break the resist
the foreign column, but on the other
hand it is possible that this may be
one of large number of places on the
road that have been entrenched with a
view to falling back and contesting the
foreign advance so as to delay as long
as possible the arrival of the foreigners
at Pekin. Unless the opposition sudden
ly breaks down, the military experts
look for desperate engagement when
the troops reach the walled city of
Tung Chow. which is said to be even
more favorably located for purposes of
defense than was Tien Tsin
The position of the United States,
automatically, remains unchanged.
This government will not consent to
the removal of the ministers and for
eigners from Pekin until there is free
communication by the powers with
their ministers. Nor will this govern
ment consent to communication in plain
language alone, but insists that cipher
message must pass freely between Min
lister Conger and our state department.
1t is emphatically stated that unless
such messages are exchanged the United