New-York tribune., 1900-07-22
THEIR FAITH UNSHAKEN.
HIGH GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS STILL
BELIEVE THE CONGER DIS
PATCH GENUINE
PATCH GENUINE.
[pr TELEGRAPH TO THE TR1BuNE.i

! message received from Minister Wu yesterday
| was Mr.. Conger's response to Secretary
Hays request of nine days ago Is wholly un-
shaken by twenty four hours Of calm delibera-
ton, after carefully weighing the doubts raised
by those not possessed of the special facilities
| enjoyed by the Government experts in cipher
| dispatches and other matters surrounding the
! message that sent TO Mr. Conger and the
| appropriateness Of the return dispatch. Secre-
! tary Hay whose experience with State Depart
| ment ciphers and methods has extended over
score of years; Secretary Root. whose ideas of
! the value of evidence and whose good judgment
have been generally recognized. and Secretary
Long. who availed himself Of the best expert
| advice in the naval service-these three off,
cials who are familiar with the inside history
of the two dispatches and their exact transla-
| tion from the cipher declare most emphatically
! their firm belief that the message was written
by Minister Conger some time between July II
and July II. the latter date being regarded as
| most probable.
CONFIDENCE OF MR.. HAY.
This view of the dispatch is not shared by all
| officials in Washington, any more than the dis
| patch is credited in some other PARTS of the
world, but the most diligent search fails COM
! pletefy to discover any person in the confidence
| of the higher officials of the Government who
| does not place absolute reliance on Secretary
| Hays belief No motive has yet been assigned
| to Mr. Hays position in the matter OF the mes
| sage which altogether justifes assailing his
| Judgment. It is doubtful if he would have been
! warranted under any circumstances in not max
! ing the dispatch public yesterday in the form
of the bulletin he adopted, whether he doubted
| its authenticity or not. 1t is not conceivable
| that he would stake his reputation on questions
| of fact which must be incOntrovertbly demon
strated false or true sooner or later. 1t Is pos
sible therefore, thu: the Secretary of State has
| more substantial grounds for his confidence than
| he considers desirable to :mpart to the pubic
and among these probably are the exact words
| of both cipher dispatches. 1t is admitted to-day
| that the message of July IL, which was sent as
much as anything else. to test the good faith Of
| Chinese officials and the accuracy of the I'M
| perial edict received that day. made the simple
| request of Minister Conger to send tidings In
| cipher" Whether the Chinese already possess
| the key and cipher of the State Department IS
| purely speculative, and the State Department
| must proceed on the assumption that they 90
not and therefore must not deliberately disclose
| the cipher by making public the literal transla-
| ton of Mr.. Conger's dispatch. The WorolhS
| made public yesterday as follows;
British Legation under continued shot and
| shell from Chinese troops Quick RELIEF only
| can prevent general massacre
| This was assuredly not Minister Congers Sc
| quence of words. 1t transposed and para
! phrased to accord with the general tenor of his
| .'tidings." There is much more reason to be-
ueve that the precise phraseology of the transla-
ton follows
Hasten prevent massacre. Troops bombarding
| constantly.
| The exact text is likely never to be made pub
| lie while the State Department regards its pres
ent cipher with favor, but Secretary Hay de-
clares that the reply in every characteristic de-
| tail closely he 0uery. questions
! his veracity in that statement Forty y-eight
hours ago Secretary Hay, it is to be renem-
| bered was the most sceptical of all Washington
| officials about Taotai sheng's communications.
| He did not believe the foreigners in Peking
| could have escaped death long ago as a
| month.
THE QUESTION OF MOTIVE.
The motives Of high Chinese officials. If scep-
tcism is any longer to be patiently encountered,
| are certainly most involved and obscure. II 1t
is claimed that all Chinese viceroys and Min
listers are rascals. which is distinctly not true.
the crucial question arises to their object in
| going to much trouble to give the Govern
ment which has shown the greatest friendliness
to them a perfectly proftless lie. especially
when for such a gratuitousy despicable act
| quick detection was inevitable. If they had
perts familiar with the State Departments code
| book and its ever changing cue words, what
/ account
porting to come from the man to whom Secre-
| tary Hay addressed his personal question which
| did not ask the situation of otker Minister'S but
| merely asked for 'tidngs''? If there could have
been any possible purpose the part of any
one in sending a forged reply that purpose
would have been of delay. If delay had been
desired, then the Conger message was not such
to produce the result expected for the
| reason that it would necessarily hurry the dis
| patch Of troops to Peking.
| If the dispatch had been of a fraudulent
nature, to serve any purpose of delay 1t would
naturally have been more successful had 1t
| stated that the Ministers safe and under
protection of the Government.
The vast amount of devlsh ingenuity with
| which the alleged Chinese authors Of the dis
patch are credited might have been reasonably
expected to produce something of more value to
the conspirators. 1t is not calculated to stop the
| advance of the allies, nor to stop the Powers
from pouring troops into China, nor to make
| China's Minister secure in the car ptal at Wash
ington. In fact, no motive for forgery has been
| disclosed by the sceptics of Europe except those
too puerile for notice in this country.
WHY DATE MAY HAVE BEEN OMITTED.
Last Sunday The Tribune editorially com
mented the vital weakness Of all official
cable dispatches from the East which DESTROYED
their intelligbty pointing out the necessity
| of dating dispatches when sent as we'll as when
| received Promptly last Sunday evening the
| State and Navy departments directed their
agents in China to send the dates Of their dis
patches after the address of each message. Ad-
| miral Remey Consul General Goodnow and
| others have obeyed the order since they re-