September 1, 1900.]
The Voronej, of the Russian Volunteer Fleet, left on the 25th ult. for Shanghai, escorted by cruiser Admiral Nachimof.
On thee 26th ult. the Patiala reached Hong. kong from Calcutta, bringing the Headquarters and a wing of the 2 th Paujaub Infantry. (7 British and 8 native officers, 377 N.C.O.'s and men, 72 followers, with horse and mules); and part of the 69th Field Hospital (1 British officer, 6 men, and 65 followers).
The Palamcotta and Antillian left on the 26th ult. for Taku, and the Itinda and Urluna for
aloutta..
1.
The troopship Salamis arrived on the 26th ult from Sydney, which she left on the 8th instant. The Austrian cruiser Kaiserin Elizabeth arrived on the 26th ult. from Singapore.
The transport Ujina arrived on the 27th ult. from Calcutta, bringing C Battery R. H. A. (6 British officers, 179 N. C. O.'s and men, 135 followers, 6 guns, with horses and mules); part of the Ammunition Column (1 British officer, 24 N. C. O.'s and men, 29 followers, and horses); British Field Hospital No. 22, and details of the 2nd infantry brigade.
The transport Zamania arrived from Woo- sung on the 27th ult.
H. M. 8. Isis departed on Monday night for Amoy.
The Patiala left for Taku.
The German gunboat Tiger arrived on the 27th alt, from Singapore. She is of 894 tons displace- ment and 1,300 i.h.p., carries eight 3.4 in. Q.F.. six 1.4 in., and two maxims, and her speed is
13.5 kriots.
The transport Nairung arrived on the 28th ult. from Calcutta, bringing a wing of the 20th Punjaub Infantry (5 British and 7 na- tive officers, 344 N.C.O.'s and men, and 83 fol- lowers, with horses and mules), a section of the Native Field Hospital with the British officer in charge, and details of the No. 5 Brigade Sup. ply Column, and Transport of the 3rd Brigade. The British officers on board were Major Giles, Capt. Tigh, Lients. Grey and Finnis, Capt. Murray, I.M.S., Capt. Turner, L.M.S.. Sub. Cond. MoWalters, Staff Sergt.-Major Wright. H. M. S. Isis on Monday night sailed for Amoy.
At 7 o'clock on the 28th ult. the German squa- dron, including the flagship Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm, the battleships Brandenburg, Weis- senburg, and Wörth and the despatch vessel Hela, arrived in the harbour on their way north. The French gunboat Comete returned to Hongkong from Swatow.
The transport Ujina left on the 28th ult. for Taku with her troops, and the hospital ship Carthage left for Weihaiwei.
The transport Zamania departed for Calcutta. The German cruiser Hertha went into dock on the 28th ult.
The P. and O. hired transport Formosa ar- rived on the 29th ult. from Bombay, bringing 21 British officers, the 14th Sikhs, the 34th Pioneers, a Hospital Corps and followers, am- mounting in all to 1,358 men. She proceeded on her way on the 30th.
The Austrian cruisers Aspern and Kaiserin Elisabeth sailed early on the 29th ult. for Shang- hai, and were followed by the German cruiser Tiger.
The transport Matiana returned from Taku on the 29th ult
The transport Formosa left for Taku on the 30th ult, with troops for the north.
The transport Matiana started on the 30th ult on her return journey to Calcutta.
|
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
tions had, since the cessation of firing on the 16th ult., received no assistance from the Chinese Government. Desultory firing had begun again on the 3rd August, the day when the advanced guard moved out of Tientain, and two Russians had been wounded. The Christian converts (Roman Catholic) at the Pei Sang had also been fired at, and attempts had been made to cajole away their foreign guards (French and Italian sailors) under a pledge that the Chinese would thereafter protect them; but this was re- garded as a mere clumsy device to ensure their prompt massacre. The Ministers had been once more ordered to quit under threat of an attack in force; but of course there was no intention whatever of compliance. The defences had been indefinitely strengthened, and they were care- fally husbanding food and ammunition in the confidence that they could hold out till the relief force came. I have also heard from a native and less trustworthy source that the foreigners had been able to secure a fair supply of food. This would be more credible were it not accompanied by the more dubious statement that they had also been able to procure some ammunition.
In Tientsin we all feel that the last three days have been crucial in Peking, and that if our neighbours have survived them, as we think they have, they will yet come out alive from their terrible ordeal.
THE ADVANCE AND THE HEAT.
Yesterday the advance guard (the Japanese) was reported to be thirty miles distant from Peking, and moreover the main body was to attempt a forced march of thirty miles during the 24 hours. This, under the intense heat, would be an almost impossible feat, and if it has been done will be historic. Several cases of heat and apoplexy are reported; the only wonder is that there have not been scores, instead of units.
A 4.7 ARRIVES,
The 4.7 in. Q. F. was sent on yesterday and reached Yangtsun (18 miles), but as we have had tropical rain all this morning in Tientsin, it is feared progress will be nil to-day. The communications are open, and lancers pass up and down; but we hear sniping is not infre- quent beyond Yangtsun.
A MERITED DECORATION.
I do not know if the fact that M. le Comte du Chaylard has been decorated by the French Government has been made public: the signi ficance of his promotion to the grand cross of the Legion of Honour is that his diagnosis and prognosis of the situation in North China during the last six months have been wonderfully accurate and have shown that the Consul General possesses both sound judgment and great prescience.
163
as nearly every man in North Chins was equally blind: but I may state that the lay mind is more alert to learn the truth from a new pre- sentation of facts, and not to go on hugging delusions just because of a preconceived theory. I feel as certain as of my own existence that the taking of the Forts had no real effect on the issue at all except to precipitate matters by a day or two. The actions of our servants, of the Tientsin Officials, the written evidence left in the Viceroy's Yamen all prove that, forts or no forts, the Boxers were going to force the situation, and had already cowed the officials and soldiers into absolute fear. We were to be utterly destroyed in three days; and the attack actually began 20 hours before a shot was fired at Taku. Had the forts not been captured, there is every presumption that relief could not have reached Tientsin in time, and that the greatest crime in modern history would have been consumnated. Every foreign throat in North China would have been cut, and tens of thousands of Chinese associated with us in trade, schools, religion &c., would have been masacred. It will be sheer nonsense to contend that the Taku business was the cause instead of the salvation of the situation.
GERMAN ARRIVALS,
Our latest arrivals have been a German naval brigade numbering 250; the large Marine brigade from Kiel is expected in two days. It is understood the transports are going to Kiso- Chow, there to disembark the men for garrison duty, and to embark the present garrison for the field.
CHINESE INACTIVITY.
Up to date the considerable body of Chi nese away to the South and South-West of Tientsin has done nothing but exchange rifle shots with the Japanese scouts. Their inactivity is difficulty to account for: alout a week ago it almost seemed as if they were going to de. monstrate down stream and threaten communications.
NEW MOUNTINGS.
our
I hear the new field-mountings for the 4-7 Q. F. have been tried successfully: they are much simpler and lighter than the well known
Scott" mountings, and have been quickly made at the Taku works of the Lighter Com. pany from the designs of one of the engineers of H.M.S. Phænix.
CAVALRY HORSES,
The horses of the Sixth U. S. Cavalry have now arrived: some hundred odd of the animals are still "soft from the voyage, and will re- quire at least one week's rest before they go to the front. The troopers are in fine fettle, and are only chafing at the delay in getting up. In nothing is the contrast between East and West so marked as in this arm: the China, Japan, and Annam pony looks a pigmy beside the huge walers and Americans.
Later, 13th Angust, 8 p.m.
THE ADVANCE.
Allies had a slight encounter at Ho Si Wa (half way), four wounded. To-day Japanese are not less than 20 miles of Peking. English and American six miles behind; expect to be at Tung Chow (13 miles) to-morrow. Total force will be before the Walls on Monday at latest.
THE QUESTION OF THE TAKU FORTS, I have some reason for believing that his and certain other memoranda sent in to the Berlin Foreign Office during the last year or two by an old and well-informed resident are the only formal notifications of the coming storm extant in the official bureaus of Europe and America. We must not, however, omit the clear and oft. repeated warnings of the able editor of the Peking and Tientsin Times, particularly as much "cheap criticism was bestowed on them as the mere shouts of “wolf, wolf," or the Sir Claude's last message asks for stores; eccentricities of a journalistic Cassandra. these are being forwarded by Mr. Tallion: it is Many saw the tendencies of the Boxer propag. | inferred that he will pro tem. remain in Peking. anda, but few had the remotest idea that it would develop with oyclonic force and carry on with it the entire bureaucracy of the Province and the whole of the officialdom in the Capit-
The German squadron now in the harboural, to say nothing of the troops, and the secret left for Woosung on the 31st ult, except the Worth, which proceeded to Kiaochow on the previous day.
TIENTSIN.
[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]
sympathy of most of the civil popolation. I am indulging in this vein because I fear the Ministers when once again in the saddle are going to make a dead set at the men who were responsible for the seizure of the Taku forts. The diplomatic idea is that it was this step and this alone which precipitated the action of the Chinese Government, and the alliance of the Tientsin, 10th August. troops with the Boxers, and that its prompt isane was the jeopardising of every foreign life Our last authoritative news from Peking is in North China. They think that if the Forts dated 4th August, and is of a reassuring nature. had not been seized, the situation would have Perhaps the most striking feature, after the been comparatively simple: that it would have statement that there were no more serious ca- been merely a Boxer problem, plus the collusion sualties, was that Railway Commissioner Su of a few ultra-reactionaries. This view of Ching Ching, late Minister at Berlin, and Yuan matters must be opposed totis viribus: the Chang, member of the Tsungli Yamen, had been official mind, with the one exception referred summarily beheaded by Imperial decree for rento, has seen this Boxer question askew all dering assistance to foreigners. The Lega- the way through; therein it is not to be blamed
PEKING NEWS.
THE AUSTRALIAN DETACHMENT.
The first batch of Australians for service in China arrived in the Salamis on Sunday morn- ing. She brought 200. Victorian blue-jackets, in charge of Lieutenant Ticknell and 250 from New South Wales. Captain Hickson came out in charge of the latter, but he is about to return home and his place will be taken by Lieutenant Gillespie, who will rank as Captain. The Vic- torians have two 14-pounder quick-firing guns with them, and those from New South Wales two nine-pounders. The men were very conspi- enons about the City, the seamen in ordinary naval costume, and them arines dressed somewhat after the style of the Colonials in South Africa. The Sulamis left for Weihaiwei on Friday,
ON THE WAY. The P. &O.8.8. Clyde, which left Bingapore on Monday and is due here to-day, September 1st, has on beard twelve officers and 260 men of the Royal Artillery and Royal Army Medical Corps for service in China. The P. & O. s.s. Bombay,
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