NOTES ON AFFARS IN CHINA.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10765, 19 September 1900, Page 5

NOTES ON AFFARS IN CHINA.

Tihe Bt&temei_t that 200 miles of railway have been destroyed in __la?.e_uria and many Russians killed may cover all that has happened since the Chinese first rose in that province, or it may refer to some recent event. The latter seems more probable. Additional Russian troops are reported some time ago that Russia already held every fortress but one in "that province, and expected to have 142,000 troops with 242 guns there by the end of the present month. The C_ir___ troops in Manchuria were said, by a St. Petersburg paper, to be-greatly hampered by scarcity of _mmunition, but this has not been shown in the fighting which has occurpsd. Many of them are coolies who were engaged to build the railway to wliich they have done so muoh damage.

Nothing is said as to the Ruccess of Colonel Dor-ward's expedition to Pao-ting fu from Tien-tedn, except that the town of Ttt-liu waa captured, looted, and burned. A large force of Boxers was reported to be massing at Pa©-ting-fti, but the allied expedition does not seem to have gone so far and it is possible that its __i____ber_—-4000,' with some siege guns—were not sufficiently large to warrant an attack being made. Chinese Imperial troops are said to be concentrating between Pekin aad Tien-tsin. These may be some of th* reinforcements which during tbe advance of the Allies on Pekin *___ reported to be coming up from the couth. Their attitude does not convey the impression that the Dowager-Empress is convinced of the futility of further hoetili-

ties, neither will it tend to make the path . oi the Chinese plenipotentiaries any easier j in arranging a settlement. It is quite pea- . able that- had the Russians actually with- j drawn from Pekin they would have had to ( fight for their lives, lhe Allies must, how- ' ever, have sufficient forces at Tien-tsin and elsewhere in the Chi-li province to be able to keep open the route from Pekin to Tientsin, seeing that they were expected to ha*e 78,000 men there by the end of thi* month. The foreign Ministers do not think Prince Ching's credential, as plenipotentiary sufficiently good .to allow them to treat with him. Ching is said to be as fully authorised as was Prince Kung forty .ears ago when he had to treat for peace with Lord Elgin ' and Baron Gros, after the English and French forces had entered Pekin and looted and burned the Summer Palace. Lord Elgin made no complaint, so far as we remember, to Kung's credentials being insufficient, although he must have known that Kung's views were hardly those of the Court, which at a safe distance of some hundred miles from Pekin was still breathing out fire and slaughter against the foreigners. In the present case the Ministers no doubt prefer to deal with Li Hung Chang, with whom the Powers have had dealings on other occasions when he been required to help China through foreignr complications. For the Inst two or three weeks he has been detained on a warship in the roadstead at Hong Kong, and has now , left Shanghai for Taku. He evidently re- j cognises more fully the temper of the ' Powers than does Prince Ching, for while • the latter's ideas do not go beyond the j payment by China of an indemnity, Li has already impeached three of the chief ringleaders in the attack on the Legations, and with a little more pressure would doubtless add Prince Tuan to his list. He will, however, hardly be bold enough to recommend the Emperor to hand over the Dowager- ■ Empress for punishment, although at her j door lie 3 the guilt of all the massacres that have been committed.

One of the difficulties of the near future will be a famine in Northern China, in which case, says a recent telegram, the natives will rely on the Allies for support. The native crops in the Province of Chi-li are a total failure, and the starving wretches iv that district have been attracted to Tientsin by the news that relief is being distributed to some of thy more fortunate inhabitants of the native city. The position altogether is rendered one of increasing gravity by the non-arrival of the usual annual supplies of rice from the south. Suitable foodstuffs are not to be obtained at any price, and the state of things threatened some weeks ago to be exceedingly serious. The news of Colonel Dorward's promotion to the command of the British troops in Pekin is rather surpriffing, as no word has been received explaining why General Sir Alfred Gaselee should have resigned his position.