THE WAR IN CHINA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11798, 30 July 1900, Page 2

THE WAR IN CHINA.

ADMIRAL SEYMOUR'S RELIEF FORCE.

This force; which consisted of 2300 men, 900 being British, was despatched from Tientsin to Peking to protect the Legations and Europeans in the capital, but, unfortunately, was compelled to return, being unable to' reach its destination. } A Renter correspondent who accompanied the expedition, writing on June 13, (j ms describes its progress up to that date : — I left Tientsin yesterday morning with the mixed force of over 2000 men, principally iSntish, which,- under the command of Admiral Sir Edward Seymour, has advanced along the railway for the purpose of reopening communication with Peking. After passing Yang-tsun we found that attornpts had been made to destroy the bridires and tear up the line, but the damage done between Yang-tsun and Lo-fa.was not very extensive. y AT . At, I'O-fa we found evidences of General i\iehs operations in the shape of headless bodies lying alongside the line, and of empty ca r rt ™ge cases scattered on every side. Ihe whole country were a deserted aspect. Most of the villages had apparently been abandoned by their inhabitants, and there nkerei '! O Slgns bey°nd the damage which they had done of the presence of the Boxers. Owing to the labour involved in renair-

ing the bridges and the track, wo did not reac ■kola until late yesterday evening. \y e re mained there until this morning, when the ad vance was continued. lifter Lo-fa was left behind the indication? oi the activity;of the Boxers began to be much more apparent than they had been nearer Tientsin. Their operations hero had evidently been conducted on a more extensive scale. In some places several hundred ieefc of the Ime had been torn up, the sleepers Had been burned, and the telegraph poles had been cut down and the wire removed tor a distance of several miles. Small bands ol .Boxers were visible at intervals, but they ran away when we appeared. In the afternoon, while working parties were engaged in repairing this line, I accompanied a patrol of 16 British marines which had been sent ahead under the command of Major Johnstone, of the battleship Oentunon, to examine the line. Eight miles above Lo-fa we saw small parties of Boxers engaged m destroying the line. They moved oil before our advance, and apparently dispersed in the surrounding country, leaving behind them the rails which they had torn up and the sleepers which they had sot on fire. J.he patrol was two miles in front" of the leading train and proceeding towards Lano--fang, when a large body; of Boxers was sudiT, y ?tSeXV<ii streami2g from a village on our iert. Ihey numbered about 2000, and some of them were mounted. From the direction in winch they, were, going it was evident that they intended to cut us off. Their mounted men crossed the railway and attempted to intercept us on that side, while the men on foot made for a partially burnt bridge and village commanding the line. They were mostly armed with, spears and swords, but a few o"f them had firearms, which' did not, hove^er prove very effective. ' "' Our marines kept up a running fight for over » mile, killing between 20 and 30 of the, enemy. Notwithstanding their losses the .Boxers persevered in their intention of cutting us off, and pursued the marines for a considerable distance. Finding that reinforcements of blueiaefcets and-marines were- coming to their assistance the patrol halted and opened a heavy fire against the Boxers, driving them across the iront of the bluejackets, who punished them severely with Maxim and rifle fire. This tim™ the Boxers had enough of if and began to ictreat, pursued by the European troops who carried two villages, from' which they cleared the Uoxers.

4(1 t?n f' i ktte, r 1S estlmated at about •40 killed and wounded. Seven of their wounded are being attended to by British

Our casualties were nil. ■ D ,vLh6;if hole CoUl\ trr appears to be infested with Boxers, and it seems probable that unless the lesson they, received this afternoon causes them to lose heart much trouble must be encountered before we reach Pc-

The railway is so badly cut up that we have covered only 34 miles in two day* Ihere is reason to fear, moreover, that from this point onwards the line has been evenmore senoualy damaged than the portion we have already passed Writing from Lang-iang, half way to Pe-says-n : '' Mine' CMTCSP°nclent

/The expedition h^ now reached this place where we found all.the station build^gs destroyed and ,30.0, yards of the track torn up On approaching the station we found some Boxers still engaged in.the work of destrucJw- ■? 3ri- bqlt-cd'ln,to tho villa^e on the approach -of,;,our advanced pa?ty, who dropped a six-ppunder shell into the village. The Boxers then fled up the line. Further Fno- !r\ Sma,n £ arfcy was engaged in tearZ^ttVlf' kU a f6W lOUg-range Shots

'. A RUSSIAN" VIEW. r P nt! C<T? )Ond- nt Of the D«lr Express recently had an interview with Prince Oochtomsky, the- editor of the St. Petersburg V edomosti, who M no mean authority on Chinese affairs, has written extensively about the Far East, and has been five or six times m oninar-once in company with the Czar when his Majesty'made his memorable . trip round the world. Prince Oochtomsky expressed the- opinion that a great number of men, women,;' and children would be mur^ dered by the ignorant and fanatical Chinese. Ihe correspondent suggested that it would be well if the European Powers interested P H l l pna t r U d Call a confe>-ence to debate whether the country is to be divided or placed under separate spheres of influence J-he Prince said:— "The interests of the various European Powers are so conflicting ll ISr,"T MkI not work- European in til' i l e 9 lnnc. Be becoming more .united in their hatred against the foreianers The awakemng o f the Chinese win - b(J All those warlike instruments of destruction T»£l Uw of, whl' oh they are bein S taught, will probably be turned against the Europeans themselves The Chinese have no fear of death, and make excellent soldiers under European instructors. Tho English at Wei-hai-wei have already trained and drilled a number of Chinese and converted them into Brood soldiers after the European system. What is to prevent these • Chinese, in their turn teaching their countrymen European methods of warfare? This is not even necessary. for Europeans will themselves teach the Chinese how to fight. Tho prospect for Europe and the Europeans is not a pleasant one. Perhaps the' best plan would be to disarm the yellow race, and nolice China with European troops;' but the Powers are so .lealous of one another that even this plan is difficult to carry out. In case of a general revolt, . Russia has not at all too many troops at her disposal, considering that she has not only to guard a long stretch of railway._ but to lirotect her subjects in Manchuria, from being murdered. She will, therefore, not be able to send many to Peking." .