106 



CHINA. 



side of the border. Those at Harbin and the 

 guards under Gen. Gerngross were besieged by the 

 Chinese, and Gen. Gribsky gave his attention first 

 to their rescue. A whole army corps was mobil- 

 ized by this time, and another was called to arms 

 in Siberia. A detachment of 8,000 men moved up 

 the Sungari to Harbin, where the Russian railroad 

 guards and workmen intrenched themselves; 

 others advanced from the Ussuri and from Turi- 

 khotu. The Chinese garrison at Aigun was 

 strengthened and the artillery increased. In the 

 middle of July the Chinese attacked the Russian 

 posts on the Amur frontier. A strong, well- 

 << I nipped force began to bombard Blagovestchensk 

 on July 15, the Chinese of Aigun having thrown 

 up intrenchments and mounted 8 guns on their 

 side of the river. Russian steamers with military 

 supplies were stopped on the Amur. The attack- 

 ing force was 8,000 strong, while the Russians 

 were few, most of the troops having been sent 

 to relieve Harbin. When the Chinese renewed 

 their bombardment, on July 16, the Russians had 

 6 guns to answer them, Gen. Gribsky having 

 arrived with a relief column, and on the third 

 day he had troops enough to attack and burn 

 Sakhalin. The Cossacks, in cleaning out the Chi- 

 nese settlements, did not show the same regard 

 for the laws of civilized warfare that the Chinese 

 had shown. They killed many who attempted to 

 flee -across the river. The Governor of Tsitsihar 

 protested against the cruelty of massacring all the 

 inhabitants of the Chinese villages on the Amur 

 and Sungari, and warned the Russians at Harbin 

 that they must depart, as the two countries were 

 at war. The chief engineer replied that he would 

 send away women and children, but would remain 

 at his post, as war did not exist between Russia 

 and China. At another point the Chinese at- 

 tempted to cross into Russian territory, but were 

 driven back by the Cossacks, who soon had the 

 Amur line free from danger of invasion and 

 marched rapidly to the rescue of small parties of 

 railroad guards and engineers who were still in 

 Manchuria. When the Chinese renewed the bom- 

 bardment of Blagovestchensk on July 22, Cossacks 

 crossed the river and drove back their outposts. 

 The Russians south of Harbin had concentrated 

 at that place. The guards at Tielin, 200 strong, 

 attempted to bring away not only Europeans but 

 a great number of Chinese converts, and the de- 

 tachment was nearly annihilated by Boxers. Mis- 

 sionaries and women and children made their way 

 safely from Harbin to the Ussuri frontier. The 

 garrison then attacked Chinese posts in the dis- 

 trict. When the army corps reached the field of 

 operations Gen. Grodekoff took the chief com- 

 mand. The column under Gen. Zakharoff de- 

 stroyed the villages on the Sungari, and on July 

 26 captured the town of Sansing and its fortress, 

 with 22 guns. The detachment marching from 

 Stretensk seized and burned the gold-mining town 

 of Mokho. On July 27 Boxers burned the Russian 

 settlement in the town of Kalgan, the terminus 

 of the Russian telegraph line in China. Blagovest- 

 chensk continued to be attacked daily from the 

 opposite side of the river, where the Chinese force 

 was increased until there were 18,000 troops, with 

 45 guns. On July 27 the local force that held the 

 place, consisting of 3 battalions, 4 sotnias, and 

 militia, with 10 guns, was re-enforced by 9 bat- 

 talions and 8 sotnias, with 44 guns. The Russians 

 then took the offensive. On Aug. 3 two col- 

 umns crossed over from Blagovestchensk, took the 

 town of Sakhalin, and the m-xt day marched 

 against Saigun, which was taken after a severe 

 bombardment and an obstinate defense. Gen. 

 Orloff's column occupied Hailar on July 30 after 



defeating several thousand Chinese. The officials 

 and employees from Harbin and other points on 

 the East Chinese Railroad finally departed with 

 their families and arrived safely at Kabarofka, 

 6,000 persons altogether, Gen. Zakharoff having 

 arrived on Aug. 3 with his relief column and 

 opened the way for their passage down the Sun- 

 gari. The vanguard of Gen. Chichagoff's detach- 

 ment from Nikolsk arrived simultaneously, hav- 

 ing on the march from the Ussuri destroyed the 

 Chinese fortress of Ekho. 



On Aug. 4 the Russians under Admiral Alexeieff , 

 the Russian commander-in-chief in China, took 

 possession of the Chinese city of Newchwang after 

 a bombardment by two gunboats. The population 

 was disarmed and a Russian administration was 

 introduced. A detachment marching from Port 

 Arthur occupied the town of Gaiping. Most of 

 the Chinese forces defeated in the north and north- 

 west and the central parts of Manchuria re- 

 treated to Tsitsihar, against which the columns 

 of Gens. Orloff, Renenkampf, Gribsky, Zakharoff, 

 Gerngross, and Chichagoff directed their march. 

 Gen. Renenkampf's Cossacks, pursuing the troops 

 that retreated from Aigun, had several severe en- 

 counters, and at Chingan cut off their heavy artil- 

 lery. On Aug. 16 they captured Mergen with its 

 fortress. The Chinese officials co-operated with 

 the Russians in pacifying the districts that were 

 occupied by Russian troops. The fall of Pekin 

 disheartened the Chinese forces in Manchuria, and 

 when Gen. Orloff and Gen. Renenkampf ap- 

 proached Tsitsihar from two directions its occu- 

 pation was effected without a severe contest. Gen. 

 Orloff's progress was contested all the way. In 

 Liaotung the Russian troops under Gen. Fleischer 

 had a still harder struggle, as garrisons of Chinese 

 regulars held Haicheng and other points. That 

 place was stormed and captured on Aug. 12. 

 When Tsitsihar fell the Russians were in posses- 

 sion of every important place in Manchuria with 

 the exception of Mukden. 



The Southern Provinces. Li-Hung-Chang, 

 when Viceroy of the Kwang provinces, received 

 a dispatch from Yung-Lu telling him to disregard 

 edicts in the future. He consulted with the 

 Nankin and Wuchang viceroys, and together they 

 decided that they would act independently of 

 Pekin, avoid disputes with the European powers, 

 and prevent anti-foreign outbreaks in their prov- 

 inces, but at the same time prepare to resist Euro- 

 pean aggression. When the Taku forts were taken 

 the Yangtse viceroys cabled to the Chinese min- 

 isters abroad that they were able to keep the 

 peace in their provinces and insure the safety of 

 missionaries and merchants, but if any foreign 

 power sent war vessels up the Yangtse then they 

 would not be responsible for misdeeds or massacres 

 that might result, and China would pay no in- 

 demnity. Yuan-Shih-Kai, the Governor of Shan- 

 tung, acted in agreement with the Viceroys Liu- 

 Kun-Yi and Chang-Chih-Tung, and maintained 

 cordial relations with foreign officials. The Nan- 

 kin viceroy, Liu-Kun-Yi, enlisted a great number 

 of soldiers and armed them from the arsenal of 

 Shanghai, explaining that his object was to keep 

 order and protect foreigners. The Imperial Gov- 

 ernment feared British aggression in the Yangtse 

 valley, and ordered him to resist it. A fleet of 

 Chinese war ships assembled at Shanghai with the 

 avowed object of co-operating with the powers for 

 the protection of life and property. Protests from 

 the consuls and the threatening actions of British 

 cruisers led to their withdrawal. The Governor 

 of Shantung had an army ready to ward off any 

 attack of the Germans. The British naval author- 

 ities sent no gunboats up the Yangtse after the 





