Every now and then an Admiral or other European authority
is taken in, Americans, we notice, being especially liable to be- lieve what is told them. Ournaval second-in-command, Admiral Bruce, for example, telegraphed on July 7th that there was "ground for hoping" that Prince Ching is " with his army at . Pekin " protecting the Legations. The German Consul at Shanghai on the following day informed his Government that the bombardment of the Legations was dying away in conse- quence of heavy losses. On the same day Sbeng, the Director of Telegraphs at Shanghai, telegraphed to Berlin that all the Foreign Ministers were safe on July 3rd, though on July 7th Mr. Warren, Acting Consul-General at Shanghai, had reported " from a thoroughly trustworthy source" that only two of the Legations were uncaptured. The Boiers," he added, and the troops were much disheartened. This last message was actually circulated, and we presume for the moment believed, by the Foreign Office. It is, however, self- evident that all these statements rest upon native authority, neither Admiral, nor German Consul, nor British Consul- General having any other means of learning what goes on in Pekin. As for Sheng, his regular method is to invent a story and then acknowledge that the date is wrong.
