NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE tension in China has this week been greatly relieved, though the general aspect of affairs is still most serious. The Chinese troops, under the command, as is rumoured though not proved, of Prince Taan, father of the heir to the throne, used their new Krupp guns to bombard Tientsin. The garrison was hard pressed and applied for aid, but a force of four hundred and fifty Russians and one hundred and fifty Americana were foiled on June 21st in an attempt to enter, and after losing nearly a third of their number were com- pelled to retreat. A heavier force, three thousand men, partly composed of Japanese, but with Russians, Sikhs, and British artillery as spear-head, then made the attempt, and after a fierce artillery engagement " relieved " the town; that is, we presume, compelled the besiegers to retreat. It was intended at first to wait, but Admiral Seymour, who was only ten miles off with his composite force of two thousand three hundred men, contrived to forward a message representing his desperate condition. His road had been blocked by a multitude of troops, he had been incessantly attacked, and he had lost three hundred in killed, wounded, and sick. Two thousand men, chiefly Russians, therefore started for his relief, and according to a telegram from the German Consul at Chefoo, he and his expedition were brought back on June 26th to Tientsin. This is a great relief, as the de- struction of this force, which was imminent, would have made the whole population join the "Boxers."
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