A message with news from Peking which is understood to have left there on the 25th instant, and to have been dispatched by Sir Robert Hart by special courier, was received here on Monday night, and variations of it were received from Chefoo yesterday. The purport of it is that the situation in Peking was desperate. The German Minister with his Secretary attempted to visit the Tsungli Yamen but was shot four times and died in the Yamen. The diplomats and missionaries are in the British Legation under a heavy rifle fire, but the guns commanding the Legation have not been used. It is added, apparently from Tientsin, that it is impossible to start an adequately strong relief column at present.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.