Pending action on the part of the Chinese authorities in effectively protecting shipping on the Upper River, the American gunboat commanders have been authorized practically to take such steps as they deem necessary to protect American lives and American commerce. Each American merchant vessel is now met several miles outside the city by one of the two gunboats stationed here and escorted to her anchorage. Although they do not favour "retaliation" as such, the commanders assert that they will fire whenever they or their convoys are fired upon until the attacking fire is silenced. In the opinion of the commanders and old local residents, the policy of returning fire will go far in bringing irre sponsible soldiery and brigands hero to reason.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.