up the

On the fifth of August Pei-tsang, about seven miles river from Tien-tsin, was captured by the Japanese troops supported by the English and Americans. On the sixth of August Yangtsun was captured, with an American loss of seven killed and sixty-five wounded. On the twelfth Tungchow was occupied. On the fourteenth Peking was reached. At eleven o'clock in the morning of that day two companies of the Fourteenth Infantry, under the immediate command of Colonel Daggett, had scaled the wall of the Chinese city, and the flag of that regiment was the first of the foreign colors to be unfurled upon the walls of Peking. After steady fighting until about the middle of the afternoon, the Tartar city was entered, and the legations were relieved. Our casualties during the day were one officer and eleven enlisted men wounded. General Chaffee reports that he found the following conditions:

Upon entering the legations, the appearance of the people and their surroundings, buildings, walls, streets, alleys, entrances, etc., showed every evidence of a confining siege. Barricades were built everywhere and of every sort of material, native brick being largely used for their construction, topped with sand bags made from every conceivable sort of cloth from sheets and pillow-cases to dress materials and brocaded curtains. Many of the legations were in ruins, and the English, Russian, and American, though standing and occupied, were filled with bullet holes from small arms, often having larger apertures made by shell. The children presented a pitiable sight, white and wan for lack of proper food, but the adults, as a rule, seemed cheerful and little the worse for their trying experience, except from anxiety and constant care. They were living on short rations, a portion of which consisted of a very small piece of horse or mule meat daily. The Christian Chinese were being fed upon whatever could be secured, and were often reduced to killing dogs for meat. All the surroundings indicated that the people had been closely besieged, confined to a small area without any comforts, or conveniences, and barely existing from day to day in hope of succor.

The legations were immediately adjacent to the interior imperial city, from the walls of which the Chinese fire had been directed upon them. As these walls were still held by

Chinese troops, on the morning of the fifteenth General Chaffee proceeded to clear them of their defenders, successively forcing three gates of the imperial city, with a loss of one officer and three enlisted men killed and fifteen enlisted men wounded. The loss of the officer, Captain Henry J. Reilly, of the Fifth Artillery, is much to be deplored. He had enlisted as a private at the age of nineteen, had risen from the ranks, and had become a most efficient officer, with an enviable record of faithful attention to duty throughout his career, and of gallant and effective service in Cuba and the Philippines.

On the sixteenth the imperial city was occupied, and the entire city was divided, by agreement, among the various forces for the maintenance of order, the west half of the Chinese city and the adjacent parts of the Tartar city being placed in charge of our troops. On the twenty-eighth a formal march was made through the forbidden precincts of the imperial palace, in which the troops of all the powers participated. In the meantime Colonel Wint, with the Sixth Cavalry, had encountered and defeated a large hostile force in the neighborhood of Tien-tsin, with the loss of five wounded, and numerous detachments of our troops had been engaged with proportionate detachments from other forces in guarding the long line of communication between Peking and Tien-tsin.

The Signal Corps detachment was untiring in its exertions, and rendered especially effective service. It constructed a telegraph line from Tien-tsin to Peking, practically keeping pace with the march of the relief column, and, having the first line into Peking, was able to render valuable service, not only to our own force, but to the forces of other nations and to the press. The total of American casualties during the expedition was two officers and thirty enlisted men killed and

seven officers and one hundred and seventy enlisted men wounded.

General Chaffee's telegraphic report of the fall of Peking was received here on the twenty-second of August, and the object of the relief expedition having been accomplished, he was instructed, on the twenty-third of August, to take no further aggressive action unless that should be necessary for defensive purposes; and orders were cabled to Nagasaki, diverting the remaining troops en route for that point to Manila, with the exception of one battery of artillery which had not left San Francisco, and which was returned to its former station at Fort Riley.

On the twenty-fifth of August General Chaffee was directed to hold his forces in readiness for instructions to withdraw, and on the twenty-fifth of September he was instructed to send to Manila all the American troops in China with the exception of a legation guard, to consist of a regiment of infantry, a squadron of cavalry, and one light battery. .

It is gratifying to know that the Chinese have returned in great numbers, and there has been a general resumption of business, under the protection of our forces, in that portion of Peking which was assigned to our care, and which is still under the charge of the legation guard.

THE REORGANIZATION OF THE

UNITED STATES ARMY

THE INCREASE OF THE ARMY AND THE ABOLITION OF THE PERMANENT ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF DEPARTMENTS

Repeated attention had been called to the necessity for a reorganization of the American military system, particularly in its directing heads, by a series of events during the Spanish-American War. These were the absence of coördination and coöperation between the several bureaus of the War Department, such as those having charge of transportation, the equipment, the commissary supplies, the clothing, etc., of an army in motion. As stated by Mr. Root in a committee hearing, Everybody knows that when an exigency has come, confusion has come. The confusion comes from the fact that our organization is weak at the top. It does not make adequate provision for a directing and coördinating control. It does not make provision for an adequate force to see that these branches of the administrative and the different branches of the line pull together, so that the work of each one will fit in with the work of every other, and bring out the result which always has to be the result of the conspiring of a great number of people doing a great number of duties.”

The following extracts from the Annual Reports of the Secretary of War indicate the reforms in the military system which were worked out by Mr. Root during his service as Secretary and put into effect or urged upon Congress. The principal

measures were:

1. The increase of the army and the abolition of the permanent administrative staff departments.

2. The establishment of a system of military education, with the Army War College at the top.

3. The creation of a General Staff.

4. The bringing of the militia system of the country under the same organization, discipline, armament, supply and accounting methods, and instruction as the regular army.

These papers show also that Mr. Root advocated the consolidation of the supply and transportation departments of the regular army which has recently been accomplished, the establishment of a reserve which is still under discussion, and the extension of the method of promotion by selection, as to which nothing has been done.