As I was afterwards informed by one of those who spoke then with General Gribsky, he thanked the town’s representatives for their readiness to undertake the duties of defence, and tried to quiet their apprehensions of danger from the Chinese. When asked if he did not think it necessary to take steps with regard to those Chinese who dwelt in great numbers in Blagovèstshensk itself and its neighbourhood, he declared that in his opinion any such special measures would be unnecessary and inadvisable, as war had not been declared between Russia and China. The General further informed the deputation that he had already been approached by representatives of the Chinese in the town, with the question whether it would not be better for Chinese subjects to withdraw betimes from Russian territory. Whereupon (and this was his own account of the matter) he had told the delegates to inform their compatriots that they might remain where they were without anxiety, as they were on the soil of the great Russian Empire, whose Government would never allow peaceful foreigners to be molested. Finally, the governor stated to our representatives that he himself, with the remaining detachment of soldiers and the hundred Cossacks, would go on the following day to Aigùn, in order to free that place from the Boxers, to occupy it, and so to ensure free passage on the Amur for Russian vessels. This latter plan, however, was never carried out; for the active hostility of the Chinese towards the people of Blagovèstshensk manifested itself earlier than anyone had expected. On that very same afternoon, when a great number of people of all classes had assembled at the municipal buildings to enrol themselves as volunteers, the noise of gunshots suddenly resounded from the Chinese shore; and from the windows of the town-hall, where I was myself, we saw people hurrying in crowds from the shore, crying, “The Chinese are firing! the Chinese are attacking us!”