CANTON
961
made an assault on the Viceroy's yamen, but stern military measures prevented a general rising. Later in the year the new Tartar-General was assassinated by a bomb as he landed in Canton, and on another occasion an attempt, which proved nearly successful, was made to assassinate Admiral Li, who so effectually checked the rising in May. When the revolution broke out on a grand scale in October, the Viceroy, recognising the hopelessness of resistance with troops honeycombed with sedition and with a popula- tion unanimously in sympathy with revolution, readily agreed to the transfer of the Government to the revolutionary leaders, and the independence of the province was thus attained without bloodshed. In July, 1913, when a rebellion broke out in several provinces against what was described as the dictatorship of Yuan Shih-kai, the Tutuh, Chen Chiung-ming, proclaimed the independence of the province. The ex-viceroy Ichen came down to Canton as the generalissimo of the rebel forces to organise an expedition to proceed north to punish Yuan Shih-kai, but he failed to win over General Lung Chi- kwang, of Kwangsi, who remained loyal to the Central Government, and marched with a large force upon Canton. As this force approached the city the Tutuh and the Generalissimo fled, and on reaching Canton General Lung cancelled the declara- tion of independence, and gradually restored peace and order in the city, where much looting and some fighting took place prior to and for some time after his arrival. In 1916 when the troubles arose over Yuan Shih-kai's attempt to ascend the Dragon throne, Kwangtung again declared its independence, but this did not prevent bloodshed. General Lung was denounced as a traitor to the Republic by General Tchen, who attacked Canton at the head of a large army. There was considerable destruction of property and much loss of life before matters were settled by General Lung's transference to another post. In 1921 Dr. Sun Yat Sen was proclaimed by his followers "President of China." In 1922 Sun went to Kweilin, in Kwangsi, to make preparations for his projected punitive expedition to Peiping, but his forces never got within a thousand miles of the city, and the hopes which he had based on his alliance with Chang Tso-lin were destroyed by the defeat of this Tuchun's forces by Wu Pei-fu. In the meantime, Sun had alienated his chief lieutenant, Chen Chiung-ming, and in the middle of the year Chen's supporters put Sun and his followers in Canton to flight. Sun took refuge on the warship Wing Fung, and later fled to Shanghai. Chen remained in Kwangtung, as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, and his nominee, Chan Chik-yue, a merchant of Hongkong, was appointed Civil Governor in September. Early in January, 1923, Dr. Sun's sympathisers sent a force composed of Kwangsi and Yunnanese soldiers to invade Kwangtung, and, Canton quickly fell into their possession. Chen retired to Waichow; the Civil Governor had fled some days previously to Hongkong. Sun remained in possession throughout the year and also throughout 1924. The ranks of the Merchants Volunteer Corps-which had been formed with Government approval some years before, with a view to ensuring greater security against plunder by pirates-increased to very large dimensions and Sun began to see in it a serious menace to his authority. When a large consignment of arms and ammunition, imported under Government permit, was seized by Dr. Sun's orders there was open revolt by the merchants. Business was entirely suspended for several days and was only resumed on Sun promising to release the arms. There was great delay, however, in fulfilling the promise, and public feeling became highly incensed against Dr. Sun, who finally gave orders to his troops for the suppression of the revolt and the annihila- tion of the Volunteer Corps. Accordingly, on October 15th the whole commercial district of Saikwan, which the volunteers had barricaded for defence, was surrounded by Sun's overwhelming forces. There was desperate fighting in the streets for several' hours. Incendiary gangs assisted the Government forces, and several hundred houses were destroyed by fire. Within about twenty-four hours the Volunteers were dispersed and the revolt was suppressed. Trustwortly figures as to the casualties in this conflict are not obtainable, but a conservative estimate puts the casualties in the neighbourhood of a thousand, while the material damage done was estimated at about $20,000,000. After the affray Sun mulcted the merchants in heavy fines. This did not promote happier relations, and when Sun Yat-sen departed in November to participate in the conferences for the re-establishment of peace and good government in China, it brought a great sense of relief in business circles though little improvement was noticeable in the administration of Canton under Mr. Hu Han-min down to the end of the year.
Another disgraceful episode of the year was a dastardly attempt to assassinate M. Merlin the Governor-General of Indo-China. The French community were enter- taining His Excellency at a dinner in the Victoria Hotel on the Shameen on the night