Mr. Hohler
2.U.S.
SECRET
148
RECEIVED IN
ARCHIVES No.63
29 SEPiyo/
HWA 3/2
Mr. Bolland'. Call on Monsieur Peve. French
Ambassador to China. on 21 September
agreed, I called on Monsieur Paye at the Quai
yesterday evening. I told him that we had hoped to arrange
for him to see either Mr. Rodgers or Mr. de la Mare and
explained why, unfortunately, this had not been possible.
Monsieur Paye took the whole blame on his own shoulders,
saying that had he been in Paris at the time he could have
seen them and that he much regretted that he had not been
able to do so. He was, however, clearly very pleased that
we had gone to the trouble of sending someone to Paris to
hear his story.
2.
Monsieur Paye began by giving me a detailed account of
the burning of our Office in Peking. This did not add sub-
stantially to the accounts we have already received from
Kr. Hepson himself and through Monsieur Paye. He emphasised
that the attack had obviously been carefully organised with
the intention of destroying the building and humiliating and
beating the staff, stopping short however of seriously wounding
or killing them. He shared Kr. Hopson's uncertainty as
whether the burning was planned from the outset or simply
resulted from the events as they developed. He spoke glowingly
in praise of Mr. Hopson and the other members of the staff.
SECRE
13.