377
15.
"For those services, you have already been thanked by me, and also by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. In again expressing my appreciation of your work, which you then performed so willingly and so ably, it only remains for me now to ask you to accept this inkstand from the Government of Hongkong as a slight recognition of your disinterested and valuable labours during the epidemic of 1894".
The
On May 27, Mr. Francis sent his reply to the Governor. It was a long letter which caused a profound sensation in Hongkong and had repercussions from London to Japan. Press from Bangkok to Tokyo seized upon it as excellent "copy", reproduced the most sarcastic portions, and took sides with the Government or with Mr. Francis, according to their views on the situation.
Mr. Francis, in his letter to Sir William Robinson, quoted the following extract from a letter addressed to the Governor by the committee appointed for the purpose of recommending what honours should be bestowed upon those who had given their services in combatting the plague:
The Committee considers that to Mr. Francis their best thanks are due for all his exertions and the time he devoted to the wants of the Colony for so many weeks. As chairman of the Permanent Committee, Mr. Francis had a heavy, troublesome and laborious task to perform, and throughout the duration of the epidemic he was unremitting in his devotion to his duty and gave up a great portion of his time, no doubt to the detriment of his extensive practice, to carry on the work he had voluntarily undertaken. Your Excellency is too well acquainted with Mr. Francis's services for any need of further mention. Our Committee decided that his actions are deserving of the fullest recognition, that the best thanks of the community, with a gold medal, should be tendered to him, and that his valuable services and useful work should be brought through Your Excellency, to the special notice of the Secretary of State.
After reviewing the part he had played in stamping out the plague, Mr. Francis continued: These are the simple facts of the case, perfectly well known to every resident in the Colony, perfectly well known to your Excellency from your interviews and correspondence with me as Chairman, perfectly well known to your Colonial Secretary who, for the first month, was present at nearly every meeting of the Committee. These are the facts which Mr. Ackroyd, in his letter did not think it necessary to refer to in detail. It was left to your Excellency, as Her Majesty's representative, to bring these facts prominently to the notice of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. These are the facts on which the Committee felt justified in recommending me to Her Majesty's Government for some recognition of or reward for my services, of a class and character higher than anything they could give. They felt that a medal or a piece of plate, however valuable, was not sufficient acknowledgment for such services.