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afforded of speaking to him regarding the so-called Blockade of Hongkong. I said I had been making efforts for some time past for the purpose of negotiating this matter. The Haitwans (Japanese Superintendents of Customs Cruisers) – the cruisers surrounded Hongkong, pounced upon all junk going to and fro, thus establishing almost a state of siege, that such action tended greatly to disturb the minds of the Colonists and impair the good accord which brightly existed between the Colonial and the Provincial Government of Canton,
and that this feeling of dissatisfaction was extending to England. That the Secretary was aware of the importance of not allowing the friendly relations of Great Britain and China being interrupted in regard to a matter which was capable of adjustment. And on that account the action of the Haitwan's Cruisers caused me no little anxiety, for I feared very much it would give rise to complications and at all events, unless