128
ascertain the truth
disputed point.
4.
of
the
On the 15th instant
a
however, I learned from petition addressed to me by relatives
of
the arrested
men, that the latter had been taken into the interior
of the Kuang-Jung Province,
and had been sentenced to be executed three days afterwards. I therefore, at
once sent to Mr Alabaster
the telegram (enclosure N°13)
of the same date in which he
requested to
warn
the
consequences
was
Viceroy of the of any such proceeding pending investigation of the facts, and I received next day from Mr. Alabaster the Viceroy's reply stating that, while he thought my
was incorrect,
information he had (apparently
as a
matter of precaution) ordered the men to be sent to him
at Canton.
of
5.
7