Copy.
No.25.
Plot to take the City of Canton
H.M. Consulate, Canton
1st November 1895.
428
Sir,
I have the honour to report all that I have been able to learn about a plot to seize the city of Canton and raise a rebellion in the Province
For some weeks past, as I now learn, the Chinese Officials have had information that something was going on, and about ten days ago they became seriously uneasy. Through spies in Hong Kong they obtained information which implicated certain men in Hong Kong, and on the 26th instant, a few men were arrested; others, hearing that they had been betrayed, escaped. The houses of these men were watched, and telegrams which arrived for them fell into the hands of the police, and their contents gave a further clue
to the Authorities.
On the 27th, information was received that the Hong Kong steamer due in Canton the next morning was bringing some arms for the conspirators, and the Commissioner of Customs sent down a party to inter- cept the steamer. A thorough search was made but nothing was found. The steamer however, carried 400 men who had come on board under suspicious circum-
stances.
These men had been engaged in Hong Kong to
come