matter of indifference to him.
When I came to the point that all Officials, Civil and Military, and all soldiers Lin ordered at ona, the viceroy flatly referred to remove the officials, and the soldiers.
He added that, when the territory was taken over, he would naturally retire and not send any orders telegraphic. Otherwise.
The above is a brief account of the features of the interviews, during which the Viceroy's demeanour was altogether characterized by that suave politeness upon which Chinese officials pride themselves.
The questions were too important to permit of any time being spent on details of etiquette. The Viceroy had already heard from Wang that it was not what he styled a "fight". But in spite of this, he at first attempted to throw doubt on the importance of the information conveyed in the telegram, and said he did not believe it.
This attitude he subsequently abandoned. See also the expression "if you want to fight, let it be a fight to the finish".
I replied that the aggression had come from the Chinese side.