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3171
Sir Claude MacDonald to Tsungli Yamen.
C.O. 10230 RECR & Rece 25 APR 99
PEKING. 22nd November 1898.
Messieurs les Ministres:-
I have the honour to inform Your Highness and Your Excellencies that I have received a despatch from Her Majesty's Consul Canton to the following effect.
Consul Brenan in his Trade Report for 1897 says, "Probably never since Canton was open to foreign trade has piracy been so rife as in the year under review. The boldness of the pirate is however surpassed by the apathy of the Provincial Government."
Since Mr. Brenan wrote this, matters have been going from bad to worse. Six cases of piracy have been brought to the notice of this office by the Hongkong Government, of which only one has been dealt with by the Chinese Authorities.
These cases, however, form but a very small proportion of the cases that have actually