677
of the troubles at Tientsin and Peking, Her Fajesty's
Government are despatching forces to guard the valley
of the Yangtze and to enforce order in the Forth, and
we have no doubt that the troops now on their way from
India will be sufficient for the purpose.
But there
appears to be no adequate provision for securing the
peace of the Southern provinces and for the protec-
tion of our interests on the North and West Rivers and
in Yunnan. The two regiments said to be cording to
garrison Hongkong are barely sufficient for that pur-
pose. No European battalion is coming;
only native
not the
We have a
infantry regiments from Madras and Bengal
very best material for a place like this.
very large Chinese population and a very restless one.
Half the criminals from the neighbouring provinces
find shelter here. We are liable to sudden out-
breaks of superstition and fanaticism, to say nothing
of deliberate uprisings for the purposes of plunder.
Crimes of violence have been very frequent of late.
Witness the proceedings, recently, at Aberdeen, o:
of
which