Foreign Office on November 20th., would undoubtedly be
23
attended with danger, and were such a course to become
necessary I would prefer to despatch troops under selected
Officers.
3.
It appeared, however, to me that
such a course of action would not be advisable. I pointed
out that Sir E. Grey's letter to Sir John Jordan (of
October 30th.) was precise in its terms. "His Majesty's
"Government, he wrote, must hold the Chinese Government
"responsible for payment unless compensation be forthcoming
"locally without delay". The claim for compensation had
been refused by the Viceroy though admitted by the Central
Government. In my view it did not devolve upon us to take
drastic steps here to compel the obedience of the Viceroy
to his suzerain. That was their affair vis à vis with His
Majesty's Government. Local action if carried beyond the
point already reached would almost certainly result in a
boycott of British trade which is already being widely
advocated by agitators. It would also probably precipitate
a conflagration which might ultimately set South China
ablaze, and it would certainly cause a rupture of the
friendly relations so vital to Hongkong at the present
moment in view of the Railway and Coinage and other
questions.