CONFIDENTIAL.
Hongkong.
My Lord,
C.O. 8247/98
Received 8 MAR 09
Government House, Hongkong, 30th January, 1909.
I have the honour to acknowledge Your Lordship's Confidential Despatch of 15th December, 1908, covering a letter from the Foreign Office having reference to the Japanese Boycott.
2. Your Lordship has been informed in my Despatch Secret of 24th December, 1908, and in previous Despatches of the action taken by this Government in consequence of the Riot of November 2nd. That outbreak, together with certain outrages upon individuals which had preceded it, were the first overt illegal acts committed by the Societies who supported the Boycott, and they afforded this Government the first opportunity for dealing with the Boycott as the proximate cause of the Riots and outrages.
3. I was not slow, as Your Lordship will have learnt from the Despatches referred to, to seize this opportunity and to deal with several prominent persons...
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF CREWE,