Boumat Bat roll
221
the other passengers on board signify their indignation,
but respectable merchants such as Wesers Fong Chush Ch'en
and T'an Shao Pu of Hongkong, Chang Lâu Chi of Canton
and Yang Ho Chia of Patshan also joined in the accusation
in the public interest. These witnesses, all beyond sus➡
picion, prayed the Self Covernment Society to bring the
case to the notice of Chino e at home and abroad, and the
Society was grateful to them for their disinteredness.
The despatch of the Portuguese Consul stated that they
wore assuming a false patriotimm referred to the Society
as an illegal body, demanded the punishment of the press
and the finiry of the witnesses, accused the Society of
obviously bribing the witnesses and was full of invective
of the like barbarous kind. It was absolutely devoid of
decent feeling, and the Consul was as caroless of other
people's reputations as he was of his own. He treated
their Government with contempt and declined to have eny➡
thing to do with the case. The Society was constantly
roceiving