51
Chinese in Canton City to the Shameen if in his judgment there
was any danger whatever in their remaining in the Yamen. On
29th. idem Mr. Jamieson informed me that the City was quiet,
and on 1st. instant he informed me that disturbances had
broken out at Fatshan. In a despatch addressed to His Majesty's
Minister at Peking, of which he sent me a copy, lir. Jamieson
gave a more detailed account of the outbreak, and reported that
"at no time were Foreign residents in danger", but excitement
in the neighbourhood of the Shameen had caused him to land a
Naval Guard on the afternoon of May 1st.: he added in a private
letter that there were reports of risings at various villages in
the Delta. There has been no disturbance whatever in Hongkong
but large numbers of Chinese are I am told flocking here for
refuge from South China.
2.
At the moment that these disturbances
were taking place in Canton and elsewhere in the Kwangtung
Province the Police reported that a book was being sold in
Hongkong in which incitements to drive out the Manchus and
devour them alive were mixed up with a great deal of filthy
invective. A prosecution was instituted under Ordinance 15 of
1907 which makes it an offence to print, publish or sell any
printed matter calculated to excite tumult or disorder in China
or