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Dear Fletcher,
Enclosure
6.
298
Canton, 14th.March, 1919.
I had a long interview last night with Mr. Tu Chen-chai one of the heads of department of the Foreign Office of the Military Government and a man in close touch with Ta'en Ch'un- -bsuan, Among the matter we discussed was the question of the Kwang Lee; Wu told me that at the time the incident occurred he was in Shanghai but that when he came back and read the papers in
connection with the case he at once advised Ts'en to instruct the
Military Governor to retum the ship to Hongkong with an apology. Wu himself realised that the abduction of the ship was tantamount to an act of piracy and had practically got the whole thing fired up when unfortunately certain hot-heads intervened and urged that
the Kwang Lee should only be returned on a condition that a
quid pro quʼn be obtained in the shape of a promise that she be
sent back again together with the other interned vessels, and the
Military Governor therefore refused to discuss the matter any more.
I am writing now to ask if you can infom me privately whether in the event of the Kwang Lee being returned with an apology and
a subsequent application being made for the return to Canton of
all the vessels interned in Hongkong your Government will grant such application. If you can give me that assurance, I feel sure
that I will be able to arrange a settlement on these lines; that
is to say the Kwong Lee will be returned without any stipulation
but an application will subsequently be made for the return of the
whole lot, and if your Government can see its way to doing this the situation will be greatly eased.
Another question brought up was that of the
munitions of war in Hongkong. I told Wu that it was hopeless to
bring that up again but he begged me to ask you whether there was
no possible way of getting over the difficulty and said that
guarantees would be given that the ammunition would only be used
for putting down piracy. Can you suggest anything ?
There is a very strong feeling among the