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Mr. Consul-General H. Goffe to Sir Ronald l'acleay.
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No. 91
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July 23rd 1923,
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Sir,
The defeat of General Yang Sen in Szechuan is now openly
admitted to be in the nature of an irretrievable disaster: the
local Press characterises the situation in Szechuan as hopeless,
the troops being dispirited and worn out with months of con-
tinuous fighting, without supplies either of food or ammunition,
and flung out over a far too widely extended line.
The whole situation in the province is causing the Authorities considerable anxiety, and hardly a day passes with-
out the papers announcing the calling by the Kilitary Governor
of an extraordinary meeting of the high military and civil
officials to devise means of meeting the crisis with which
they are faced. The agenda for one of these meetings held two
or three days ago was as follows:-
"1. Serious fighting is taking place in Szechuan and Hunan,
and Hupsh will be the first to feel the shock; measures must be taken to safeguard the province.
"2. Brigandage is becoming more rife every day, and steps
must be taken to expirpate these peste.
"3. The Provincial Treasury is depleted but the clamour of
the troops for their arrears of pay is becoming more insistent every day."
The following day the press announced that the land tax was to
be collected in advance and that the local Chinese banks were
to be approached for a loan of $100,000. This is sufficient
to give some idea of the seriousness of the situation here; I
may add that cases of brigandage are now not infrequently
Ronald Macleay, K. C. M. G.,
reported
His Majesty's Minister,
PEKING.