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CHINA'S CASE
HE British Government's attitude in the House of Commons during the debate on the Shanghai tragedy, which has just been transmitted to the Far East through Reuter, is received by all responsible Chinese with mixed feelings. While we recognise the friendly spirit in which the whole speech was delivered, we cannot but regret that the view was expressed, however guardedly, that:
It was not until the police station was in danger, with all the arms it contained, that the order was given to fire." Perhaps it was not unnatural that the British Minister should seek to protect his subordinates, at least in public, though we believe that a more statesmanlike attitude would be to reserve all judgment until he is in possession of a full report, not by the very officials responsible for the tragedy, but by a properly constituted commission and after a full and unbiassed investigation. We cannot therefore allow the British public to be misled by such official statements; the more so because all the news they get from the Far East is filtered through the prejudiced agencies.
We are far from being in possession of all the facts concerning the Shanghai tragedy wherein scores of unarmed Chinese citizens were killed by the order of a non-commissioned British police officer. Some salient points are, however, clear. It is now admitted by both sides that the demonstrators who gathered before the police station on May 30 were entirely unarmed. In the Mixed Court proceedings, Mr. A. Covey, a Shanghai lawyer, and Dr. J. W. Cline, formerly head of the missionary college at Soochow, were both very emphatic on this point. Dr. Cline, after testifying that he had not seen any actual acts of violence on the part of either the students or the police previous to the shooting, said: "I was not expecting to see the police fire, was shocked when they did fire, and have been sorry about it ever since." We have selected from the mass of evidence that of the above two witnesses because these are the sworn statements made by respected members of the foreign community at Shanghai, whose interest in maintaining law and order cannot be less than that of the police, and who are naturally pressed on all sides not to say anything to prejudice the general interest of the Shanghai foreigners. The statement of the police officer who gave the order to fire speaks for itself. He admitted, among other things, the following points
(1) That the students were six feet away when the police started
shooting.
(2) That he gave the order in English,
(3) That the shooting began ten seconds after the warning had
been given.
(4) That more than forty bullets were fired, the firing lasting for
several minutes.
Thus a defenceless crowd was repeatedly fired upon point blank after it had been given a warning in a language which the great majority could not understand. It is admitted also that the students could not possibly have dispersed within the ten seconds of grace, for the people in the front were pressed forward in the direction of the police station by the crowd gathered behind, who could not have heard the warning. Not a single act of violence was registered against the people shot down. Not a single policeman was killed or wounded. The students went there to protest against the numerous arrests made
(8)
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