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Enclosure 1.
Consul-General Jamieson to Mr. Palairet.
(No. 46.) Sir,
IN continuation of my despatches Nos. 44 and 45 of the 22nd and 23rd instant, I
Canton, June 25, 1925 have the honour to report further on the local situation as follows:-
In the forenoon of the 23rd, knowing that a monster demonstration was going to take place in the course of the day, the naval and civilian defence units of the Britis and French concessions took up their allotted posts with strict instructions-at least on this side-to keep, in so far as it was possible to do so, out of sight, and all persons not on duty were forbidden to appear on the back creek, opposite to the road along which the procession was to pass, so that nothing which might be construed as provocation could be charged against us. These orders Through a British subject, recently engaged as liaison police officer by the city police, were strictly observed. a request was the previous evening addressed to the French consulate that permission given for the procession to enter Shameen by the French bridge and to leave by the British bridge, which request was of course not entertained.
be
At 11 A.. two motor cara passed along the Shakee Street, on the other side of the canal, and distributed leaflets, signed by the cadets of the military school of the Kuangtung army, calling upon all and sundry to eject the foreigner. At about 2:30 P.M. the procession was at the end of the Shakee Street, which commences at the gate of the French bridge, and proceeded along the north bank of the canal. The only persons in the vicinity of our bridge were myself, the British senior naval officer, the superintendent of Shameen police, one or two naval officers, a member of my staff and some unarmed Chinese police, who, being Hakkus, had not walked out with the rest of the Chinese on the island on the 21st. (The customs employees left on the 23rd and the post office employees on the 24th) Unarmed Chinese police lined the road on the other side at intervals of about 50 yards and a company of armed soldiers took up positions under the verandabs of Chinese shops in the neighbourhood of the bridge, Three-quarters of the procession, consisting of labour, agricultural and other unions, marched along in an orderly manner with flags and banners, and I was actually on the point of leaving to send a telegram that all had passed off peacefully, when the senior naval officer remarked to me that perhaps it would be as well to wait until the students came along In the course of a few minutes bodies of male and female students came in sight, and, on crossing the invisible line separating the British from the French concession, started to raise what I assumed to be college yells, and, in so far as I could understand, calling for cheers for the Kuo Min Tang. In other respects they did not differ from those preceding them.
Immediately following on was a body of armed military cadets, dressed in dark bluish-grey uniforms, who halted at a point some 50 yards east of the bridge-head. I had in the meantime noticed a man get on a box at the mouth of Shoe Lane, which debouches on the canal side, and wave a fan, and at the same time an excited person waving a flag shouted derision at our party.
Some members of the procession fell cut, as I thought, to listen to what was being said, when suddenly a rifle shot was heard, and the procession broke up in disorder, rushing for shelter. Half a minute afterwards a volley was fired on to Shameen, and it was only when I found bullets spattering all around me that I realised that an attack was contemplated and beat a hasty retreat, as did those with me. Finding the senior naval officer and myself under fire, which was likewise affecting them, one of our posts in a building to the west of the bridge returned the fire, which was stopped on Commander Maxwell-Scott reaching it. As, however, firing at the island still continued, the other posts opened fire likewise, as did the French posts. This is all I personally witnessed.
Firing from our side lasted intermittently for about 10 minutes, until the orders to cease fire could reach the further posts, all ways of communication being under fire. After this occasional shots were necessary to deal with snipers, who were very persistent on the other side. Even this was soon stopped by orders not to reply unless they became too dangerous. About 4:30 all firing on both sides stopped. The casualties on Shameen were French non-combatant killed, 7-8 Europeans and Japanese wounded, including 1 British subject--also non-combatant--comparatively seriously, and the
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Commissioner of Customs slightly. The casualties on the other side are reported to be 37 kilied, including 1 woman, 4 students of the Canton Christian College and a teacher, and about 80 wounded.
A despatch on subsequent developments follows.
I have, dc.
J. W. JAMIESON,
Enclosure 2.
An Announcement concerning the Case of the Shanghai Butchery.
(Translation.)
BROTHERS: The great slaughter which the imperialists hoped and planned for began in Shanghai on the 50th day of the 5th month. It was extended to Hankow, then to Tsingtao, and now at last it has reached the revolutionary capital of Kwangehow. Shameen Japanese supplied weapons and incited Chinese workinen to kill Chinese workmen.
With the inner propensities of wolves and dogs the cruel and inhuman imperialists (Britain and Japan), intending piecemeal to seize China, accordingly do not hesitate to adopt primitive savagery and the most cruel methods in order to repress the movements of the Chinese people and to harass their active vanguard, viz., the labourers and students.
This is a life and death crisis for us Chinese, If we do not rise and fight them we shall be their slaves for ever, and for ever encounter their butchery.
The whole populace of our country must rise up as one and immediately cancel all unequal treaties and overthrow imperialism.
BROTHERS, HASTE TO ARISE, HASTE TO ARISE.
The Military College of the Nationalist Party (Luk Kwan).
Enclosure 3.
HASTE TO ARISE.
Consul-General Jamieson to Mr. Palairet.
(No. 47.) Sir,
Canton, June 25, 1925. IN continuation of my immediately preceding despatch, I have the honour to report that yesterday morning Mr. Robert Norman came to see me at 8:30 to tell me that the events of the preceding day had created a violent anti-foreign feeling not only in Government circles, but amongst the populace, and to ask me to be good enough to furnish him with a statement as to what actually took place, so that he might be in a position to correct wrong impressions.
This of course was at once furnished, and whilst we were talking there was handed to me a despatch from the Civil Governor, holding me responsible for all that had happened and accusing me of having committed a premeditated outrage. An identic despatch was addressed to my French and Portuguese colleagues.
and
I enclose copies of my reply thereto, and of a letter from M. Leurquin anticipating the Civil Governor's protest.
Mr. da Horta contented himself with a two-line note denying that the "Patria" had fired a single shot. The other consuls-de carrière and merchant-received an identic communication couched in the usual terms of protest, my American colleague was requested to visit the Civil Governor at 1 P.M., with a view to seeing what could be done by way of mediation. Accompanied by Captain Coustein of the United States navy, Mr. Jenkins went into the Yamen, where he was net by Mr. Fu Pinghsiang, the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, and the upshot of the onversation appears to have been that ultimately some sort of commission of investiga tion is to be set up, on which it was suggested that the American and the German consuls might ait, with a view of collecting statements on oath as to what actually occurred.
I have let it be known, and my French colleague concurs in this with me, that I am quite prepared to assist in procuring such evidence, but that I will not permit any
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