This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
44
[ April 30, 1927.]
SECTION 2.
F 4170/2/10]
No. 1.
Acting Consul-General Brenan to Sir Austen Chamberlain.--(Received April 30.)
(No. 29.) Sir,
Canton, March 21, 1927. WITH reference to my despatch No. 17 of the 16th ultimo, I have the honour to enclose herewith for your information copy of my despatch No. 40 to His Majesty's Minister. Peking, dated the 21st March, 1927, reporting on the Canton situation.
I have, &c.
J. F. BRENAN.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Acting Consul-General Brenan to Sir M. Lampson.
(No. 40.) Sir,
Canton, March 21, 1927. THERE has been little of interest to report locally since my despatch No. 23 of the 16th February was written. The dispute between the merchants and the labour unions regarding the former's right to dismiss employees without reference to the latter has not yet been settled, the Government commission which was appointed to Trade find an acceptable compromise having given up the task as impossible. generally is dull, partly on account of labour unrest, piracy and banditry, and partly on account of the civil war on the Yang-tsze, which is preventing shipments to Canton. The silk market, however, appears to be fairly active, and, as regards imports, the representative of a British piece-goods firm tells me that several orders have been received for autumn delivery. The shipping situation continues to be satisfactory.
2. While the situation remains outwardly calm and no disturbances are allowed, great efforts are made to keep alive the revolutionary fervour of the popula- tion by frequent demonstrations, mass meetings in commemoration of revolutionary anniversaries and other political manifestations. There is a great deal of talk and propaganda about the overthrow of imperialism, capitalism and militarism, but latterly the campaign appears to have been directed against these abstractions in a more general sense, and there has been less endeavour to stir up hatred against the British in particular. In any case I think that the Cantonese have reached the saturation point so far as propaganda is concerned, and they listen with bored indifference to renewed accounts of British atrocities. I do not mean that it would be difficult to raise a howling mob against us at any time. The Chinese mob is always ready to loot and destroy either foreign or Chinese property whenever encouraged and given the chance, and all Chinese have a natural anti-foreign bias, but the prolonged attempt to engender an especial hatred of the British in the hearts of the ordinary Chinese population of Canton has been singularly unsuccessful. I am told that the antics of Tom Mann and the other members of the International Workers' Delegation were received with amused contempt by the majority of the workpeople who listened to them, in spite of the official endeavour to invest their visit with political significance. At one meeting Mr. Mann was asked by a Chinese in the audience why, if he was a person of such importance, he did not immediately secure the withdrawal of the Shanghai Defence Force.
3. Nevertheless, it was a relief to learn that the Kuo Min-tang did not intend to use the Singapore incident as a ground for further anti-British agitation. After the experiences following the Shanghai and Shameen shootings, the news of a similar affair at Singapore was received by the foreign community in Canton with grave misgivings, and I can only suppose that the failure to use this obvious weapon for a further assault on the British position is due either to the agreements which have been reached at Hankow, or to internal disputes in the Nationalist party, or to both.
4. As regards the latter, there has been much local rumour about the conflict which has arisen between General Chiang Kai-shek and the Hankow faction led by
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