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2.
In this connection it will not be inappropriate
to mention a small incident which occurred during the
invasion of Swatow by the forces of Generals Ho Lung and
Ip Ting, about whom I shall have more to say below. In the
course of their preparations to evacuate the port, the officials of the former (i.e., Cantonese) régime commandeered a Japanese trawler and took from her a certain sum of copper
coins. The officials responsible for this seizure were in
the act of leaving Swatow by the Chinese Torpedo-boat "Feiying", when the Senior Japanese Naval Officer on the spot, having failed to obtain satisfaction by peaceful means, stopped the vessel by gunfire and detained her until the
coins had been released.
3. I am no advocate of the indiscriminate application
of force in China. On the contrary I realise most fully
that the world must make room for the legitimate aspirations of the great agglomeration of peoples, which we speak of as "China" But these concessions must be made decently and
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in order; and attempts to cut corners at the expense of the elementary rules of international intercourse must be
It is no checked. Arrogance must be met with firmness.
mere platitude but a hard fact that, if you give an oriental an inch in forbearance, he will take an ell in insolence. If we had shown the least disposition towards pacificism on the threatened renewal of the boycott, the Cantonese Authorities would have welcomed the opportunity of providing doles for importunate "patriots" out of the pockets of British merchants. Promptitude and firmness struck down this menace before it gained strength, just as the action taken over the sniping at the S.S."Lung Shan" (see my Secret Despatch of 24th May, 1927) stopped the
extension
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