Moderates had triumphed and had succeeded in
defeating Borodin. At present victory lay with the
Bolshevike.
139
The proposal considered by the Cabinet were as
follows:-
That a telegram should be sent to Sir Miles Lampson
and Mr.O'Malley, instructing the latter, if the former
agreed, to tell Eugene Chen that, if he would sign the
agreement in regard to the Hankow and Kiukiang
Concessions and would give on behalf of the Nationalist
Government a guarantee against a repetition at Shanghai
of the violence used at Hankow and Kiukiang, we in
return would stop our forces at Hong Kong and Singapore.
In the meantime the transports would be stopped at Hong
Kong.
While it was recognised that to stop our forces might
have been justifiable if the agreement had been signed,
in view of Chen's attitude and the advice of the man on
the spot, it was felt by many Members of the Cabinet that
this sourse would be regarded as a sign of weakness
and would be dangerous, The Cabinet were also informed
that it was doubtful whether the transports could be
kept at Hong Kong with the troops on board for more than
a few hours owing to the difficulty of ventilation while
the ships were stationery. To land the troops
temporarily would take time and perhaps have serious
political effects.
A variant of the above proposal was to instruct Mr.
O'Malley, subject to Sir Miles Lampson's agreement, to
tell Eugene Chen that the movement of the Indian Mixed
Brigade to Shanghai could not be stopped, but that, if
he would sign the Hankow and Kiukiang agreements and
would give guarantees and take measures to avoid and
discourage violence at Shanghai, the troopa would not be
landed.