24 days.
194
(k) That the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs should instruct
Mr.O'Malley to send all the information he could gather as to
any movement of the Cantonese forces towards Shanghai.
Canton Defence of Shameen
(1) That the above decisons in regard to our general policy and the
defence of Shanghai involved a change in the political assump-
tions on which the Chiefs of Staff Committee had been ordered
to make their recent report on the defence of Shameen, and that
the Committee of Chiefs of Staff should re-assemble on the
following day to re-examine the question of the defence of
Shameen on the assumption that Shanghai was to be held and that
His Majesty's Government were no longer committed to the policy
of avoiding hostilities with the military forces at Canton in
all circumstances. The Chiefs of Staff were asked to make recom
mendations for revised instructions to the British Consul-General
at Canton, and the Naval and Militery authorities at Hong Kong.
Miscellaneous__
(m) That the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Colonies should
arrange for officials of the Dominions Department to place
themselves in communication with the Permanent Under-Secretary
of State, Foreign Office, with a view to supplying to the
Dominion Governments full information of the policy of His
Majesty's Government and of the reasons for it, alike as regards
their endeavour to secure a peaceful settlement on liberal
terms and their decision not to be hustled or driven out of
Shanghai.
(n) That the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs should make
arrangements, through the Press, to prepare public opinion
for the measures indicated in these Conclusions. While making
clear that there could be no surrender to violence and that
the military dispositions had the object of carrying out the
Government's pledge to defend the lives of British subjects in
China, emphasis should be laid on the fact that the Government's policy was primarily one of conciliation and a settlement by
agreement.