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unconditional protection of His Majesty's Government in
any and every enterprise in which they may choose to engage.
In return for such protection as can be afforded they must
be prepared to take reasonable precautions and to submit to
reasonable restrictions. But provided they conform to
this requirement they seem to me to be entitled to as much
. protection as His Majesty's Government can give in troubled
areas, even if this involves some expense to His Majesty's
Our position in China has, after all, been
Government.
7.
built up by seamen and merchants who have been ready to
take some risks and it is not in the national interest to
discourage enterprise or to allow our people to be ariven
out of a position which that enterprise has built up.
When I discussed this problem with the Commander-
in-Chief during his visit to Peking in September last, I
understood him (subject to correction) to be in general
agreement with the above statement of the position and to
hold the personal opinion that the shipping companies
should be assisted as much as possible by advice on internal
defence measures and by the provision of armed guards from
His Majesty's Forces though only on condition that they
were prepared themselves to pay for such guards; and he
favoured adherence to the declared intention of terminating
the present arrangements for the provision of armed guards
at the end of March next partially as a means of pressure,
so I understood, to bring the shipping companies round to
a proper realisation of their responsibilities. The
Admiral used as an illustration of his point that when the
management of a football team in ngland require extra
police for duty at football matches they themselves pay
the