L
284
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dealt
Rego de
with
Joul Learer pip
change the decision.
I would, indeed, not have written
were it not that I am sending the Compulsory
Service Bill off this afternoon. I hope very
earnestly that I shall be allowed to proceed
with this at once on the lines suggested.
Daily the British Situation at Tientsin and
Shanghai seems to worsen, and that largely
because the Japanese gradually are becoming
bolder as they believe more and more that we
cannot or will not withstand them.
Again it
is the argument of the 'bold face' : I am
convinced that the more that we shew our
determination not to be driven off our perches
in China the more respectful the Japanese will
become : and Hong Kong is among the bigger of
the local perches. Why should not the announce-
ment of the intention to introduce compulsory
service here be as effective vis-a-vis the
Japanese as the announcement of that policy
for Great Britain was in Europe ?