. PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.882/11
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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6. In consequence of the present anti-British boycott in Canton, 1 found that prior to my arrival practically all communication both between this Government and the British Consul-General at Canton and also between the British Consul-General at Canton and the de facto Government at Canton had been suspended. Sir James Jamieson and Sir Edward Stubbs had not met each other since the outbreak of the trouble in June last, nor had Sir James Jamieson left the Shamien and entered the Chinese city to visit any Cantonese officials since that date. Sir James in fact wrote to me that it would be unhealthy for him to do so, in view of the fact that he was on the list for assassination. I at once invited Sir James to visit me in Hongkong, and he was with me at Government House from the 11th to the 19th November. As a result of my conversations with him, it became evident to me that negotiations with the Canton Government could not be carried on by him, and that if such negotiations were to take place I must myself get into direct personal touch with the officers of the de facto Government in Canton.
7. As a first step I made a speech at the Hongkong University on November 11th, which was in effect an offer of friendship to the Canton Government and a suggestion that we should let bygones be bygones, end the boycott and resume the old amicable relations between Hongkong and Canton. I attach a copy of this speech. My next step was to write on 24th November to Dr. C. C. Wu inviting him to pay me a visit. He replied on November 26th that it was impossible for him to leave Canton, but that he hoped I might be able to visit him there. I attach a copy of his reply.
Meanwhile there had been a certain fraternisation between Cantonese merchants and the Chinese merchants of Hongkong. A delegation of Cantonese merchants visited Hongkong on the 20th November and remained here until 25th November. During that time they were entertained by the Chinese merchants of this Colony, by the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce and also by Mr. A. G. M. Fletcher, the acting Colonial Secretary, whom I authorised to receive them at tea. The result of this visit was to show very clearly that the Cantonese merchants were as anxious as the Hongkong merchants to see the end of the boycott; and, although they were not empowered to nego- tiate any settlement, I took advantage of the occasion of their visit to announce that the Hongkong Government would be will- ing to appoint a strong deputation of merchants to visit Canton and to negotiate a settlement provided that the Canton Govern- ment would appoint suitable delegates to meet them. The names I mentioned were those of Sir Paul Chater, Messrs. Chow Shou- son and Kotewall (Chinese members of the Legislative Council), and Mr. D. G. M. Bernard, the head of Messrs. Jardine. Matheson & Co. These names were given to Dr. S. W. Tso, a prominent member of the Chinese community of Hongkong. for communication to Dr. C. C. Wu, to whom he is related. Dr. Tso returned with the unsatisfactory reply that (a) the strikers would elect three members of their Committee to be delegates with full powers to negotiate, one of them almost certainly being the Chairman of the Strike Committee; (b) the merchants would also elect one prominent merchant to be a member of the dele- gation: this would most probably be the Chairman of the Canton
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General Chamber of Commerce; (c) other members of the Strike Committee, probably six, and perhaps one or two additional merchants would be present at the negotiations to watch the proceedings; and (d) that Mr. Luk King-fo, a minor Cantonese official, could be attached to the Cantonese delegation as sec- retary. It would obviously have served no useful purpose to send the influential Hongkong delegates, whom I had named, up to Canton to negotiate a settlement with men such as these, and I therefore cast about for means of starting negotiations upon other lines.
8. On the 2nd December I was informed that Mr. Yeung Sai- ngam, a semi-official emissary of the Canton Government, was anxious to see me. I agreed to see him and he came informally to visit me at Government House that afternoon. I explained to him verbally that the Hongkong Government was absolutely sincere in its wish for a settlement of the present trouble with Canton, but that it would be useless for me to send a deputation to Canton for the purpose of negotiating a settlement unless the Canton Government appointed delegates of equal standing. I also gave him a personal letter for delivery to Mr. Wong Tsing- wai, presenting him my compliments and informing him that I had had an interesting conversation that day with Mr. Yeung Sai-ngam. This letter was intended to serve as a credential. On December 8th Mr. Yeung Sai-ngam returned to Hongkong and brought me a Chinese letter of a complimentary nature in the handwriting of Mr. Wong Tsing-wai and also the draft in Chinese of a letter which it was proposed that I should address to the Canton Government. I attach a translation of this draft, which was in the handwriting of Mr. Fu Ping-sheung, the Foreign Secretary of the de facto Government of Canton, and which had been revised by Dr. C. C. Wu. This draft was not acceptable to me as it stood, but with the advice of the two Chinese members of the Legislative Council and with the consent of the Executive Council I prepared a counter draft, of which I enclose a copy, and which purports to be a letter from myself to the Consul-General at Canton for transmission to the Canton Govern- ment. On December 11th Mr. Wong Tsing-wai, after discussion with Dr. C. C. Wu, replied:-" We still hold to the original draft, for if the Nationalist Government were to occupy the position of mediators their efforts would be more effective in all matters relating to a settlement." I could not, of course, accept the original draft. because it would have committed me to appointing officials of the Hongkong Government as potentiary delegates,'
pleni- whereas the Canton Government would only appoint their officers "to mediate.' But I thought it very important to find out exactly what was in the mind of Mr. Wong Tsing-wai and his advisers. Therefore, on December 15th, wrote him a letter, of which I attach a copy, and sent it to Canton by the hand of Dr. To Ying-kwan, who is a personal friend of Mr. Wong Tsing-wai. Dr. To Ying-kwan was trained in Western medicine at Edinburgh, and has for a long time past been prac- tising his profession in Hongkong. He is an avowed member of the Chinese Nationalist Party, and knows personally all the members of the present Canton Soviet. He agreed to support my letter with his own arguments, and to bring me back an answer from Mr. Wong Tsing-wai. Dr. To's mission proved
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