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4. The present ill-timed attack by the Canton Government on our normal treaty relations is evidently a deliberate attack directed against the British Empire. The people of Canton had no grievance against Hongkong, but they are compelled to main- tain a boycott against this Colony. The working classes of Hong- kong had no complaint against their employers or the conditions of their employment, but they were led by specious words and driven by criminal terrorism into a strike which was maintained only by means of the most drastic picketing and which has since That strike, as has been collapsed in spite of that picketing. admitted by the Canton Commissioner of Foreign Affairs, was instituted "not for economic reasons but as a protest against the British Government.” The brunt of the onset is borne by Hong- kong, but the attack is aimed at, and will be felt by, British trade and British shipping generally. That this violent and unjustified disturbance of our long-established and mutually advantageous commercial relations will cause loss to the merchants of Hong- kong, of England, and of Canton, alike, is evidently regarded with equanimity by the Government of Canton.

6. The Canton Government is clearly responsible for these breaches of treaty rights. Apart from its responsibility as the de facto Government of the Province there is ample evidence that it is in full sympathy with,, and that it actually supports the Strike Committee by which the strike was kept up till it failed and by which the boycott is still being maintained.

6. The following are the chief treaty provisions which have been infringed, with instances to illustrate how they have been infringed. I have arranged the treaty provisions and the infringe- ments in parallel columns:—

Treaty of Nankin. Article I.

Peace and Friendship. Protec- tion of Persons and Property.

There shall henceforward be peace and friendship between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and His Majesty the Emperor of China, and between their respective subjects, who shall enjoy full security and protection for their

persons and property within the dominions of the other.

(a) Short of actual hostilities and capture of shipping, the Canton Government practically maintains a state of war against Hongkong and British ship- ping and British interests.

(b) British shipping is denied the facilities of the port at Can- ton and Swatow.

(c) British subjects at Can- ton, if they leave Shamien, are at any moment liable to be arrested for breaches of the Strike Committee's Rules.

(d) Communication between Hongkong and Shamien is maintained by two river steamers. Persons attempting to board those steamers at

Canton are frequently fired on by the strike pickets.

Treaty of Nankin.

Article II. Canton, Amoy. Foochow. Ningpo and Shanghai opened to British subjects and their trade.

His Majesty the Emperor of China agrees that British sub- jects, with their families and establishments, shall be allowed to reside, for the purpose of carrying on their mercantile pursuits, without molestation or restraint, at the cities and towns of Canton, Amoy, Foo- chowfoo, Ningpo and Shang- hai.

Treaty of Nankin. Article V.

of

Abolition Hong of residence of British Mer- chants. Payment by China of 3,000,000 dollars for debts due to British subjects by certain Hong Merchants.

of Privileges Merchants at Ports

The Government of China having compelled the British merchants trading at Canton to deal exclusively with certain Chinese merchants, called Hong merchants (or Co- Hong), who had been licensed by the Chinese Government for that purpose, the Emperor of China agrees to abolish that practice in future at all ports where British merchants may reside, and to permit them to carry on their mercantile trans-

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have

(e) British property at Swa- tow has been wrecked and pil- laged and no redress can be obtained. () I

described in another despatch a series of outrages perpetrated by strike pickets on the frontier between this Colony and China.

(a) Shamien, the small island in the Canton River on which most of the British subjects at Canton live, and which was from the Chinese leased Government as a residence for foreigners, is in some respects Not like a beleaguered post.

an ounce of food is allowed in over the bridges from the city of Canton which is just across a narrow creek. If British sub- jects leave Shamien they are liable at any moment to be ill- Νο treated by strike pickets.

are allowed by the Chinese strike pickets to enter Shamien. (b) Similar conditions pre- vail at Swatow.

The Strike Committee at Canton does not permit British merchants to carry on mercan- tile transactions with any per- and they sons whatsoever, confiscate British goods when- ever found.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

بالسلسا

Reference :-

C.O.882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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