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Inclosure in No. 2.
Memorandum for Yumén.
THE Hong Kong Government telegraph to say that information has reached the Colony to the effect that 3,000 taels have been sent there from Canton for the purpose of engaging the services of Chinese to destroy the French mail-steamers in Hong Kong.
The Chinese Government should understand that they will be distinctly responsible should so atrocious a scheme, which is manifestly the outcome of the Canton Proclamation of the 15th September, be carried into execution.
French ships in Hong Kong waters are exactly on the same footing as those of British or any other nationality, and an attack on the former would be as vehemently resented by the British Government as an attack upon the property of their own nationals. The Chinese Government cannot plead want of jurisdiction as an excuse for remaining passive in this matter, for although it is true that they can exercise no control over Chinese residents in Hong Kong, it is their duty to see that plots of this nefarious character are not hatched in their own territory. It will not be difficult for the high authorities at Canton to ascertain by whom the money sent for the purpose above mentioned was furnished, and they would do well to inflict heavy punishment upon the promoters of the scheme as a warning to others to refrain from acts which will involve their Government in complications of a very grave nature.
(Signed) HARRY S. PARKES.
October 14, 1884.
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