CO129-356 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1909 [4-6] — Page 360

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they held out. Since no overt act of intimidation or out-

-rage had occurred I was without any weapon to assist him,

and it did not seem to me that the British Government

could adopt any other line than that adopted by America

and Japan in the case of previous Boycotta. I requested

0

him to have a phtograph made of the Self-Government

Society's letter (which he was under an obligation to

return) and to inform me of the names of the local Chinese

Merchants who have been constant shippers, and have now

refused to ship by his vessels. I promised to represent the

matter fully to Your Lordship. Messrs. Butterfield and

Swire having large interests at all Chinese Ports address

the Minister at Peking direct.

11.

Mr. Law enquired whether in my

view the action taken was not contrary to China's treaties.

I replied that no Treaty can compel an individual to trade

with one Firm rather than with another, and I did not

think that it could possibly be maintained that any

specific breach had been made. I thought, however, that

the circumstances taken as a whole, including the known

facts regarding the "Fatshan" and supported by the

important letter from the Self-Goverment Society, would

go far to prove an attempt to blackmail by a body whose

existence

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