CO129-402 - Governor Sir May - 1913 [7-8] — Page 290

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hinese

the Company from the dilemma in which Chinese aggressive-

-ness had placed it, and of asserting the authority

of the Government, for which the Chinese population

at that time had but scant respect.

I have reason to believe that, within the Colony

and in other countries in the Far East, the means adopted

a

are regarded as reasonable and justifiable weapon for

dealing at any rate with some phases of boycott. I

am convinced that the repeal of the Ordinance would

be regarded both in the Colony and in neighbouring

countries as a retrograde step, which must prejudios

enormously the prestige this Government has won by

suppressing by peaceful and constitutional means a

movement the duration of which, in the absence of the

measures taken, it is impossible to estimate.

9. It is difficult, I am fully aware, for one

at a distance to appreciate the importance which those

on the spot attach to the maintenance of prestige,

even in a matter of such comparatively trivial importance

as the boycott which led to the legislation under

discussion. One has first to know of one's own

knowledge the animosity against foreigners which,

always existent in the Chinese mind, has been inflamed

by the recent revolution. To give you a couple of

examples of the real feelings of the mass of the

population towards Englishmen in this Colony, I may

adduce the following.

When the Police searched the lodging of the

Chinese who made an attempt on my life on my landing

in July last, they found a letter written the day

after the occurrence by a Chinese woman of the peasant

class in whose miserably poor dwelling my assailant

lodged.

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