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broke out without warning; the foreign residences were scattered and the available defence force small, while on previous occasions the general policy of the looters had been to respect foreigners and their property.
Under these circumstances the Defence Committee wisely decided that the best Course was in many cases to leave foreigners in their own houses, where they were visited from time to time during the night by members of the committee or other responsible foreigners acting under their directions. This decision, and the fact that the commanding officer of the "Gnat" refused to weaken his strength by sending out small parties of men, ignorant of the language and of the locality, to bring in foreigners to the custom-house these were mostly escorted there by unarmed civilians-led to attacks in certain organs of the English press at Hankow and elsewhere on the attitude of the naval and consular authorities; and the Hankow Chamber of Commerce went so far as to express a desire for a formal enquiry on the matter. Rear-Admiral Barrett, commanding His Majesty's ships in the Yang-tszę, visited Ichang and satisfied himself that the conduct of the naval authorities and the measures taken by the Defence Committee were entirely satisfactory-an opinion borne out by the absence of any criticism at a meeting of the foreign population of Ichang which he called for the purpose The person whose statements were responsible for the attacks was then absent from Ichang, but ou receiving from His Majesty's consul convincing proof of their falsity I informed Mr. Smith that his action during and subsequent to the outbreak had my entire approval.
As stated above the policy of the looters in the November mutiny was to respect foreigners and their property; on this occasion, however, two British subjects were looted personally and maltreated; an American was robbed in the street and two Japanese were seriously wounded. The principal British sufferers were the British- American Tobacco Company, goods belonging to this firm, but in the hands of Chinese distributing agents, being looted to the extent of some 37,000 dollars. Altogether ten claims have been presented to the Legation, totalling 64,000 dollars odd. The claims for the November looting totalled 114,835 57 dollars (excluding one of 120,000 tuels for Messrs. Jardine, Matheson and Co.'s shipping hong which I was unable to admit), so that the losses incurred by British subjects at Ichang during a period of six months amount to over 178,000 dollars. The distributing agency of the American Standard Oil Company was burnt, involving heavy loss, and altogether eighteen out of twenty-four Japanese firms and houses were looted.
It has been alleged in excuse that in nearly all cases of loss suffered by foreigners, the cause must be ascribed to the fact that the looters were unable to distinguish the buildings or property looted from those occupied or owned by Chinese, but in the opinion of His Majesty's consul there is no doubt that the feeling against interference with foreigners or their property was in the June outbreak less strong than on the occasion of the looting of November 1920.
Chinese civilians were of course the principal sufferers; it is estimated that some 200 were killed and 100 wounded. Merchants and shopkeepers all suffered heavy losses through looting and fire; the Post Office, Wine and Tobacco Tax Bureau, magistrate's yamên and other Government offices were looted, while the premises of the Bank of China were burnt to the ground.
The looting ceased only at daylight next morning, the 5th June, and detachments of soldiers who had not, or appeared not to have, mutinied-then arrived in order to protect the custom-house, consulate and other property in the neighbourhood. The regiment which had taken the leading part in the outbreak left Ichang by steamer a few hours later with their loot, and, so far as I have learnt, no punishment has yet been inflicted, save perhaps in the case of a few who may have been mixed up with the Wuchang looters, whose butchery is reported below.
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At Wuchung a large portion of the city was burnt and immense damage was suffered by the authorities as well as by the Chinese residents and shopkeepers. The Provincial Mint and Bank were both looted. The only foreigners in the city were missionaries, and their property was practically untouched; no claim on account of the looting has been presented by British missionaries residing at Wuchang. British firms, however, suffered loss owing to the looting or destruction of their goods in the hands of native distribution agents, the claim of the British-American Tobacco Company on this account amounting to over 36,000 dollars. Barbarous vengeance was inflicted on some of the looters; in a note addressed by the Military Governor to His Majesty's consul-general he boasted that he had induced the soldiers that had mutinied to deliver up their arms," conveyed them by train to Siaokan, a town some 25 miles from Hankow on the Peking-Hankow Railway, there surrounded them by other troops
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and shot them, to the number, he said, of 1.700. It is at any rate certain that many hundreds of them were massacred.
Fortunately, the general policy of the looters at Wuchung, as at Ichaug, appeared to be to refrain from attacking foreigners or their property, where such was distinguishable from property owned by Chinese. Fortunately, also, the looting did not spread to the Hankow Bank of the Yang-tsze. Had it done so the contrast between Hankow with foreign concessions, and Ichang without a settlement, would have been more markerl. At the latter place foreign men, women and children were in immediate proximity to soldiers engaged in looting and incendiarism. At Hankow the small force of volunteers and parsies landed from the gunboats would almost certainly have sufficed to prevent looters from eutering the concessions, where the great bulk of foreign-owned property is situated.
It being obviously necessary to take some step which would bring home to the Chinese Government and its military supporters the fact that the foreign Powers did not regard the occurrences at lehang and Wurbang as normal incidents in China's **transition," consulted my American, Japanese and French colleagues, and we unanimously agreed that it was essential for the prevention of similar outrages in the future to secure at Ichang a foreign settlement area under international municipal control with Chinese participation, as also the non-stationing of Chinese troops within a reasonable distance of such aren. While the French and Japanese Governments concurred, the United States Government informed their Legation that it was opposed to the principle of military neutralisation, and that it did not find reason to feel that the establishment of an international settlement would assure the safety of Ichang--a view of which 1 informed your Lordship in my telegram No. 256 of the 2nd July. Repeated efforts by the United States Chargé d'Affaires at Peking and by His Majesty's Ambassador at Washington to induce the Department of State to concur in the view of the four Legations at Peking having proved fruitless, the Dean of the Diplomatic United Body, on the 20th August, addressed to the Wai-chiao Pu a note drafted by my States colleague, in which the Wai-chiao Pu was warned that the Foreign Powers would insist that the Chinese Government hold the higher military authorities personally and individually responsible for any damage that might be caused to any foreign interests, either by the action or failure to act of troops under their respective commands in territories under their protection. It was, further, declared that the Powers would refuse to give asylum in any territory in China under their control to any Chinese official guilty in the manner indicated, and that the right of exacting from the Chinese Government punitive damages for injuries to the persons or property of their nationals resulting from a neglect of this warning was reserved. My concurrence in the despatch of this note, copy of which was forwarded to your Lordship in my despatch No. 505 of the 2nd September, was based on your Lordship's telegram No. 250 of the 3rd August. As stated in my telegram.No. 291 of the 26th July, I have no confidence in the efficacity of the warning thus conveyed, and I would add that no action based on the note, which as regards refusal of asylum and punitive damages was stated to be applicable to the recent mutinies at lehang and Wuchung, has so far appeared practicable.
It may be added that, as stated in the above telegram, the Chinese residents of Iclang petitioned the anthorities in favour of some forin of international settlement and of the neutralisation of the port; and these views were supported in a somewhat modified form, it is true, by the Ichang Taoyin. I have the honour to enclose copy of a despatch from His Majesty's consul at Ichang, No 29 of the 18th July, giving information on the subject, the gist of which I communicated to my United States colleague. The probability of obtaining some measure of success in the event of the presentation to the authorities of a demand as desired by the four Legations may therefore be assumed.
Cuder present conditious there is little to prevent a further looring of Ichang by unpaid soldiery, and in such event foreigners, who own the greater part of the unlooted property, would most likely be the principal victims, In fact, the city was shortly afterwards the scene of three weeks' continuous fighting between the Northern forces and those of Szechuan when the latter launched their attack on Western Hupeh in September. Details of these hostilities will be reported in a separate dispatch now in preparation, but the fact that a number of foreign gunboats had to be kept at chang during this period in order to provide sufficient landing parties to protect the scattered foreign population emphasises the disadvantage under which foreign interests are placed by the lack of an easily defensible foreign settlement at the port.
In conclusion, I have the honour to bring to your Lordship's notice the valuable services rendered by Mr. J. L. Smith, His Majesty's consul at Ichang, during the past year. Throughout a period of almost continuous har ship, danger and strain he has
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