CO129-497 - Public Offices - 1926 — Page 497

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bullets was stopped long ago and soft-nosed bullets are not used in machine guns, which require full-coated ammunition. The tremendously high velocity with which a modern bullet leaves the muzzle of a rifle or machine-gun accentuates, during the initial stages of its flight, the motion imparted by the grooving of the barrel. The bullet does not attain a stable spin before it has travelled about 400 feet and a wound inflicted at shorter range is liable to be large owing to the undulating corkscrew motion of the missile. The distance between Shameen and Shakee is under 60 yards: at that distance bullets striking stone and masonry buildings would detach large junks which, themselves, would inflict jagged wounds.

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Little need be said about the resolutions passed by the American staff of the Canton Christian College (Appendix N), and the letter purporting to be from some German, merchants (Appendix V). The resolutions were not so much of a surprise as they might have been, for some of the signatories had already taken a stand publicly as expositors to the American nation of China's sufferings (vide Appendix M). Much stress is placed in that document on the word Justice. We concede the scope for interpretation, remembering that Plato wrote ten books in an attempt to define Justice" and in the end came to no final conclusion. These now-famous resolutions, based as they are on the reports of excited and misled people, none of whom saw all that happened and most of whom were repeating only what they had heard on the way, are a gratuitous aspersion on all the nations represented by their nationals in Shameen. It has since transpired that the document was not signed either by the President or Vice- President of the college, who were both away at the time.

There are complications in the case. Dr. Henry, the President, assures us that although the signatories state that

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"a Chinese patriotic parade marching along the Bund and Shakee, Canton, was fired upon by Shameen troops" and “that we are of opinion that the blame and the responsibility for the merciless and unjustified assault rests upon those who directed the firing from Shameen, no one had any idea of suggesting which side fired first. And, further, that although the men who signed the document were "determined to co- operate with the Chinese in the presentation of their case, and to make their position known "directly to the American Government and to the American people, the resolutions must be regarded as expressions of personal opinion only. At midnight on 23rd June Dr. Henry and Mr. Baxter, the President and Vice-President of the college, with abounding faith signed another document, which was written for them in Chinese by Chinese and loosely interpreted to them in haste. According to Mr. Baxter, this was a statement repre- senting the College. Dr. Henry says nothing about it, and apparently it was not published. A reference to Appendices N to U will explain the position.

The German Merchants' letter says nothing that amounts to anything, but means a good deal from a particular point of view. It has been completely refuted (vide Appendices V to X).

The accusations made by the Canton Government are typical of the manner in which facts are distorted by responsible officials to create impressions in their favour. And Chinese journalism seems to require of its journalists misrepresentation and malice when foreigners clash with them. Examples might be multiplied indefinitely, but two are sufficient. At Nanking. on July 31st, the coolies of the International Export Company came into conflict with the Chinese police, and the police fired on them, killing one and wounding several. All the injuries were inflicted by Chinese:

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