49
Canton Government
in allowing these men to use their
There
territory as a base for an attack of Hongkong's trade. might be no exact parallel, but suppose the foreigners in Shameen had come to Hongkong and had used it as a base to blockade the Pearl River River and destroy Canton's trade, what would the attitude of the Canton Government be?
It was
of course inconceivable that the Hongkong Government should allow such a thing. If there was to be any blockade, it would shoulder the responsibility itself, and would not pretend that the Shameen people were legitimately entitled to war on Canton from Hongkong. The discussion was continued at some length and I got the definite impression that, with the exception of perhaps of Mr. Wong Ching-wai, the Council was quite sincere in its desire to settle but that it was impossible for it to coerce the strikers beyond a certain point. I had suggested generally that the people in Canton and Hongkong desired a settlement and that most of the strikers wished to get back to work. It was absurd in such circumstances that a comparatively small body of strike pickets should be able to stand in the way, however powerful they might be politically. It was suggested to me that the outside world failed to realise the immense power which labour was beginning to wield in China, and it must be remembered that the Kwok Man Tong, which was now practically the only political
The discussion party in China, was the people's party. ended with a statement by myself that, if the strikers insiated upon discussion of the political terms, the negotiations were at an end. I must warn Mr. Wong Ching- wai and his Council that they must give their most serious consideration to the responsibility which they must incur
Mr. Wu here said for any consequences that might ensue.
that they had not the slightest wish for war. They
had had much more than enough of it. I replied that I had not the slightest intention of even hinting at war. I regarded them as sensible men of the world and I fully sym-
pathised with their difficulties. My only wish was to
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.