CO129-499-2 Canton situation- governor's despatches 15-1-1927 - 4-2-1927 — Page 25

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loan by the Fivefold Consortium should be limited to

political purposes in order to develop her political influ-

ence in China. In the 12th year of the Republic, (1923)

President Sun Yat-sen claimed the return of the Customs

surplus of Canton, but the British ambassador referred the matter to the Diplomatic Corps at Peking and the gun-boats of 6 Powers were sent into the Macao Passage at Canton to

threaten the Cantonese Government. In the 13th year of the Republic (1924) the British Imperialists supplied the

Merchants' Corps in secret with arms and ammunition so as to help them in their rebellion. This was discovered by the Government; but the British Imperialists actually sent an

ultimatum to the Canton Government, notifying them that the

British gun-boats would fire at Canton, if the Government

disarmed the merchants' corps. Now unreasonable and barbar-

ous they have been! In the 15th year of the Republic (1926) the workmen of a Japanese yarn factory at Shanghai went on strike in opposition to the oppression of Japanese

Imperialism, but on May the 30th the British Imperialists

openly helped the Japanese Imperialists and massacred the

Chinese masses in procession in the public roads there with

machine-guns.

In this 8 were killed and numbers were wound-

ed. On the 23rd June the Cantonese held a demonstration

protesting against the Shanghai tragedy of the May 30th and passed Shaki. The British and French Imperialistsswept the

procession with machine-guns, killing 50 or 60 persons and

wounding numbers of others. On the 5th September, on account

of the detention of a British gun-boat, the British and

French Imperialists bombarded Wanhsien, killing more than

5,000 citizens and destroying a great part of the city. On

the 4th September the British gun-boats showed their guns

and arms at Canton and Swatow, and mooring alongside the

wharves there, landed a number of troops, giving us a

deliverate