CO129-539-2 Nguyen ai Quoc- arrangements for deportation 29-1-1932 - 31-1-1933 — Page 19

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No.27.

In his reply of 19.7.32.(No.27) to Mr.Bushe's letter of the same date (No.26)

both of which I saw yesterday on my return

from leave Mr.Burchell said

"The whole trouble arose from the very

"frank statement made at consultation that

"what had been done in Hong Kong was because

"extradition was not applicable, and therefore

"the end was to be obtained in another way."

This, I take it, is an attempt by

Mr.Burchell to shift the responsibility for the

settlement in question from the shoulders of

Sir S.Cripps (whom he had asked to be allowed to

brief as Leader) to mine.

Be that as it may, this statement by

Mr.Burchell is inaccurate and misleading, because

Sir S.Cripps opened the consultation with the

following crude observation, which surprised me:

"This is a ramp, is it not? I want some

instructions in the matter from the Colonial

Office." In short, before I or anyone else

present at the consultation had said anything, he

made it clear

what his own opinion

of the case was; and he then proceeded to

amplify his views on the subject in response to

Mr.Wilfrid Lewis's request as to what he meant by

a "ramp".

In the discussion which ensued, and

in which Sir S.Cripps pointed out that a lot of

unpleasant things would probably be said in Court,

it is true that, in reply to his further question

as to whether the Colonial Office in this case were

out for "a man hunt", I hastened to say that in my