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ment's bias toward France than to try and understand that it would be an infringement of British sovereignty to blow up French ships in Hong Kong waters.
Even the Colonial Office staff objected to the Hong Kong Government's apparently pro-French stance. Their impression was that the French would not be able to get any Chinese labour there if the Government did not put pressure on the Chinese. The conclusion was that "It seems to me dangerous to British residents in China and to the peace of the Colony to help the French in this way.' 1905 How much more things would appear that way
to the Chinese.
Thus the fines became a symbol of moral and legal injustice, of pro-French sympathies and disregard for the feelings of the predominant majority of the population. The fines were the last straw! It is significant that the Foreign Office strongly recommended that the fines be refunded.66
The strike apparently split the ranks of the labouring classes. If we assume that some had struck out of a sense of righteous indignation and nationalism, or out of fear of retaliation, there were perhaps just as many who did not share these feelings and would much rather have got on with their business. This split would aggravate the already excited atmosphere created by the war and by the strike itself.
On the 30th when the strike became general, there were already signs of trouble when those boats which continued working were stoned from the Praya, but things did not get out of hand. On the 3rd however, they did. The outbreak of the riot appears to me one of those historical events which "just happened". I believe it was not premeditated because the “rioters" carried no real weapons, only stones and bricks they could pick up from the road. If there had been a conspiracy the men would have come better armed. The accounts in the newspapers and by Marsh in his despatches to the Colonial Office indicate the police over-reacted. The police rushed to the scene fully armed with carbines, which compared to the stones of the rioters, clearly suggests over-reaction. The police fired a large number of rounds of ammunition into the crowds. In fact there was so much firing that a newspaper expressed surprise that only one dead man
81
ment's bias toward France than to try and understand that it would be an infringement of British sovereignty to blow up French ships in Hong Kong waters.
Even the Colonial Office staff objected to the Hong Kong Government's apparently pro-French stance. Their impression was that the French would not be able to get any Chinese labour there if the Government did not put pressure on the Chinese. The conclusion was that "It seems to me dangerous to British residents in China and to the peace of the Colony to help the French in this way.' 1905 How much more things would appear that way
to the Chinese.
Thus the fines became a symbol of moral and legal injustice, of pro-French sympathies and disregard for the feelings of the predominant majority of the population. The fines were the last straw! It is significant that the Foreign Office strongly recommended that the fines be refunded.66
The strike apparently split the ranks of the labouring classes. If we assume that some had struck out of a sense of righteous indignation and nationalism, or out of fear of retaliation, there were perhaps just as many who did not share these feelings and would much rather have got on with their business. This split would aggravate the already excited atmosphere created by the war and by the strike itself.
On the 30th when the strike became general, there were already signs of trouble when those boats which continued working were stoned from the Praya, but things did not get out of hand. On the 3rd however, they did. The outbreak of the riot appears to me one of those historical events which "just happened". I believe it was not premeditated because the “rioters" carried no real weapons, only stones and bricks they could pick up from the road. If there had been a conspiracy the men would have come better armed. The accounts in the newspapers and by Marsh in his despatches to the Colonial Office indicate the police over- reacted. The police rushed to the scene fully armed with carbines, which compared to the stones of the rioters, clearly suggests over-reaction. The police fired a large number of rounds of ammunition into the crowds. In fact there was so much firing that a newspaper expressed surprise that only one dead man
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