Mr. L, N. Leofe, Chairman of the Committee, in proposing the cares of those in England control-Jing the affairs of the Association, they recognized that the burden of those living in China. had been a heavier one'to bear. The size of the gathering showed how wide was the "interest taken in affairs "in na, and as their circle of inter-grew wider, unanimity of method must of necessity become more dificult to attain, There had been, for instance, ardent adherents in England of the exponents in China of the Nati ti ments must now be rather akin to those of the father of the prodigal son before he returned home.
(Laughter.) There had been those who were slow to be convinced of the need of sending the Defence wghai, but. there was in augmenting the Forces of the Crown on the China Coast, had brought immense relief to Brit residents China, sociation, Lord Stanhope, who, by virtue of his office as Civil Lord of the Admiralty, was s0 closely associated with the service to. which they all owed 20 much. (Applause.) Sir Edward Hilton Young was closely connected with their affairs, having presided, in, the absence of Lord "Southborough owing to. il hhenith, over the meetings of thei allied body, the China Committee.
'They were always glad to welcome representatives from the Foreign' Office and the Colonial Office. He was grateful to learn, from a recent announcement in "The Times," that an agreement: had been come to by the Ministers of the Great Powers for the suppression of piracy in South China waters, (Applause.) He noted that the agreement had to be referred to the respective Governments, and trusted that approval would shortly be obtained, for it was on the lines of ce-operation with the Great Powers and with those interests in China herself which placed law and order before personal gain that we could best hope to reach the goal to which we were all directed. (Applause.) He welcomed all the tors that evening and he coupled with the torist the names of Lord Stanhope and Sir Edward Hilton Young. (Applause.)
Lord Stanhope, in reply, said i was very seldom, in these days, they found sympathy or a good word for the Admiralty and naval services. (Cries of "No.") So many people!
there days wrote and spoke the-Navy was a back number. {Gries of "No, no,") Well, he, was, gind to find 30 obvious an opinion expressed by the members of that Association that they preferred the services of the Navy. (Applause.) Tt might interest them to know how Tong it took the Navy to be ready when it was needed.
On January 17, orders were sent to Malte for the First Cruiser to proceed to China, and on January 19, two days that squadron of five January 14," orders were issued that a battalion of Royal Marines should be equipped for service the Far East and sent to China, Three naval ports, Chatham, Portsmouth and Devonport had each' to find one and a third companies, and these were ready to move on January 17, which was a Monday. (Applause.) They arrived at Por: mouth on the 19th, went on board on the 24th, and the first time they in Shanghai, five weeks Inter. (Applause.) There they had many Guties to perform. They had to guard a front of seven and a half miles on the opposite side of the river, That, however, did not discourage the Marines. Those who had been trained in motor transport work undertook to run the engines of the motor boats, and the officers. become coxswains, and the outcome was that the service proceeded to run very much as before. (Applause.) Then, finding that they could be done without, the Chinese came back to work. (Laughter.) Had he (Lord-Stanhope) realized that he was to speak he should have drawn two officers of the Naval Marines, whom happened to, mect on ' his return from Malta quite recently, and asked them more of their experiences. Both were-serving in gunboats ply-ting up the Yangtsze River, and he realized full well from what they told him, what those who were protecting British trade had to go through and the immense anxiety of those who were trying to carry fon there, not merely anxiety as to their businesses, but in respect of their lives. He' heard details of Inrge numbers of Chinese coming into a Concession all armed to the teeth being stopped by a small body of bluejackets, who ordered them to down their arms, and after some talking, the Chinese did lay down their arms, which the British collected, and then the Chinese left Concession. alty would say was, "Well, it is a very common occurrence." (Laughter.) Now he had to confess something, Many years ago, when he left the Army, he thought before he went into polities he ought to learn something of the affairs of the Empire, and he went round the world. Among other places was the Far East We admitted that it must change' very materially he was there, but even so he think he would describe it, as the Chairman did as thei ritual home." (Iaughter.) He met Sun Yatesen, and had some talk with him. When he tald the late Lord Grey, he got one of the worst tellings'sf of his life. "Few people," he said, "had the chance to make
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