In reply, I have to point out that the firing referred to was in fact a protective barrage strictly confined to the immediate neighbourhood of the foreign houses in which a number of British subjects had been driven to sock refuge from the assaults of an unrestrained soldiery, and not only did it provide the only. conceivable means by which the lives of this party were saved from the danger that imminently threatened them, but it also made possible the evacuation of the other British residents at Nanking, who were in actual peril of their lives. His Majesty's Government in Great Britain, therefore, feel that the measures taken by HLM.S. Emerald were absolutely necessary for the protection of British life and property, however deeply they may deplore the fact that the circumstances at Nenking on March 24; 1927, were
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.