the Biitor of the "Nontu-CutNa Dany News."
Si—In your issue of the. 19th instant under the heading "Foreigners' Rights in Swatow" you revert to the case originally reported in a letter to the "Hongkong Daily Press" signed "Disgusted". You state. that after waiting patiently for further particulars of the me cident such particulars have come to your hand through a British resident in Swatow. On the strength of this new information you discount the original. story, vindicate the Consul and apologize to firn. Your vindication and apology ave no.affair of mine. What I am most concerned with are -the so-called mew facts which have come to light", which "give the matter a one a rejoinder seems to be indicat-
Jetter. I was-merely concerned to air a grave injustice and to discover whether the sacrifice of the extraterritorial-prineiple was to be imputed to the Consul, the Legation or the Foreign Office, It must surely be obvious, even informant, that if we are to live-and: trade' in this port it is essential for us to know whether the Consul has received instructions to place expediency' before principle in matters affecting our personal rights and liberty. In matters' of property rights it is all too evident that principle "died long ago".
As I have informed the Consul of the authorship of the "Disgusted" letter and as T hope soon to meet your informant at the Club, there not preserved amongst the reason why my anonymity should
general public and I therefore subscribe myself, 7
Your informant, whose identity is apparent in every line of his information, suggests that the monotony of our lives has so deranged our minds that the most trifling. disagreements are magnified until they become actual feuds, that such feuds date back for a long time and that at present "the little group of British residents is "sharply divided into two camps (I suppose the inference is that I belong to the Bleak-minded, monotonous camp and: your informant to the "Brighter Swatow" movement).
'No further alleges that I am one of the party or camp with: includes the: British resident who wa maltreated. This is a delicate thrust which can only be appreciate ed to the full' by Swatow folk and it is: very amusing in spite of its But the most serious of your i formant's: allegations is that 1, Th my: little camp, have built up a. fabric of camouflage and misrepresentation against a background of private' feud in order to fire off at the Consul. my darts of party wus. If his: information—or, T say, your rendering of his mation,-means anything at al it is thatit have taken a chance opportunity of attacking an enemy with whom I have had a long-standing feud.
May I state-ut: once,.quite simply and directly, that if your informant means that, he is prevaricating. There is no other word for it as every British resident. in Swatow will attest.
It you. require a general background for the episode the following. may help you, The Swatow British community' (you state "foreign" community) is small but it is compact and: harmonious.
this particular British community "the sameness of things and the constant association with a mere handful of one's own people" has not produced the feuds which your informant suggests, The suggestion of a sharp di ion, of the British community into two-camps is a purely imaginative flight and can only think that your informant had is tongue in his check when he mage the suggestion, the time of the incident there was complete harmony amongst the members of the British community as indeed there still. is. Your informant suggesting otherwise places himself in a minority of one. 5. When the facts of the "Dog" ease came to light all the British residents (except perhaps your informant,—whose opinion I did hot ask) including many of the Consul's personal friends, were appalled at settlement, involving, as it did, the sacrifice of the extraterritorial principle and a. gross injustice ton British subject. 6. The letter signed "Disgusted" was written after much discussion and thought amongst many who are still the Consul's sonal friends and when your informant suggests that private malice was the actuating motive
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.