Now, when the French residents of Hankow telegraphed to Paris demanding that troops be sent forthwith from Tientsin or Tonking hands went up in horror that French consular control had so far got into disrepair as to bring about such a step. But when the British residents almost immediately followed suit it became patent that the situation was serious. Foreigners from the Japanese Concession (farthest removed from the native city of Hankow) to the British Concession (divided from the city by a thirty-foot road) were just then in greater direct danger than they had been since the campaign started. Five weeks had now elapsed since the war started, and on November 18th I think I am right in saying that not one-half of the protecting force was in the port, at the zenith of the danger, that was available a week after the Revolution broke out. That five hundred men available from all gunboats in port, with the Japanese largely preponderating, were enough to protect a settlement of approximately rectangular shape, four miles by one, was absurd on the very face of things. Four thousand men from all nations represented would not have been too many at that time. When hostilities were being carried on immediately outside the Concessions, when every day a man was shot fatally or wounded seriously in the streets of the British Concession, when shells dropped with startling rapidity into private houses and broke up the property of British residents, when the gravest danger was incurred by walking along the waterfront which extends the whole length of the Concession, when all shipping had to withdraw from the usual landing hulks, and when the official protests to remove the batteries from dangerous proximity back of the Concessions and so cause shelling over the foreign settlement to cease was persistently refused, surely, again, it was not too much to expect that the authorities were making due arrangements for troops to be sent to Hankow to prevent what every one undertook to believe would be inevitable—namely, the rushing through the Concessions of the enemy and the chasing of them by the victorious faction. The whole thing culminated on November 18th, when a meeting of British subjects was held. The following dispatch was the result of a long discussion on the general situation and what was best to be done:—
"HERBERT GOFFE, Esq., H.B.M. Acting Consul-General, Hankow.
"SIR,—We the undersigned British residents beg respectfully that you will forward the following protest to His Majesty's Minister with a request that it be forwarded to the proper authorities:
1. "The London and China Express of October 20 says, It is officially stated that the policy of Great Britain in the present situation in China will be limited to taking every means considered necessary for the protection of the lives and the property of her nationals.'
"Whilst adequate protection had apparently been afforded to British subjects in Tientsin and Shanghai, in our opinion the reverse was the case in Hankow. This is proved by the fact that at the time when the British Vice-Admiral himself was in chief command of all forces at Hankow, his own sailors, and the local Volunteers and Police were insufficient properly to guard the British Concession, and the kind assistance of the Germans, Japanese, French, and Austrians was accepted. Since then the situation had become infinitely more dangerous, and it was found that protection was reduced absolutely to a minimum and the force of British gunboats was just what foreigners were accustomed to see in port in normal times. This argues that the situation was wrongly gauged by those in authority, and if information which was at their disposal had been obtained or listened to, this should not have occurred.
2. "We protest against the action taken by the authorities in forwarding a wireless message to Shanghai on or about the 17th November stating that "there had been no fighting here for some days," and "that business was being resumed," as reported in the North China Daily News of the 9th November and the Shanghai Mercury of 8th November respectively. Our reasons for so doing are that both statements are untrue, and that by sending such a message they have caused endless ill-feeling to the British Flag and disgust at an action which causes women and children to return here when it is undoubtedly unsafe for them to do so. So far from there being no fighting, fighting of a desultory nature and sniping have continued ever since the main action, on the 27th-28th October, and numerous bullets and shells continue daily to fall into the Concession. Although foreigners have so far escaped, numbers of Chinese in the Concession have been killed or wounded, and property damaged. As regards business being resumed, it has been at a standstill since the Revolution started.
3. "With the ordinary telegraphic communication completely cut off, we protest against the Admiralty regulations which do not allow the forwarding of important non-service messages by wireless for British subjects in circumstances of this description. On several occasions messages refused by Vice-Admiral Winsloe have been courteously received and dispatched by wireless by the German Admiral. We consider that these protests are only right and just, as we cannot for a minute believe that His Majesty's Government know the true state of affairs, and that in the present crisis British prestige and British interests have been sadly neglected. Finally, although this is hardly within the province of the British residents of Hankow, we would like to point out that at the present moment Ichang and Changsha are equally ill-protected. The urgent necessity for the dispatch of troops to this port is emphasised by the fact that heaviest fighting is now taking place and shells are bursting over our heads. The situation is most critical, and it is sincerely to be hoped that not only the British authorities, but the American, the German, the French, and Russian Consular bodies will see to it that as many gunboats as can reasonably be spared from the China squadrons be brought here at once. The Japanese, the only other nation having a Concession, may be relied upon to leave nothing undone."
TOMMY ATKINS ON GUARD.
A detachment of the Yorkshire Light Infantry
protecting the Foreign Settlement at Hankow.