Evening star., 1923-12-27

sentiment was most bitter against the
United States, which was expected to
follow the traditional peaceful pol
| icy toward China.
Naturally the other powers are
mindful of the preponderance of
American influence in China and
have not belittled the American
Navy's participation in the present
situation. Foreign news agencies
have given China world glowing de-
scriptionS of American vessels, at the
same time indicating that America
has taken the most active part in
the demonstration and is prepared to
do most of the fighting. Admiral
Washington. commanding the entire
Asiatic feet, is steaming to Canton
from Manila. and if the custom
will remain on guard after the other
nations depart.
AS a matter of fact, the American
Navy is merely augmenting the war
/ ships in Canton harbor under the
| command of Commander J. o. Rich
| ardson of the south China patrol.
| Richardson has been at Canton for
! the past five mor~s The only Amer
leans to land officially at Canton re-
| Gently have been Commander Rich
ardson and mail orderlies.
| Despite the wildly circulated re
ports not single armed sailor has
| entered the native city, where the
customs house is located. The only
+; landings have been British and
I French detachments who are daily
drilling their concessions at Shameen
! and guards at the two Shameen
! bridges. The other nations have not
even placed guards at their consul
lateS. Members of the consular
! corps who are considering the legal
phases of the controversy as well as
the commanders of allied units upon
whom may. devolye any action to
come are unanimous in their policy,
| said Consul General Jenkins. While
recognizing the merit of Sun Vat
Sens contention ably presented in the
memorandum CCWU. the diplomatic
corps cannot permit the local officials
| to summarily repudiate the treaties
to accomplish that end.
Consul Is Optimistic.
The precedent would extend not
only to the seizure of customs here
and in other provinces, but would
eventually result in the ignoring of
territorial and other treaty rights of
foreigners. Everybody is optimistic
| in the hope that the negotiations will
| be settled without the use of force"
declared Consul jenkins.
Since the Peking government has
discontinued allotting South China IA
| share of the customs surplus, Canton
! has been perSistently petitioning for
| the resumption of payments. Mem
| orandum CCWU was presented last
September to the local consular body
and later forwarded to the ldiplo-
\ matte corps and eventually to the
! home governments. After waiting
i three months for a reply, Sun Vat
! Sen early in December announced
| that he intended to seize the Gus
| toms surplus, and the diplomatic
corps, stirred to action. decided to
| prevent the seizure. American and
| Japanese legations were commit
ital pending the receipt of instructions
1 from Washington and Toxic. In the
I meantime British and French war
| ships arrived at Canton, and American
vessels, uninstructed by Washington.
! were unable to promise cooperation
| in the allied program. Finally
| through a newspaper report. a de-
stroyer division sailed from Manila
and the officials judged that America
! intended to cooperate. This was
later explained when the State De
| partment'S cabled instructions Went
! astray between San Francisco and
Manila.