The Canton Incident of June 23rd, The Truth/APPENDIX X.

The real facts of the German letter. (Reprinted from the Hongkong Telegraph dated 3rd July, 1925.)

The true facts concerning the Tungshan" German Merchants" letter to the Canton Gazette, published some days ago, which aroused considerable resentment among and was unanimously repudiated by the Germans in the Colony, including many who had come down from Tungshan, were related to a representative of the Press by the German Consul-General for Hongkong yesterday afternoon,

It will be remembered that the German Consul-General, immediately upon publication of the letter, got into touch with the German Consul at Canton with the view to establishing its authorship. Enquiries were made at Tungshan, as the result of which it has been definitely established that the German merchants there were not consulted at all.

The letter was written by a German of Tungshan and the circumstances under which it came into existence are interesting. Reading from a letter he had received from Canton, the German Consul-General said the German who wrote the letter was approached by some of his Chinese friends, who urged that he should issue a declaration of sympathy in connection with the Shameen incident. He complied with their request, and in his own private capacity, without consulting anyone at all, concluded the letter with the following words: "I beg to remain, dear Sir, yours very truly, Old German China Hand." Later one of his Chinese friends asked him to be so kind as to make it more general, and in haste he changed it to "German Merchants," not a single one of his compatriots being consulted. He did not enclose his card, but signed his name below the words "German Merchants."

The words " Enclosing our cards at the close of the letter in the Canton Gazette must have been added by someone of the paper itself, for no cards at all were sent.

"For my part," added the Consul, "I only want to state the facts just as I have received them. They need no further comment from me. Having made this statement, I only hope there will not be any further discussion upon the matter."