§ MR. MACLEANI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Sir Claude MacDonald called the attention of the Foreign Office to statements in the Chinese papers regarding an organised agitation to extirpate foreigners in China which was expected to break out this year; and whether he advised that adequate precautions should be taken to meet such an emergency.
§ *MR. BRODRICKSir Claude MacDonald did not call the attention of the Foreign Office to any such statements in the Chinese papers, but he reported upon the existence of various inflammatory placards, to which he had drawn the attention of the Tsung-li-Yamen. The only precaution he advised previous to the outbreak was the despatch of a guard to the Legation and a man-of-war to Ta-ku. Both of those steps were taken.