; Towards the end of last week the Chinese Navy
off Shanghai seceded to the Kuomintang. The correspondent of the Times says that the Navy had only been waiting for an opportunity to declare its true sympathies, nearly - all the officers and men being Southerners. Last Saturday at Shanghai 500 Shantung soldiers—part of the troops of Chang Chung-chang—tried to enter the International • Settlement. but were held back by the Durham Light Infantry. The situation looked extremely awkward for' a time, as the Shantungese trained machine-guns on the Settlement. The Durham Light Infantry acted with all that restraint which has been enjoined on the British Defence Force, and the Shantungese after a few hours abandoned the attempt. The next day the commander of the Shantung troops apologized to General Duncan and said that the action of the troops was clue to an " unfortunate misunderstanding." Although the apology ' was no doubt accepted it is necessary to point out that unfortunate misunderstandings are just as dangerous as deliberate acts, and innocent civilians must certainly be saved from them. It is too late to do anything when . the civilians have been killed " by mistake."
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