The British point is that troops have merely been transferred
to the danger zone in good time ; that they are not committed to action, and if all goes well they will never be used. The Chinese native population in Shanghai is about 1,500,000, and as the social and economic conditions arc bad it is thought that an outbreak of mob violence is as possible there as it was at Hankow. It is estimated that this native population might produce a " mob " for purposes of violence of 300,000 men, and the problem is to defend the 8,000 British nationals against such a mob. Sir Frederick Maurice, a sound soldier and a man of liberal instincts, has derided in the Daily News the idea that the force being sent to China is designed for anything but a limited defence. He points out that it has no artillery for any offensive movement and that it is not large enough to defend even the whole of Shanghai. * * * *
