The Government have taken the right step in deciding, that
there. must be a proper judicial inquiry into the encounter between the police and the students at Shanghai on May 31st, when several students were killed. In a valuable letter to the Times last Saturday, Mr. Henry Hodgkin pointed out that the most respected Chinese, not merely irresponsible students, have hitherto believed that an act of high-handed violence was committed and that Great Britain is afraid to have the facts investigated. We must not prejudice the inquiry by expressing any opinion, but we may be allowed to say that if it is proved, as we sincerely hope it will be, that the aggression came from the students, that they were threatening to seize' the weapons of the police and to kill foreigners, and that the police showed patience until patience could no longer save the situation, the granting of the inquiry' will still prove to have been an act of wisdom. We shall thus set ourselves right with those in China whose good opinion is worth having. If the inquiry should go against the international police we shall at least have the opportunity of making amends.
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