RETURN, &c. No. 1. COPY of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir JOHN BOWRING to the (No. 20.) SIR, Government Offices, Victoria, Hong Kong, Ar the conclusion of my last Despatch on the state of the Colony, No. 14 of 15th instant, I mentioned a diabolical attempt to destroy the lives of the whole European community by poison. I have now the honour to report, that an immediate investigation was made; that Alum, the proprietor of the bakery, who had left that morning in a steamer, was arrested that night in Macao, and brought back here; and that he and seven others connected with his establishment have been committed for trial at the Supreme Court on a charge of administering poison with intent to murder. The criminal sessions begin to-day, but as there are ten cases, and this is the last in the calendar, the trial will not come on in time for a final report by to-morrow's mail steamer. As may be imagined, the public excitement was intense, and has not yet altogether subsided. The persons who have suffered are said to be between S00 and 400 in number, and the rumour is that a rising was intended had the attempt been successful. The analysis of the bread shows arsenic in very large quantity, and it is imagined that the excess of the poison rendered it inefficient by causing its early ejection from the stomach. I refrain from making further remark on this extraordinary case until the conclusion of the trial, which shall be duly made known to you. The Right Hon. H. Labouchere, M.P., (Signed) I have, &c. JOHN BOWRING. HONG KONG. No. 1. &c. &c. &c. No. 2. No. 2. SIR, COPY of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir JOHN BOWRING to the (No. 28.) Government Offices, Victoria, Hong Hong, February 11, 1857. (Received April 8, 1857.) (Answered No. 60, May 8, 1857, page 8.) IN continuation of my Despatch No. 20, of 29th ultimo, I have now the honour to report that Alum the baker and nine others have been tried and acquitted at the criminal sessions of the Supreme Court on the capital charge of administering poison with intent to kill. The trial lasted five days, commencing on the 2d and ending on the 6th instant. One juror, the foreman, was dissentient. I caused the prisoners to be arrested on leaving Court, and detained, under the recent Ordinance, No. 2. of 1857.* The Attorney General has doubted the legality of the detention; but I am confident that the legal advisers of Her Majesty's Government at home will (83.) A * Vide Appendix No. 3. Page 31. HONG KONG. Encl. 1. bear me out in my construction of the terms of the Deportation Ordinance No. 2, of 1857. I enclose the correspondence* that has taken place on this embarrassing and Encls. 2 and 3. painful subject, as well as copies of two petitions that have reached me, and translations of two memorials from Chinese inhabitants of the Colony. Encls. 4 and 5. (*Note.-Not presented.) I have not been willing absolutely to repudiate the suggestion of the Attorney General, that further proceedings should be taken against Alum in other cases of poisoning; but having confidentially consulted the Judge, who recommends me to put an absolute veto upon such a course until I have an opinion from home as to its advisability, I shall detain Alum in gaol, and wait your instructions in reference to the matter before I consent to his release or authorize new indictments to be prepared. The Right Hon. H. Labouchere, M.P. I have, &c. (Signed) JOHN BOWRING. Encl. 1. in No. 2. Encl. 2. in No. 2. EXTRACT from ATTORNEY GENERAL'S REPORT of the January Criminal Sessions, relative to the Trial of the BREAD POISONING CASE. "IN this last case the jury were divided, the foreman, Mr. Macleod, as it is understood, being in favour of a capital conviction, and the verdict being in fact returned by him as that of 'five to one.' "The evidence given for the prisoners tended in no wise to discharge but in some very important particulars to confirm that for the Crown. I am at a loss to explain the verdict, which produced, I regret to add, a strong demonstration of disapproval on the part of a crowded audience. I venture to believe that I did my best to ensure a conviction; and I have to express to Mr. May, who devoted his whole time, and to Mr. Cooper Turner, who, from the outset, volunteered his gratuitous assistance, my grateful acknowledgments of services rendered to the prosecution. "The Chief Justice summed up with impartiality, and, I am happy to say, strongly approved of my exposition of the law of evidence applicable to that case of secret crime. From one or two expressions which seemed to escape from his lips unawares, the impression generally entertained is that his Lordship inclined to the belief in Alum's guilt. "There is nothing in this acquittal which can in any way shackle the justices of the peace in securing or His Excellency in adjudicating upon the prisoners, within the meaning and letter of the Deportation Ordinance. "In conclusion, I will only observe, that the other results of this laborious session have been the transportation of one convict for life, of another for ten years, the recording of sentences of death against four, and the passing of sentence of death against one, besides the condemnation of prisoners in two cases to long terms of imprisonment with hard labour, and the commitment of the person guilty of attempting to bribe the juror, in the case already mentioned, to prison for six months for his contempt." Enclosure 2. in No. 2. To His Excellency the Governor in Executive Council. Victoria, Hong Kong, February 7, 1857. WE, the undersigned, residents in this Colony, beg respectively to submit to you the following facts relative to Alum and nine other prisoners, now under detention under Ordinance 2. of 1857, and also relative to 42 other prisoners similarly detained. We submit, that the first above-mentioned class of prisoners, having been acquitted after a trial of a length unexampled in the Colony, by a majority of five jurors to one, their subsequent apprehension and detention are calculated to throw discredit on our system of administering justice in the eyes of our Chinese population, who have been led to understand that a man cannot be twice called in question for the same offence, which is in reality the case in the present instance. Furthermore, we are of opinion that prisoners who have stood their trial, and have been legally absolved from the consequences of the crime of which they are accused, should not, by law, be made responsible for any secondary consequences arising out of that accusation. We are, however, strongly of opinion, that it is absolutely necessary for the interests of this Colony that every individual connected with the Esing establishment should be compelled to absent himself from the Colony, but not by deportation, to which, under the peculiar circumstances, we object, unless voluntary banishment be not self-imposed. We therefore propose that due security be demanded for the immediate departure of all the prisoners alluded to, save and except Alum, in whose case we consider it to be necessary, not only in fairness to himself, but for the interests of many respectable inhabitants of this Colony, that a limited period of one or two months should be allowed for the settlement of his affairs, and for whom, during such limited period, and against his subsequent return, still higher securities should be obtained. The difference between deportation under Ordinance No. 2. of 1857, and the course we suggest, is such as we should hope would recommend itself to your Excellency's favourable consideration. (Signed) GEO. LYALL, J.P. H. T. DE SILVER. HENRY KINGSMILL. W. A. BowRA. WM. PROBET. WILLIAM T. BRIDGES, J. P. AND. S. DIXSON. HONG KONG. Enclosure 3. in No. 2. To His Excellency the Governor of Hong Kong in Executive Council assembled. This memorial showeth, That your memorialists, deeply regretting the recent verdict in the case of the poisoners, and dreading the deplorable consequences likely to ensue from the liberation of any portion of these culprits, who, we are given to understand, still remain in custody, humbly beg of your Excellency to enforce upon them the terms of the recent Deportation Ordinance, and with this view respectfully suggest that the prisoners be sent to some secure place in the island of Formosa. Hong Kong, 9th February 1857. (Signed) P. COHEN Encl. 3. in No. 2. (And fifty other signatures). Enclosure 4. in No. 2. Tam-Atsoi and others present a petition with 38 seals appended. Chenng Alum and others, to the number of 52 persons, having been tried before the Chief Justice, acquitted and discharged, have been seized by the police magistrate (or superintendent of police) and carried back to prison. Petitioners, hearing that Alum and the rest are about to be deported to Hainan, and being much alarmed at the rumour, have this day met, and have agreed to present to His Excellency the Governor a petition praying that Alum may be discharged, and allowed to return home, it being understood that he is prohibited from ever trading at Hong Kong again. Presented 7th February 1857. (Signed) THOMAS WADE, Chinese Secretary. Encl. 4. in No. 2. Enclosure 5. in No. 2. Tam-Atsoi and others, some sixty in all, appeal to His Excellency the Governor against the deportation of Chenng Alum and the rest of the persons imprisoned with him. The equity and humanity of the decision of the Chief Justice and the jury have been the theme of universal admiration. His Excellency the Governor's humanity is equally well known; and petitioners pray, that, if Alum be not allowed to remain at Hong Kong, and trade, his partners and others now in custody be sent home, and he himself detained some months until he shall have settled the claims of his creditors upon him, and when this is accomplished that he himself be sent home. Presented 7th February 1857. Encl. 5. in No. 2. HONG KONG. No. 3. No. 3. EXTRACT from a DESPATCH from Governor Sir JOHN BOWRING to the (No. 33.) Government Offices, Victoria, Hong Kong, February 14, 1857. (Received April 8, 1857.) "IN continuation of my Despatches, Nos. 28 and 29, of the 11th instant, I have to forward copies of two documents,-one the opinion of the Attorney (*Note. Not pre- General on the subject of the detention of Alum*,-the other a representation of sented.) a number of inhabitants of the Colony recommending that Alum be not released, and that precautions be taken to prevent his communication with other parties." Encl. in No. 3. SIR, Enclosure in No. 3. Hong Kong, February 11, 1857. To His Excellency Sir John Bowring, LL.D., &c. &c., Governor of Hong Kong, in Executive Council. WE, the undersigned residents of this Colony, beg leave with all respect to address your Excellency on a subject which affects us with the most painful apprehension. We have learnt, at once with surprise and regret, that a memorial has been presented to your Excellency, praying that a certain notorious character, by name Alum, recently prosecuted by the Crown for an attempt to destroy this whole community by poison, should be released from the second charge upon which he was so wisely reapprehended, that of being a suspicious character within the intent and scope of Ordinance No. 2. of 1857. The party in question having been tried and acquitted by a jury of our countrymen, we feel that it would be unbecoming in us to impugn the justice of their verdict; but thus much be allowed to say, that if the forms of our judicial procedure had allowed it there is abundant reason to believe that the return would have been "not proven," rather than "not guilty." we may Under these circumstances we beg leave to express our grateful sense of the wise precaution for the public safety evinced by the Executive in the reapprehension of Alum as a "suspicious character." Upon that point at least there can be no doubt whatever. The whole community suspect him. The whole community keenly dread the bare possibility of his being set at large in their midst; and your memorialists need hardly remind your Excellency that the reassurance of the public mind after the shock it has sustained, and in a crisis like the present of imminent danger, is the first duty of the Government. Your memorialists beg leave accordingly with respectful earnestness to recommend as follows, and upon the following grounds: We advise that for the present at least, and pending the discretion of the Honourable Council, the notorious and dangerous person in question be detained a prisoner in Her Majesty's gaol within this Colony, and under such restraint as shall prevent the transmission of any letter in the Chinese language to parties outside the walls, which shall not have first passed under the eye of a responsible Government interpreter. We believe Alum to be a spy and an agent of the Chinese Government, and a preeminently dangerous one, owing to his long and intimate experience of this Colony as a naval and military depôt, and his knowledge of the many vulnerable points which our position presents to a persevering and insidious enemy, whose agencies of warfare are incendiarism, poison, and assassination. We thus feel ourselves surrounded by unknown dangers; a feeling which would be intensely aggravated were this suspicious character set at large in the midst of us, or even deported to any point in the neighbouring seas from which he could possibly make his way back to China during the existence of the present crisis. |