SEPLEIENTE.
jesty's Cone at the place for
eror's stall under extreme provocat
01 Letter will reference thereld Davis has just been sent to me by which Lam mũi. prized and grieved to find His Excellency decifios nie of having excited the frightful tumult and Bloodshed in which three Chinese were killed, and by which the peaceful rela
Countries are still endangered, an accusation which I can hardly suppose His Excellency would have Brought against me, had he been thoroughly acquain- ted with all the circumstances of the case, and an opportunity been afforded me of producing Eri. dence to disprove the Premises he has assumed.
Course
in bna returned to me intimauin & that the de of proceedings to address your Ex cellency direct, and therefore I now have the honor
Find that your Preslere yansı directing LM Consul to retain the 2ine levied. on me confessedly in error, and not according to your Excellency's instructions. It is dificult for Ine to surmise at what period, your Excellency instructions to fine me under Ordinance No. 5 for an Infraction of the Treaty, reached 1, M. Consul, since bis sentence under Ordinance No. 2, Was passed on the 24th of September, and on the 6th of Excellency confirmation of that sentence, which October, be informed me he had then received your however, your Excellency states was not transmit
As the Mail leaves this evening, I can only hum bly request Your Lordship will suspend your opin ion of the care until I can forward a complete state- ment of the Facts, which I shall have the honor of doing by the following Mail-I have the honor to be, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient Hum-ted by him until the 16th of the same month how ble Servant.
[signed] C. 8. COMPTON
RESOLUTIONS.
Ist. Proposed by Mr Edger and seconded by Mr 11. 11. Smith.
That this meeting having had submitted to it the whole of the documents connected with the recent pro- ceedings against Mr Compton, and having attentively considered the same. is of opinion that Mr Compton has been irregularly and unfairly tried; without af ficient evidence, unjustly sentenced; and illegally pu- nished under an inapplicable Ordinance.
2nd. Porposed by Mr Church and seconded by Mr Dunlop.
That the attempt to sustain the illegal conviction under authority of another Ordinance No. 5, is arbi- trary and oppressive, in as much as Ordinance No. 5. only gives the Superintendent power to punish offences against the Treaty not punishable by the Laws of England, and the offence charged against Mr Compton being a simple misdemeanour punishable by the Law of England, does not come within the scope and mean- ing of that ordinance.
ever, after the sentence had bean executed it seems to have been discovered that the Ordinance No. 2 of 1811, did not justly It, certain important forms not having been complied with, and the forma en- joined by No. 7, also not having been observed Ordinance, your Excellency instructed H. M. and it being necessary to vindicate the net by some Consul to declare the sentence to have been intend. Ordinance to my case, your Excellency accuses me ed to be under Ordinance No. 5. To apply that of having infringed the 18th Article of Schedulo accompanying it, according to which you state it was my duty, having a caisse of complaint, to re- present the same to Her Majesty's Consul, and assume that I did not pursue that course, by which it appears you are very imperfectly acquainted with the facts of the case communicated to Mr Mac Bregor in my letter of 27th July, which has been so improperly used as evidence against me, for to him, who passed by at the time of the occurrence, I did complain of an annoyance which 1, and my Brother Merchants had frequently before brought to his notice. I maintain however, that the clause of the That it is the opinion of this meeting that the of
Regulations cited is inapplicable to my case the fence charged against Mr Compton is not, and cannot
words are whenever a British subject has reason be held an Infraction of the Treaty, nor of the 13th.
"to complain of Chinese, he must first proceed to Article of the Regulations of Trade as declared to be
"the Consulate and state his grievance" the mean- by His Excellency Sir Jonh Davis, in as much as the ing clearly being in Commercial disputes or diffe. clause cited by His Excellency, refers to Commercial differences or disputes only, the marginal abstract com.of the words is established by the marginal abstract. rences only, and that this is the correct interpretation firms the interpretation of the clause, and the distine tion between commercial disputes and personal wrongs is clearly drawn in the concluding sentences of the Ar- ticle which declare that Criminals shall be punished according to Laws hereafter to be enacted.
4th Proposed by Mr Ponder, and seconded by Mr Ryder.
3rd. Proposed by Mr J. Mackrill Smith, and se- condely Mr Worthington.
That the Laws of England established under Ordi- unce No. 1 and the Laws us enacted under Ordinance No. 7 are amply sufficient to punish such an offence as that charged against Mr Comptom, and that as or- dinance No. 7 provides for grave offences a fine equal in amount to that indicted by His Excellency, there is neither reason, necessity, nor excuse for Hia Excel- lency baving put aside the Law, and set above it his arbitrary will
5th. Proposed by Mr Birley, and seconded by Mr Ripley
'hat the justice of the proceedings is aggravated because by the course unred the accused of nipotentiary's warrant, while he would appeal to the Supreme Court of Hongkong had the proper forms of Law been observed.
6th Proposed by Mr Jardine, and seconded by Me Lyall
Disputes to the settled, if possible, amicably by arbration. " The Article goes on topoint out the manner in which representations to the Chinese Go- vernment are to be made by Merchants, and finally the distinction between Commercial disputes, and personal wrongs is clearly drawn in the concluding Sentence which declares regarding the punishment "of English Criminals, the English Government wil "enact the laws necessary to attain that end, and "the Consul will be empowered to put them in "force.".
.....
Those laws have been enacted, and Ordinance No. 7 of 1844, is no doubt the law under which I ought to have been tried, and which repeals all former enactments inconsistent with it! Further, the power granted to your Excellency under the Ordinance of Sir Henry Pottinger, No 6 Empowers of England-the offence charged against me cannot be sossed. I deny respectfully, but strongly, that there was a full, and fair enquiry into may case, it was either decified without evidence, or upon evidence which H. M. Consul gave me no oppor tunity of disproving, and of which he has declined to furnish me with a Copy.
From the manner in which the trifling offence which alone can be proved against me, has been dragged into connection with the alarming riot of the 8th July, it would be supposed by any one unacqua. inted with the facts, that these events immediately followed my act, and not that the riot did not take place until four days afterwards, during which time I had repeatedly passed the same place unmo. lested! yet it is gravely stated that the upsetting of a fruit stall on the 4th of July was an infraction of the Treaty between Great Britain and China, and in four days time brought forth riot, and bloodshed! I now, Sir, take leave of this discussion, solemnly
That this meeting doge not desire to deny that a pi- nishable offence was committed by Mr Compton on the 4th July in taking the Law into his own bands, although certainly under circumstances of provocation, but it is the opinion of this meeting, that proceedings should have been immediately taken thereupon, in which case the most trifling fine which could have been inflicted, would have amply met the justice of the case. And this meeting is further of opinion, that If the offence committed by Mr. Compton was of the grave character since attributed to it, Her Majesty's Consul should have immediately called upon him to answer for conduct of which the Consul's presence on the spot made him fully cognizant.
7th. Proposed by Mr Sears, and
and seconded by Mr. Ellice
That the meeting solemnly protests against all the proceedings of the British authorities in this matter, balding the persons, fortunes and character of Her Ma-protesting against the infringement of the liberty of jesty's subjects in China, unsafe under the premises.
8th. Proposed by Mr. Silverlock, seconded by Mr Skimmer
That Petitions to Her Majesty in Council, and to
the Houses of Parliment be drawn up, Embodying the foregoing Resolutions.
9th. Proposed by Mr Blenkin and seconded by Mr
Gilman.
That this meeting offers to Mr. Comptom the ex- pression of their sympathy under the cruel and unjust proceedings of the authorities against him: aggravated as his injuries are by the publication of Sir John Davis's dispatch of the 22nd October, on the eve of the departure of the Ooverland Mail, whereby Mr Comp ton was deprived of the power of exposing by the same. opportunity the fallacies and misrepresentations, in the
Baid document,
10th. Proposed by Mr Gilman, and seconded by Mr J. M Smith.
That the foregoing Resolutions, and the Correspon dence to which they refer, be published in the Hong kong Newspapers.
Present 43 Persons, representing 28 British Firms,
(Signed) A. CAMPBELL
Chairman,
Canton, 5th November, 1846,
To His Excellency,
Sir J. F. Davis, Bart., &c., &
H Mar Plenipotentiary, and Superintendent of Trade, Hongkong.
Six-1 have the honor to acknowledge receipt of a communication made to me by Her Majesty'
the subject in my person. The Law gave H. M. Consul full power to treat my case, but left me an appeal against injustice, and the opportunity of clearing my character of the stigma cast upon it by the infliction of the highest pecuniary penalty the Law would warrant; Your Excellency has set the Law aside, and to justify the illegal sentence passed on me, have aggravated iny offence by imputing to me without evidence, and on a false assumption, charges of a nature repugnant to my feelings. In thus assailing my private character in a public des patch published on the day before the departure of the Mail for England, I was precluded from publish- ing my defence by the same opportunity Your Ex. cellency has thus addel mjury to injustice, and the conventional forms of Office for the Regulation of Correspondence with public Officers alone prevent me from giving utterance to my outraged feelings on the subject. I have the honor to be, Your Ex- celly's; most obedient, humble servant,
CHAS: SP COMPTON.
Edited Printed and Fablished by Jon CARR, At The Friend of China and Hong kong Gazed Printing Office: GOUGH STREET
VICTORIA, HONGKONG, 1846,