they dare not
for
their lives' commission.
On their arrival
I put it to paper. A written concession of such a point is out of the question, but the virtual
possession of the right and practice, on my part in this Colony, is proved by the inclosed list of 94 Prisoners in the jail, most of them Chinese, sentenced (for crimes of all grades from Piracy down to theft) to punishments of
various degrees from imprisonment, with flogging and hard labour, to the lowest penalty. I may observe that for Piracy the
punishments
are much too
light; and
that for the Chinese, instead of death, I should be disposed to adopt transportation
for life to our penal settlements, as a most powerful deterrent from crimes
of atrocious violence.
With reference to the case of the Pirate T(h)intae, noticed in
my
Despatch No. 31 of the 25th of June, I have received the inclosed from the Imperial Commissioner Keying, in which he altogether waives the question of sending him back according to the express agreement,
and observes that he will be Executed with the other offenders..
Though
INDEX.