Though the ends of justice will be
Equally answered, I cannot but look
upon
this
as
a breach of good faith,
and shall be more cautious than
ever as to the delivery of prisoners
to the authorities on the mainland.
An attempt has been lately made, evidently for the express purpose of trying my firmness on this question of jurisdiction, and there is every presumption that the accused person is perfectly innocent. An application was some time since made to Major Faine, the Chief Magistrate by the Commanding Officer at Kowloon to send over a principal inhabitant of one of our Hongkong villages,
to be tried
on an accusation
of Piracy. As there was no evidence whatever against the man, Major Faine very properly refused to send him, after arrest and examination, and referred the question to me. I returned for answer that by the Treaty an accused person could be delivered up only
on
"Proof or admission of his guilt." This person,
moreover,
was not a refugee from the Chinese side, but an old inhabitant of Hongkong
IDEX