Admiral
46
Agent
Goga
Foreig Office
been punished, by decapitation. But it appears to Lord Palmerston that it is scarcely consistent with European feeling that British Ships of War should be capturing large numbers of Chinese, and should be handing them over to the Chinese Authorities to be punished invariably by death; while at the same time it seems to be absolutely necessary that the system of piracy now prevailing off these coasts should be put down.
Lord Palmerston considers that it might perhaps be possible to prevail upon the Chinese Government to consent to sentence to hard labour for life such Pirates as may not be proved to have committed murder or other acts of violence which would justly render them liable to capital punishment, and that such Pirates handed over (when taken by a British Ship of War) might be carried away to undergo their punishments in a British settlement.
Lord Palmerston would be glad if Lord Grey would inform him whether