However, this is not considered of the least importance, for, after betrothal, the woman never having been asked her consent or refusal, belongs to the man to whom she has been betrothed, so much so indeed, that if she die ere the marriage is completed, her body is handed over to the family into which she was to marry, for burial.
To return to this particular case it would seem that after Consul Robertson had declined to interfere (Vide S.C.N 1888) on the application of this Government, a communication reaching him from the Vice Roy asking practically for the rendition of the Compradore, who had resided here for twenty-two years, and had committed a criminal offence, he says, "I should be glad to be of any assistance I could in representing his (i.e., the Compradore's) case in the proper quarter."
Thus, at the instance of the Viceroy, though not on the application of this Government, the Consul is ready to lend his good offices towards effecting a settlement of the case.
Further enquiry invited, as it were, by the Consul, takes place, and the Compradore's daughter asserts before the Governor and afterwards on more than one occasion before myself, that she is of her own accord unwilling to marry U Po Saw, on whose behalf the Consul had written. Still, knowing the feeling among Chinese Merchants and Compradores here, I exerted what little influence I possessed and saw all the parties concerned on several occasions.
Meanwhile, U So Saw had (for I afterwards learnt what occurred on good authority) interviews with the daughter of the Compradore.