ན་ཡ="---------------"
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of the French ship' Nouvelle Penelope," and it appearing to me, upon investigation of the case, that there is cause to believe that the said Defendant is a subject of China, and has committed the said crimes against the laws of China by feloniously seizing the said ship at sea, and by murdering the captain and certain of the crew of the said ship on the 4th October last past at sea; and, further, that after the commission of the said crime, did feloniously seize a boat belonging to the said ship, and land at a place called Pakha,' in Chinese territory, on the 11th October aforesaid, and it was thereupon adjudged that the said Defendant, for the said offence, should be committed to gaol for detention pending the receipt of orders from Hia Excellency the Lieutenant- Governor as to his further disposal.
"These are therefore to command you, the said constable, to take the said Defendant and safely to convey to the said gaol, and there to deliver him to the said superintendent or keeper, together with this precept; and I do hereby command you the said superintendent or keeper to receive the said Defendant into your custody in the said gaol, and there to imprison him as aforesaid.
Given under my hand and seal at Victorià aforesaid, this 7th day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
(L.S.)
(Signed)
C. MAY,
Police Magistrate."
This warrant was issued under an Ordinance of the Colony No. 2, of 1850. By the IXth Article of the Supplementary Treaty of Nankin, dated the 8th October, 1843, called the Treaty of the Bogue, it was agreed that, if lawless natives of China having committed crimes or offences against their own Government shall flee to Hong Kong, a communi- cation shall be made to the proper English officer that the said criminals and offenders may be seized, and in proof or admission of their guilt be delivered up. Ordinance No. 2, of 1850, was passed by the Legislative Council of the Colony and the material parts of it were as follows
*Whereas, by the Treaties between Great Britain and China, provision is made for the rendition for trial to Officers of their own country of such subjects of China as have committed crimes
or offences against their own Government, and afterwards taken refuge in Hong Kong.
I. Be it therefore enacted and ordained by his Excellency the Governor of Hong Kong, with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, that if any complaint or information or any communication by any Officer of the Chinese Government be made or forwarded to any magistrate or Court (other than the Supreme Court) desiring the arrest of any person being a Chinese subject, and then within the said Colony of Hong Kong, and alleging that such person has committed, or is charged with having committed, any crime or offence against the laws of China, or if it shall appear in the course of any investigation before such
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Magistrate or Court that any person, being a subject of China,
has committec any such crime or offence, it shall and may be lawful for such Magistrate or Court to issue a eummons or warrant for the appearance or apprehension ef such person; or, if such person be already in custody, it shall be lawful to detain such person, and to investigate the alleged crime or offence in the same manner as if such person were charged with a crime or indictable offence committed within the said Colony.
"III. And be it further enacted and ordained, That if at the close of the said investigation it shall appear to the said Magis- trate or Court that such person as aforesaid is a subject of China, and that there is probable cause for believing that the said person
has committed such crime or offence, it shall and may be lawful for such Magistrate or Court to commit such person for safe custody to prison, and to direct the Gaoler to detain such person in prison until the said Gauler shall receive some order or orders from the Governor of Hong Kong relative to the further detention, discharge, or transmission of such person to the nearest Chinese authorities, or to such other Chinese authorities as to the said Governor shall seem fit; and the said Magistrate or Court shall, upon making such committal as aforesaid, transmit to the said Governor of Hong Kong the Minutes of such investigation, and all documents in his or its possession connected with the charge against such person, in order that such person may be dealt with according to the Treaties aforesaid."
By the Treaty of Tientsin made the 29th June, 1858, new provisions were made with regard to the extradition of criminals from the Colony of Hong Kong to the Chinese Government in substitution of those of the Treaty of the Bogue, which was abrogated.
The depositions taken before the magistrates and the documents before bim having reference to the committal of Kwok-a-Sing, were afterwards brought before the Supreme Court in obedience to a writ of certiorari. The depositions contained the evidence
of Wong Akee and Chun Assan, two Chinese who had been passengers, and of Paul Verret and Joseph Simon, two Frenchmen, who had been seamen on board the French ship "Nouvelle Pénélope" which left Macao on the 1st October, 1870, with 310 Chinese All the coolies on board on a voyage to Peru. coolies were examined by the Portuguese authorities at Macao before they embarked to ascertain that they went voluntarily, but nevertheless Wong Akee said that he was kidnapped, which he explained to mean that he had been persuaded by a fraud to go to the barracoon, and that he told the authorities he was willing to go to Peru contrary to the truth, because, from the threats of the Chinese who brought him there,