Wait one moment. ~
On the other hand, I think it my duty to remark that there is reason to fear that the promise not to apply torture is purely theoretical, - and I cannot for one moment believe that it will ever be given effect later on the part of even the highest Chinese Official not to apply torture when its application is prescribed by the Chinese Penal Code, is, in my belief, illegal, and as such would not, in the eye of Chinese law be, I imagine, binding upon the person who undertakes it.
I can have no doubt, therefore, that if the thirteen accused persons, whose extradition is now asked for (and who may all be innocent of the charge laid against them), be handed over to their own Authorities, they will be subjected to the same judicial torture they would as a matter of course have had to undergo if they had been taken before their own Courts in the ordinary process of Chinese laws, and unless a British Officer is allowed to have constant access to them after their rendition and to be present throughout their trial, I do not believe that the ordinary process of Chinese law, of which torture is perhaps the leading feature, will in their case be in any degree departed from.
At the same time, in stating this,