(20464/10).
FOREIGN
OFFICE
257
The Magistrate would scarcely have ventured to disre-
gard such a warning, or to plead that without torture
he was unable to deal adequately with the offence,
inasmuch as the acts admitted by the accused would in
themselves justify a heavy sentence under Chinese law.
Had Mr. Ross adopted this course, Sir Edward Grey
fails to see how it could possibly have been alleged
to
against the Hongkong Government that they were,
quote Mr. Ross's own words, "directly instrumental in
"procuring the infliction of severe physical torture*.
Had the Magistrate found difficulty in acting in ac-
cordance with such advice, the matter might have been
explained to the Viceroy through His Majesty's Consul
General at Canton, and the British authorities at Hong-
kong would then at least have had the satisfaction of
knowing that everything that was possible had been
done to ensure the accused man having a fair trial.
The suggestion that the appearance of a British
official in a Chinese Court tends to make the Govern-
ment he represents instrumental in procuring the in-
fliction