any person being a British subject who may be competent to give evidence as to the guilt or innocence of the party so charged, to appear and give evidence, and to punish the wilful default of any such person to appear and give evidence, after reasonable notice of the day of the hearing of such charge, by fine or imprisonment, in like manner as provided in the Article XVI of this Order; and shall examine every such witness in the presence and hearing of the party accused, and afford the accused party all reasonable facility for cross-examining such witness; and shall cause the deposition of every such witness to be reduced to writing, and the same to be read over, and, if necessary, explained to the party accused, together with any other evidence that may have been urged against him during the course of the inquiry; and shall require such accused party to defend himself against the charge brought against him, and, if necessary, advise him of the legal effects of any voluntary confession, and shall take the evidence of any witness whom the accused party may tender to be examined in his defence; and every witness, being a British subject, so examined as atoresaid, in case of wilful false testimony, may be convicted and punished for the crime of wilful and corrupt perjury: and when the case has been fully inquired of, and the innocence or guilt of the person accused established to the satisfaction of the Consul, the Consul, as the case may be, shall either discharge the party accused from custody, if satisfied of his innocence, or proceed to pass sentence on bim, if satisfied of his guilt. And it shall be lawful for any Consul, having in- quired of, tried, and determined, in the manner aforesaid, any charge which may be brought before him, to award to the party convicted any amount of punishment not exceeding imprisonment for one month, or a fine of two hundred dollars.
Cases in which As- sessors are io be sum-
moned on the trial of crimes and offences committed by British subjects.
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XIX. And it is further ordered, That if the crime or of- fence whereof any person, being a British subject, may be ac- cused before any of Her Majesty's Consuls as aforesaid, shall appear to such Consul to be of such a nature as, if proved, would not be adequately punished by the infliction of such punishment as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for such Consul to summon two, or not more than four, British subjects of good repute residing within his district, to sit with him as assessors for inquiring of, trying, and determining the charge against such person;
and the Consul who shall try any such charge with the assistance of as- sessors as aforesaid, shall, if he is himself convinced of the guilt of the party accused, have power to award any amount of punishment not exc.eding imprisonment for twelve months, or a fine of one thousand dollars; and the assessors aforesaid shall have no authority to decide on the innocence or guilt of the party accused, or on the amount of punishment to be awarded to him on conviction; but in the event of the said assessors, or any or either of them, dissenting from the conviction of, or from the amount of punishment awarded to the accused party, the said assessors, or any or either of them, shall be authorized to record in the minutes of the proceedings the grounds on which the said assessors, or any or either of them, may so dissent; and the Consul shall forthwith report to Her Majesty's Chief Superintendent the fact that such dissent has been so recorded in the minutes of the proceedings, and shall as soon as possible lay before him copies of the whole of the depositions and proceedings, with the dissent of the assessor or assessors recorded therein: and it shall be lawful there- upon for Her Majesty's Chief Superintendent, by warrant under his hand and seal, addressed to the Consul by whom the case was determined, to confirm, or vary, or remit altogether, as to him may seem fit, the punishment awarded to the party accu- sed; and such Consul shall give immediate effect to the injunction of any such warrant.
Consuls may award deportation on second conviction.
XX. And in order more effectually to repress crimes and offences on the part of British subjects within the dominions of the Emperor of China, it is further ordered, That it shall and