CO129-017 - Sir John Davis - 1846 [7-12] — Page 56

34

on the subret.

With reference tothis Report, it soms perfectly impossible, in the first place, that the fraud could have been committed at Canton, before the Freasure was delivered by the Commissariat Department into the charge of the Navy,

From the moment it was received from the Chinese, examined and weighed, until shipped in the boat at a few yards distance, it was never out of sight of the English Officers and the Chinese Mandarins who supervised the operation . All responsibility, therefore, on the part of the Chinese Government, or the Commissariat Department, seems out of the question.

I feel equally persuaded from the

evidence, and under the circumstances, that

the fraud could not have been perpetrated in the Chop-boat, in,

u going

down to the

Castor,

Castor, and that the author of it was not

a

Chinese.

The guard of

marines was seated

Q2

on the Treasure during the whole passage, distance in fact of only 10 miles . The false

ar

boy was fastened with English nails, and marked with what has been proved infallible test to be English Ink. The Chinese characters on the true borses, being the most obvious and the most easy of imitation to a Chinese, are not attempted on the false

one . This appears to me conclusive, with reference to a people who are such exact and such artful imitators. The English ink alone is I think sufficient The boy is of that description of

- chest which may be seen,

bying

old money about in.

- any merchant's promises at

Hongkong or Singapore, and could have been procured by any

one intent on the

fraud