CO129-324 - Governor Nathan - 1904 [10-12] — Page 556

Enclosure 2.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1904.

The terrible story unfolded at the

last Assizes before the Chief Jur

tice and a jury, resulting, as it did in sentence of death being passed upon three Europeans, has painfully affected the imagination of the

Colony. It is stated that never before has the Supreme Court of Hongkong been called upon to paes capital sentence upon a European; and however this may be, it is cer- tain that never before has a crime been brought to light in the Colony of which the details are so sordid

and so revolting.

The jury coupled with their ver-

dict a recommendation to mercy, and it has been suggested that effect ought to be given to this reconumen- dation on the grounds that the cri- minals are Europeans, It is im-

possible to assent to any such sug-

gestion. If white men are found capable of the commission of crimes

of peculiar enormity they must be prepared to pay the full penalty of their actions. Nothing can be con-

ceived more calculated to lower the

prestige of the European in the eyes

of the Oriental than to allow the impression to prevail that the for- mer is entitled to perpetrate the

most heinous of offences without in-

curring punishment exactly as heavy as that which is meted out to the

Asiatic criminal, There may, of course, be other grounds upon which the Government may find themselves justified in giving effect to the re-

commendation of the jury in respect

of these unhappy men. It is always revolting to humanity to enforce the i uttermost penalty of the law in the case of a youth. In the present case one of the three prisoners appeared

to those who saw them in court to

be little more than a boy, and it is hardly too much to say that none of

them seemed old enough to appre- ciate the awfulness of the position

in which they were placed. It is satisfactory to reflect that the sen- tence will not be executed without

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the approval of the Govenor, and that in giving his approval or in extending the mercy of the Crown towards one or more of the prison ers His Excellency will have the advantage of the advice of those most qualified to assist him in de- ciding a most difficult problem. Apart altogether from the question of the fate of the guilty men them f selves, upon which nothing more can be said, there are certain lessons arising out of the awful story of their crime which it is to be hoped

will not be allowed to

pass

noticed.

Lin-

In the first place, there is the obvious danger of allowing sampana

man (11

JAN 05

to ply as they habitually do during! all hours of the night without having at least one able-bodied board. At present it is possible for any of the beachcombers who infest our streets, and who may be drawn from the very scum of the foreign seafaring class, to take a sampan from any of the wharfs, push off into the middle of the harbour, and find himself with a few Chinese women and girls completely at his mercy. The wonder is that a number of crimes have not already arisen from the existence of such a state of things, and it is obvious that the sooner it is put an end to the better. Secondly, it is impossible to deny that, as the Attorney General stated during the recent trial, the beach- comber class are fast becoming, if they have not already become, a curse and a menace to the whole community. It was urged by one of the counsel who appeared on behalf of the prisoners that Hongkong offers to these unfortunate men nothing but starvation, and that therefore she has no right to com- plain if they find themselves driven into criminal courses. But it is im- possible to cite a single instance in which any of the class has actually suffered from starvation, and, as a matter of fact, they are all provided. with bed and board at the House