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premises which they had marked. There was a rumour of a scheme to re-enact the gunpowder plot by means of a tunnel under the cathedral, when the governor, the bishop, and the congregation were to be blown up. The facts of this case, however, if there were any, I could never satisfactorily ascertain. The most successful exploit of this kind was perpetrated so late as January 1865, by a gang who tunneled by the hard labour of several weeks right under the treasury of the Central Bank of India, and carried off upwards of $100,000 in gold bullion and notes. In 1863 twenty-two prisoners made their escape from the gaol by tunneling under it into a drain; and not long after, I did the service to the Government of disconcerting a scheme on a larger scale, by which within a few hours, eighty-nine men would have got away. Time will not permit me to go into the details of the affair. The secrecy, skill, and perseverance with which the mining operations had been conducted were astonishing, and made me think it was a pity the ability of the scoundrels could not have been utilized in Cornwall and other parts of Great Britain.
At the subject of piracy I can only glance. That it was for many years a terrible evil I need not say. There is no doubt, I think, that the bands who attempted the violent burglaries of which I have spoken were mainly composed of pirates, and that when the land was no longer safe for them, they confined their operations to the sea. Notwithstanding many successful expeditions of men-of-war and gun-boats against their boats, fleets, and strongholds, the thing continued. Not only were native craft the object of their prey, but foreign vessels of small size, brigs and barques, trading along the coast, repeatedly fell victims to them. The gallows found constant employment, and the most wretched experience of my life in Hong Kong was that of visiting pirates and other murderers under sentence of death in the gaol. With the exception of a few who were caught red-handed in the act, I knew only one case in which the criminal made confession of his guilt. Things are now much better in this respect. Burglaries of a milder type occasionally occur on the island, and we hear also of piracies on the waters; but as compared with former years they are both rare. Piracy received a heavy blow from the vigorous measures of Sir Richard MacDonnell at the beginning of his incumbency as Governor, and still more effective against it have been, I conceive, the organization of the armed cruisers in the
THE COLONY OF HONG KONG
179
premises which they had marked. There was a rumour of a scheme to re-enact the gunpowder plot by means of a tunnel under the cathedral, when the governor, the bishop, and the congregation were to be blown up. The facts of this case, however, if there were any, I could never satisfactorily ascertain. The most successful exploit of this kind was perpetrated so late as January 1865, by a gang who tunneled by the hard labour of several weeks right under the treasury of the Central Bank of India, and carried off upwards of $100,000 in gold bullion and notes. In 1863 twenty-two prisoners made their escape from the gaol by tunneling under it into a drain; and not long after, I did the service to the Government of disconcerting a scheme on a larger scale, by which within a few hours, eighty-nine men would have got away. Time will not permit me to go into the details of the affair. The secrecy, skill, and perseverance with which the mining operations had been conducted were astonishing, and made me think it was a pity the ability of the scoundrels could not have been utilized in Cornwall and other parts of Great Britain.
At the subject of piracy I can only glance. That it was for many years a terrible evil I need not say. There is no doubt, I think, that the bands who attempted the violent burglaries of which I have spoken were mainly composed of pirates, and that when the land was no longer safe for them, they confined their operations to the sea. Notwithstanding many successful expedi- tions of men-of-war and gun-boats against their boats, fleets, and strongholds, the thing continued. Not only were native craft the object of their prey, but foreign vessels of small size, brigs and barques, trading along the coast, repeatedly fell victims to them. The gallows found constant employment, and the most wretched experience of my life in Hong Kong was that of visiting pirates and other murderers under sentence of death in the gaol. With the exception of a few who were caught red-handed in the act, I knew only one case in which the criminal made confession of his guilt. Things are now much better in this respect. Burglaries of a milder type occasionally occur on the island, and we hear also of piracies on the waters; but as compared with former years they are both rare. Piracy received a heavy blow from the vigorous measures of Sir Richard MacDonnell at the beginning of his incumbency as Governor, and still more effective against it have been, I conceive, the organization of the armed cruisers in the
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