July 9, 1898.J
,
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
by Your Sovereign and to commute the sentence passed upon Ozorio to such lessor sentence as you in your wisdom may think fit. And your petitioners as in duty bound will ever
pray, &c., &c.
THE CONTAGIOUS DISCASES ORDINANCA,
Ph.D.,
and Helen Roansevelle, who was a glorious prerogative of mercy entrusted to you and spiritual superintendence over clergy of daughter of Col. James P. Roungevelle. Though comparatively a young man Mr. Wildman has already made his mark, as the following brilliant record will show:-Educated Genesee Weslyan Seminary, Lima, N.Y., and Univer- sity of Syracuse; editor and manager of Idaho Statesman (Boise) 1888-90; member of Idaho Delegation to Congress, October, 1889-June 1890; U. S. Consul, Singapore, 1890-92 and Commissioner Smithsonian Institution for Malay Peninsula and Siam.; U. S. Consal, Barmen, Germany, 1892-93.; U. S. World's Fair Commissioner, Chicago, 1893; editor and President Overland Monthly, San Francisco, Cal., 1894-97; U. S. Consul, Hongkong, China, 1897; Director Geographical Society California,
THE CONDEMNED MAN OZORIO.
A REPRIEVE REFUSED.
DATE OF EXECUTION FIXED.
of
meeting of the Executive Council was held ou the 1st July. His Excel- lency the Acting Governor, Major-General Black, presiding, for the purpose of considering a petition largely signed by members of the Portuguese community praying that the sen- tence of death passed upon Joan de Matta Ozorio for the wilful murder of Francisco Xavier de Jesus on the evening of May 9th be commuted. The Council, however, decided that the law must take its course, and Monday, 11th July, was fixed upou as the date of the execution.
The following is a copy of the petition To His Excellency Major-General Wilsone Black, C.B.. The Officer A ministering the Government of the Colony of Hongkong.
The Humble Petition of the under- signed, members of the Portuguese Residents in Hongkong MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH :- 1.-That the Portuguese Community resident in Hongkong, whether subjects of Portugal or born or naturalized in Hongkong, have been, at all times, a most peaceful and law-abiding com- munity and have contributed, in some degree, to the progress and prosperity of Hongkong.
2.-That crimes of violence in every form are very rare in the colony, and have been at all times foreign to the habits and disposition of the Portuguese section of the community, among whom there has been a singular absence of such crimes.
3.-That there is no pressing necessity at the present time for any terrible example of the power of the law such as may sometimes exist and no special reason why every consideration should not be given by Your Excellency in the exercise of the prerogative of mercy vested in you by Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen Your Sovereign, to any reasonable grounds that may exist for the exercise of that prerogative in the case of Joao da Matta Ozorio lately con- victed of the wilful murder of Francisco Xavier de Jesus.
ITS RE-ENACTMENT CONTRADICTED.
[SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE “DAILY PRESS Singapore, 1st July. Association telegraphs denying that the home The London brauch of the Straits Settlements Government has sanotioned the re-enactment of the Contagious Diseases Ordinance at Hong kong.
THE NEW BISHOP: HIS STATUS, STYLE, AND TITLE.
In his monthly "Notes" for July the Rev. R. F. Cobbold, chaplain of St. John's Cathedral,
says:-
At last we are able to announce that the Archbishop has made a selection for the vacant bishopric here. We have heard privately from our new Bishop that the consecration was to and that he proposes to leave England early in take place on $. Barnabas' Day (June 11th), October, and to take up his residence at S. Paul's College as soon as possible. We shall be very glad to welcome the Bishop of Victoria in
his diocese.
"There seems to be still a doubt in some minds as to the position of an Anglican bishop in Hongkong, and the title by which he may be kuown. There is not sufficient reason for this nucertainty. The facts are clear. We think it must arise partly from some confusion between the ecclesiastical office of a bishop and the extent of his jurisdiction; partly also from an attempt to draw a distinction between one kind of bishop and another; and partly from certain facts connected with this diocese, to which we shall presently refer.
the Church of England in South America (ex- cepting the diocese of Guiana.) He is not called the Bishop of South America. ⠀⠀ We fear that when people speak of the Bishop of Victoria as being only a missionary bishop they gener ally mean that he has to do with the mission of the Church to the heathen and with nothing else. If this be so it is a great mistake, for it seems to imply either that the missionary work of the Church is of no importance to those who
Church of England is an episcopal Church. If thus speak of it, or else that they do not re- cognise the fundamental principle that
the
the Church of England in South China, is not jurisdiction is Hongkong, and the clergy of the Bishop of Victoria, Hongkong, whose
of bishops any more than there are two kinds our bishop, who is? There are not two kinds
of priests.
"And here it may be added that when a bishop resigns his sce he does not cease to be a bishop. He only ceases to exercise the functions has previously presided, and where another of his office in a certain locality, over which he bishop is, in theory if not in practice, immediately jurisdiction goes his territorial title, whether With his appointed to exercise the same. held by deed or by courtesy. He is a bishop still, and can no more revert to the limited order of a priest than a 'curate,' who on re- and-so, reverts to the more limited order of a signation of his care ceases to be vicar of so- deacon.
with the Bishopric here, the right of the Bishop "We now refer to a few facts in connection
to be called 'Bishop of Victoria,' and the sphere following paragraph from the Digest of S.P.G. of his present jurisdiction. We take the Records, quoted in the Anglican Church in the Far East' :—
'Directory of the
the Gospel appealed for funds for planting a "In 1842 the Society for the Propagation of branch of the English Church in the newly acquired settlement [of Hongkong], with a with the means of grace, but also for the more view to not merely provide the British residents
effectual introduction of Christianity into the Empire of China. During the next four years "In reality every bishop is a missionary the Society assisted in raising an endowment bishop, just as every priest is a missionary priest, for a Bishopric there. and the Church of Christ a missionary Church, 1849, the Reverend George Smith was con- On May 29th, -if it were not it would scarcely be Apostolic, secrated in Canterbury Cathedral by the title At the same time the term missionary bishop has become associated with those bishops who
of Bishop of Victoria to the spiritual oversight of Hongkong and the Consular stations or are sent out to foreign lands by one of the re-
factories in China, the primary object of the coguised missionary Societies, and paid by them, Bishopric, however, being to promote mission- for the purpose of superintending the missionary work among the natives of the Empire.' work amongst the heathen or amongst native Christians, and, of course, performing there the functious peculiar to their office. But inas- much as there will probably be in such a district a number of British residents, members of the Church of England, who may have their own priest (no matter by whom appointed) to minis. ter to them 'the Word of God and the Holy Sacraments, such a community would naturally come under the spiritual oversight of the bishop resident there. This, however, is not the case in regard to the Bishopric of Victoria, Hong. kong, where the bishop is, not sent out, nor paid by, one of the Societies, but is chosen and com- missioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury and paid out of an endowment, especially created for the purpose, and administered by the Council of the Colonial Bishoprics' Fund. To speak of 5.-That they earnestly entreat your Ex- the Bishop of Victoria as a missionary bishop' cellency with all the power of their united in this sense is manifestly incorrect; and it is prayer, for a commutation of the sentence on also inaccurate to speak of him as Bishop of Ozorio, out of consideration for his family and South China as though Hongkong were a friends, out of consideration for the Portuguese part of the Chinese Empire, or did not exist at community who will be put to shame by his all. Ou the other hand, if we consider the public execution, out of consideration for the position of an Anglican bishop in one of the criminal himself to give him time for repent-Colonial dioceses of, say, Canada or Australia ance, out of consideration for the Portuguese it is evident that within his diocese he will nation and people, the faithful allies and friends in addition to his work amongst the of Great Britain, who have abolished the death colonists, organise, and exercise episcopal control sentence among themselves, who have stipulated over, work which is purely of the nature of this Bishopric in spite of the division of the in their treaty for the extradition of criminals, evangelisation of the heathen, and the build- that no English subject given up by them shalling up of a national Christian Church; and in be subject to the penalty of death and, who will feel ever grateful, if, in the administration of public justice on a Portuguese subject who has become liable to the extreme penalty of Eng lish law, regard may bo bad to Portuguese feeling and opinion.
4.-That your petitioners view that murder with horror, and most deeply sympathise with the widow and family of the late Mr. de Jesus in their heavy loss and deep sorrow; that they admit the justice of the verdict and sentence and that they have no hope, except in the clem- ency of the Crown and of Your Excellency.
We therefore humbly pray your Excellency to be pleased to exercise in this case the
this way he is really a missionary bishop. But neither is this exactly the case of the Bishopric of Victoria, Hongkong. If we take the case of the Bishopric of the Falkland Islands (& Crown colony), which is more nearly analogous though not completely, to the Bishopric here as originally constituted, we find that the Bishop's jurisdiction is the 'Falkland Islands'
"The S.P.G. was not at that time in a position to send out one of their own men, and by the C.M.S. about five years before, became the the Rev. George Smith, who had been sent ont
first Bishop, being appointed by the Archbishop Smith resigned and the Rev. C. R. Alford was of Canterbury. After nineteen years Bishop
conseorated, and became Bishop of Victoria' with the same jurisdiction as his predecessor. Ou Bishop Alford's resignation in 1872, the large area of jurisdiction was divided into two -North China' (including that which is now called Mid China'), and Victoria,-the divid ing line being between the provinces of Fu-kien and Che-kiang and westward along latitude 28 deg. It is plain that the old name of Victoria, which had included so much, was no longer strictly applicable (though but for another circumstance it might have been made so) to the now limited area of jurisdiction; aud for this reason the original Letters Patent were revoked or rather not renewed; and a new bishop (then the Rev. J. S. Burdon) was con- secrated (1874) under the Queen's mandate to abroad.' Thus the diocese of Victoria included, officiate in one of Her Majesty's Possessions
as it still does, 'Hongkong and the clergy the Church of England in South China.
•
The original endowment was maintained for
area, and it is important to note here that in the event of any further division, as for instance the severence of jurisdiction in the Fu-kien district, we have the assurance of the Trustees (the Council of the Colonial Bishoprics' Fund) that under no circumstances will the endowment of the see of Victoria, Hongkong, be in any way alienated. This is supported by the statement of the late Archbishop of Can- terbury that the income of the present Bishop
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