punifhment, yet it never entirely excufes the offender. If.a
man lhould kill another by an unforefeen and unavoidable accident,
his life is forfeited by the law, and however favourable
the circumftances may appear in behalf o f the criminal, the
Emperor alone is invefted with the power of remitting the fentence,
a power which he very rarely if ever exercifes to
the 'extent o f -a full pardon but, on many occafions, to a
mitigation o f the puniihment awarded by law. Striftly fpeak-
insr. no fentence o f death can be carried into O’ execution until . it<
has been ratified by the monarch. Yet in ftate crimes, or in
ads o f great atrocity, the viceroy o f a province fometimes takes
upon himfelf to order fummary puniihment, and prompt execution
has been in.fli£ted on foreign criminals at Canton when
guilty only o f homicide. Thus, about the beginning o f the laft
century, a man belonging to Captain Shelvocke had the mii—
fortune to kill a Chinefe on the river. The corpfe was laid before
the door o f the Englilh fa&ory, and the firft perfon that
name out, who happened to be one o f the fupercargoes, was
feized and carried as a prifoner into the city, nor would they
confent to his releafe till the criminal was given up, whom, after
a ihort inquiry, they ftrangled. The recent affair o f the
■unfortunate gunner is well known. An affray happened in Macao
a few years ago, in which a Chinefe was killed by the Por-
tuguefe. A peremptory demand was made for one o f the latter,
to expiate the death o f the former. The government o f
this place, either unable or unwilling to fix on the delinquent,
propofed terms o f compromife, which were rejected and force
was threatened to be ufed. There happened to be a merchant
from Manilla then refiding at Macao, a man o f excellent character,
radter, who had long carried on a commerce between the two
ports. This unfortunate man was feleCted to be the innocent
victim to appeafe the rigour o f Chinefe juftice, and he was immediately
ftrangled *.
The procefs o f every trial for criminal offences, o f which the
puniihment is capital, muft be tranfmitted to Pekin, and fubmit-
* Various accidents having happened at different times to Chinefe fubje&s in the
port of Canton, which have generally led to difagreeable difcuflions with the Chinefe
government, the fuperpargoes of the Eaft India Company thought proper, 011 a late
occafion o f a perfon being wounded by a fhot from a Britiih fhip o f war, to make
application for an extract from the criminal code of laws relating to homicide, in order
to have the fame tranilated into Engliih, and made public. This extra# confifted
o f the following articles :
1. A man who kills another on the fuppofition o f theft, ihall be ftrangled, according
to the law of homicide committed in an affray.
2. A man who fires at another with a mufquet, and kills him thereby, ihall be beheaded,
as in cafes o f wilful murder. I f the fufferer be wounded, but not mortally,
the offender ihall be fent into exile.
3. A man who puts to death a criminal-who had been apprehended, and made no
refiftance, ihall be ftrangled, according to thelawagainft homicide committed in
an affray.
4. A man who falfely accufes an innocent perfon o f theft (in cafes o f greateft criminality)
is guilty o f a capital offence; in all other cafes the offenders, whether principals
or acceffaries, ihall be fent into exile.
5. A man who wounds another unintentionally ihall be tried according to the law
refpe&ing blows given in an affray, and the puniihment rendered more or lefs fe-
vere, according to the degree o f injury fuftained.
6. A man who, intoxicated with liquor, commits outrages againft the laws, ihall be
exiled to a defert country, there to remain in a ftate o f fervitude.
In this clear and decifive manner are puniihments awarded fo r every clafs of
crimes committed in fociety; and it was communicated to the Engliih fa&ory from
the viceroy, that on no confideration was it left in the breaft o f the judge to extenuate
o r to exaggerate the fentence, whatever might be the rank, chara&er, orftation of
the delinquent.
3 b tea