unjuft, becaufe it puniihes an innocent perfon. The lawgiver
o f Ifrael, in order to intimidate his ftiff-necked and rebellious
lubjcits, found it expedient to threaten the vifitation o f God on
the
(ion of wild brails bj; night, inducing the accufed to fire towards fields or tenements,
fo as to wound a man mortally by the miichance.
Should .a ftrrdt examination admit o f this interpretation o f the offence, the fentence
may be awarded according to the .law, .immediately applicable to -the fubjeit, and
not in conformity with the law againii homicide committed in an affray. A s thè
life or death of the offender reds on the preference to be ftewn towards either of
thofe expofitions o f the cafe, it is refolved to hold any immediate decifion as premature,
and we iiTue our direitions to the faid fub-viceroy to revife the prior decifion ;
and, with the a (bilance o f a renewed inveftigation, finally t© determine and report to
us the fentence which he may conceive moll; agreeable to the fpirit o f our laws.
After a fécond inveftigatiòn, and reconfidecatàon o f the affair, the fub-vi'ceroy
fg.nt in the following report to the fupreme tribunal : Pu'rfuant to; the order
for revifal iffued by the fupreme criminal tribunal, She~Jò~pao has been again examined
at the bar, and depoies, That on hearing a noife in the com fields, he
conceived it to proceed from thieves, and Æalled out in confequence, but, receiving
no anfwer, and finding the noile gradually to approach him, he then
fufpeéfed it to have arifen from a wolf or tyger ; and, in the alarm thus excited for
his perfonal fafety, had fired the gun, by which V'ing-yung-man had been mortally
wounded ; That, fince the .event happened in the fécond .watch o f the night, after the
moon had fet, and while clouds obfcured the faint light o f the ftars,-it was really a
moment o f impenetrable darknefs ; and that it was only at the diftance o f a few
paces that he diftinguiihed the approach of the found that had alarmed him, but, in
fail, had never feen any ihadow or traces -whatfoever ; That had he perceived any
traces or ihadow o f that delbription, (he -would not have ceafed to call out, though
he had failed to receive an anfwer the firft time, nor would he have had the temerity
to fire the gun, and render himfeif guilty o f murder.
That, on-the preceding-examination, the feverity and rigour o f the enquiry re-
garding the grounds upon which he fufpefled the approach o f thieves, fo as.to induce
him to fire, had overcome him with fear, being a countryman unufed to fimi-
lar proceedings, and produced the apparent incongruity in his depofition, but that
the true meaning and intent was to exprefs his abfolute uncertainty whether the
alarm arofe from thieves or wild beafis, -and nothing far ther;, and that from
1 fiich
the children, for the fins o f the fathers, unto the third and
fourth generation, a fentiment however which, it would feem,
lapfe o f time had rendered lefs expedient, for the prophet Ezekiel,
fuch depofition he had never intentionally fwerved in the courfe o f the invefti-
gation.
According* therefore, to the amendment fuggefted by the fupreme tribunal, it
appears indeed, that when the noife was firft perceived in the fields, Skc-fo-pao had
called out* and on being prevented b y the wind from hearing a reply, had taken
alarm as aforeiaid.
And whereas it was likewiie depofed by She-fb-poa, That the grain being ripe at that
feafon, the items were exceeding high and ftrong, fo as to render it difficult to walk
amongft them, it feems that Vang-yung-man, in walking through the corn, had produced
a ruftling noife very audible to She-fo-pao, who was fitting on the declivity
o f the hill, and in a direction in which the wind favoured the progrefs o f the found;
but when the latter called out, the wind, on the contrary, prevented him from being
heard, and confequently from receiving an anfwer; this mifchance, therefore,
gave rife to his fufpicion o f the approach o f wild beafls, which appears to have been
the foie and undifguifed motive for firing the gun.
This ftatement o f fads being narrowly inveftigated, in compliance with the fupreme
tribunal’s order for revifal, may be confided in as accurate, and worthy o f
credit.; the refult* therefore, is that the offender during the darknefs o f the night,
and under the apprehenfion o f the approach o f a wolf or tyger, had fired a mufquet
in a fpot frequented by men, and had mortaHy wounded a man by the mifchance,
which correfponds with the lalv fuggefted in the order for revifal iffued by the fupreme
tribunal; namely, that law againft an offender who ihould unwarily draw a
bow and fhoot an arrow towards fields or tenements, fo that any perfon unperceived
therein (hould be wounded and die therefrom.
The prior decifion, conformably to the law againft homicide committed in an
affray, fubfequent inveftigation does not confirm ; and Ske-fo-pao n , therefore, only
punifhable with banifhment.
This fecond r e p o r t b e in g deceived by the fupreme criminal tribunal, they declare
that, -
The fentence liaVing been altered on a revifion by the fub-viceroy, and rendered
conformable to the law, which ordains that, whoever {hall unwarily draw a bow and
h iti-t (hoot