§ COLONEL SYKES,in rising to call the attention of the House to the alleged inability of the British Government to enforce Orders in Council and Ordinances by Superintendents of Trade, relating to British subjects in China, said, that he did not see the Under Secretary of State for 1946 Foreign Affairs in his place; but as the noble Lord at the head of the Government, who was always in his place, was present, he would probably give a more explicit reply than the House could hope to obtain from the Under Secretary. The statement that the Government could not enforce these Orders in Council and Ordinances for the control of British subjects in China would, if it went abroad, necessarily have a mischievous effect. China swarmed with freebooters, filibusters, rowdies, and deserters from ships who were seeking their fortunes in that empire, ready at all times to take service on one side or the other, and to keep up the existing anarchy. His object was to make it understood that the Queen's Orders in Council could be and would be enforced. Parliament authorized the issue of these Orders for the control of Her Majesty's subjects within the Chinese dominions, or 100 miles of the coast thereof; and in January, 1855, by virtue of the powers vested in him, the Chief Superintendent in Hong Kong, Sir John Bowring, issued an Ordinance, declaring among other things, that any British subjects taking part with the Government or the rebels would be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by not more than two years' imprisonment or by a fine of not more than 5,000 dollars. This Ordinance was in operation during the whole time that our officers — Sir James Hope, General Stavely, General Brown, Captain Dew, and others—were slaughtering the rebels, so that by siding with the Chinese Government those officers actually committed a misdemeanor, for which they were punishable, under the Ordinance, as he had mentioned. When it was found necessary to assist the Emperor of China an Ordinance was published in Her Majesty's name granting permission to Captain Osborn and Mr. Lay to enlist British subjects, not for the service of the Emperor of China, but expressly for service under Captain Osborn and Mr. Lay only. The House would not fail to remember the dreadful events which followed from the perfidy of the Futai, the ally of Captain Gordon, under whose guarantee the princes of the rebels surrendered at Soochow only to be assassinated, and yet Captain Gordon, who professed at first the greatest indignation, remained in the service of that assassin. Her Majesty's Government, however, upon learning the facts, with very proper feeling issued an Ordinance that 1947 all British subjects should withdraw from the service of the Emperor of China and of the Mandarins. It had been argued, most incorrectly as he believed, that the orders did not apply to all British subjects in the service of the Mandarins or of the Emperor of China, but to officers only holding Her Majesty's Commission, but he submitted that it was unquestionable by the plain meaning of all previous Orders in Council, that those orders did apply to all Her Majesty's subjects, and therefore the orders ought to be enforced. The question then remained, were there any British subjects now in the service of the Emperor of China or of his Mandarins. The Consuls were quite aware of their powers, and only required stimulating to put those powers in force. Nothing was required but an expression of will on the part of Her Majesty's Government to induce the Consuls to act upon those powers. What had been the effect of enabling the Mandarins to drive out the rebels? He held in his hand a narrative written by a merchant in Shanghai who, finding since the occupation of the silk districts by the Imperialists that the supplies of silk were diminishing, made a journey through those districts in order to discover the cause of such diminution. An extraordinary statement had appeared in a leading journal to the effect that since the rebels obtained possession of the silk-producing districts there had been a gradual diminution in the supply of that article, while from official Returns it appeared that from May, 1860, when the rebels first obtained possession of those districts, the supplies of silk had gone on annually increasing until the Imperialists regained possession by the aid of Colonel Gordon and his force. The gentleman to whose narrative he had referred stated that he was informed that under the Tae-ping rule the country seemed happy and flourishing, and from personal observation in other districts where the rebels exercised authority, the people of those districts had nothing to complain of in the working of Bentham's theory of the greatest good for the greatest number. The gentleman he referred to next proceeded to ascertain whether the mulberry trees were as numerous as before, knowing that unless those trees were maintained the supply of silk must fall off. Burgevine, it is said, when he transferred his services to the rebels, recommended to the Commander-in-Chief, Chung Wang, that he 1948 could punish the British for their breaches of neutrality if he were to destroy the mulberry trees, and therefore interrupt the production of silk; but Chung Wung refused to adopt this advice. The country around Soochow, and in the province of Chekiang, was a garden and thickly inhabited; but now the country was a desert, the houses had disappeared, and the inhabitants had all fled from the Imperialist victors, whom they dreaded as tigers. At a distance of about 27 li from Soochow this gentleman came to a place which was formerly a custom-house station, but was now occupied by a portion of Gordon's old force. There he found seven British subjects, Colonel Doyle, Major Murphy, Major Lawless, and four others, who were engaged in drilling an artillery force of some 500 men for the Futai's service. There were twenty heavy guns of foreign manufacture, large quantities of English gunpowder, 45,000 rounds of shot and shell, in possession of the force, notwithstanding the Ordinance of 1855, which made it a misdemeanor in any British subject to supply warlike materials to either party. This gentleman further stated that he found the anti-foreign feeling was reviving; indeed, subsequently to his visit these very troops assaulted. their officers, and Major Doyle, and three of his officers, in self defence, were obliged to fire upon their assailants and killed three of them, for which act the Futai dismissed them from his service. At Soochow the traveller found a Dr. Macartney, formerly of the 99th regiment, superintending the manufacture of shot, shell, and rifle bullets, and thus it might happen that the merchants of Shanghai would have to seek shelter on board our ships from an enemy who used against them the rifle bullets which Dr. Macartney had taught them to manufacture. At Ningpo, under the very eyes of the Consul, Major Cook, and other officers, were engaged in the service of the Mandarin. Then, when the traveller came to look for the mulberry trees which were so important for the production of silk, he found that in the conquered districts from which the rebels had been expelled, they had been cut down by the Imperialist troops— that accompanied Colonel Gordon in his victorious career—for firewood ! The Consuls could prevent the violation of Her Majesty's Ordinances if they wished it. They had power if they chose to exercise it, a proof of this is given in a Consular 1949 Ordinance, dated Amoy, 1st January, 1865, issued by the Consul at Amoy. It directed that the passengers in British vessels without passports should not be allowed to land without express permission from the Cousul. It was also ordered that persons arriving in that port in British vessels, unprovided with such passports, must be detained on board by the captain until the case was reported to the Consul, who should give or withhold his permission as he might think fit. That was leaving the liberty of British subjects in the hands of diplomatic agents with a vengeance. It was declared, also, that masters and consignees of British vessels were responsible for any passengers landed in violation of the regulations. It was also declared that any foreigner or Chinese leaving the port must have their passports vis°d before going on board. In many other places in China there were British subjects as well as other foreigners, and their withdrawal had been recommended from the service of the Emperor of China. He had reason to know that a despatch to that effect had reached the Foreign Office in 1863. In June, 1863, the Ministers of the four great Powers had agreed to recommend to their Governments the withdrawal of their subjects from the service of the Emperor of China. He was not aware whether that agreement was still in existence, but as a matter of policy it ought to be acted upon; and he, therefore, begged to ask the noble Lord at the head of the Government whether, in the name of humanity, our Consuls ought not to be called on to withdraw all British subjects from the service of the Emperor of China and the local Mandarins, who were serving in a military capacity and manufacturing materiel of war, in all probability to be used against ourselves ultimately, from the feelings which were now being manifested by the Chinese Government and its officials?
THE ATTORNEY GENERALsaid, that though the question had not been addressed to him, yet, as it involved a matter of law rather than one of policy, perhaps the hon. Gentleman would allow him to reply to it. The hon. and gallant Gentleman seemed entirely to overlook the nature of consular jurisdiction in China, or any other foreign country where such a jurisdiction had been conferred by the local Government, in assuming that Consuls had the same means at their control for the enforcement of the laws they had to ad- 1950 minister as were possessed by the authorities of the country in whom the territorial jurisdiction resided. In this country the Government had at its disposal the police, the posse comitatus, and the army, if necessary, for the the enforcement of the law; but a Consul had no power except what he derived from the cooperation of his countrymen, or that which might be conferred on him by the Government of the country in which he lived. Under these circumstances, it was clear that, if the law were violated, Consuls in no case could proceed except upon information properly before them, or proper evidence that a breach of law had been committed. It was impossible that they could send a roving Commission all over China to find out who might be or might not be disobeying the law, and to summon them, whether they were in the service of the Emperor or not, to answer for offences of which no one had accused them. The Consular Courts had the same duties to perform as other courts in criminal cases—they had to receive information properly verified, and to decide according to law; but they were not to go about all over China trying to find out all possible offenders. The Government of this country could not be held responsible for the discovery and punishment of all British subjects who might commit offences in any part of China. When these subjects were within the consular jurisdiction and were properly accused—on proper evidence—then it would be time enough to inquire whether they had offended against the Ordinances. It was quite impossible that these Ordinances could be executed all with equal efficiency over a great empire like China — they could only be enforced in those places where our Consuls were resident.