§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether it is true that a native of Tanna, in the Pacific, was hanged at the yard arm of Her Majesty's schooner "The Beagle," as reported by the Rev. T. Neilson, Resident Presbyterian Missionary at the island; and, if so, whether it is competent for the commanders of Her Majesty's ships to pronounce and execute capital sentences upon their own authority?
§ MR. W. H. SMITHSir, it is correct that the native alluded to was hanged at the yard-arm of H. M. S. Beagle. An Englishman, named Eastorbrook, had been murdered at Tanna. Mr. Neilson, a Presbyterian missionary there, reported the circumstance to Mr. Layard, Her Majesty's Consul at Noumea. Mr. Layard recommended the commodore to demand that "the murderer should be required from the tribe, and hung at the yard-arm as a warning to others." Commodore Hoskins ordered Lieutenant Caffin, of H. M. S. Beagle, to proceed to the island, and directed that if, after inquiry, he should be fully convinced that it was not the misconduct of Easter-brook that led to his being murdered, he was to cause the murderer to be executed according to judicial forms in the most public manner possible. A Court was formed of Lieutenant Caffin, Lieutenant Pugh, and Mr. Neilson, the missionary, and the murderer was tried and found guilty, and then hung at the yard-arm. As regards the competence of the officer to take these measures, the islands in question not being under the jurisdiction of any competent Court of any civilized country, this was the only course open for the punishment of such crimes. Only a short time ago for such a murder the course would have been to bombard the village and destroy it, which would have occasioned the loss of many innocent lives.