innocence of the two
prisoners at the bar. I take shame to myself that the appalling
extent of kidnaping, buying and selling slaves for what I may
call ordinary servile purposes, and the buying and selling young
females for worse than ordinary slavery, has not presented itself
before to me in the light it ought. It seems to me that it has
been recognized and accepted as an ordinary out-turn of Chinese
habits, and thus that until special attention has been excited it
has escaped public notice. But recently the abomination has forced
itself on my notice. In some cases convictions have been had; in
two notable instances, although I called for prosecution, the
criminals escaped. They were Chinese in respectable positions,
and I was given to understand that buying children by respectable
Chinamen as servants was according to Chinese customs, and that to
attempt to put it down would be to arouse the prejudices of the
Chinese. The practice is on the increase. It is in this port,
and in this Colony especially, that the so-called Chinese custom
prevails. Under the English flag, slavery, it has been said, does
not, cannot ever be. Under that flag it does exist in this Colony,
and is, I believe, at this moment more openly practiced than at
any former period of its history. Cyprus has been under our rule
for about a year, and already, both in the House of Commons and in
the House of Lords, questions have been asked, and the Members
of the present Ministry have assured the country that slavery in
every form shall be speedily put down there. Humanity is of no
party, and personal liberty is held to be the right of every human
being under English law, by, I believe, every man of note in
England. My recent pleasant personal experience in England assures
me of that. But here in Hong Kong, I believe that domestic slavery
exists in fact to a great extent. Whatever the law of China may
be, the law of England must prevail here. If Chinamen are willing
to submit to the law, they may remain, but on condition of obeying
the law, whether it accords with their notions of right or wrong
or not; and, if remaining they act contrary to the law, they must
take the consequences.... I shall deal with these people when I
shall have more fully considered the case."

During the proceedings of the trial of these two pri