“The British factory was fitted up as a court of justice; the great officers of state, and the judges attended; and the result was, the singling out of eleven men, as having been the most active in the affray. On a re-examination of these men, they endeavoured to prevail on some one to plead guilty, under an implied promise that he should not be punished. This failing, it was suggested that the affair might be got over, if the officers of the Neptune would depose that they had seen a sailor carrying a bamboo stick over his shoulder, against which, in the hurry and confusion, a Chinese had accidentally run his head. The proposal of so ridiculous and pitiful expedient met with the contempt it deserved. The next suggestion was, that some one of the sailors should be prevailed on to state, that finding an attempt made on his pocket, he had struck behind him, and might thus have wounded the deceased. This expedient meeting with no better success, they proceeded in their examination, and dismissed all except two, Julius Cæsar, and Edward Sheen. It appeared that Julius Cæsar had a small cane in his hand on the day of the riot, but was not outside of the factory; and that Edward Sheen was outside of the factory, but did not carry a stick; he confessed, however, that he had a Chinese tobacco pipe in his hand, the tube of which was of bamboo, the court, therefore, decided that he carried a stick, and, consequently, that he was the culprit. Having got thus far over the ground, a long negotiation took place as to the disposal of Edward Sheen, until the final decision of the case should be received from Pekin; and it was at length agreed that he should be left behind in charge of the supercargoes.
“Having thus briefly stated the leading facts, we shall now see in what manner the case was represented to the supreme court at Pekin, and its decision thereupon. It is contained at full length in No. II. of the appendix, p. 521.
“The viceroy of Canton states, for the information of the supreme court, that Edward Sheen, an Englishman, being in the upper story of a warehouse which overlooked the street, and in which there was a window opening with wooden shutters, did, on the 18th day of the first moon, employ a wooden stick, in an oblique direction, to keep open the shutter; and that, in doing this, the wooden stick slipped and fell downwards; that Leao-a-teng, a Chinese, passing at the moment, was struck and wounded by the falling of the said stick upon his left temple, and that on the evening of the following day he died in consequence of the wound. That repeated orders had been given to the chief of the English factory to deliver up the man to justice; that, in reply, it was alleged the said criminal was sick of an ague and fever, and under medical treatment; that on his recovery, he was confronted with the relations of the deceased; that after repeated examinations, the said criminal, Edward Sheen, had acknowledged the truth of all the facts here stated, without reservation; that he had, consequently, been proved guilty of accidental homicide, and ought, therefore, to be sentenced to pay the usual fine, to redeem himself from the punishment of death by strangulation.
“Upon this report the supreme court observes, that the case appears to be one of those acts, of the consequences of which, neither sight, hearing, or reflection, could have given a previous warning; that the said Edward Sheen should, therefore, be allowed to redeem himself from the punishment of death by strangulation, by the payment of a fine (amounting to about 4l. 3s. sterling) to the relations of the deceased, to defray the expenses of the burial, and then be dismissed to be governed in an orderly manner in his own country.”
It appears that the bribe necessary to procure acquiescence of the parties interested, to this mockery of justice, did not cost the security merchants less than £50,000.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury.
[2] For some account of these papers, see [Note A].
[3] The concluding sentence in Captain Cook’s journal affords a striking proof of the high value he attached to “a discovery, which, though the last, seemed in many respects the most important of any that had hitherto been made by Europeans throughout the extent of the Pacific Ocean”.