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To Sir Charles Wood.
Calcutta, June 22nd, 1862.
[Sidenote: The murder of a native.]
I have had, this week, a very painful matter to deal with. A man of the name of Budd, a soldier who had obtained his discharge in order to accompany an officer of the name of —— to Australia, killed a native in the Punjâb some months ago under the following circumstances. He was desired by —— to procure a sheep for him. He went to a native, from whom he appears to have procured sheep before, and took one. The native protested against his taking this particular sheep, because it was with lamb, but said he might take any other from the flock. Budd paid no heed to this remonstrance, put the sheep on the back of another native, and marched off. The owner followed, complaining and protesting. On tins Budd first fired two barrels over his head, then threw stones at him, and finally went into the house, brought out another gun, fired at him, and killed him on the spot. Besides imploring that his sheep might be restored to him, it does not appear that the native did anything at all to provoke this proceeding.
The perpetrator of this outrage being a European, the case could not be tried on the spot. It was accordingly transferred to Calcutta; witnesses, &c., being sent 1,000 miles at the public expense. Before it came on, however, the counsel for the defence requested a postponement in order to obtain further evidence. The request was granted, and the trial deferred till another term.
[Sidenote: Punished by death.]
The trial came on a few days ago, and the jury, much to their honour, found the prisoner guilty. On this an agitation was got up to obtain a commutation of the sentence of death which had been passed by the judge. A petition, with a great number of signatures, was presented in the first instance to the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal; but he was advised that, the crime having been committed in the Punjab, he had nothing to do with the case. It was then transmitted to me. There was quite enough doubt as to my power of acting, to have justified me in referring the case to the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjâb. But I felt that the delay, and, above all, the appearance of a desire to shrink from the responsibility of passing a decision on the case, which this step would involve, would be so mischievous, that, having obtained from the Advocate-General an opinion that I had the requisite authority, I determined to take the matter into my own hands. The verdict was clearly borne out by the evidence. The sentence was in accordance with the law, and the judge, to whom I referred, saw no reason to question it. The decision of the Governor-General in Council was, that the law must take its course.
[Sidenote: Little value put on native life.]
It is true that this murder was not committed with previous preparation and deliberation. It had not, therefore, this special quality of aggravation. But it was marked by an aggravation of its own, not less culpable, and unfortunately only too frequently characteristic of the homicides perpetrated by Europeans on natives in this country. It was committed in wanton recklessness, almost without provocation, under an impulse which would have been resisted if the life of the victim had been estimated at the value of that of a dog. Any action on my part which would have seemed to sanction this estimate of the value of native life, would have been attended by the most pernicious consequences.