A.D. 1840.]

TRIAL OF OXFORD FOR HIGH TREASON.

461

by an Act passed in the fortieth year of King George III.'s reign; which provided that where the overt act of treason was a direct attack upon the life of the Sovereign, the trial should be conducted as common trials for

the protection enjoyed by the meanest of his subjects, and did away with the necessity of two witnesses to the overt act, and other forms very proper to be observed in cases of a political character. He understood from the affidavit on which the motion for the postponement of the trial had been granted, that a plea of insanity would be raised. Two questions would then arise-first, whether supposing the prisoner to be accountable for his actions, he was guilty of the offence laid to his charge; and secondly, whether, at the time he committed the act, he was accountable to the law for his actions. The burden of proof in the first case rested entirely with the prosecutor; for the prisoner was presumed to be perfectly innocent until his guilt was established by clear and unquestionable testimony. And unless the jury disbelieved the witnesses he should call, it would be impossible to come to any other conclusion than that the prisoner was guilty. The Attorney-General then proceeded to state some of the circumstances of Oxford's life up to the time of the alleged treason. The prisoner, the jury would perceive, was a very young man, about eighteen or nineteen years of age, though, from his appearance, it would hardly be supposed that he had reached that age. It would appear that he was born, as he understood, at Birmingham, but came when very young to London. He went to school in Lambeth, and had since been in the service of several publicans in the capacity of barman. It would appear that he had deliberately formed a plan to make an attempt upon the life of the Sovereign. On the 4th of May in this present

was unbounded. The following day, when the Queen and the Prince took their drive in the park, the crowd was immense, and the cheering most enthusiastic. Hundreds of ladies and gentlemen on horseback accompanied them, like a body-guard, while the line of car-murder. This act only gave the life of the Sovereign riages calling at Buckingham Palace extended a considerable way down the Mall. On the 12th, the calls of the nobility and gentry-in carriages, on horseback, and on foot-who entered their names in the visitors' book, were incessant. Thousands of people assembled before the palace. About twelve o'clock the sheriffs of London, and other civic functionaries, arrived, in four carriages, to ascertain when it would be Her Majesty's pleasure to receive the addresses of the Common Council. The Cabinet Ministers, and the chief officers of the household, arrived in quick succession through the south gate. At two o'clock the state carriage of the Speaker of the House of Commons entered the court, followed by 109 carriages, filled with members of the House of Commons. Never before, it is said, was the Speaker followed by so numerous a cortége on the occasion of presenting an address. As soon as the carriages of the Commons had left the court, the procession of the Lords began to enter; the barons first, and then the other peers, rising in rank to the royal Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge, the Lord Chancellor bringing up the rear. There were eighty-one carriages in the peers' procession, which was brilliant and imposing in an extraordinary degree. Many of the lords wore splendid uniforms, and decorations of various orders; the Duke of Wellington especially. The procession of the Commons passed with little notice from the crowd; but on the Duke's appearance the cheering was enthusiastic and universal; the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge were also cheered. Whilst the lords were alighting from their carriages, the grand terrace in front of the palace was crowded with distinguished per-year, when he was living at his lodging, he bought a sons in brilliant costumes. The Queen received the address on the throne. The Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons advanced side by side. The Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge walked in a line with the Lord Chancellor, the peers and Commons following. Prince Albert stood on the left of the throne, the great officers of state and of the household on the right. The Lord Chancellor read the address, which was graciously received by Her Majesty.

The trial of Edward Oxford for high treason was commenced in the Central Criminal Court on Thursday, July 9th, and ended on the following day. The judges were Lord Denman, Baron Alderson, and Justice Patteson. The counsel for the Crown were the Attorney and Solicitor-General, Sir F. Pollock, and Mr. Wightman; for the prisoner, Mr. Sidney Taylor and Mr. Bodkin. The indictment having been read, the prisoner, on the usual question, "Guilty or not guilty?" being put, answered, "Not guilty." The Attorney-General stated the case for the prosecution. He expressed his satisfaction that the gentlemen placed in the jury-box possessed the entire confidence of both parties, indicated by the fact that no challenge had been given. He explained that the trial would be conducted in the manner prescribed

pair of pistols from a person of the name of Hayes, living in Blackfriars Road, for the sum of £2; at the same time he also bought a powder-flask. It would also appear in evidence that he practised shooting at a shooting gallery in Leicester Square, at another in the Strand, and at another at the west end of the town. On Wednesday, the 3rd of June, just one week before the day named in the indictment, he went to a shop kept by a person of the name of Gray, with whom the prisoner had formerly been a schoolfellow, and who resides in Bridge Road, Lambeth, and there he bought half a hundred copper caps to use in firing pistols. He asked Gray at the same time where he could buy some bullets. He was told where bullets were to be had, and he said himself that he had some gunpowder. On the evening of Tuesday, the 9th of June, he was seen with a pistol which he himself stated to be loaded; and when he was asked what he meant to do with it, he refused to tell, but said he had been firing at a target. The AttorneyGeneral then came to Wednesday, the 10th of June, and gave a recital of the incidents connected with the attempt on Her Majesty's life, adding that when the second shot was fired, a man named Lowe immediately rushed across, seized Oxford, and took his pistol from

Dr. John Conolly, physician to the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum, who had 800 patients under his care, deposed THE exclusive right of the East India Company to trade that he had conversed with the prisoner, and considered with China ceased on the 22nd of April, 1834, and from him of unsound mind. Dr. Chowne, physician to the this time dates the great dispute about the opium traffic. Charing Cross Hospital, and Surgeon Clarke, gave similar The first free trade ship sailed from England on the testimony. The Solicitor-General, in reply, dissected 25th of the same month. Lord Napier was sent out to the evidence for the prisoner's insanity, contrasting it | China to superintend British commerce, and arrived at

of international law, which they had never recognised, perhaps never heard of, as they regarded all other nations in the light of barbarians, and therefore utterly unworthy of notice. The first part of the armament reached the Canton river in June, 1840, under the command of Captain Elliot. Having established a rigorous blockade in the river, the English, on the 5th of July, took possession of the large island of Chusan, in the Eastern Sea. Proceeding still further to the mouth of the Peiho, in the Yellow Sea, Captain Elliot had a conference with the Imperial minister, Keshin, which resulted in a truce. Keshin was appointed Imperial Commissioner to proceed to Canton, for the purpose of investigating the grounds of complaint, and bringing about an adjustment of differences.

It was under these circumstances that Sir James Graham, on the 7th of April, brought forward a series of resolutions on our relations with China. He remarked, in his speech introducing the subject, that he was guilty of no exaggeration when he stated that onesixth of the whole united revenue of Great Britain and India depended upon our commercial relations with China. During the previous year the revenue paid into the exchequer of this country on account of tea amounted to no less a sum than £3,660,000. Besides that, there were other receipts arising from duties on imports into that country, making the British revenue from our intercourse with China no less than £4,200,000. India also derived a large portion of its revenue from China, which he estimated at no less than £2,000,000 annually. There had been an annual influx from that country into India of specie, averaging £1,300,000. People," he said, "formed a very inadequate notion of the importance of China, because it was formed from our intercourse with Canton alone, which was very much as if a foreigner who was occasionally permitted to anchor at the Nore, at times to land at Wapping, being placed in close confinement during his continuance there, were under such circumstances to pronounce & deliberate opinion on the resources, genius, and character of the British Empire." Sir James then gave the following sketch of the Chinese empire :-" It was inhabited by 350,000,000 of human beings, all directed by the will of one man-all speaking one language-all governed by one code of laws-all professing one religion-all actuated by the same feel

Macao on the 15th of July. He died soon after his arrival, and was succeeded by Mr., afterwards Sir John Davis. But the Chinese were not disposed to recognise the authority with which he was vested. The only chief whom they expected was a commercial head man, qualified to communicate with their officers by petition, and through the established medium of the Hong merchants. The new mode of conducting British commerce which had been announced to them was regarded as a trifling matter, affecting only the outside foreigners. As long as these should be humbly obedient to orders, and respectfully acknowledge the Emperor's kindness, they cared very little whom they might have for their chief, or what powers he should possess over his countrymen. Lord Napier announced his arrival by letter to the viceroy; but every effort which he made to obtain the recognition of his authority, and to establish a direct official connection with the Chinese rulers at Canton, completely failed. During 1835 and 1836 matters went on peaceably under the superintendence of the second and third Commissioners, Mr. Davis and Sir T. Robinson, the former of whom returned to England, and the latter was superseded by Captain Elliot, R.N., who in vain renewed the attempt to establish an official connection with the Chinese authorities. The opening of the trade in 1834 gave a powerful stimulus to all kinds of smuggling, and especially in opium, the importation of which into China was prohibited by the Imperial Government, in consequence of its deleterious qualities. During the following years, however, the supply of that drug was increased enormously, and the smuggling trade was carried on along the coasts of the northern provinces, in defiance of the laws of the country. The Imperial Government was naturally indignant at these encroachments, and became, moreover, seriously alarmed, perhaps not so much for its demoralising effects, as for the continued drain of specie which it occasioned. In March, 1839, Lin arrived at Canton, as Imperial High Commissioner, to enforce the laws in this matter. He immediately issued an edict requiring that every chest of opium on the river should be delivered up, in order to be destroyed; and that bonds should be given by traders that their ships should never again bring any opium, on pain of forfeiture of the article and death to the importer. Lin having taken strong measures to carry this edict into effect, Captain Elliot pro-ings of national' pride and prejudice; tracing back their ceeded to Canton, and issued a circular letter to his countrymen, requiring them to surrender into his hands all the opium then actually on the coast of China, and holding himself responsible for all the consequences. On the 21st of May the whole of the opium, to the amount of 20,283 chests, was given up to the Chinese Government, and immediately destroyed. But even this great sacrifice did not propitiate Commissioner Lin. On the 26th of November he issued another interdict, ordering the cessation of all trade with British ships in a week; and in January, 1840, an Imperial edict appeared directing that all trade with England should cease for ever. In consequence of these proceedings, an armament was sent forth to teach the Chinese the principles

66

history by centuries, transmitted to them in regular succession, under a patriarchal government, without interruption, and boasting of their education, of their printing, of their civilisation, of their arts-all the conveniences and many of the luxuries of life existing there when Europe was still sunk in barbarism, and when the light of knowledge was obscure in this western hemisphere. But apart from their numbers-apart from what he had mentioned with respect to that unity, which was strength, he called the attention of the House to their immense wealth. They possessed an annual revenue of £60,000,000, regularly collected. They had no debt; they inhabited the largest and the fairest portion of Asia. More than one-third of that country

A.D. 1840.]

DEBATE ON OUR RELATIONS WITH CHINA.

465

they cultivated, under the finest climate, with unwearied could repose confidence in an administration that by a industry. The soil is most fertile, watered by vast mismanagement of five years had destroyed a trade rivers, and intersected by a canal 1,200 miles in length, which had flourished for centuries, and which, in addione of the standing wonders of the world. And in every tion to the loss which the country had already underportion of that immense empire there is one uniformity gone, had almost plunged it into a war in which success of system, one jealous suspicion of strangers, evinced would not be attended with glory, and in which defeat both on the shores of the Yellow Sea and all along on would be our ruin and our shame?" The right hon. the confines of Ava, Nepaul, and Bokhara." baronet concluded with moving that "it appears to the House, on consideration of the papers relating to China presented to this House by command of Her Majesty, that the interruption in our commercial and friendly intercourse with that country, and the hostilities which have since taken place, are mainly to be attributed to the want of foresight and precaution on the part of Her Majesty's present advisers in respect to our relations with China, and especially to their neglect to furnish the superintendent at Canton with powers and instructions calculated to provide against the growing evils connected with the contraband traffic in opium, and adapted to the novel and difficult situation in which the superintendent was placed."

The Chinese were intensely jealous of all foreigners, but more especially the English, and not without some reason, for if they looked across the Himalaya Mountains they saw Hindostan prostrate at the feet of England, and they were not so ignorant as not to be aware of the policy that had led to that result; for scarcely a century had elapsed since the British empire in India took its rise from a single factory surrounded by a wall, to which we first added a ditch, then formed a little garrison by arming our labourers, then began to treat with native powers, and having discovered their weakness, seized on Arcot, triumphed at Plassey, and so on, till a series of successes terminated in the battle of Assaye, when India became ours, and Central Asia trembled at our presence. With such a lesson before their eyes, it was natural that the Chinese should be jealous of British encroachments. Sir James Graham having given a history of the various occurrences that led to the misunderstanding and mutual irritation between our representatives at Canton and the Chinese authorities, proceeded to deprecate a war with China, and to point out its evils and its cost. He believed it would be no little war, nor one that could be terminated in a single campaign. It was one that would be attended with circumstances no less formidable than the magnitude of the interests at stake. It would be carried on at the remotest part of the habitable globe, where the monsoons would interfere with the communications that must be had with this country-at an immense distance from all our naval stations. Sir James then proceeded :-" When they saw, on the part of Her Majesty's advisers, the most pertinacious adherence to the erroneous course repudiated both by experience and reason when they saw that they attempted to force on a proud and powerful people a mode of proceeding to which the weakest would not tamely submit-when they saw that the advice of one of the greatest and most prudent of our statesmen, who himself had warned them, was disregarded and rejected-when they saw repeated warnings given by the servants of the same administration equally unattended to-when they saw the branch of trade which the confidential servants of the administration had declared to be piratical, not put down by the interference of Her Majesty's Government -when they saw nothing done, or attempted to be done, while Her Majesty's superintendent was left without power, without instructions, and without force to meet the emergency which must have been naturally expected to follow, he could not help asking the House whether they did believe that the people of this country would patiently submit to the burden which this Parliament must of necessity impose? and whether that people

Mr. Macaulay defended the policy of the Government. The omissions on their part complained of, he said, were four in number:-First, that they omitted to correct a point in the order in council, which directed the superintendent to reside in Canton; secondly, that they had omitted to correct the order in council on the point which showed the superintendent a new channel of communication with the Chinese Government; thirdly, that they had omitted to act upon the suggestion of the memorandum of the Duke of Wellington, to keep a naval force in the neighbourhood of Canton; and fourthly, what was most important of all, that they did not give sufficient power to the superintendent to put down the illicit trade. With regard to the first, the answer was, that no dispute as to the residence of the superintendent had anything to do with the unfortunate rupture, as that dispute was perfectly accommodated for two years before the rupture, the point having been fully conceded in the most formal and honourable manner by the Chinese authorities. As to the second, the answer was, that the Chinese Government had fully conceded that point also. Negotiations had taken place between Captain Elliot and the Chinese authorities, and the dispute was, in fact, at an end. The third charge was, that the Government had not provided a vessel of war to be stationed on the Chinese coast. What was the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington in reference to this very subject? It was, that a vessel of war should be off Canton ready to act, until the trade of the British merchants should return to its proper channel. He was confident that nothing was contained in the Duke of Wellington's prior despatches which could be taken to exhibit any desire on his part that there should be a naval force constantly upon the Canton station, to await any calamitous event which might take place. The fourth point was, that the English Government, having legal authority to do se, had omitted to send to the superintendent at Canton proper power, for the purpose of suppressing the illicit