usually satisfy the law by including only the nearest male relations, then living, in the guilt of the culprit, and by mitigating their punishment to that of exile. Nothing can be more unjust and absurd, however politic, than such a law; absurd,

Vang-ky-hao having occasion to stop a short time upon the road, the other, Vang-yung-man, went on before, until he reached the boundary of the fields watched by She-fo-pao.

She-fo-pao, on hearing a rustling noise among the corn, and perceiving the shadow of a person through the obscurity of the night, immediately hailed him; but the wind blowing very fresh, he did not hear any reply. She-fo-pao then took alarm, on the suspicion that the sound proceeded from thieves, or else from wild beasts, and lighting the match-lock, which he held in his hand, fired it off, in order to repel the invaders, whoever they might be.

Vang-yung-man was wounded by the shot in the head, cheeks, neck, and shoulder, and instantly fell to the ground. Vang-ky-hao hearing the explosion, hastened forward, and called aloud to know who had fired the gun. The other heard the voice, and going to the place from whence it proceeded, then learned whom he had wounded by the mischance. The wounds of Vang-yung-man being mortal, he expired after a very short interval of time had elapsed.

She-fo-pao, being repeatedly examined by the magistrate, acknowledged the fact without reserve; and, upon the strictest investigation and enquiry being entered upon, deposed, That it was really during the ob scurity of the night that he had ascended the hill, in order to watch the corn, and on hearing a noise to proceed from a quarter of the field that was extremely dark, and in which the shadow of some person was discernable, he had called out, but received no answer:-That the suspicion then arose in his mind, that they were either thieves or wild beasts, and alarmed him for the security of his person, being then entirely alone; he therefore fired the gun to repel the danger, and wounded Vang-yung-man by mischance, so that he afterwards died.

That he, the deponent, was not actuated by any other motive or intention on this occasion, nor desirous of causing the death of an individual. The relations of the deceased being then examined, gave a corresponding evidence, and raised no doubts in other respects to the truth of the above deposition. In consideration, therefore, hereof it appears that, although She-fo-pao is guilty of homicide by gun-firing, yet, since he was upon the watch over the fields, in the darkness of the night, and perceived the shadow of a man, whom he hailed, and from whom he received no answer, and had in consequence apprehended the approach of thieves or wild beasts, to prevent which he fired the gun that occasioned the wounds whereof the man is now dead-it follows, that there did not exist any premeditated intention of murder.-The act of which She-fo-pao stands convicted may be, therefore, ranked under the article of homicide committed in an affray, and the sentence accordingly is, to be strangled upon the next ensuing general execution or gaol delivery.

I i

because it considers a non-entity capable of committing a crime; and unjust, because it punishes an innocent person. The lawgiver of Israel, in order to intimidate his stiff-necked and rebellious subjects, found it expedient to threaten the visi

The above report being transmitted to the supreme criminal tribunal at Pekin, They rejoin,

That, on investigation of the laws, we find it ordained, that homicide by gun-firing shall receive a sentence conformable to the law against intentional murder; and that the law against intentional murder gives a sentence of decapitation on the next ensuing public execution, or gaol delivery. It is likewise found to be ordained by law, that whoever shall unwarily draw a bow, and shoot an arrow towards fields or tenements, so that any person unperceived therein shall be wounded, and die therefrom, the offender shall receive a hundred blows with the bamboo, and be banished to the distance of three thousand lys (near a thousand miles). In the case now before us, She-fo-pao, being armed with a musquet, goes to watch the corn, hears a noise in the fields, and calls aloud, but, receiving no answer, suspects it to proceed from thieves or wild beasts, and fires the gun, by which Vang-yung-man was wounded, and is now dead. But in the deposition given in by the defendant, the declaration that he saw the shadow of some person does not accord with the suspicion afterwards expressed, that the noise arose from wild beasts. If, in truth, he distinguished traces of a man, at the time of his calling out, notwithstanding that the violence of the wind prevented his hearing the reply, She-fopao had ocular proof of the reality of the person from the shadow he had seen. Continuing our investigation, we have further to notice, that when She-fo-pao took his station, in order to guard the middle ground, Vangyung-man was engaged in watching his fields in a similar manner, and would have occasion to go near the limits of the middle ground in his way to his own farm, and which could not be far removed from the path leading to the middle ground; on which account it behoved She-fo-pao to hail the person repeatedly, previous to the firing of the gun, whose effect would be instantaneous, and occasion the death of the unknown person from whom the sound proceeded.

She-fo-pao not having repeatedly hailed the person from whom the noise had arisen to disturb him, and proceeding to the last extremity upon the first impulse or alarm, are grounds for suspecting that there exists a fallacy and disguise in the testimony given in this affair; in which case, a sentence conformable to the law against homicide, committed in an affray, would afford a punishment unequal and inadequate to the possible aggravation of the offence.

On the other hand, it would appear, in confirmation of his statement, that these fields were, according to the custom of the neighbouring villages, understood to be guarded at that time in the manner aforesaid, and that circumstance proving true, the accident that followed might still be considered solely as the effect of apprehension of wild beasts by night, inducing the accused to fire towards fields or tenements, so as to wound a man mortally by the mischance.

tation of God on the children, for the sins of the fathers, unto the third and fourth generation; a sentiment, however, which, it would seem, lapse of time had rendered less expedient: for the prophet Ezekiel, who, on this subject, had more ele

Should a strict examination admit of this interpretation of the offence, the sentence may be awarded according to the law, immediately applicable to the subject, and not in conformity with the law against homicide committed in an affray. As the life or death of the offender rests on the preference to be shown towards either of those expositions of the case, it is resolved to hold any immediate decision as premature, and we issue our directions to the said sub-viceroy to revise the prior decision; and, with the assistance of a renewed investigation, finally to determine and report to us the sentence which he may conceive most agreeable to the spirit of our laws.

After a second investigation, and reconsideration of the affair, the subviceroy sent in the following report to the supreme tribunal: Pursuant to the order for revisal issued by the supreme criminal tribunal, She-fo-pao has been again examined at the bar, and deposes, That on hearing a noise in the corn-fields, he conceived it to proceed from thieves, and called out in consequence, but, receiving no answer, and finding the noise gradually to approach him, he then suspected it to have arisen from a wolf or tiger; and, in the alarm thus excited for his personal safety, had fired the gun, by which Vang-yung-man had been mortally wounded; That, since the event happened in the second watch of the night, after the moon had set, and while clouds obscured the faint light of the stars, it was really a moment of impenetrable darkness; and that it was only at the distance of a few paces that he distinguished the approach of the sound that had alarmed him, but, in fact, had never seen any shadow or traces whatsoever; That had he perceived any traces or shadow of that description, he would not have ceased to call out, though he had failed to receive an answer the first time, nor would he have had the temerity to fire the gun, and render himself guilty of murder.

That, on the preceding examination, the severity and rigour of the enquiry, regarding the grounds upon which he suspected the approach of thieves, so as to induce him to fire, had overcome him with fear, being a countryman, unused to similar proceedings, and produced the apparent incongruity in his deposition; but that the true meaning and intent was to express his absolute uncertainty whether the alarm arose from thieves or wild beasts, and nothing further; and that, from such deposition, he had never intentionally swerved in the course of the investigation.

According, therefore, to the amendment suggested by the supreme tribunal, it appears, indeed, that when the noise was first perceived in the fields, She-fo-pao had called out, and on being prevented by the wind from hearing a reply, had taken alarm as aforesaid.

And whereas it was likewise deposed by She-fo-pao, That the grain being ripe at that season, the stems were exceeding high and strong, so as to render it difficult to walk amongst them, it seems that Vang-yungman, in walking through the corn, had produced a rustling noise very au

vated notions of moral right than either the Greeks or the Chinese, spurns it with great indignation. In allusion to such an idea, which it seems had become a proverb among the Jews, he breaks out into this sublime exclamation: "What "mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of "Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the "children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son, is mine. The soul that sinneth, "it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the fa

dible to She-fo-pao, who was sitting on the declivity of the hill, and in a direction in which the wind favoured the progress of the sound; but when the latter called out, the wind, on the contrary, prevented him from being heard, and consequently from receiving an answer; this mischance, therefore, gave rise to his suspicion of the approach of wild beasts, which appears to have been the sole and undisguised motive for firing the gun. This statement of facts being narrowly investigated, in compliance with the supreme tribunal's order for revisal, may be confided in as accurate, and worthy of credit; the result therefore is, that the offender, during the darkness of the night, and under the apprehension of the approach of a wolf or tiger, had fired a musquet in a spot frequented by men, and had mortally wounded a man by the mischance, which corresponds with the law suggested in the order for revisal issued by the supreme tribunal; namely, that law against an offender who should unwarily draw a bow and shoot an arrow towards fields or tenements, so that any person unperceived therein should be wounded and die therefrom.

The prior decision, conformably to the law against homicide committed in an affray, subsequent investigation does not confirm; and She-fo-pao is, therefore, only punishable with banishment.

This second report being received by the supreme criminal tribunal, they declare that,

The sentence having been altered on a revision by the sub-viceroy, and rendered conformable to the law, which ordains that, whoever shall unwarily draw a bow and shoot an arrow towards fields or tenements, so that any person unperceived therein may be wounded, and die therefrom, the offender shall receive a hundred blows with the bamboo, and suffer banishment to the distance of 3000 lys.

We confirm the sentence of a hundred blows of the bamboo, and ba nishment to the distance of 3000 lys; and further prescribe, that ten ounces of silver (31. 6s. 3d.) shall be paid by the offender to the relations of the deceased, for the expenses of burial.

The sentence, being thus pronounced on the 19th day of the 5th moon, of the 27th year of Kien-Long, received the imperial sanction on the 21st day of the same moon, in the following words: Pursuant to sentence be this obeyed.

KHIN-TSE.

"ther, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of 'the son: "the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and "the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

In most cases, except those of high treason, it may be presumed, the high tribunal of Pekin will act with strict impartiality; and it is greatly to be lamented that all civil causes have not been made subject to a similar revision as those of a criminal nature, which would strike at the root of an evil that is most grievously felt in China, where the officers of justice are known, in most cases, to be corrupted by bribery. They have, however, wisely separated the office of judge from that of the legislator. The former, having found the fact, has only to refer to the code of laws, in which he is supplied with a scale of crimes and their punishments. Such a mode of distributing justice is not, however, without its inconveniences. Tender as the government has shown itself, where the life of a subject is concerned, having once established the proportion of punishment to the offence, it has supposed an appeal, in civil causes and misdemeanors, to be unnecessary. The sentence in such causes being thus left in the breast of a single judge, how great soever may be the nicety by which the penalty is adapted to the offence, the exclusion from appeal is in itself a bar to the just and impartial administration of the laws. The subject being refused the benefit of carrying his cause into a higher, and on that account more likely to be a more impartial, court, has no security against the caprice, malice, or corruption of his judge.

It may not, perhaps, be thought unworthy of notice, that the legislators of China, among the various punishments devised for the commission of crimes, have given the criminal no opportunity, either by labouring at any of the public works, or in solitary confinement, to make some reparation for the injury he has committed against society. Confinement in prison, as a punishment, is not known. Exile or personal chastisement are decreed for all irregularities not approaching to capital offences.

Executions for capital crimes are not frequently exhibited : when found guilty, the criminals are remanded to prison till a general goal delivery, which happens once a year, about the autumnal equinox. In adopting such a measure, government may, perhaps, have considered, how little benefit the morals of the people were likely to derive from being the frequent