that the Indian Police had not had a fair trial; and, finally, that a deputation of Chinese merchants had urged upon Sir Rutherforth Alcock, H.M. Minister in China, when he passed through Hongkong in autumn 1865, that the support of H.M. Government should be given to Sir M. Stephenson's railway scheme (connecting Calcutta with Canton and Hongkong), but that the question, whether such a scheme would eventually benefit or injure the interests of Hongkong, was a knotty problem.
There is but one incident of this interregnum which requires detailed mention. A native of the Poon-yü District (E. of Canton city), carrying on business in Hongkong under the name How Hoi-low alias How Yu-teen, was claimed (April 21, 1865) by the Viceroy of Canton, in virtue of the Treaty of Tientsin, as having committed robberies in China. The Viceroy addressed the usual communication to the Governor (Mr. Mercer) and on 1st May, 1865, the accused was brought before the police magistrate (J. C. Whyte) under Ordinance 2, of 1852 (above mentioned), defended by counsel (E. H. Pollard) and committed to gaol pending reference to the Governor, a prima facie case having been clearly made out. Under the advice of the Attorney General (H. J. Ball), Mr. Mercer directed (May 3, 1865) the rendition of the prisoner who was forthwith handed over to the Chinese Authorities and executed in Canton in the usual manner by decapitation. On May 30th, 1865, the editor of the Daily Press, by his overland issue (Trade Report), gave currency to the allegation which had not been made at the trial, neither by the prisoner nor by his counsel, that the unfortunate man was neither robber nor pirate, but a political refugee, the veritable Taiping prince known as Mow Wang, that he was unjustly surrendered by the British Government and executed by the Chinese in a manner involving actual cannibalism. Although it was known at the time, and stated by a Canton journalist, that the real Mow Wang had, according to General Gordon's testimony, been murdered by the other Taiping Wangs on November 29th, 1863, previous to the surrender of Soochow, this sensational fiction
