found credence in England. The London Standard (July 22, 1865) took it up and the redoubtable Colonel Sykes, M.P., moved the House of Commons (February 8, 1866) to ask for the production of documents bearing on the subject, which were accordingly published (March 20, 1866). Although these documents clearly shewed the unfounded character of the allegations made against the Hongkong Government, the inquiry served a good purpose, as it directed the attention of H.M. Government to the fact that such renditions had all along been conducted by direct requests addressed by the Cantonese Authorities to the Hongkong Government and that the exclusion of any supervision, on the part of the British Consul at Canton, of the treatment accorded by the Chinese Mandarins to prisoners rendited by the Hongkong Government, exposed them to inhuman barbarities. Orders were therefore made by the Colonial Office, that thenceforth all communications between the Hongkong Government and the Chinese Authorities must, in every case, be conducted through H.M. Diplomatic Agent in China or through H.M. Consul (August 19, 1865), and further that no prisoners should thenceforth be surrendered by the Government of Hongkong to the Chinese Authorities unless guarantee be given that the rendited prisoner be not subjected to any torture (September 11, 1865).
But this interregnum was not merely a period of insignificant transition. Its real character was that of a woeful reaction and general disillusion. During Sir H. Robinson's administration, the Colony had taken a bound in advance, both in wealth and population, so sudden and so great, that now, in the face of an equally unexpected and extensive decline of its commerce, prosperity and finances, it was generally felt that Sir Hercules' system of administration required retrenchment and re-adaptation to vastly altered circumstances. As the financial sky became more and more overcast with clouds, even former admirers of Sir Hercules' policy admitted that he had taken too roseate a view of the resources of the Colony. Trade and commerce were now labouring under a heavy depression. The whole commercial
