General Inspectors and member of the Imperial Household, with others, kneeling, petition the Emperor, desiring to obtain his Majesty's instructions concerning a matter which has been reported to us.
'A Hoo-pih man has given information at our office, against certain Magistrates whom he charges with inflicting undeserved punishment and false imprisonment. We have ourselves publicly investigated the matter.
According to the evidence, a man from the district of Chung-tsoong in the province of Hoo-pih, named Yung-foo, and aged 66 years, opened a drayyist's shop in Wne-hvo-poo. On the ovening of the 2ist day of the 9th month, in the 9th year of the present reign, three travellers stopped at a neighbouring rice shop kept by & woman named Jin-lew. During the evening, one of these travellers killed the other two, and then absconded. The witness's son Kow Hing-chung, hearing the cries of the two travellers who were attacked, went to the rescue, and saw man_ come out of the back dor of the rice shop and run away. He then went into the shop to make enquiry, and then with Jin-lew's grandson Jin Ts00-hand, in company with three others named Kin Tae-gan, Lo Ching-beany and Yang Bung-e, pursued after the murderer, but could not over! him. In the mean tis n-lew had given information at the Ya-men, and the district magistrate proceeded to investigate the affair. As the culprit was not forthcoming, the magi trate, who is named Lew, arrested Jin-lew and beat her in order t0 force her to give some information. He further ordered the persons who pursued the murderer to appear before him, and tortured witness's sun and Jin Tsao-hung into the confession that they had each murdered one of the travellers. The bodies of the murdered men were then thrown into the Lew-hae-pang pond.
Certain runners from the magistrate's office then went out into the country, secretly killed a man named Foy-leong against whom they had a grudge, and then extorted from one Lew more than 500 strings of cash by threatening to charge him with the murder. When Lew paid this sum they released him, and gare out that the man whom they themse.ves had killed, was the murderer of the two travellers, Luckily, the relatives of the two murdered travellers, having discovered the deed, proceeded to give information before the district magistrate of Ho-nan, named Yee, to the effect that the two men were murdered by their companion Hae Tseih Mo-tsze,* and that the latter had been arrested. The relatives then proceeded to the office of the magistrate of Chung-tsoong in order to lodge information there; whereupon that magistrate, Lew, as he had already given judgment in the case, seized the two tatives Chang and Too, imprisoned them, and also caused Hae Tseili Mo-tsze to be arrested, and imprisoned in his Yamen. He then bribed his Police runners and absconded.
'The witness' younger brother Kow Yung-tsing then went and laid the matter befure the Tuan-tae of Seang-yang, and prayed him to call the attention of the Chefvo of the Province to it, in order that it might be properly investigated. The district magistrate Lew, in the meantime, besought the Commissioner of Justice, whose relative he is, to protect him; and to intercede for him with the officer appointed to try the case; also, to issue an edict to the effect that if the witness should take his Hae, the family name; Teeib, the seventh child Mo-tsze, the pockmarked. case to Peking, he should be punished, as the entire matter had been already referred to the proper Board and arranged.
Tu the 4th mouth of the present year the district magistrate Yed, liberated Hae Neil Mo-tsze and examined him without torture. He kept Hae in confinement for four days, and then sent him back to the Magistrate Lew's prison. Witness' son, with Jin Tsao-hing, frequently' and earn-astly implored that they might becoufronted with Hae selli Mo-tsze, but all to no purpose. Thus both these district May: strates fre implicated in the charge of false accusation, "he cise is a deep and intricate one.
Having no other resource, the witness came to Peking to lay the matter before tus, and his statements perfectly coincide with his written evidence, We have examined into these statements and find them to be strictly correct. he case ought to be immediately louked into, and the dignity of the law upheld.
The original evidence in this case has been transcribed and submitted to the Emperor for further instructions, According to the witness' evidence he has applied twice at the several ollices of the Chefoo, the Taou-tne, and the Criminal Judge} but no attention whatever has been paid to his request that ie parties should be brought together and examined face to face, The Emperor has ordered the petition to be placed on record.
Dee. 16th.—Pang Tsao-han has been appointed Admiral at Fokeen, This ofter is Litherto had charge of the garrison at Caiii-to j and, as he commot hand over his cet to the newly appointed officer at once, he is permitted to delay his departure and xin at his present station for a short period. Lo Nydh-neon is ordered to act Admiral of the Fokeen province in the meantime,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.