(1) We have received the memorial of the Commindant.of the Peking Gendaimerie reporting the.capture by his forces of thirteen members -of- a..gang' of bandits who had: been_terrorising.the vicinity and suburbs. of...the—metropolis. We hereby command..that the: prisoners be handed to the-Board of Punishments for trial and that whet the sentences shall have been given out by the said Board, permis-ion is given to the said commandant to send us a list of the names of those elficers and men' who have distinguished themselves in effecting the said capture in order that we may reward the deserving ones. As for the three other members of the gang whose names are known to the gendarmes but who have succeeded so far in effecting their escape, we command that strict search be made far the criminals order that not a single member of this notorious gang of desperadoes be permitted to get away from the meshes of the law.
(1) On a former occasion the Censor Sung Peh-lu denounced the officials of the Middle City for having accepted bribes in w case of a'lozed murder in consequence of which the guilty persons escaped the punishment they deserve, ste. We therefore command the Board of Pan ments to investigate the malter. While the trial was g-ing on, the Supervising Censor Ting Chih-shih denounced the officers of the said Board composing the tribunal trying the case for using illegal tortures, ete., in order to force the witnesses to give the evidence desired. We therefore commanded the President of the Court of Censors, Vii Te, and the President of the said Board to make a careful investiation of the whole affair und report tous at once. The said high officials now report that it had transpired that after all there had bee" no foul play but that the dead person had been asphyxiated with chareo*] one cold night while sleeping in their shop, the sume having been proved by actual demonstration as well as by the evidence of the relatives of the dead men. Further that the Censor Sung Peh-lu had only done his duty in reporting to the Throne waar he had. heard amongst the common people, having no enmity at all to the officials he had denounced. Again, the bambooing given to the obdurate witnesses who said one thing one day and something else another day could not be considered illegal, and: theréfore the memorialists _recommend that no further notice'be taken of the ease, and that all those wrongly imprisonrd"be forthwith released. The memorial is hereby granted.
29th November.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.