ABSTRACT
This is much how we argued: The Chinaman is squeezed by the Mandarins; with us he shall be equitably taxed, and have the utmost security for life and property. His Courts of Law are corrupt, and he has to pay for justice if ever he is lucky enough to obtain it; here he will learn that the fountain of justice flows purely and freely, and that all may partake of it. Arbitrary decisions seal his fate in China; in Hongkong he shall taste the sweet delights of trial by jury, that palladium of English freedom; he shall learn what it is to be an English subject, and know, for the first time in his life, the dignity which belongs to the man who can proudly utter, ‘Ego sum civis Romanus.’ Such was the picture that we fondly drew of our future Colony while yet it was scarcely ceded to us; but if we had drawn a picture of Chinamen moving about in swallowtailed coats, or women in large skirts, we could not have been more completely at fault.
