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3
JULY 1
also have been warned that any admission that could criminate himself, and which (if not done) was a most important oversight._ I learn from your private letter,
that the Prisoner is detained in custody,
but this fact ought to have been recorded "pending instructions from The Head of the Government", and until the receipt of such the Court should have been formally adjourned
•
It is also expedient that I should point out that in a matter of this nature, the expression of the marine magistrate's thanks to Trent Fitzjames and Captain Richards (who do not appear to have been examined before the Court) was not only totally uncalled for but is highly unprofessional. Those officers did only their duty to The Queen in preserving the Public Peace, and if their evidence was required either for the prosecution or defence, they should have been called before the Court, and duly sworn, as hearsay evidence or opinions cannot for a moment be admitted in such a matter.
In 1843
I have further learned by accident that the master of the " Aden" died in the voyage from Sidney (whence the ship came) to Hong Kong, but both these facts (that is the Port from whence the ship came, and the death of...