that it is inexpedient that any public officer should be connected with the Periodical Political
Press.
The individual loss of
Mr Bevan is deeply deplored
by his withdrawal from
his home as a Candidate
in the office of Serge's
Clerk, as reported in your despatch F. 97. of the
17th inst.
Copy
J.
Sir,
n7029
Attorney General's Office,
Hongkong, 18th May 1856.
174
I have the honour to address you
on a very grave question affecting the purity of justice itself: namely the rumored confirmation of Mr Bevan as Clerk to the Chief Justice.
Mr Cooper Turner, who has this moment informed me
of the rumor and the alarms to which it has given birth, is in a position, and is called upon by His Excellency, to explain the nature of those alarms, and to justify them by facts. I humbly hope that His Excellency, before sanctioning the confirmation of Mr Bevan's appointment, will invite Mr Cooper Turner to make that explanation.
The Honble. W. J. Mercer,
Colonial Secretary: