BEA!
No. 47.CHIEF MAGISTRATE'S OFFICE, VICTORIA, HONGKONG, 21st June, 1856,
SIR,
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 443 of the 19th instant, and to state in reply for the information of His Excellency the Governor that the representation made to His Excellency of my conduct in reference to the party named Lye Asi, on the occasion in question, was precisely the reverse of the fact. So far from my obstructing or intercepting the due course of Justice on the occasion, I studiously sought to promote it, even by presenting the man, so far as I could control him, at the door of the Attorney General's "Private Residence" on the day and hour named in the document which purported to summon him.
I had previously recommended the man to Mr. Day, the Barrister, instructed by Mr. Parsons, the solicitor, under whose further advice I presume, he acted. Having placed him in attendance at the Attorney General's Private Bungalow, I conceived that I had done my duty by him, as well as by the Attorney General. Seeing from the document exhibited to me, that this man, my Orderly as Chief Magistrate, was summoned to attend at the Attorney General's "Private Residence" to give evidence in "the matter of William Henry Mitchell, Esq. late Sheriff of Hongkong," I held it duty to myself to attend personally, first to learn what that matter was; Secondly to learn the constitution of the Tribunal charged with its investigation; and Thirdly to claim my right of being present at any examination of witnesses or taking of evidence in any "matter" affecting me.
The Attorney General having thought proper to refuse this, I bowed and retired. So much for myself. I must with all respect refer His Excellency to Mr. Day, to justify his proceedings in reference to his client, Lye Asi.
With respect to the remaining burden of your letter, I have to state in reply with all deference and respect to His Excellency, that the difficulty in hand does not appear to me to admit of compromise, involving as any compromise inevitably must do, the Attorney General's private interest with his public duty, as well as my personal character and official conduct under a convenient opportunity of screening both.
The Attorney General having filed against me a Criminal information, I must now demand as a right, that such information be prosecuted to final judgment, as affording me an opportunity of clearing my personal honour of a foul scandal, or His Excellency, Her Majesty's Service, of an Officer who has disgraced it.
I have the honor to be, &c.,
(Signed)
W. H. MITCHELL, Acting Chief Magistrate.
The Hon. W. T. MERCER, Esq.
Colonial Secretary.
(Jane Copy)
Colonial Secretary.
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