The Crown, having inadvertently made it appear that the opinion conveyed by and had been founded upon the statement of facts and questions drawn up by M. Hillier and contained in his letter of 22 February (enclosure, No 4.)
I am under the necessity of calling your attention to the accompanying correspondence, in order that I may stand in a proper position with the Law Officers of the Crown. The date of Mr Willie's letter already referred to, shews that this letter was not in existence at the time Sir John Bowring spoke to me on the subject which, as appears by the extract from His Excellency's Despatch (inclosure #3), was in January.
Sir John has since told me that Mr Hillier's statement was subsequent to our conversation. I do not think that either the Attorney General or Solicitor General will feel...
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