dangerous character, particularly in
disturbance.
times of civil or foreign But I consider it objectionable in
point of form,
as all that is
necessary is to enable the authorities
to remove such persons, without
specifying that they
are to be deported
to any place within the Empire of "China". I transmit to you copy of a draft The Order in Council which gives the necessary powers in this respect
to the Governors of Malta and Gib-
raltar and which
might serve
as a model for local enactment in
I think however, that
any such enactment could be limited
in duration to a number of years, say five.
Finally, it appears to
me that when the danger threatening
the
society from foreign disturbance are of
and internal
disturbances a
character as to render the passing
of an Ordinance of this character just-
ifiable, the object might be attained
more
surely and with less violence to the general principles of law and justice by placing the community
once under Martial (or
more
properly
Military) Law. The effect of this change is to suspend the action of the Ordinary Tribunals in Military cases, and to substitute
the arbitrary
determination of the Officers in Command
who usually, though not necessarily,
tries Offences by Court Martial. I
transmit to you copy of a Proclama-
tion for bringing Martial Law into Effect in Hong Kong in 1849,
and also
of an Ordinance passed in this Colony