Mail and consequently would not have an opportunity of defending myself from his unmanly and unjust attack. I however forward a copy of the libel with my affidavit in the China Mail of the 12th Instant for reference if needed.
(922. Maine
The China Mail.
HONGKONG, THURSDAY, 1ST SEPTEMBER, 1859.
We take the following affidavit of Colonel Caine, in the case of Mr Tarrant, from the Friend of China of yesterday's date :—
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF HONGKONG. Crown Side.
I, William Caine, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel in the Army, make oath and say,—
1. That I am Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Hongkong, and am at present administering the Government thereof, and that I have successively held the offices here of Chief Magistrate, Colonial Secretary, and Lieutenant Governor.
2. That I have perused the hereunto annexed impression of a certain Newspaper entitled the Overland Friend of China, numbered 16, and bearing date the twenty-fourth day of August, 1859, and purporting to be printed and published by Luiz d'Azevedo for William Tarrant, Editor and Proprietor thereof.
3. That in such impression, and in the third and fourth columns of the first page thereof occur the following remarks, viz :—
Notwithstanding the non-arrival of Sir Hercules Robinson, it is understood that Lieut.-Colonel Caine, who, since Sir John Bowring left has led the post of Governor here, proceeds to England by the outgoing mail. This is the party referred to by Chisholm Anstey in his speech at Newcastle (extracts from which will be found on our third page) as 'the veteran' from India, whom he had heard declare many a time and ... found it easy for officers to add £500 per annum to their pay by receiving presents from natives, and who, Mr Anstey went on to say, had shown by his practice in Hongkong that he had not profited badly by the lessons so learned when in India.
This is extraordinary language to use of a public man, and must necessitate a stringent enquiry. Should that enquiry be properly gone about, the result cannot be doubtful. Mr Anstey, it will be seen, bases his charges on what appears in the book before him, and the papers to be moved for by Mr Edwin James; but unless Mr Anstey is requested by Government to give his aid to the unravelling of what that book and those papers unfold, we entertain grave fears for the success to truth of what may be done under the auspices of Downing Street.
[Downing Street! Faugh! The very name of Downing Street, to victimized Colonists, stinks in our nostrils. If there is one germ of revolution and danger to the State, which of all others should be first eradicated, that term lies in Downing Street. Downing Street, the callous-hearted, blind-eyed, deaf-eared monster—the pulse which of all others throbs untrue to the great heart of England.]
A pension for some purpose or other this comprador being the man on whose receivings those entries were made in the Central Market books of "Paid Caine duty money"—"Paid Caine himself," &c.,—monies to the extent of £500 within one month, all of which was clear extortion.
"Such, then, are our grounds for saying that there can be little difficulty in substantiating a charge against Colonel Caine of malversation of office. The reports to which we have referred, may, Colonel Caine would have his friends believe, be all reports and nothing else; but though the scandal be but scandal, the extraordinary course which Colonel Caine has taken to rebut it is so mysterious and reprehensible, that, for it alone, he deserves punishment as a malfeasant. This conduct may be likened to that of the Governor of a castle who, whilst he stoutly maintains the gate, permits the enemy to enter by another and a prepared way. It was ever his bounden duty to keep the character of this government in the eyes of the Chinese pure and undefiled, and of all things to keep his own hands clean. The hands may be clean, but what has become of the character! What is the character of the Hongkong Government as represented on the name of Colonel Caine?
"If Colonel Caine is guilty of but a tithe of what is laid at his door, then we say that Mr Caldwell, of whom our Newcastle friends are making so much noise, is an angel of light when placed in comparison, and, guilty or not guilty, it is all the same, for we say it without the slightest fear of contradiction, that neither Mr Caldwell, Dr Bridges, nor Mah-chow Wong would ever have dared to act as they did had they not had before their eyes the spectacle of Downing Street's determination to ignore, visit with pecuniary loss and contumely, present and all complaint; not simply to ignore complaint, but to prospective, all who dare to intrude complaint on their notice.
"Oh for a more than Herculean power to crush that monster, Downing Street! that rival of the worst days of the Spanish Inquisition, or the German Fehm...
4. That by the words Lieutenant-Colonel Caine, Colonel Caine, and Caine, in such article appearing, I only, and no other person can be meant.
5. That I never at any time informed Mr Chisholm Anstey that I had found it easy for Officers in India to add £500 per annum to their pay by receiving presents from the natives, nor have I at any time said anything to the said Mr Chisholm Anstey, or to any one else, from which such assertion could be fabricated.
6. That I never at any time wanted a dollar a head from each resident in Chinese brothels—that I never at any time wanted fees for keeping gambling-tables—that I never at any time wanted what was termed "hiang gun," duty money, for licenses to sell in markets—that I never at any time wanted presents for my influence in Council—that I never at any time wanted a full supply of everything for my table from the market holders, except upon the usual terms of paying for what I had like other people—that I never wanted a huge, or any percentage whatsoever on building contracts—that I never, on the grants of leases, wanted any sum or sums of money, and much less sums of various amounts from one hundred to five hundred pounds sterling—that I never required my thirds, or any proportion or fee whatsoever, on offices held by Europeans under Government, nor ever did receive any such proportion of either salaries or fees of Office of any Colonial servants—that I did not, in any way, allow or connive at my house compradore getting out of the reach of Justice—that I do not pay my old compradore a pension, and that I never (have) been guilty of malversation of office.
7. That the statements in the said Overland Friend of China Newspaper, to the effect that there can be no difficulty of substantiating against me a charge of malversation of office, insinuating that I corruptly wanted a dollar a head from each resident in Chinese brothels in this Colony—that I corruptly wanted fees for the keeping of gambling tables in this colony—that I corruptly wanted what was termed the "hiang-gun" duty money for licenses, for persons to sell in market in this colony—that I corruptly wanted presents for the improper exercise of my influence as a Member of either the Executive or the Legislative Councils in this Colony—that I corruptly wanted a full supply of everything for my table from the market holders of this Colony (without the usual payment therefor)—that I corruptly wanted a huge percentage on building contracts—that I corruptly wanted, on the grant of leases, sums of various amounts from one hundred to five hundred pounds sterling, and charging that on offices held by European servants in this Colony, I corruptly required or received a third of their salaries, and that when I had a good opportunity to confront my house comprador, the alleged recipient of much extorted money with the parties who charged him; I did not simply allow, but, as appearances go, actually connived at his getting out of the reach of justice; and that I deserve punishment as a malfeasant, are false, malicious, and defamatory libels, and wholly untrue.
Sworn at the Supreme Court House, Victoria, this twenty-fifth day of August, A.D. 1859.
W. CAINE.
W. H. ALEXANDER,
A Commissioner, &c.
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