788
388
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ing to exhibit the innocence and whiteness of the bleached lamb." We ask in astonishment. What do His Excellency and the honourable the Executive Council want? If they doubt that the evidence in the case tried did not warrant the return of the verdict of guilty, the evidence in the case untried admits of no doubt of the prisoner's guilt.
If there be a deficient or weak link in the chain of legal evidence, surely the Executive Council can put on their reasoning and unprofessional spectacles, and look at the moral evidence, --such for instance, as the intercepted letter written by the accountant of Ma-chow Wong, sealed and ready to be forwarded to the writer's father on the mainland and which reads to this effect--"A woeful thing has happened; our shop has been seized upon a charge of buying sugar from pirates; but the saddest part is, that the ownership of Ma-chow Wong in the boat has been discovered," &c., &c. And another fragment of legally rejected evidence is, that after the capture of the sugar-laden boat by the pirates, and when the bodies of the murdered men and women had been cast overboard, the pirates said to the survivors of the crew,--"for the dead, that is past; but regarding the cargo, go to Ma-chow Wong." We would request His Excellency to ask the Honourable the Acting Attorney General (who so painstakingly performed his duty) whether such evidence was not tendered to him.
As regards the examination of the books and accounts of such a "villanous old bird" as Ma-chow Wong, do His Excellency and the Executive Council expect to find written in bold unblushing type, "I am a confederate of pirates"--"I am a receiver of stolen goods," "I am the protector of felons, gamblers, et hoc genus omne?" Or, still less likely, do they suppose there will be boastingly written proof of how cleverly he uses as a tool (to effect his vile objects) a recognized and trusted agent of Her Majesty's Government?
Out upon such wilful blindness, say we, and most certainly we shall not fail to do our utmost to draw aside the flimsy veil of assumed doubt of his guilt, and to stigmatise and draw down public indignation on all concerned in effecting so glaring a violation of public justice.
We have received a communication from the Acting Clerk of Councils, requesting our presence at a Meeting of the Executive Council at noon on Monday next, "with such proofs and evidence as you (we) may possess in support of the charges preferred by you against the above mentioned convict," (Wong A-kee,) "in the China Mail of the 17th ultimo." We need scarcely say, that we shall have no difficulty in substantiating all we have written, and a great deal more; and if, after the proofs adduced, Sir John Bowring will persist in the course he seems determined to pursue, and liberate this unmitigated scoundrel from prison, he will well merit the opprobium which he may rest assured the community will not fail to heap upon him.--China Mail, 8th October, 1857.
Now considering the position of this paper at that time, considering that Caldwell was the party directly pointed
Attorney General.--And of this,----(reads the second evidence of the contents of Mr May's Memoranda, see page 37 supra.)
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I have no objection to your mentioning to Dr Bridges (or to the Council) that I have memoranda which bear out the statement appearing in your paper.
Of course I cannot give you these memo., but I will bring them if I am required to attend the Council.
You
Touching the production of Chinese at the Council to support your assertions, I am compelled to say, that I agree with you that it would be dangerous either in reference to their persons or the truth--Yours very truly,
C. MAY.
13th October, 1857.
MY DEAR MR ALMADA,--I left in the hands of His Excellency, yesterday, Mr May's note to me. As I furnished you with a copy of it, will you please send me the original by the bearer, and oblige,--Yours very truly,
AND S. DIXSON.
13th October, 1857.
and on investigation, the bulk of that article proved to be charged on Ma-chow Wong--Connection with this, the greatest trash ever written.
screant is charged on Caldwell--"AND THE BOOKS PROVED THESE THINGS," I call your attention to this article in the China Mail of the 15th Oct., 1857. (Reads,)
Last week we mentioned having been requested to attend a meeting of the Executive Council on Monday, to satisfy the members as to our report of Ma-chow Wong's career being correct, and below we publish the correspondence that has taken place. It will be observed, that we reserve our right to state what we please regarding the proceedings before the Council; but for the present at least refrain from trenching on supposed privileges, further than in stating, that, by the assistance of Mr May, we were enabled to adduce the most satisfactory proofs of the dangerous character of the felon now in jail, and such as must place all hope of pardon, or even the least mitigation of punishment, utterly beyond question. Ma-chow Wong's antecedents, and portions of Mr Dixson's statements were fortunately in a position, without native aid, to show, that Ma-chow Wong had purchased immense quantities of ammunition, including stinkpots, &c.,--to adduce strong inference of his knowledge of the Silk robbery--proof that he had sold men and women into slavery--that he had assisted pirates to escape, and advanced large sums to lawyers for their defence. All this, and much more we say, Mr May's memoranda of the contents of the books of the firm of which Ma-chow Wong was the head, proved beyond a doubt; and the produces are now in the hands of the Executive Council, where his memoranda, and read them, item by item--The Council should be the books themselves, but whether they are so or not, we are by no means assured.
In one point it seems we were mistaken--in saying that Mong A-kee had been Tepo of Shek-pai-wan; we ought to have said, "Head of the Municipal Police" there;--then referred Mr May to Mr Mongan's translation, (see page 114 supra.)
Do you confirm that?
COUNCIL OFFICE, VICTORIA, HONGKONG,
6th October, 1857.
SIR,--Certain statements having appeared in the China Mail of the 7th ultimo, having reference to the convict Wong A-kee as Ma-chow-Wong, I am desired by His Excellency The Governor to request your attendance at a meeting of the Executive Council to be held on Monday the 12th instant, at noon, with such proofs and evidence as you may possess in support of the charges preferred by you against the above mentioned convict.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,
J. M. D'ALMADA E CASTRO,
for the Clerk of Councils.
Dr Bridges.--Yes. I remember Mr Lane was examined before Mr Dixson. My astonishment was that I had not seen those documents before. I was sitting, and it is hardly likely I should have said I did not know whether I was on my head or my heels. I did express considerable surprise that I had not. My statement was, that I was surprised at not having seen those documents before, and that such important papers should be with the Superintendent of Police, and I not know anything about it. My astonishment was greater at the fact of their having got into the hands of the printer before being handed to the Government, than at the contents of the books respecting Ma-chow Wong, whom I knew to be up to most things, a pirate, and a great vagabond.
HONGKONG, 10th October, 1857.
MY DEAR MAY, I cannot think of exposing Chinese to the mercies of Mr Ma-chow Wong and his myrmidons, and I had been summoned) entirely upon European testimony. I know you to be cognizant of the facts stated by me, and I
Attorney General.--What was Mr May's explanation?
Dr Bridges. I think he stated he had shewn them to...
MY DEAR SIR,--Herewith I return the note from Mr May. You are of course aware that the proceedings of the Council are confidential. Yours truly,
J. M. D'ALMADA.
A. S. Dixson, Esq.
"CHINA MAIL" OFFICE
13th October, 1857.
MY DEAR SIR,--I do not know anything about the proceedings of the Council being confidential, but the information I gave was voluntary and my own, and therefore I intend to make use of it as best pleases me. I have told the readers of the China Mail I was summoned before the Council, and I shall certainly tell them what I said there.--Yours very truly,
AND. S. DIXSON.
J. M. D'ALMADA, Esq.
We reserve further notes on the subject of the examination for future use, in case they should be required; but with the desire to follow the dictates of truth and justice by which it is to be hoped the President and honourable Members of the Council are alone actuated, there is little likelihood of their ever being called for."--China Mail, 15 October, 1857.
"We regret exceedingly to have to report a re-agitation on the part of Sir John Bowring--instigated, we believe, by Mr Caldwell--for the liberation of that scoundrel and convicted felon Ma-chow Wong. Our readers, we believe, are as heartily tired of the subject as we are ourselves, and we wish we were permitted to drop it; but the re-opening of the question, after it had, we imagined, been set at rest for ever, leads us to fear that some other and more powerful influence is at work than that of the Protector of Chinese, though the guiding hand is not apparent. There is an old adage which forcibly brings itself to our recollection at the present time, that "none are so blind as those who will not see."
for upon no other foundation can we place so determined and persistent an attempt to violate reason and
at--I put to you this question,--did not these two articles sink into your mind at the time with sufficient force to lead you to do your utmost to find out what part Mr Caldwell took in those transactions?
Dr Bridges.--They made no more impression on my mind than statements in the newspapers generally do,
(Kingsmill.)
being a government employé, I will ask Almada to send for
Yours very truly,
AND. S. DIXSON.
Monday.
Attorney General.--Why did he not show them to you?
Dr Bridges.--I am not sure that he did not say he thought he had mentioned them to me, I cannot be positive as to what Mr May said.
MY DEAR DIXSON,--In reply to your note of this morning, I regret that it will be out of my power to attend the Executive Council at its late sessions.
If the Government and Executive Council imagine that they will have washed the blackamoor white, simply by administering the Queen's prerogative of pardon to the convicted felon, they are egregiously mistaken; for to the public of Hongkong he will still be a blackamoor, and possibly a tinge of his darkness may be shadowed on those who have been vainly attempting...