76
dee
rary letters of the
8th July 1857 & 13th May
1858. to Dr Bridges,
the facts which transpired at their trials came of other information, received by one, about Mr. Wilson, Mr. May, Mr. Inglis the Magistrate and others; so much to the prejudice of Mr Caldwell's character, that, by the end of the suspicion had ripened into absolute conviction. Him and his close alliances with Chinese Crime the corruptions complained of were chiefly and solely to be ascribed.
The first and second trials,
The Beggs,
13.
A speech of great power
lasted two hours, and made a
the great impression
Acting Colonial Secretary, severely reproached the Hong Kong Government and Secretary Lord Stanley with his own seduction into the crimes for which
See Minutes of Seventeenth & Twenty-second days, 30th June & 13th July 1858: pp. 58 (14th Col) 54-60, 71 Col. and 88. (3rd Col.), and see Mr. May's Depositions (in the Police Court) I'm the
14. - For Mr Couldwell himself had been promoted in sequence to the offices of Justice of the Peace and Registrar General and Protector of Chinese at Hong Kong, and had greatly increased his credit and influence with Sir John Bowring, by means of the great ascendancy with which this extraordinary combination of powers had given him over the 72,000 Chinese Inhabitants of Hong Kong. Moreover, a Dr. Bridges
a Barrister of Hong Kong, and practising also as Attorney there, and who (before my arrival) had filled the office of Acting Attorney General for the Colony, had been in February 1857 appointed by Sir John Bowring to act as Colonial Secretary and Executive Councillor, during the absence in Europe of Mr. Mercer upon a sick leave of 18 months, with liberty to continue to practice for his clients notwithstanding such acting appointment. Dr Bridges and Mr Caldwell were in very intimate and friendly relations.
15. - I myself, shortly after the date of my unanswered report on Ali Beggs Case, and in same month of July, was obliged by sickness to quit Hong Kong for Calcutta, upon a six month's leave