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M. Stace, had been allowed, during the preparation of his Trial, to have free access to those secret documents, and even, according to one author, to carry away some of them from their temporary place of deposit at the Colonial Secretary's office. It has been alleged that Governor Bowring has been heard to declare that it was ordered by himself.
22. It has been further admitted by the then Acting Colonial Secretary, on oath, that Dr. Bridges had access to these documents.
20. Mr. Tarrant was also believed to have been involved in the matter, at least, by his examination in the Supreme Court.
"For the interposition of the parties mentioned in the Chinese Secretary's letter of 12th October, it is probable that the Documents in question 'were in his official custody, and were used as evidence on cross-examination of Lines Morgan Esq., a witness for the Crown in the Queen vs. Farrant case."
23. On the 23rd November, five weeks after the pirate's conviction, tears were shed by the Coroner. It is stated that in 1858, in the most important of those papers, evidence must have been given in the Hong Kong Supreme Court.
It is rumoured that a pardon would have been granted, and the point again lost by Sir John Bowring's Government.
23. A probability of such an event having reached the Queen's printer, Mr. Dixon, led to a contemptible and damnable trick being played by the perpetrators to get off Mah Wong before he came into Mr. Dixon's hands. They had come into his hands in the Government Gazette, and see Dawson's letter published in the China Mail of 27th June 1858, p. 41. (1st Col.)
21. In the meantime, Mr. Caldwell and Dr. Bridges supported the application of Mops Day, Counsel for the Crown, for a pardon. See letters of the 13th May 1858 to the Executive Councillor, and of the same date to the Attorney General.
The newspaper, the organ of the community, on 17th September, enumerated the crimes of the man and alluded to his pecuniary dealings with Mr. Caldwell, the Queen's printer. The Queen's printer made free use of a sort of Index to the contents of the pirate's books and papers, originally prepared by W. May himself, at the period of their first examination for use at the trials.
This Index was headed "Memoranda" and was sent by the Acting Colonial Secretary to his Excellency in Executive Council on 17th May 1858, with a request for a pardon. I again remind your Grace that Secretary of State Ford had already caused to be entered a nolle prosequi in respect of the united charge against the same prisoner, for the second offence, alleged to be much stronger than the first, and one unconnected with it.
The Chief Justice declared from the Bench that he did not, on 13th July 1858 (pp. 449, 1st Col.), and could not have ordered the nolle prosequi (pp. 61, 1st Col.; 62, 2nd Col.; 63, 2nd Col.; 88, 1st Col.).
24. Mr. Dixon was thereupon summoned by the Clerk of the Councils, in the name of the Governor, to attend the Executive Council and support his statement. Mr. Dixon's line of examination, he himself says, was adopted by the Council on 28th July 1858.
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