88
himself that they had been entrusted for that purpose, and that the examination (if any) was made by himself and not by Mongan. W. Wade, not yet undeceived;
James now advances their erroneous belief to explain a fact not known when I left the Island – namely that he, (Mr. Wade) "never went through" and "never looked into" the papers, so referred to her, during the period of their being in his hands; - for, if Mr. Mongan had searched them, his search, he thought, would be labor in vain. Before he returned to his office, the burning had taken place, and it was then too late. He therefore gives no opinion upon the accuracy of the references, contained in the "Memoranda", having no longer judgment. But he acknowledges that they are documents of important character, and that being amongst the destroyed documents, other means are note, as an important papers, gravely reflecting Mr. Caldwell.
37.
Mr. Mongan, who had the Originals in his Custody, before and after Mr. Wade has deposed in open Court that "the 'Memoranda' were too circumstantial to be forgeries!
Cross examination of Mr. Wade at the Trial of the Queen vs. Tarrant Ubi supra,
Printed Minutes, Vic, Seventeenth and Eighteenth, May 1858.
58. The Queen's printer, Mr. Bigon, and the Acting Attorney General Mr. H. Ingham - each of whom had at the time a peculiar reason of his own for noting their accuracy, conform the former upon Oath - Mr. May's narrative, as to the nature of the Entries in the destroyed documents, so noted "in his 'Memoranda'.
59. The Chief Magistrate, Mr. Davies, himself the Committing Magistrate in Mah Chow Song's case, and afterwards a Commissioner of Enquiry into that of Mr. Caldwell, saw the "Memoranda" soon after they were made, had them in his possession, two or three days while the originals were in the hands of the local Government; and says that if Mr. May did not then volunteer their production to the Government, it was because he, Mr. Davies, dissuaded him from parting with a document, which he thought would be Mr. May's safeguard against imputations already hinted by Dr. Bridges, of malicious meaning towards Mr. Caldwell. - Mr. Davies really does not think that Mr. May was guilty of even the smallest act, from which, even now, when he (Mr. Davies) looks back on Mr. May's conduct, with the further knowledge of his relations with W. Caldwell, he (Mr. Davies) could, even if he had the greatest wish to do so, conclude that Mr. May acted unfairly or with hostile feelings towards Caldwell. He confirms the secondary evidence given by May as to the general nature of the contents of the "Memoranda".
60. It follows then that, on the face of these papers, Mr. Caldwell is now at least convicted of having had pecuniary accounts and dealings with a Chinaman, whose only way of life at that very time was notoriously the way of piracy and murder, and, further, of having deliberately deceived the Executive Council, as to the nature of those papers and their contents, by preparing and presenting to
33
Page 90
Page 91