189
When the case came on for trial it was stated that the Defendants had acted in ignorance of the law - that they had imagined that the formal authority which they had received from a high Mandarin - under his seal and requesting them to attack the alleged Pirates, was sufficient to justify their proceedings - of which they had made no secret, but done everything openly - that they were now convinced that they had done wrong, and were willing to plead guilty and throw themselves on the mercy of the Court. The Acting Attorney General expressed his belief that these statements were correct, and that the Defendants had erred through ignorance. He had, however, felt it his duty to institute the present proceedings as a warning to all persons to abstain from the commission of such offences, and to prove that the