If this Government has simply amounted to a determination not to interfere in a case where it has no jurisdiction, or to incarcerate in its prisons men whom it has no authority to confine there, many of whom the opinion of the Attorney General might bring actions for false imprisonment against every person concerned in their temporary detention which, from an anxious desire to meet your wishes, His Excellency has already permitted.
As the Attorney General has signified that the prisoners never were within your jurisdiction and that this Government has no authority to confine them, you will at once perceive that His Excellency had no option in the matter, but was necessarily guided by the opinions of the duly appointed legal adviser of the Government.
In accordance with his advice, His Excellency therefore decided all the correspondence in the case to be laid before the Honourable Mr Justice Hall, and the prisoners to be brought before him this day, after due notification thereof; and Mr Justice Hall has directed their prosecution in the absence of any...
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