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Extract from the Minutes of the Executive Council of Hongkong.
“SATURDAY, 3RD APRIL, 1869.”
«PRESENT:”
“His Excellency SIR RICHARD GRAVES MACDONNELL, C.B., Governor,
The Honorable COLONEL KNOX GORE, Commandant of the Garrison.
The Honorable J. GARDINER AUSTIN, Colonial Secretary.
The Honorable JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE, Attorney General.
The Honorable W. H. RENSHAW, Auditor General.
The Queen v. Saint.
136
INFORMATION
“His Excellency the Governor lays on the Table the Letter addressed to him by Governor De Souza (10th March), together with His Excellency’s Minute thereon of same date, referring it to the Honorable the Attorney General, also the Report of that Officer on the subject; And it is resolved, that Application for Special Leave to appeal in Reg. v. Saint be made, through the Right Honorable the Secretary of State, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.”
(True Extract),
L. D’ALMADA E CASTRO,
Clerk of Councils.
HONGKONG
TO WIT.
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF HONGKONG.
TRINITY TERM, IN THE THIRTY-FIRST YEAR
OF THE REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
BE IT REMEMBERED, that the Honorable HENRY JOHN BALL, Esquire, Acting Attorney General of Our Lady the Queen, who prosecutes for Our said Lady the Queen in this behalf, in his proper person, comes here into the Supreme Court of Hongkong, before the Chief Justice thereof, on the Eighteenth Day of May, in this same Term, and for Our Lady the Queen, gives the Court here to understand and be informed, That before and at the times of the printing and publication of the false, scandalous, malicious and defamatory libels and libellous matter and things, hereinafter mentioned and set forth, there subsisted and now subsists, alliance, friendship, amity, peace and concord between Our Sovereign Lady The Queen, and His Most Faithful Majesty The King of Portugal, and the subjects of Their said Majesties respectively, and that before and at those times, His Excellency Jose RODRIGUES COELHO DO AMARAL was, and yet is, the Minister of Marine and for the Colonies, in the Government of His said Most Faithful Majesty, and had previously been Governor for His said Majesty of the Settlement, Province, or Colony of Macao, upon the coast of the Empire of China.
That CHARLES ABRAHAM SAINT, of the City of Victoria, in the Colony of Hongkong, being the Proprietor, Printer and Publisher of a certain Newspaper called The China Mail, well knowing the premises, but being a malicious and evil disposed person, and unlawfully and maliciously devising, and intending to revile, traduce, defame and vilify the said Jose RODRIGUES COELHO DO AMARAL, so being and as such Minister as aforesaid, and to bring him into great hatred, scandal, infamy, disgrace and contempt, as well among the liege subjects of Our said Lady The Queen, as among the subjects of His said Most Faithful Majesty, and to cause it to be suspected, that he had acted corruptly, improperly and dishonestly, in his said Office of Minister of Marine, and for the Colonies of His said Most Faithful Majesty, and also unlawfully and maliciously devising, as much as in him the said CHARLES ABRAHAM SAINT lay, to interrupt, disturb and destroy the friendship, amity, peace and concord, subsisting between Our Lady The Queen and Her subjects, and His said Most Faithful Majesty and His subjects, on the Fifth Day of May, in the Year of Our Lord, One thousand Eight hundred and Sixty-eight, at the City of Victoria, in this Colony, unlawfully and maliciously, did print and publish, and cause and procure to be printed and published, in the said Newspaper called The China Mail, a very false, scandalous and malicious libel of and concerning the said Jose RODRIGUES COELHO DO AMARAL, as such Minister as aforesaid, that is to say --
“Curious rumours are floating about respecting Macao (meaning the said Settlement, Province, or Colony of His said Majesty) and the action taken by the Portuguese Government regarding the recent exposures of the coolie trade. It is asserted by those who have good means of knowing, that Senhor AMARAL (meaning the said Jose RODRIGUES COELHO DO AMARAL,) who enjoys the honor of representing the coolie Colony (meaning Macao) in the Portuguese Parliament, has become alarmed, lest the thorough ventilation of abuses recently commenced, should lead to legislation likely to prejudice the interests of the pig-dealers (meaning persons accused or suspected of kidnapping and man-stealing) and influenced by