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payer of the said petition.
Jin ANVIA VEN
I have to inform Your Excellency that the petition of the Portuguese Inhabitants of Wongthing delivered to you by the Portuguese Consul without my previous knowledge, because Wongthing being British Territory, the Portuguese Consul there is not subject to the authority of the Governor of Macao, as such is only the Faithful Major's Minister Plenipotentiary in China, Japan and Siam; but it is expected that instructions will soon arrive from the Minister for Foreign Affairs at Lisbon defining the relations which should subsist between the Consul and the Governor;
As regards the point of Your Excellency's despatch, I have the honour to state that I referred the matter for the opinion of the Judge of this Colony, and from his report (which I annex original), it appears.
1st that under the Law regulating the liberty of the Press in Portugal's The Penal Code, makes no distinction between Portuguese and Foreigners; and that, therefore, the latter are under the protection of the same Laws. 2ndly that in the Colonies there is no intervention of a Jury in Proceedings against the liberty of the Press, such offences being tried by the judge of The Colony in his capacity of Police