During the period of my incarceration it happened that Mr. Anstey, the Attorney General of Hong Kong, became unwillingly convinced that there was some ground for the charges of which he had strongly condemned my own denunciations, as well as for the suspicions long entertained by himself of the existence of a far graver state of things than I had denounced. He became aware of a connection of Mr. Caldwell, the Registrar General and Protector of the Chinese, with certain native pirates and robbers, who by means of Mr. Caldwell's influence in the Executive, through the intervention of his coadjutant Dr. Burgess, then acting Colonial Secretary (whose ascendency over the Governor in local matters was supreme), kept the entire Chinese community in a state of thraldom.
Mr. Anstey officially apprised the Governor of his discoveries but under the advice of the then Colonial Secretary, Dr. William Thomas Bridges, himself a party to the league, Sir John Bowring declined to interfere, and Mr. Anstey reported the matter to the Secretary of State. Before a reply could be received from Lord Stanley, the Governor laid on the table of the Legislative Council several bills, the effect of which was very much to increase Mr. Caldwell's powers over the Chinese people of the place. As a Legislative Councillor, Mr. Anstey, in his place, renewed his representations of the danger and disgrace which he apprehended from Mr. Caldwell's connection with the public service and was able to carry some amendments of those bills.
Thereupon His Excellency ordered a special commission to enquire into the subject, but the constitution of the commission was such, and the Governor so palpably espoused Mr. Caldwell's cause, that the whole bearing of the arrangements regarding the enquiry tended to the exculpation of the accused, and Mr. Anstey consequently refused to prosecute his charges before a tribunal whose integrity and independence he had good cause to doubt.
The sittings of the commission commenced on the 27th day of May 1858 and resulted in a finding on the 27th July following. This finding being equivocal, qualified, and contradictory, yet exculpatory withal, was not deemed satisfactory by Sir G. B. Lytton, Bart, the new Secretary of State, nor his successor, the Duke of Newcastle.
In pursuance of instructions, a notification appeared in the Hong Kong Gazette dated 28th July 1860 intimating that the new Governor (then Sir Hercules Robinson) would sit in Executive Council for the purpose of enquiring into the abuses which had been alleged to exist in the Civil Service of Hong Kong "generally" (which I had never ceased to expose) and "especially into the alleged tampering of some of the subordinate departments with the malversation, corruption, and piratical practices of part of the Chinese community in or frequenting the Colony." All persons capable of giving information in furtherance of the proposed investigation were invited to attend.
It is much to be regretted that the notification did not take place until the end of 1859, a year and a half after Mr. Anstey had ceased to be Attorney General and had removed to the Bombay Bar. What all the other officials connected with the "so-called enquiry" had been doing by that time had been removed, with the exception of Mr. May, the Superintendent of Police and Assistant-Justice Magistrate, who had strongly supported Mr. Anstey and was himself threatened with suspension. Sir John Bowring and Dr. Bridges were both in England, and Mr. Caldwell was in the unchecked vigour of his official authority.
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