On the other hand there were very good reasons for not having a special jury. The limited class from which special jurors in Hong Kong are selected was one with which Mr. Nelson was intimately connected and one amongst which the question in dispute had been so violently and repeatedly canvassed that a jury drawn from it was to be avoided if possible.
I may add that in no Crown prosecution that has occurred since I have been here have I thought it desirable to summon a special jury, nor so far as I know has a special jury ever been applied for by a prisoner.
I mention these facts not as a justification of what I did as I do that, but rather as giving some of the information that may be required in dealing with Mr. Nelson's letter.
The imputation or insinuation conveyed in that letter, so far as it affects me, appears to be that I acted corruptly in my office in order to protect a friend of the Governor?
Copies of sections 17 of Ordinance 11 of 1864 and of Section 1 of Ordinance 8 of 1872 accompany this memorandum.
(signed) Edward L. O'Malley, Attorney General, April 13th 1881.