Enclosure to 13
401 C O.
Address to His Excellency the Governor and the Executive Council
I submit to your Excellency and the Honourable the Executive Council that the position, in which I have been placed, I have not chosen for myself.
The opportunity has been afforded me of choosing whether I should stand here to face these charges or not. It is usual, I believe, when an officer is in a doubtful position to give him an opportunity to withdraw from it, but this was not done in my case.
When I heard on Saturday night (16th instant) that His Excellency expected me to do the legal work during the short time that Dr. Marques would be absent, I did not look upon this as an order, and there were several reasons which, I believe, justified my declining the responsibility.
I wrote hurriedly on Sunday morning, therefore, representing my inability. I respectfully submit to Your Excellency and the Council that so far I had done no wrong.
If the Government was not satisfied with my letter of the 17th instant, I submit that I should then have been called upon for explanation, and if that had been unsatisfactory, it was open to the Acting Governor to issue a positive order for me to do the work, the Government taking all responsibility for the consequences.
If the Acting Governor, after being made acquainted with all the circumstances, had given me a positive order, my refusal might then have been followed by the present charges. As it is, I have been placed in this position by no wish of my own and without any opportunity of avoiding it.