The case is going to be settled. It is not so much the things which the C.J. said but the way in which he said them that are objectionable. It is not his place to lecture the Govt. as to what is or is not inconsistent with good taste. Mr. Stubbs sums the position up concisely in his minute.
We simply acknowledge receipt.
It might be as well to let the aforesaid and the L.O. know what kind of person Sir Francis Piggott is. We shall be bombarding them, the For. Office with plans for promotion in the future.
No.
Hongkong.
Enclosure
My Lord,
Government House, Hongkong, 15th July, 1909.
I have the honour to forward a print of a judgment recently delivered by His Honour Sir Francis Piggott, Chief Justice, in an action in which I was Plaintiff in my official capacity, together with extracts from a minute of the Crown Solicitor which explains the origin and nature of the action and the effect of the judgment.
2. I have the honour to draw Your Lordship's attention to the passages in the judgment marked in red ink, and to express my regret that the Chief Justice should have considered it his duty to animadvert so strongly upon the action of Government, and in doing so should have chosen the expressions which he has used, which are calculated to lower the dignity of the Government in the eyes of the Chinese who do not appreciate our ideas of the mutual relations between the Judiciary and the Executive.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF CREWE,
&c.