7663.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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TIITLC.O.
885
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
No. 77.
(Howa KoNG.)
LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE. MY LORD,
Doctors' Commons, August 5, 1861. We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Mr. Hammond's letter of the 15th of June Tast, stating that, with reference to our reports of the 26th of April last and of the 8th and 11th June last, respecting the case of Mr. Moss, you were pleased to direct him to transmit to us a Despatch from Mr. Alcock, by which we perceive that, on hearing that Mr. Moss had brought an action against him in the Supreme Court at Hong Kong, he had thought it advisable at once to repair to the Colony to meet the action with such assistance as he could obtain on the spot.
Mr. Hammond also enclosed, confidentially, two private letters from Mr. Alcock to himself, from the last of which we would see that the action cannot, for the present, be proceeded with, and that Mr. Aloook has returned to Japan.
Mr. Hammond requested that we would consider the present position of this case, and advise your Lordship as to the course which should be pursued in the interest of Her Majesty's Government, who are resolved, considering the difficult circumstances in which Mr. Alcock was placed, to bear him harmless, and as to the instructions which should be addressed to Mr. Alcock with reference to the contingency of pro- ceedings being hereafter commenced against him.
That there was, however, a further and very serious question involved in this case, namely, the liability to which Her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers were subject, of being diverted by process of law from the performance of their proper duties, and being subjected to be cast in damages which they might be unable at once to meet, and consequently to arrest and imprisonment in default of payment.
That such a state of things might be brought about by circumstances over which they had no control, and in regard to which a superior court of justice might hold them irresponsible; yet the public interests would in all cases suffer not only by the disparagement in the estimation of the people of the country, which a diplomatic or consular officer would needs suffer, but possibly by the British community at large in the country where they now reside being deprived of the protection and support which the presence of the diplomatic or consular officer is calculated and intended to afford.
Your Lordship was pleased to suggest that we should, after disposing of the imme- diate case, tako this point into our special consideration, with the view of suggesting, if possible, some mode by which the inconvenience of such a state of things that had occurred in regard to Mr. Moss's case might be obviated.
We were honoured with a letter from Lord Wodehouse, dated the 28th of June last, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us a Despatch from Mr. Alcock, enclosing an opinion given by the Attorney General of Hong Kong in the case of Mr. Moss, and requesting that we would take these papers into our considera- tion, together with those submitted to us in Mr. Hammond's letter of the 15th of June last, in which we were requested to advise your Lordship as to the course which should be pursued in the interest of Her Majesty's Government, and also as to the mode by which the inconveniences which had occurred in the Moss case might be obviated for the future.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have considered the accompanying papers, and have the honour to
Report
That, with reference to Mr. Hammond's letter of June 15th, we have to observe that the best course to be taken is to instruct the Attorney General of Hong Kong to act as he may think best, and to use his best exertions on behalf of Mr. Alcock in any legal proceedings pending or hereafter instituted against him at Hong Kong at the suit of Mr. Moss. The suggestion contained in Mr. Alcock's Despatch, No. 31, page 16, as to his having the assistance of the Attorney General at Hong Kong, whenever occasion may arise for seeking it, appears to us to deserve favourable consideration. not aware of what is the precise meaning of "the same right of reference to the Attorney General for assistance which the Minister in China enjoys," as this is not explained, but we consider it desirable that Mr. Alcock and Her Majesty's other consular officers
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