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「། ༴། ཟ།
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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C.O. 885
11 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
No. 572.
(Hong Kong.)
LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.
MY LORD,
Temple, June 22, 1869. We are honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Mr. Hammond's letter of the 8th instant, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us the accompanying letter from the Colonial Office, enclosing an account of the proceedings which have taken place at Hong Kong in the case of the "Queen against Saint," in which an ex-officio information was filed by the Acting Attorney General against Mr. Saint for the publication of a libel against Senhor Amaral, a former Governor of Macao and afterwards Minister of Marine and for the Colonies of His Majesty the King of Portugal; and Mr. Hammond was pleased to request that we would take the same into consideration and furnish your Lordship with our opinion upon the case and as to the course to be pursued by Her Majesty's Government with regard to it.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have the honour to
Report
That the Crown appears to have been unnecessarily brought into court to vindicate the character of an ex-Governor of Macao by the indiscreet and improper conduct of Mr. Ball while Acting Attorney General of Hong Kong. This was an error, and the determination of Mr. Pauncefote to go on with a process which ought not to have been begun, was, we think, a mistake also. It is true he had before him a choice of evils, and, although we think he was mistaken, he was so naturally and pardonably in circumstances of great difficulty, which he had no hand in bringing about. Having determined to proceed, however, it was a serious mistake to proceed by halves, and to resign into other hands the conduct of a Government prosecution.
These mistakes have led to a serious legal and technical difficulty in the further prosecution of the case. The defendant pleaded a plea of justification, his right to do which, in answer to an ex-officio information, is at least extremely doubtful. But it appears from the Attorney General's note and from the judgment of the chief justice, that this plea was pleaded by consent. This leads to most inconvenient and embarras- sing consequences, and we are asked to advise your Lordship whether an appeal should be applied for in a proceeding which has been most unfortunately begun and unfortunately carried on.
The raising of very important constitutional questions by the judgment of the Chief Justice is another unhappy incident in this matter.
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On the whole, however, we are unable to advise the further prosecution, for the sake of settling questions of law, of an appeal in a proceeding which ought not to have been begun, and ought to have been, if begun, conducted very differently.
Inconvenient consequences may arise, no doubt, from discontinuing the proceedings in this stage, but they are a less evil in our judgment than continuing them. It is easy by some statement or minute to prevent the judgment of the Chief Justice from being taken as accepted by the Crown or standing as an uncontested precedent. The Portuguese Government may properly be informed by your Lordship that grave questions of procedure have arisen which render it unadvisable to carry these pro- ceedings further. But that Government may also be told that it will always be open to the Government of Macao to take proceedings in a less objectionable form against anyone who libels it. The two pending informations should be put an end to by a nolle prosequi.
We have, &c.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Clarendon, K.G.
&c.
&c.
&c.
(Signed)
R. P. COLLIER. J. D. COLERIDGE. TRAVERS TWISS.
0
16978.-543.
25, -5/86.