132
C. S. O. No. 738.
MACAO, 16TH MARCH, 1869.
(Received 17th March.)
GOVERNOR VICE-ADMIRAL DE SOUZA,
TO
GOVERNOR SIR R. G. MACDONNELL, C.B.
REG. v. SAINT.
Relative to appeal against decision of Chief Justice.
S. O. No. 738.
This was an action for libel against the Chief Justice.
REG. v. SAINT.
Report of the Attorney General on the Proceedings and on the Judgment in the above case.
In compliance with the desire of His Excellency expressed in his minute upon the letter of the Governor of Macao respecting the above case, namely, that I should give an account of what has been done since this Government decided to continue the proceedings for libel instituted by Mr. Ball while Acting Attorney General against the Editor of the China Mail, and that I should also give my opinion as to the justice of the remarks contained in the letter of the Governor of Macao, I will proceed to report upon these points and upon the case generally.
Not being personally responsible for the initiation of the proceedings and my connection with them having simply been official and ministerial, I cannot be suspected of that partiality which an Advocate generally feels for his own cause; and I regret that the views I take of the case, legally and otherwise, should compel me to express myself, as I shall have occasion to do, in reference to the Chief Justice, with whom I have always had the good fortune to be on friendly terms.
The case of Regina v. Saint has acquired a certain notoriety and importance not by reason of any questions of legal difficulty being involved in it, but on account of the peculiar way in which the Chief Justice has treated the case from the very commencement; for his attitude and conduct in connection with it has been the subject of so much comment, both in and out of Court, that this report would not be complete without some reference to it.
The prosecution arose out of a series of gross attacks upon Senhor Amaral, late Governor of Macao, which appeared in the China Mail, Newspaper.
There is no doubt (for it was proved in a recent libel case) that certain enemies and political opponents of the Macao Government avail themselves of the English and Portuguese Newspapers printed in Hongkong, where there is a large Portuguese Community, to make the gravest charges against the Officials of their own Settlement. On this occasion Governor Amaral, who has always been personally held in high esteem by the residents of this Colony, and has since filled the post of Minister of Marine and of the Colonies at Lisbon, was charged with gross venality and corruption and with being accessory to the misdeeds of the Coolie trade at Macao.
C. S. O. No. 147.
Mr. Ball (then Acting Attorney General), for reasons which appear in a correspondence on the subject between this Government and the Colonial Office, filed three ex officio informations for libel against the Editor of the China Mail, of which the first only was proceeded with, and is the subject of this report. With respect to the peculiar nature of this ex officio proceeding, I would refer to my official letter to the Colonial Secretary of the 14th January last. To this first information a plea of justification had been put in by consent, which did not comply with the conditions of Lord Campbell's Act (6 & 7 Vict., c. 96), under which the Defendant can only plead that the libel is true and that it was published for the public benefit. Instead of pleading this justification, the Defendant pleaded that the Newspaper articles had a meaning different to that attributed to them by the inuendos, a defence which was available under his plea of Not Guilty.
[18]
132
C. S. O. No. 738.
MACAO, 16TH MARCU, 1869.
(Received 17th March.)
GOVERNOR VICE-ADMIRAL DE SOUZA,
TO
GOVERNOR SIR R. G. MACDONNELL, C.B.
REG. 2. SAINT.
Relative to appeal against decision of Chief
Justice.
S. O. No. 738.
This was an action for
bel against the Chief
REG. v. SAINT.
Report of the Attorney General on the Proceedings and on the Judgment in the above case.
In compliance with the desire of His Excellency expressed in his minute upon the letter of the Governor of Macao respecting the above case, namely, that I should give an account of what has been done since this Government decided to continue the proceedings for libel instituted by Mr. Ball while Acting Attorney General against the Editor of the China Mail, and that I should also give my opinion as to the justice of the remarks contained in the letter of the Governor of Macao, will proceed to report upon these points and upon the case generally.
Not being personally responsible for the initiation of the proceedings and my connection with them having simply been official and ministerial, I cannot be suspected of that partiality which an Advocate generally feels for his own cause; and I regret that the views I take of the case, legally and otherwise, should compel me to express myself, as I shall have occasion to do, in reference to the Chief Justice, with whom I have always had the good fortune to be on friendly terms.
The case of Regina v. Saint has acquired a certain notoriety and importance not by reason of any questions of legal difficulty being involved in it, but on account of the peculiar way in which the Chief Justice has treated the case from the very commencement; for his attitude and conduct in connection with it has been the subject of so much comment, both in and out of Court, that this report would not be complete without some reference to it.
The prosecution arose out of a series of gross attacks upon Senhor Amaral, late Governor of Macao, which appeared in the China Mail, Newspaper.
There is no doubt (for it was proved in a recent libel case) that certain Justion of Macao. The enemies and political opponents of the Macao Government avail themselves of
Defendant, Mr. Murrow,
Editor of Daily Press,
the name of his Macao informant
was compelled to give an English and Portuguese Newspapers printed in Hongkong, where there is a large Portuguese Community, to make the gravest charges against the Officials of their own Settlement. On this occasion Governor Amaral, who has always been person- ally held in high esteem by the residents of this Colony, and has since filled the post of Minister of Marine and of the Colonies at Lisbon, was charged with gross venu- lity and corruption and with being accessory to the misdeeds of the Coolie trade at Macao.
C. 8. O. No. 147.
Mr. Ball (then Acting Attorney General), for reasons which appear in a cor- respondence on the subject between this Government and the Colonial Office, filed three ex officio informations for libel against the Editor of the China Mail, of which the first only was proceeded with, and is the subject of this report. With respect to the peculiar nature of this ex officio proceeding, I would refer to my official letter to the Colonial Secretary of the 14th January last. To this first informa- tion a plea of justification had been put in by consent, which did not comply with the conditions of Lord Campbell's Act (6 & 7 Vict., c. 96), under which, the Defend- ant can only plead that the libel is true and that it was published for the public benefit. Instead of pleading this justification, the Defendant pleaded that the Newspaper articles had a meaning different to that attributed to them by the inuendos, a defence which was available under his plea of Not Guilty.
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