1852-01-13 — Page 1

13th January, 1852.

Present:

His Excellency The Governor,

The Honorable The Chief Justice,

The Honorable The Attorney General

The Honorable The Colonial Treasurer,

The Honorable David Jardine, Esquire,

The Honorable J. F. Edger, Esquire.

The Council met today pursuant to adjournment.

The Minutes of the last Council were read and approved.

Read the Second time and passed, the Consular ordinance, entitled "An ordinance for investing Her Majesty's Consuls in China with the powers of Justices of the Peace, so far as may be requisite for enforcing the due observance of certain Provisions of Two Acts passed in the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland, namely, The General Merchant Seamen's Act' and 'The Mercantile Marine Act, 1850'" being No. 1 of 1852, which was ordered to be printed and published in the Government Gazette.

The Draft Consular ordinance for explaining ordinances No. 5 and & of 1844 was again brought to the consideration of the Council, when Mr. Jardine handed in the following Minute.

"Minute of the undersigned against ordinance No. of 1852, entitled An ordinance to explain ordinance No. 5 of 1844 and ordinance No. 7 of 1844.

"I object to the said ordinance because the present Judicial authority of Her Majesty's Consular officers, with due attention to the ordinances framed for their Government, is sufficient to meet the ends of Justice and Treaty Provisions, and because the proposed mode of appeal from a Public Court to a Private Tribunal, naturally prone to bias in support of official authority, is no adequate guarantee for the administration of substantial Justice, the more especially where the decision of the primary adjudicator, as too often happens in small communities, is liable to be influenced by personal feeling.

It is worthy of remark that in almost no case, Civil or Criminal, have Her Majesty's authorities been able to obtain redress for British Subjects against the Chinese Government or its people, whereby the operation of Treaty stipulations is rendered entirely one sided.

(Signed) David Jardine,

Member of Council

Hong Kong,

13th January, 1852"

Mr. Jardine then remarked that, as it would appear from the Governor's own Statement, the proposed ordinance had been already sent home for the consideration of Her Majesty's Government, and that His Excellency was willing to take upon himself the responsibility of passing the same, it would be fair for this Council to be made aware of the grounds upon which the measure was recommended to Lord Palmerston; and that he Mr. Jardine would therefore suggest that all the correspondence passed on the subject should be laid on the table, and that a similar course should be adopted on future occasions.

His Excellency replied that in this instance he had no objection to meet Mr. Jardine's wishes, but that as his correspondence with the Principal Secretary of State for Foreign affairs, when suggesting Legislative Enactments at times embraced matters of a Diplomatic and therefore of a confidential nature, he could not promise to do so on all occasions. His Excellency further remarked that were Mr. Jardine's proposal fully carried out it would become necessary to lay before the Council his correspondence with Her Majesty's Consuls which would be obviously inconvenient, as under these circumstances Her Majesty's Consuls could not be expected to communicate with him in the confidential style that it was necessary for them to do. He would therefore make a reference to Lord Palmerston on the subject who would decide in how far it might be deemed proper that Mr. Jardine's proposal should be acceded to.

As regarded all Colonial Enactments, His Excellency saw no objection to all correspondence between the Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies and himself being submitted for the inspection of the Legislative Council.

The proposed ordinance was then read a first time. It bore the following title "An "ordinance to explain ordinance No. 5 of 1844, being 'An ordinance to carry into effect "'the Treaties between Great Britain and China, and to indemnify Her Majesty's "'Consuls and all other Persons in China who may have hitherto assisted therein', and "'ordinance No. 7 of 1844, being 'An ordinance for the better administration of Justice "'in the Consular Courts, and to establish a Registration of British Subjects within the Dominions of the Emperor of China.'"

(Singed) S. G. Bonham.

Read and approved this 20th day of January, 1852.

(Signed) L. d'Almada e Castro,

Clerk of Councils.