the-history-of-the-laws-and-courts-of-ho — Page 37

against him with reference to his proceedings in connexion with
the Caldwell Commission of Inquiry . His explanations " not Mr. Anstey
being satisfactory to the Governor, " at a meeting of the Execu- informed
that
tive Council held on Monday, the 2nd August, it was resolved Executive
unanimously that Mr. Anstey be informed that on the 7th would Council
August, the Executive Council would take into consideration the consider
advisability of suspending him from office, and that any observa- advisability
of suspend.
tions which he might desire to make in writing would , on that ing him.
day, be submitted to the Council. The following is an extract
from the minutes of Council held on the 2nd August, a copy of
which was also communicated to Mr. Anstey
Extract from the minutes of the Executive Council of Hongkong, held on
Monday, the 2nd August, 1858. Present : His Excellency the Governor ;
the Honourable the Lieutenant- Governor ; His Excellency the Major- Gene-
ral Commanding the Troops ; the Honourable the acting Colonial Secretary.
His Excellency the Governor read to the Council the following observa-
tions in reference to himself, as growing out of the report of the Caldwell
Commission :
" I cannot follow Mr. Anstey through his violations of that honourable un-
derstanding which usually protects private and confidential conversations ,
and which, in the position in which the Attorney-General stands to the Gov-
ernor, ought to have been specially sacred . He has brought before the
Commission conversations which took place more than two years ago ; and
I can only aver, as far as my memory may be weighed against Mr. Anstey's
veracity, that his statements, especially as to what passed respecting Dr.
Bridges, are gross perversions, distortions, and exaggerations of my language.
Indeed , my experience of Mr. Anstey's infirmities compelled me to protect
myself against the very results which are now in evidence ; for at the end of
1856 I advised one, and at the beginning of 1857 another, of Her Majesty's
Secretaries of State that I had found it necessary to confine communications
with the Attorney-General to written documents through the official channels,
and to avoid as far as possible personal intercourse on public matters .
" I have to call the attention of the Council to a part of Mr. Anstey's evi-
dence.§ "It (correspondence with Mr. D'Almada) states that the Governor dif-
fers from Mr. Anstey in his reading of a case which he had cited to support his
opinion, and proposed sending a case Home to the law officers of the Crown.
This was done, and by return a despatch was 6 received from the Secretary of
State for the Colonies, which said that the law officers ' concurred with my
See these papers referred to antè Chap. XIX. , p. 446.
See charge 11 , antè p. 504, and the report of the Committee on same, antè 508.
See Chap. xxv., infrà, for details and result of the trial.
Evidence before the Caldwell Commission- Parliamentary Papers, 1860, p. 162.
512 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC., OF HONGKONG .

Chap. XXIII . reading.' It is true that such a reference was made as to the obligation of
the Governor to attend a subpoena of the Supreme Court and all the corres-
1858.
pondence forwarded to the Secretary of State on the 8th September, 1856 ,
but so far from an answer being sent by return , no answer whatever was re-
ceived ; and on the 6th October, 1857, another despatch was written to the
Secretary of State, at the instance of the Chief Justice, desiring for his
guidance that the question might be decided ; and on the 10th March, 1858,
Lord Stanley sends the opinion of the law officers, which states , that in the
question whether the Governor should attend a subpoena of the Court, they
incline to think that the subpoena could not be enforced ; but in a case where
an ' action was brought against the law officer for acts done in the discharge
of his duty, he had a right to expect every assistance from the Governor,
both in the way of testimony or otherwise.'
" But Mr. Anstey adds : The despatch administered a severe reprimand
to the Governor, blaming him for a want of generosity and justice.'
6
There is not a word of reprimand ' or ' blame ' in the despatch from the
Secretary of State ; and in the case referred to, which was a case of slander
against Mr. Anstey, brought by Mr. Mitchell, I officially requested Mr.
Mitchell to desist from bringing the action ; he refused, and he was non-
suited . I would add , that I did not refuse to obey a subpoena, but doubted
whether I ought to attend in a matter which appeared to me a personal
quarrel between the parties, and in which, in my judgment, both had been in
the wrong, as was proved by the results."
Resolved unanimously (the acting Colonial Secretary declining to vote) --
1. That since Mr. Anstey's arrival in the Colony he has been engaged in
a long succession of officialised quarrels and contentions with public func-
tionaries. That these misunderstandings have been characterized by unwar-
rantably violent and vituperative language on the part of Mr. Anstey, have
been detrimental to the character of Her Majesty's Government, and have
caused much public scandal ; and that Mr. Anstey's conduct in reference to
these unseemly controversies has been frequently censured by the Governor,
and severely animadverted on by Her Majesty's Secretaries of State.
Resolved unanimously ( the acting Colonial Secretary declining to vote) —
2. That, on a former occasion, when the Governor was instructed to sus-
pend Mr. Anstey, unless he made public reparation to the injured party, Her
Majesty's Government declared , in an appeal made by Mr. Anstey to the
Secretary of State, that " Mr. Anstey had availed himself of that appeal.
not by expressing his willingness to make the apology which the evidence
brought forward on behalf of the Chief Justice seemed to render proper, nor
even by simply declining to give that apology, but by a letter, in which he
repeats the charge in, what I must term, virulent and offensive language,
calculated , in as far as in him lay, to degrade and vilify his superior func-
tionary. And Mr. Anstey himself repudiates the excuse that he had only
used ordinary freedom in remarking on the judge's demeanour on some convi-
vial occasion, by declaring that the occasion was public --one of high official
ceremony. Mr. Anstey stands, therefore, in the position of an officer who
has made a charge of serious official misconduct against another, superior in
position to himself, and refuses to retract or to apologize, although his charge
is rebutted by strong evidence, and supported , as far as the papers before me
show, by none. "
On that occasion Mr. Anstey made public reparation, and was in conse-
quence not suspended from office.†
Resolved unanimously (the acting Colonial Secretary declining to vote)--
3. That repeated warnings have had no effect in checking the impetuosity.
tempering the rashness, diminishing the acrimony, or lessening the frequency
On this subject, see antè Chap. XVI. § II.. p. 391 , and also Chap . XVII. § 1. p. 405,
† See antè Chap. XVI. § 11. p. 387.
 MR. ANSTEY SUSPENDED FROM OFFICE. 513


of Mr. Anstey's attacks ; and that this Council concur in the opinion convey- Chap. XXIII ,
ed to Mr. Anstey in the letter of the acting Colonial Secretary of 23rd July, 1858.
No. 433 , in reference to the inquiry into charges made by him against Mr.
Caldwell before the Commission appointed by the Governor. And the Coun-
cil have come to the conclusion that Mr. Anstey's former errors have been
repeated on this occasion.
Resolved unanimously (the acting Colonial Secretary declining to vote) -
4. That in discharge of his official functions the advice given by Mr. Ans-
tey to the Governor in his official capacity has been frequently injudicious
and intemperate ; and that the suggestions of Mr. Anstey have been on se-
veral occasions repudiated by Her Majesty's Government.
Resolved unanimously (the acting Colonial Secretary declining to vote) -
5. That the explanations given by Mr. Anstey in his letter, dated 30th
July, not being satisfactory to the Governor, that a copy of these resolu-
tions and of the minutes of this meeting be communicated to him, and that
he be advised, this Council will, on the 7th instant, at 10 a.m., proceed to
the consideration of his suspension, and that he be advised, that any obser-
vations he may desire to make in writing will on that day be submitted to
the Council.
(True extract. )
(Signed) L. D'ALMADA E CASTRO,
Clerk of Councils.
On the 3rd and 6th August, Mr. Anstey forwarded further Mr. Anstey
memoranda, couched in extremely improper terms , to the acting forwards
further
Colonial Secretary making insinuations in reference to the memoranda
latter's connexion with the opium farm and asking for a " fair to Dr.
Bridges,
trial." asking for a
fair trial.
On the 7th August the Executive Council met in accordance
The Execu
with its previous resolution , and decided to suspend Mr. Anstey tive Council
from the duties of his office . As will be seen, Mr. Anstey's decide to
suspend Mr.
suspension was fully anticipated , for applications for the vacancy Anstey.
which would be caused by Mr. Anstey's forced retirement had Mr. Anstey's
already reached Government. Nor is this astonishing when one suspension
anticipated.
considers the speeches of Mr. Anstey before the Commission , - Applications
speeches so insulting in reference to the Governor, that the for the
vacancy had
Government (quite apart from Mr. Anstey's individuality or already
the charges against him ) could only have brought upon itself reached
the Govern-
further contempt had it allowed Mr. Anstey, at least without ment.
reference Home, to remain any longer in office in the Colony.
The following is an extract from the minutes of the Executive
Council relative to the matter, which is of the utmost interest ;
Mr. Anstey being suspended from office and his name removed Mr. Anstey
from the Commission of the Peace, while Mr. Day, who had from suspended
office
assisted the Commission in the Caldwell Inquiry, was appointed and remov-
acting Attorney- General, in preference to Mr. Kingsmill , who, it ed from the
Commission
will be remembered, had already acted in that capacity during of the l'eace.
Mr. Anstey's absence in India :·-
Extract from the minutes of the Executive Council of Hongkong, held on
Saturday, the 7th August, 1858.
* See upon this point Mr. Chichester Fortescue's speech in the House of Commons
on the cause of Mr. Anstey's dismissal - Vol. II, Chap. XXXVI.
Antè Chap. XIX. , p. 439.
514 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG,

Chap. XXIII. Present :- His Excellency the Governor ; the Honourable the Lieutenant-
1858. Governor ; the Major-General Commanding the Troops ; the Honourable the
acting Colonial Secretary.
Resolved (the acting Colonial Secretary declining to vote ) -—
That this Council, taking into consideration the resolutions passed at its
last meeting, and that His Excellency the Governor then stated the letter of
the Attorney-General of the 30th July was not a satisfactory answer to the
charges brought against him with reference to his proceedings connected with
the Caldwell Commission of Inquiry, is of opinion , after patient and deliberate
consideration, that such last-mentioned letter, and also the subsequent letter
and memorandum of Mr. Anstey, of the 3rd and 6th August respectively,
purporting to be in explanation or vindication of himself, evince so insubor-
dinate and disrespectful a spirit as, taking all the circumstances into consider-
ation, to necessitate his suspension from his office.
Resolved (the acting Colonial Secretary declining to vote)-
That the Honourable Thomas Chisholm Anstey, Esquire, be suspended
from the exercise of his functions and the receipt of his salary as Attorney-
General in this Colony, until Her Majesty's pleasure be known.
Read Mr. Anstey's application of the 13th May last, desiring to resign his
office of Justice of the Peace. *
Resolved (the acting Colonial Secretary declining to vote) -
That Mr. Anstey's resignation be accepted, and his name be accordingly
removed from the Commission of the Peace.
The acting Colonial Secretary put in the following minute :-
" It is, I conceive, necessary that I should minute the reasons which have
induced me to take the very unusual step of declining to record my vote in
any of the proceedings of this Council , relating to the suspension from office
of Her Majesty's Attorney-General, Mr. Thomas Chisholm Anstey.
" I have been subjected to such a series of attacks, both private and official,
from Mr. Austey throughout his tenure of office, commencing during my
absence in England before we had even met in the Colony,† and continued up
to the present week, that I am unable to free my mind from a feeling of
strong personal dislike towards him, and that feeling incapacitates me, in my
own opinion, from sitting in judgment upon him.
" Being, moreover, the senior member of the Bar here, having for a long
period discharged the duties of Attorney-General, and entertaining the desire
to again hold that office should I be deemed fit for it, I decline to give any
man the opportunity of saying that I co -operated in making a vacancy for
myself ; and it is not sufficient that I should, as in this instance, decline, if
offered to me, the office of acting Attorney-General. It has been impossible
for me as acting Colonial Secretary to avoid being to some degree mixed up
with these proceedings, but, by the permission of His Excellency the Governor,
I am fortunately enabled to limit my action outside of the Executive Coun-
cil.
(Signed) W. T. BRIDGES."
" Council Room , 7th August, 1858."
Consideration was given to applications from Mr. Kingsmill and Mr. Day,
for the office of acting Attorney-General ; and after discussion, it was unani-
mously resolved, that Mr. Day be appointed acting Attorney-General of
Hongkong, pending the pleasure of Her Majesty's Government.
(True extract.)
(Signed ) L. D'ALMADA E CASTRO,
Clerk of Councils.
Antè p. 501.
† This no doubt refers to the subject of professional etiquette-see antè Chap. XVI . §
II., p. 373.
 MR. ANSTEY'S MEMORIAL TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE . 515


On being made acquainted with his suspension, on the same Chap . XXIII .
day that the order was promulgated, the 7th August, Mr. 1858.
Anstey at once memorialized the Secretary of State, Sir Edward Mr. Anstey
memorializes
Bulwer Lytton, upon what he termed " the violence of the the Secretary
97
measure. The following extract upon the subject is taken of State.
from Mr. Anstey's letter, and it will be seen that he goes far
beyond the necessities of the case and takes the opportunity to
vilify another high official, facts in regard to whom, whatever
they were or may have been, had no immediate connexion with
the matter under consideration and which could therefore only
aggravate his own case. The following is the extract in ques-
tion :-
"The violence of the measure will, I am convinced , be made apparent to
you on perusing my ' memorandum ' of yesterday, submitted to the Council
this day, and my letter of Tuesday last, referred to in paragraph 1 of that
document. They contain my solemn protest against the acts of the Execu-
tive Council in my regard, as done in flagrant breach of the Queen's
Regulations touching the suspension of Her Majesty's Colonial Officers, and
my reasons for declining to sanction them by any consent of mine. They
show that I have been condemned in the dark, and without a hearing ; and
that I have been deliberately sacrificed by the partiality and injustice of the
three persons, who, under the Governor, constitute that Council, the Lieu-
tenant-Governor, Colonel Caine, General Sir C. F. Van Straubenzee, and Dr.
Bridges himself.


" It is impossible for me to rest day or night, whilst I think of the principle
involved, and the bad precedent established , in my case, before the acute
people, in whose eyes ( so Sir Henry Pottinger and Sir John Davis thought)
the free and noble institutions of Hongkong would stand one day as a model
whereby to work the regeneration of the Chinese empire itself.
" From the beginning of this Colony, those visions have proved shadows.
It has, to use the not exaggerated language applied to the Colonial Govern-
ment by a former Secretary of State, " stunk in all men's nostrils ; and
the scent of the Chinese nostril is keen. The miserable policy pursued by
the local authorities in 1847-1848 , in the case of the Compradore of the pre-
sent Lieutenant-Governor, and his exactions of bribes in the name of His
Honour,† could not have impressed the Chinese community with a belief in the
innocence of the aspersed officials, and certainly must have led them to sup-
pose that to our reputation for official purity we are nearly as indifferent as
themselves, and against the honest and fearless denouncers of corruption,
infinitely more vindictive.


On the 9th August Sir John Bowring informed the Secre-
tary of State of Mr. Anstey's suspension from the exercise of
his functions, and " finding it impossible to conclude his long
despatch explaining the necessity of this proceeding," in time.
for the outgoing mail, stated he would forward it by the next,
Mr. Day
and that Mr. Anstey's name had been removed from the list of
appointed
Justices . In a second despatch of the same date Sir John acting
Attorne y-
Bowring informed the Secretary of State that Mr. Day, the General.
* See the expression used-antè Chap. XVII. § I., p. 405.
† This, of course, refers to the old dispute between Mr. Tarrant and Colonel Caine-
sec antè Chap. VII., pp. 143, 150, and Chap. VIII. § 1.. p. 170, and subsequent references.
516 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG.


Chap. XXIII, senior barrister in the Colony, had been appointed acting Attor-
1858. ney- General and at the same time recommended,-- should the
decision of the Governor- in- Council be confirmed as regards Mr.
Anstey that Dr. Bridges be given the Attorney - Generalship.

On the 13th October, the Secretary of State simply acknow
ledged receipt of the Governor's despatches without offering any
remarks . The masterly despatch of Sir John Bowring relating
to Mr. Anstey's suspension is here reproduced in full . Al-
though unduly severe in several respects, not to say more, it
relates in detail almost every particular connected with the
career of Mr. Anstey, from the date of his arrival in Hongkong
until the moment of his suspension, and cannot be looked upon
otherwise than in the light of one of the most important docu-
ments that have ever emanated from a Governor of a Colony to
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies : --
Government Offices , Victoria,
Hongkong, 9th August, 1858.
STR

The accompanying minutes of the Executive Council will inform you that
I have been compelled, with the unanimous concurrence of such Council, to
suspend Mr. Thomas Chisholm Anstey, Her Majesty's Attorney-General,
from the discharge of all the functions appertaining to his office. Recent
events have painfully confirmed the conclusion, which has been long ripening
in my mind, that the continuance of that officer in this Colony is not compa-
tible with the respect and authority which the Government is bound to main-
tain, or with the peace and tranquillity of the community.
2. In ordinary cases, the punishment of suspension from office is conse-
quent upon some particular act which renders an officer unfit for the public
service ; but the present case has its special character.
3. Mr. Anstey's presence in the Colony has been associated with so con-
tinuous a series of unseemly proceedings, that I feel myself compelled to
retrace a large portion of his course here before I can, in a satisfactory man-
ner, put you in possession of the facts, which, in my opinion, render it im-
possible that he should continue in the public service, at any rate in this
Colony, or as Attorney-General.

4. I postpone for the present the consideration of the charges brought by
Mr. Anstey against the Registrar-General, which so fitly close this unhappy
catalogue.
5. The whole of Mr. Austey's career has been more or less marked by the
same characteristics, viz ., impetuosity of temper beyond all control, credulity
in listening to vague accusations , recklessness in preferring charges, persistence
in adhering to and repeating disproved averments, and persevering malignity
towards every opponent who has had the misfortune to incur his displeasure ;
and these fatal defects have altogether nullified the benefits which the Colony
might otherwise have derived from the great talents which Mr. Anstey un-
doubtedly possesses . No one can be more sensible than I am of his unparal
leled activity, his intellectual resources, his readiness and acuteness, and his
varied knowledge of history and laws ; but when these great gifts are applied,
as they have been, to fomenting discord in a small community, the mischief
becomes intolerable, and must be abated .
 SIR JOHN BOWRING REPORTS MR. ANSTEY'S SUSPENSION . 517


6. Mr. Anstey entered upon the duties of his office in the last days of Chap. XXIII,
January, 1856, two years and six months ago.* Of that time he has been
1858.
absent about six or seven months, and only during such absence has the
Colony enjoyed a respite from a succession of official disputes, in almost every
one of which he has taken the most prominent part.

7. Mr. Anstey has quarrelled with the Chief Justice ; he has quarrelled
with the acting Colonial Secretary ; he has quarrelled with the Colonial
Treasurer ; he has quarrelled with the (late) Chief Magistrate ; he has
quarrelled with the assistant Magistrate ; he has quarrelled with the (late )
Crown Solicitor ; he has quarrelled with the Bench of unofficial Justices of
the Peace ; he has quarrelled with the Superintendent of Police for the time
being, and with the Judge's Clerk ; and not satisfied with these official scan-
dals, he has been from time to time mixed up in private brawls , some of them
of a most disreputable description.

8. I have no intention to lay stress on Mr. Anstey's personal demeanour to
myself, which has been frequently extremely offensive, further than to say
that in colloquial intercourse he frequently appeared so utterly forgetful of
our relative positions, that I found it safer and better to avoid as much as
possible private conversations on public matters with him, and to communi-
cate solely through the secretaries, colonial and diplomatic. The necessity
for this determination I have reported to Her Majesty's Secretaries of State,
both for the Foreign and Colonial Departments in December, 1856, and
January, 1857.

9. I have had the disagreeable necessity forced upon me of forwarding to
the Colonial Office the documents bearing upon the cases in which Mr. Ans-
tey placed himself in antagonism to his superiors, the Chief Justice and the
acting Colonial Secretary ; those showing his failure in a prosecution brought
on his own responsibility, without my sanction, against the acting Chief Ma-
gistrate for extortion ; § reporting how he had rendered the tenure of his office
unbearable to the Crown Solicitor by his overbearing manner, and others ex-
hibiting the unhappy position of Mr. Anstey with the Bench of Justices . In
none of these cases has Mr. Anstey's conduct been approved of by your pre-
decessors, and in several instances grave warnings have been administered
to him. Where I have been spared the duty of reference Home in cases of
his local disputes, the same acrimony and intemperance have marked Mr.
Anstey's conduct. Mr. Hillier, the Chief Magistrate, a most painstaking
and praiseworthy officer, but not a lawyer by education, had discharged
the duties of his office for more than ten years without a word of censure,
but within two months of Mr. Anstey's arrival here, he made a most virulent
attack upon the Chief Magistrate in open Court, because the depositions had
been taken in a somewhat informal manner.¶ A lengthened controversy en-
sued, as Mr. Hillier naturally resented such a mode of correction ; and although
the difficulty was smoothed down without a reference Home, it embittered the
remainder of Mr. Hillier's career here, and was one of the principal causes

* Antè Chap. XVI. § 11., p. 370.
Except for two short trips to Canton, once on private practice (antè Chap. XVI. §
11., p. 375), and orce on a pleasure trip where he met with an unpleasant incident (Chap.
XX. § II.. p . 463) , Mr. Anstey proceeded to Shanghai for a change (Chap. XVII. § I., p. 405) ,
then to Macao and afterwards to India (Chap. xIx. , p. 439).
Beyond what has already been recorded in reference to Mr. Hickson, the author
has not seen the records regarding the quarrel referred to. See antè Chap. XVII. § I., p.
411.
§ Chap. XVI. § II., p. 388.
It is hard to see where blame is to be imputed to Mr. Anstey in this matter - see
antè Chap. XVII. § I., p. 398.
Chap. XVI. § 11., p. 378.
518 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG .

Chap. XXIII, which led to his removal from the Colony. His death shortly afterwards
took place when appointed to be consul in Siam. Because Mr. Bevan, the
1858.
Judge's clerk, did not pay Mr. Anstey his salary in the coins he expected to
receive, a charge of malpractices was at once officially brought which, if it
meant anything, meant embezzlement , but upon investigation, everything was
found to be perfectly correct, and without any grounds for a supposition to
the contrary. Mr. Grand-Pré, the acting Superintendent of Police, was in
no way subordinate to the Attorney-General ; but in November, 1856, a long
official complaint was lodged by the latter against the former, charging him
with " gross breaches of duty," " impertinence," " gross and glaring proofs of
collusion," " proofs of incapacity or corruption. " Mr. Mercer, the Colonial
Secretary, looked into the matter, but could discover no ground of complaint
whatsoever against Mr. Grand-Pré.
10. Similar instances might be repeated usque ad nauseam, but from
these specimens it will not be difficult to form an idea of the general intemper-
ance of Mr. Anstey's proceedings, and I leave this branch of the case with
this observation, that in no single instance within my knowledge has Mr.
Anstey substantiated any grave charge that he has brought against his
brother-officials.
11. But the evils arising from Mr. Austey's intemperance of mind do not
stop here ; for I have been taught by experience to place hardly any reliance
in the prudence of the advice which I have a right to expect from him as my
legal resource in times of perplexity, difficulty, or danger. Had I been guided by
the opinion of the Attorney- General on several important occasions, results
would have followed seriously compromising the Government, which would
have made it not the thoughtful guardian of the permanent interests of the
community, but the instrument of passing passions, the promulgator of need-
less alarms, and which would have given to our legislation an arbitrary and
capricious character, little necessitated by the demands and dangers of the
moment, and certainly not justified in the progress and development of events.
12. I refer particularly to the views which Mr. Anstey took of the course
to be pursued in the poisoning ease. He appeared to me under the influence
of the most unreasonable and extravagant apprehensions. He had determined
in his own mind that Ahlum, the baker, was the chief poisoner, and that,
whether by military law or an extraordinary violation of the ordinary forms
of justice, by some or other instrumentality the man must be hanged .† He
told me that if I did not hang him Lynch law would do so. In the same
spirit, Mr. Anstey advised me that I ought, by a succession of prosecutions
on the same evidence, to continue criminal proceedings against Ahlum until
a conviction was secured. No doubt, in the then excited state of this com-
munity, a verdict of guilty might ultimately have been obtained , and, as far as
Mr. Anstey was concerned, Ahlum would have been delivered over to the
executioner. I doubted whether Mr. Anstey's advice was sound, though,
after consulting the Chief Justice, I detained Ahlum until I could obtain
instructions from Home . Mr. Austey's opinion was not supported by the
supreme authorities, and, under the order of the Secretary of State, Ahlum
was released. Nothing whatever has occurred since his release to strengthen
the evidence of his guilt ; much, in my judgment, to establish his innocence.
13. From that time I have been compelled to feel that in Mr. Anstey, as
Attorney-General, I have a very unsafe councillor in the day of special
responsibility and peril.
This is hardly conceivable and was, to say the least, stretching the point beyond the
necessities of the case for, as has been seen. Mr. Hillier received an enormous rise as Her
Majesty's Consul at Siam and further to allude to his death there, which was due to na-
tural causes, was to draw inferences as unfair as they were meant to be injurious to Mr.
Anstey. See antè Chap. XVI. § II., pp. 383 , 384.
See his address to the jury- ante Chap. XVII. § 11., p . 417.
Antè Chap. XVII. § 11., pp. 418 , 421 .
 SIR JOHN BOWRING REPORTS MR. ANSTEY'S SUSPENSION . 519


14. I subsequently refused to bring before the Legislative Council an Or- Chap. XXIII .
dinance proposed by Mr. Anstey, as Attorney-General, making the poisoning
1858.
of any British subject high treason, and to be dealt with as regicide attempts
upon the person of the sovereign. I, however, referred it, under advice of the
Chief Justice, to the Home authorities, who concurred in my opinion as to
the unconstitutional character of the proposed measure.
15. In further support of the impossibility of my placing any confidence
in Mr. Anstey's judgment, I now forward copies of the communications
dated the 7th and 8th January, 1858, which I received from Mr. Anstey,
proprio motu, pointing out the course which, in his judgment, I ought to pur-
sue in the case of the Imperial Commissioner Yeh, then a prisoner of war
in the hands of the Allied Powers. Advice of so extraordinary a nature did
not appear to me worthy of serious notice, and it was passed by with a mere
acknowledgment of the receipt of the communication . The very same day,
Mr. Anstey announced to me, in Letter No. 2 , that there was an intention to
apply for a writ of habeas corpus, in order to obtain the release of Yeh . I
took some trouble to ascertain whether there was any ground for supposing
such an intention existed . I could find none ; and on the following day
Letter No. 3 was received . The magician had most successfully dispersed
the shadow he had himself raised.
16. My despatch, No. 170 , of 14th October, 1856, forwarded to Mr.
Labouchere another proof of the rash and dangerous counsels which , in cir-
cumstances of moment, I have been liable to receive from Mr. Anstey. Had I,
as he advised, at one stroke cancelled the Commission of the Peace, and thus ,
as far as the Governor of this Colony can , affixed a stigma to the names of
some of the first mercantile firms in the world, I should have set the Colony
in a flame.
17. But whatever had been the inconveniences arising from Mr. Anstey's
conduct, or however little I felt I could rely upon him up to the month of
May last, all his previous conduct has been cast into the shade, and every
previous fault has been greatly magnified by his proceedings in connexion
with a case which has kept this Colony in a state of excitement, and more or
less paralyzed the action of every department of Government for the last three
months. I allude to what I shall, for the sake of brevity, call the Caldwell
case. It will be necessary for me to give you a complete narrative of it, and
to send Home every document connected with it ; and however much I may
regret giving you so much trouble, I am bound to say that it is only from a
careful survey of this mass of correspondence, that, coupled with what I have
already stated, will appear the inevitable necessity of the suspension of Mr.
Anstey, and the confirmation of such suspension by your paramount authority.
18. I am quite aware of the gravity of the responsibility I take upon my-
self in suspending Mr. Anstey from the exercise of his functions, and am
prepared for those outpourings of vituperation and violence which better and
far more exalted men than myself have experienced at Mr. Anstey's hands ;
but I confess the hesitation which the fear of being supposed to have made
him the victim of private pique or personal vengeance is superseded by the
conviction that I am but discharging a paramount and peremptory public duty.
19. I had become acquainted with the fact that Mr. Caldwell, the Regis-
trar-General, and Mr. May, the Superintendent of Police, had not been work-
ing harmoniously together almost ever since the return of the former to
Government employ in November, 1856.* Mr. Caldwell, being almost the
only official in this Colony who possesses any adequate knowledge of the
Chinese language, has been of very great benefit, not only to us, but also to
the Queen's service generally in this part of the world, and I have had
every reason to entertain a very high opinion of him. Particulars of some of
his services accompany this despatch.
* Antè Chap. XVII. § I. , p. 408.
520 KONG.
HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG.

Chap. XXIII . 20. Mr. Caldwell is , I believe , a man of mixed blood , born at Singapore ; *
he is married to a Chinese woman, converted to Christianity, by whom he
1858.
has a large family, some of whom are now being educated in England . His
pecuniary means are straitened as he has nothing but his salary, and part of
that he has to set apart to meet debts which he incurred when out of Govern-
ment employ in 1855 and 1856, during which period he entered into a
commercial speculation in a coasting steamer, which turned out a failure.
Mr. Caldwellleft the service in 1855 , at his own desire, because his salary-
£400 per annum - was too small to support his family ; † he was recalled at
the commencement of the Canton troubles, because we really could not do
without him, and his salary was raised to £700 per annum.

21. Mr. May, the Superintendent of Police, was a member of the London
Police Force, who came out in 1844, to organise our police. He has taken
great pains with his education , and has very much raised himself above his
original position. With one or two exceptions I have been generally satis-
fied with Mr. May's services until within a very recent period. One of those
exceptions was his ownership of a very notorious nest of brothels very near
the Police Station, and which he very unwillingly got rid of after consider-
able pressure from the Government.§ Mr. May's salary is £575 per annum,
with quarters ; but by speculations in land and buildings, or from other
sources , he has, I am told , realized a large sum of money here, and is therefore
in independent circumstances.

22. Mr. Bridges appeared to me, soon after he became acting Colonial
Secretary, to entertain an unfavourable opinion , in which I did not fully
concur, of Mr. May's mode of managing the Police Force, and to place much
more confidence in Mr. Caldwell than in Mr. May. This may be attribut-
able to the special attention which Mr. Bridges paid to the working of the
Police, or from some other cause ; but at any rate the fact undoubtedly existed ,
and I had more than once, on Mr. Bridges' representations, to reprimand Mr.
May for neglect of, or disobedience to, the directions of the acting Colonial
Secretary ; whereas no complaint was ever laid by Mr. Bridges against Mr.
Caldwell.

23. I scarcely need repeat what my despatches have given but too much
evidence of, that Mr. Anstey has put himself in antagonism habitually to Mr.
Bridges, as acting Colonial Secretary ; he pursued the same course with
regard to the questions which have arisen between the Registrar-General and
the Superintendent of Police, throwing, in a spirit of passionate partisanship.
all the weight of his personal, political, and official influence into Mr. May's
scale, defending him when he has been obviously wrong, and persecuting Mr.
Caldwell when he has been as manifestly right.

24. This feeling at length vented itself with full force at a meeting of the
Legislative Council, held to consider the Registration Ordinance on the 10th
May. Mr. Caldwell being Registrar-General, this Ordinance was a fitting
opportunity for pouring the vials of Mr. Anstey's wrath upon him. Just
before the sitting of the Council, Mr. May wrote a note to Mr. Anstey,
informing him that Mr. Caldwell (who was, under the Venereal Disease Ordi-
nance, No. 12 of 1857, the official upon whom devolved the duty of granting
licences to brothels in certain localities) was himself the owner of a licensed
brothel.

* He was born in the Island of St. Helena, according to a pamphlet produced by
him at the time in vindication of his character, and to which the author has had access.
See his earlier career set out. —antè Chap. III . § II ., p . 82 note.
+ See antè Chap. XVI. § I., p. 361 .
He arrived in Hongkong on the 28th February, 1845 —see antè Chap. 111. § 11., p.
75.
This personal attack upon Mr. May is referred to, antè Chap. XVII. § 11., p. 422.
 SIR JOHN BOWRING REPORTS MR . ANSTEY'S SUSPENSION. 521


25. Mr. Anstey thereupon proposed the insertion of what is now section Chap. XXIII .
27 of the Registration Ordinance No. 8 of 1858 ; * and made an attack upon 1858.
Mr. Caldwell's general character. The acting Colonial Secretary stated that,
from his own knowledge of Mr. Caldwell's private affairs, it was impossible
that Mr. Caldwell could be the owner of the brothel in question, No. 48,
because Mr. Caldwell owned no property of any description whatsoever in
the Colony. The Surveyor- General suggested a reference to the Crown
books for the purpose of seeing in whose name the lot upon which brothel 48
stood, was registered . Mr. Caldwell's name appeared as the registered owner.
The acting Colonial Secretary reiterated his assertion that Mr. Caldwell had
several months before parted with all the property he had in the Colony for
the benefit of his creditors. I stated that I would cause an inquiry to be
instituted into the whole matter, and the clause in question was adopted by
the Council. I immediately directed the acting Colonial Secretary to obtain
from Mr. Caldwell, in writing, a statement with regard to this brothel, and
to his property in general. I annex Mr. Caldwell's answer. This and the
result of other inquiries reported to me by Mr. Bridges, satisfied me that the
charge made by the Attorney-General was founded in error, and I proposed
stating as much to the Council at its next meeting, which was to be held
after an interval of only four days.
26. But late on the 13th Mr. Anstey sent in a most intemperate letter,
asking leave to resign his office of Justice of the Peace,† and requesting that
his grounds for so doing might be submitted to the Secretary of State ; this
letter was full of accusations of the gravest description against Mr. Caldwell.
The original charge of brothel-holding now had added to it criminal com-
plicity with Wong Akee alias Ma Chow Wong, a Government informer of
long standing, whose conviction upon a charge of helping pirates had in the
previous year occupied the Executive Council a considerable period, and
whose case, for the sake of brevity, accompanies this letter in a separate
document. I must refer you, Sir, to this letter itself, in order that you may
appreciate its gravity when proceeding from the Law Adviser to the Govern-
ment.
27. I still did not abandon the hope that Mr. Anstey, on hearing read Mr.
Caldwell's explanatory letter, and the result of the inquiries made into the
original charge, might be induced to reconsider the position in which he had
placed himself ; and the following day I read to the Legislative Council
what I then considered , and what has, after a most lengthened investigation,
since been proved to be, the satisfactory answer of Mr. Caldwell, that he had
no connexion with, or property in, any brothel.

28. Mr. Anstey, however, added fresh fuel to his fire, and a scene ensued
which, I believe, has seldom been paralleled in any assemblage of Englishmen
met in official conclave, whether we consider the insubordination and intem-
perance exhibited towards myself or the malignity and scurrility of Mr.
Austey's renewed attack upon an absent man, the Registrar-General. From
a manuscript note made by myself immediately after the meeting, and a copy
of which is appended hereto, you will observe that the character of Mr.
Caldwell's wife is now dragged into the net of calumny, and that there is no
occupation too criminal on the sea, or too base on the land, in which Mr.
Caldwell is not charged with being engaged.
29. Matters had now assumed a very serious aspect ; either Mr. Caldwell
was unfit to remain, not only in Her Majesty's employ, but, indeed , anywhere
* This section reads as follows :-" No person acting or employed by any other person
acting in the execution of this Ordinance, and no member of the family of any such per-
son, shall be possessed of or interested in any of the boats, vessels, conveyances, or
tenements to which this Ordinance relates, either in his or her own right or in the right
of another, and either at Law or in Equity."
† Antè p. 501.
Ante Chap. XIX., pp. 444-447.
522 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG.

Chap. XXIII . except in the common gaol of the Colony ; or, on the other hand, Mr. Ans-
1858. tey had proved himself unfit for his own post. Immediately on leaving the
Council, I showed to the acting Colonial Secretary the minute I had made
of Mr. Austey's oral charge, and he confirmed its general correctness . I
gave him a memorandum, directing him to obtain from Mr. Austey, in
writing, a repetition of the accusations ; the following day Mr. Anstey's
tender of resignation as a Justice of the Peace was answered ; the considera-
tion of its acceptance was postponed , and he was informed that in consequence
of what had passed the day before in Legislative Council, such of the charges
against the Registrar-General as were tangible would be subject of inquiry,
and the needful measures would be adopted by the Government.

30. Mr. Anstey acknowledged the receipt of this letter on the same day,
and , therefore, Mr. Anstey was aware, at this early period, that the Govern-
ment had proposed to institute that inquiry which had obviously become im-
perative. I must beg your particular attention, Sir, to this fact, as throwing
much light upon the subsequent attempt of Mr. Anstey to relieve himself of
the responsibility of having made such serious, not to say overwhelming,
charges, by pretending to remove his case to a superior tribunal-that of the
Secretary of State for the Colonies .
31. As Mr. Anstey and Mr. Caldwell were both Justices of the Peace,
and as Mr. Anstey declared the Bench to be contaminated by the continuance
of Mr. Caldwell on it, and as the absence of the General at Canton restricted
the numbers of the Executive Council to myself, the Lieutenant-Governor,
and Dr. Bridges , I considered the preferable course for the proper investiga-
tion of the accusations against Mr. Caldwell, would be for me to request the
Justices of the Peace to assist the Government, by taking upon themselves
the inquiry into a matter so important to the character of their own body.
I failed in obtaining the assistance I had hoped for,† and I append the answer
from the body of Justices. The line of conduct pursued by Mr. Anstey at
the meeting, will appear from the narrative which I have directed the acting
Colonial Secretary to draw up, of all the facts connected with this case
within his own knowledge. My application to the Bench of Magistrates was
made on the 17th of May, and they had their meeting on the 19th . The
17th of May was a Monday ; the mail for Europe did not leave until the
following Sunday. Letters are seldom, if ever, posted here before the day
anterior to the departure of the mail ; it was then with extreme astonish-
ment that I had laid before me, on the 17th, what purported to be the dupli-
cate of a letter from the Attorney- General to the Secretary of State for the
Colonies, already posted by Mr. Austey.
32. This letter is, I doubt not, on its way back, in consequence of the in-
formal mode in which Mr. Austey thought proper to convey it. My despatch,
No. 67, of the 18th of May, will put you in possession of my action in regard
to it.
33. I now forward it to yon ; and as Mr. Anstey, in a subsequent letter,
was pleased to dignify it with the appellation of an impeachment of the Gov-
ernment, I am perfectly willing that he should be kept to the charge and that
it be dealt with accordingly.
34. Even if Mr. Anstey pretended to ignore the fact conveyed to him on
the 14th, as to the institution of proceedings by the Government, he had the
same statement most explicitly conveyed to him on the 18th, five days before
the departure of the mail, and when, had he wished it, the irregular letter to
the Secretary of State, might have been by my orders, and his consent, taken
out of the Post Office, and the false step thus committed by him retrieved ;
but Mr. Anstey could surely scarcely venture to suppose that an irregular
* Antè pp. 503, 510.
† Antè p. 502.
 SIR JOHN BOWRING REPORTS MR . ANSTEY'S SUSPENSION. 523


act by a subordinate officer, like himself, was at once to stay the hands of Chap. XXIII.
Government, and to prevent his being called upon to substantiate the charges 1858.
he had so freely made.
35. I must, also, here deal with and dispose of another technical objection
raised by Mr. Anstey ; he not only declined to commit to writing what he
had said at the Legislative Council on the 14th of May, but pretended under
cover of a Standing Order of Council, not then passed, although it had been
read to the Council by me as one of those I proposed thereafter to enact,
should I obtain the sanction of the Secretary of State. He pretended, I say,
to claim the privilege of not being questioned out of Council for anything
said therein. But the legal quibble which seeks to justify acts done on the
14th of May, by Standing Orders and Rules which were not approved in Council
until the 12th of July, is as remarkable as the moral obliquity which can cou-
strue freedom of speech in a Legislative Assembly to mean impunity for lan-
guage which designated a most respectable married woman as a " harlot,"
and her husband, the speaker's brother-official, as a brothel-keeper and pirate.
36. The Justices being thus unwilling to assist the Government and Mr.
Austey declining to join in the issue as to what his charges really were
against Mr. Caldwell, I met the difficulties thus thrown in my way, by ap-
pointing a Commission of investigation, and laying before them such charges
as had either been stated orally by Mr. Anstey in Council , or could be ga-
thered from his official correspondence ; and, as far as possible, to prevent
mistake, the Commission was furnished with every document connected with
the matter, while I gave to the chairman the written memorandum which
recorded my recollection of Mr. Austey's speech in Council on the 14th May.

37. The Commission was composed of two officials and three Justices of
the Peace. Both the former and one of the latter (Mr. Lyall) were members
of the Legislative Council, and had been auditors of Mr. Anstey's language.
38. I then caused copies of the charges which had been prepared by the
acting Colonial Secretary to be furnished to Mr. Anstey and Mr. Caldwell.
Mr. Anstey adhered to his system of limited liability (letter of 24th May) ,
denied the charges to be his, and clung to his theory of the matter being re-
moved to another tribunal, that of the Secretary of State.
39. The Commission commenced its labours on the 27th May ; it sat at
intervals for twenty-four days , and generally for six or seven hours each day,
and I received its report after its labours had terminated . During this long
interval most of the departments of the Government were almost paralyzed
by the absorption of their chiefs. The Attorney-General and the Superin-
tendent of Police generally attended the Commission, so did the Registrar-
General, for his defence ; the Surveyor- General and Chief Magistrate as
Commissiouers. I avoided all interference with their proceedings .
40. Of the manner in which the Commission discharged their duties, I
cannot report satisfactorily. They availed themselves of the permission given
them to retain legal assistance, and one of their first acts was to decline the
advice tendered by the barrister (Mr. Day) they had selected for their guid-
ance. Not only did these gentlemen wander out of the specific charges laid
before them for their report, but they suffered themselves to be made the
medium through which Mr. Austey might, in the presence of the public , over
and over again make the grossest attacks upon the Government generally,
upon myself individually, and upon the acting Colonial Secretary, both offi-
cially and privately, without the slightest regard to the question of their
relevancy to the points under reference to the Commission. A printed copy
of the entire evidence accompanies this despatch, and although, Sir, I can
hardly ask you to devote your fully occupied time to perusing it in its entirety,
* Antè p. 503 .
524 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG .

Chap. XXIII , I must draw your attention to the following passages of Mr. Anstey's evi-
dence :-
1858.
" The first was, that I knew it was perfectly hopeless sending in any report
to the Executive Government, as Mr. Caldwell was always held up as quite
necessary to the administration of the Colony."
" I have, therefore, a right to say that the charges now under investigation
have been already disposed of by the Executive Council. "
66
" I cannot understand how, after my repeated and solemn references to the
danger of employing Mr. Caldwell in any matter of state or police, of which
my official correspondence with the Executive Government, subsequently to
the proceedings in Executive Council, furnish some of the instances, His
Excellency, or any member of his Government, would venture upon the
destruction of a single portion , much less the whole, of what I must pronounce
to be the damning proofs of his guilt."

"Within two days after my arrival, His Excellency was pleased to lament
to me the corrupt state of the Hongkong Government, and the utter want of
support to himself in his endeavours to stem the tide of corruption . He said
there was but one public officer whom he could trust , besides the three who
were going away to England or Siam ; one of whom (Mr. Rienaeker) I have
since ascertained to have been a kind of partner to Mr. Caldwell in his specula-
tions, and that, as to the one trusty public officer who was remaining in the
Colony (Mr. Mercer) , he was well disposed but timid . The Governor begged
me to make it my business to bring to light, and, if necessary, to punish the
malpractices of which he complained, and I beg to specify in particular the
malpractices of the Police, and of my own department of Attorney- General.”

41. I must refer to Mr. Bridges' evidence, and Mr. Austey's rejoinder, to
give you an idea of the lengths to which be permitted himself, and was per-
mitted to proceed .

42. It must be naturally presumed , from the first passage, that the Attorney-
General had officially, or at any rate privately, either in writing or by mouth
warned me, or the Colonial Secretary as my official channel of communication,
against Mr. Caldwell, and that, finding his warnings neglected , he had at
length out of a sense of public duty, been forced into bringing these charges
in an irregular manner.

43. Such a presumption is, however, totally unfounded. Mr. Anstey has
never done anything of the sort ; nor, great as have been Mr. Caldwell's
services , has he been so necessary to the Government as to warrant any
immunity for malpractices on his part.

44. On one occasion only do I find that any hints or suspicion of Mr. Cald-
well's integrity or trustworthiness was conveyed to the Government by Mr.
Anstey ; and this was his request that Mr. Caldwell might not be advised of
that most extraordinary recommendation of Mr. Anstey's that Yeh should be
cited as a murderer before the Supreme Court on his being brought within
the jurisdiction of the Colony .
45. But Mr. Anstey's counsels, in connexion with the poisoning case,
were throughout of so extravagant and wild a character, that I must con-
fess I considered them as aberrations of an intellect, on that matter at least,
somewhat deranged.

46. Equally surprising, as proceeding from a high legal functionary, is
the assertion that the charges then under investigation had already been
disposed of by the Executive Government. The Attorney- General knew
better than any one alse that although, of course, guided by the maxim of not
 SIR JOHN BOWRING REPORTS MR . ANSTEY'S SUSPENSION . 525


believing any man to be guilty until he was proved to be so, I declined Chap. XXIII.
rushing with himself to conclusions which must cover Mr. Caldwell with 1858.
infamy) I had , nevertheless , from the first insisted upon a full and complete
investigation, not by the Executive Government, but by third parties, rescrv-
ing to myself the ultimate decision between the accuser and the accused.
Fortunate, indeed , was it that I did so, for the very charge here confidently
asserted by Mr. Anstey to be proved beyond dispute, although at first sup-
ported by prima facie evidence, has been most satisfactorily met and
disproved.
47. Of still more serious a character, whether as regards Mr. Anstey's
reputation for veracity, or the worth of his opinion as a lawyer, is the para-
graph I have noticed . You will find, Sir, that Mr. Anstey assigns to
himself the position before this Commission, not of accuser, but of an officer
of the Government bound to attend its sittings in consequence of the general
directions appearing in the warrant appointing the Commission . In this
particular instance I will assume that Mr. Anstey did appear in such capacity
only, that is as Her Majesty's Attorney-General, whose duty it was, in a
calm and dispassionate manner, to assist the Commission by his legal experi-
ence in elucidating the truth . I have already reported in how far Mr.
Anstey was justified in saying that he had made repeated and solemu
references to the danger of employing Mr. Caldwell in any matter of state or
police, and I again repeat that such a statement is, to use the mildest term I
can apply to it, the offspring of an hallucination.
48. But, utterly without foundation as such a position was, Mr. Anstey
made use of it here to endeavour to induce the Commissioners to distort the
law of presumptions in a manner which, even to me, who am not a lawyer,
appears most extraordinary, and entirely opposed to every notion of justice.
49. The history of the papers in question is as follows : The books of the
shop in which Ma Chow Wong, at the time of his apprehension, owned a
share, were at first in the custody of the Police, and, while there, were
examined by Mr. Acting Assistant Magistrate May, with the object of
adducing further support to the charge of complicity with pirates under
which Ma Chow Wong then lay. Mr. May, being entirely ignorant of the
*
Chinese written or spoken language, this examination was made through a
native interpreter at the Magistracy, Tong Aku, a very clever fellow, but a
man of more than suspected character. † Mr. May made memoranda of this
examination and showed them to the Chief Magistrate and the acting
Attorney-General, informing both of these officers that they did not throw
any light upon the pending charge against Ma Chow Wong, nor did he then
even insinuate that any connexion between Mr. Caldwell and the accused was
thereby shown. Mr. May made no communication whatsoever to the Acting
Colonial Secretary respecting this memoranda, nor informed the Executive
Government that he was in any way in possession of documents which would
assist them as to Ma Chow Wong's general character, still less impeaching
the conduct of so important an officer of the Government as Mr. Caldwell.
While the question of the review of Ma Chow Wong's sentence was pending‡
before the Executive Council, the ' China Mail ' newspaper published a state-
ment, to the effect that evidence existed on the books of Ma Chow Wong,
which showed his participation in so many villanies as to render him an unfit
object for any mercy. I was much surprised at this assertion (having been
kept in the dark by Mr. May) , and ordered a thorough search to be made of
these books by Mr. Caldwell, assisted by Mr. Mongan, the acting Chinese
Secretary attached to the Superintendency of Trade, and his staff of Chinese
teachers. The books were handed over by the Police to Mr. Mongan in the
* See The Straits Guardian's correspondent's letter, antè Chap. xx., p. 495.
The records show his entire exculpation - see antè Chap. XIX., p. 445.
See reference to this, antè Chap. XIX. , p. 445 .
526 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG .

Chap. XXIII. month of September, 1857 , and, from that time until they were subsequently
--
1858. burnt, they remained altogether out of the custody of the Colonial Officers .
They were never at any time in the custody of the acting Colonial Secretary or
#
his department. Mr. Mongan and Mr. Caldwell made a joint report to me as
to the result of their examination, and it differed very materially from the
statements published by the China Mail.' Determined to arrive at the truth
if I could, I requested Mr. Dixson, the then editor of that paper, to attend
the next meeting of the Executive Council to substantiate his allegations.
He did so ; and, to my great astonishment and indignation, cited the Super-
intendent of Police as his informant. Mr. May did not repudiate the onus
thus thrust upon him , and now for the first time, proceeded to inform me of
the examination Tong Aku had made for him of the books. He confirmed
two of Mr. Dixson's allegations, but negatived two.

50. Not a word was said by Mr. May as to Mr. Caldwell on this occasion,
the whole gist of the matter regarding Ma Chow Wong, and him alone. As
Ma Chow Wong's case was at this juncture still under consideration of the Exe-
cutive Council, I thought it advisable to have the correctness of the twodiffering
accounts of the books reported upon by a third party, and directed Mr. Wade,
the Chinese Secretary to the Superintendency, to undertake this task, and the
books were forwarded to him. A few days afterwards, however, further light
being unexpectedly thrown upon Ma Chow Wong's connexion with pirates from
an entirely different source, the Executive Council resolved not to interfere with
the sentence passed upon him ;† however insufficient the grounds upon which
it originally rested, and here, in October, 1857 , ceased, to all appearances,
any value possessed by the books in question. Mr. Wade being attached to
the Earl of Elgin during the proceedings against Canton, ‡ never had any leisure
even to open the documents forwarded to him, and, on his departure with the
Force in March, 1858 , they were returned to Mr. Mongan in the same state ,
as to seals and strings, as he despatched them. Mr. Mongan's chief Chinese
teacher, finding these books an encumbrance to a not very large office, sug-
gested to him either their removal, or, if they were not further wanted , their
destruction ; Mr. Mongan therefore came to me, and I sent him to the
acting Colonial Secretary, to receive any instructions. He accordingly pro-
ceeded to the acting Colonial Secretary, and very few words appear to
have passed between them, upon what could at that time have been consider-
ed by either of them the mode of dealing with a great mass of Chinese
papers, which had lost all importance, and were destitute of even any inter-
est, Ma Chow Wong being in Gaol, and no other party at this time mentioned
in connexion with them. Mr. Mongan did not report to me the result of his
conversation with the acting Colonia! Secretary, but acted by his advice and
burnt the books forthwith. I heard nothing further whatsoever from any
one on the subject until after the Caldwell Commission had commenced its
sittings, and then, to my surprise and regret, I learnt what had taken place.
In thus expressing myself, I do not attribute blame either to Mr. Bridges or
Mr. Mongan, for it was impossible that they or any one else could , in the
month of March, have supposed that the Attorney-General would , in the
following May, bring long dormant charges against the Registrar- General,
and fasten upon the destruction of these books as a means for further extend-
ing his incriminations ; but, if consulted, I should have desired all the docu-
ments to be restored to the custody of those who had the ordinary charge of
* A perusal of the Parliamentary Papers on the subject of the Caldwell-Ma Chow
Wong connexion throws a different complexion upon the whole of this sad and disgraceful
matter. See the case against Mr. Tarrant, Chạp. XXV., infrà. , and also the report of the
Executive Council in September, 1861 , where the Council unanimously recommended
Mr. Caldwell's dismissal as his " long and intimate connexion with the pirate Ma Chow
Wong was of such a character as to render him unfit to be continued in the public ser-
vice."-Vol. II., Chap. XXXV.
Chap. XIX., p. 447.
See antè Chap. XVIII., p. 435.
 SIR JOHN BOWRING REPORTS MR . ANSTEY'S SUSPENSION. 527


such documents. I have only to add to this long episode, that up to the Chap. XXIII.
time of their destruction in March, it was never hinted to me or the acting
1858.
Colonial Secretary that Mr. Caldwell's name was in any way implicated with
these books, and no one has ever even suggested that Mr. Caldwell was con-
sulted about, or knew, that they had been burnt.

51. Upon this state of facts I leave you to form your own opinion as to
the conduct of an Attorney-General, appearing only as a witness, who ven-
tures to advise the Commission to apply against Mr. Caldwell the maxim,
"Omnia præsumuntur contra spoliatorem," and most unjustifiably insinuates
that these books (now inaccessible for condemnation or defence ) contained
damning proofs of Mr. Caldwell's guilt, there not being a tittle of evidence to
support such a presumption, and then because other gentlemen , without Mr.
Caldwell's knowledge, had put these books out of the reach of the Commis-
sion, that body, who naturally would respect the law laid down by the law
adviser of the Crown, are to find, as proved against Mr. Caldwell, anything
which the malice or ingenuity of his enemies can invent or suggest.

52. This portion of the case alone convinces me, and must, I think, be
equally full of conviction to you, Sir, that Her Majesty's service cannot be
honourably served by a law officer who can think and speak as Mr. Anstey
has done in this instance.

53. But there remains still one more matter, personally affecting both my-
self and the acting Colonial Secretary, which far more than all the rest shows
the vindictive and intemperate nature of Mr. Anstey, and the impossibility of
his continuing to hold an office, which above all others demands close official
confidence between the Governor and its incumbent. At the 15th day's
sitting Mr. Anstey introduced a most irrelevant statement, to the effect that
I had, shortly after his arrival, complained to him of the malpractices there-
tofore existing in the department of the Attorney-General. *