54. The object of this most unnecessary allusion could, of course, be but
one, viz . , to give fresh vent to that unceasing feeling of animosity which Mr.
Anstey has so constantly exhibited to the previous occupant of his office, the
present acting Colonial Secretary, Mr. Bridges.
55. It is true that some conversation did take place between myself and
Mr. Anstey, as my confidential legal adviser, soon after his arrival, and in
the freedom of such intercourse, no doubt, I afforded material upon which the
most unwarrantable, not to say wicked , superstruction has been raised by Mr.
Anstey.
56. My recollection of what took place more than two years ago amounts
to this effect : I mentioned to Mr. Anstey that I had heard Mr. Bridges had
been engaged in commercial transactions, lending money at a high rate of
interest, and having securities deposited at his own house, and that it appear-
ed to me such sources of profit were not compatible with his professional po-
sition. I may add, that I did not conceal this opinion from Mr. Mercer, the
Colonial Secretary, who thought the Government had nothing to do with
the manner in which Mr. Bridges invested his money, such investments never
have been associated with any charges of dishonesty or fraud.
57. As regards Mr. Bridges's opinion as a lawyer, I certainly stated, as
Mr. Anstey was entitled to know, that there had been cases in which those
opinions had not been confirmed by the authorities at Home -cases in which
he had differed from me, but without opprobrium to himself as my own per-
* Antè p. 505.
528 HISTORY OF THE LAWS, ETC. , OF HONGKONG.
Chap. XXIII . sonal experience, position on many occasions as commercial commissioner,
1858. and parliamentary status had given me advantages over a gentleman, whose
practice before he came to the Colony had certainly not been great.
58. And I probably added , though I have a less distinct recollection of
this, that I thought the private practice of the Attorney-General was not
always compatible with his engagements to the Crown, that duties and
interests sometimes clashed . This opinion I have frequently expressed ; * it
concerns Mr. Anstey as much as Mr. Bridges, for in cases where large fees
have been paid to the Attorney-General by one of the litigant parties, I have
felt myself precluded from consulting him, when such cases have been before
me on final appeal.
59. But I could never have supposed that the confidence which usually
exists between gentlemen in their private intercourse would be violated , and
my words distorted , exaggerated , and tortured , in the manner of which Mr.
Anstey has given so extraordinary an example.
60. Mr. Bridges spoke to me as to the charge thus brought against him by
Mr. Anstey, but I declined to take official cognizance of anything said before
the Commission by any witness, until all the proceedings were before me,
but told Mr. Bridges that his appointment by me to his present office, ought
to be a sufficient proof to him that I had never laid official malpractices to
his charge. It would seem that Mr. Bridges considered this explanation
sufficient in the first instance, but finding that the Commission had printed
Mr. Anstey's statement and allowed it to be published , he demanded from
them the opportunity of being heard in reply.
61. It would have been more prudent in my judgment, and more dignified .
if Mr. Bridges had adhered to his original resolution, and have left me to
justify or explain to Her Majesty's Government the true facts of the case,
but he was entitled to be the judge in his own matter. His action was, how-
ever, entirely his own ; I, in no way, participated in it, although Mr. Anstey
abstained subsequently from asserting most falsely that I authorized and even
co-operated in the step thus taken by Mr. Bridges .
62. Mr. Anstey's counter- statement, in reply, will be, Sir, I trust, carefully
perused by you in its entirety, for it contains an amount of misrepresentation
and acrimony, which will, I think, be with difficulty paralleled elsewhere .
63. I have above stated what the real nature of my communication to Mr.
Anstey was, and you will be able to judge with what unblushing vehemence
of mendacity he has added to and distorted it ; but this, bad as it is, was not
sufficient for Her Majesty's Attorney-General ; ' vires acquirit eundo,' and
when his harangue terminated by a charge before unheard of, and never before
or since attempted to be supported by one iota of evidence, against Mr.
Bridges, of being convicted of seeking his own escape from public odium and
contempt, in the destruction of public records, of which he was the custos,
and which contained the damning evidence of his own complicity, or that of
his subordinates with thieves , resetters , murderers , and pirates ; from that
moment it became self-evident that even calumny had with Mr. Anstey no
limits, and that, in the intemperance of his passion, falsehood had no shame
for him .
64. It would not be difficult for me to give further instances, in addition
to these, but I refrain from doing so, for the task is both wearisome and repug-
nant to my feelings. I am, moreover, satisfied that unless you are already
* Antè Chap. XXI. , p. 476,
SIR JOHN BOWRING REPORTS MR . ANSTEY'S SUSPENSION . 529
convinced of the impossibility of so unfit a man as Mr. Anstey has proved Chap. XXIII.
-
himself to be for the office of Attorney-General continuing a member of this
1858.
Government, it would be impertinent in me to press the subject at greater
length upon you.
65. The Caldwell Commission presented its report to me, dated July the
17th, on July the 19th, and I must refer you, Sir, to this document, which I
believe is considered by all parties most unsatisfactory . I feel it necessary to
examine some of the grounds upon which its conclusions rest, and which, in
so far as they are unfavourable to Mr. Caldwell, are in my judgment unwar-
ranted by the evidence. Mr. Day, the present acting Attorney-General, who
was the barrister selected by the Commissioners themselves to assist them,
has, at the request of the acting Colonial Secretary entered at some length
into an examination of the report, which task, from his thorough acquaint-
ance with the evidence, he was perhaps the most competent person to perform,
at the request of the Lieutenant-Governor and the General. I transmit Mr.
Day's letter herewith, and I think a careful perusal will show how nearly, in
the opinion of an unprejudiced lawyer, the Commissioners have strained every
point which could possibly be made to tell against Mr. Caldwell,
66. The decision on the first charge, as to whether Mr. Caldwell was or
was not fit to continue a Justice of the Peace being decided in his favour,
even by a tribunal which had been extreme to mark anything which he had
done amiss, I could regard in no other light than a general acquittal even by
it, and I have now therefore the honour to report to you my conviction that,
with one exception , and that amounting to not more than an indiscretion (the
search of " Assow " ), * Mr. Caldwell has come blameless out of one of the
most searching investigations to which man was ever subjected in an English
community.
67. The necessity was now incumbent on me of calling the Attorney-
General to account for that line of conduct which, suitably following up a
series of official quarrels seldom, I believe, paralleled in any other locality,
had kept the Colony in a flame for so many weeks, and during which his
increasing spirit of insubordination, promised , if unchecked, to attain such a
height as necessarily to bring the Government into contempt, and reduce
what might be a tolerably well regulated community into a chaos of dis-
order.
68. The evidence having been submitted to me in manuscript on the 19th
of July, I devoted myself to a careful perusal of it, and on the 23rd, directed
the letter of that date, which is appended hereto, to be written to Mr. Anstey.
In order that Mr. Anstey might at once see the gravity of the position in
which he had placed himself, I caused to be intimated to him, in this preli-
minary letter, that unless he sent in a satisfactory reply, a reference would
ensue to the Executive Council.† I did this under the idea that I was acting
most fairly by him in so doing, and hardly expecting that an ex favore act
of this description would be attempted by him to be twisted into an irregula-
rity. I may also here mention that throughout its sittings the Commission
printed de die in diem, but did not communicate them to me, the proceedings
of each day, and that as Mr. Anstey attended every sitting of the Commission,
with, as I am informed, at most five exceptions, and as each day he had
handed to him the printed evidence for his perusal, and his own evidence
occupies part or the whole of not less than eighteen pages, Mr. Anstey might
well be expected to be tolerably informed as to the progress of the case.
69. On the same day Mr. Anstey returned the answer found in the ap-
pendix, and dated July 24. In this letter he assumes a Fabian policy, and
reiterates bis repudiation of any responsibility on account of the charges
* See the Report of the Commission, antè p . 508,
† Antè p. 509.
530 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG.
*
Chap. XXIII. brought against the Registrar-General, forgetting apparently for the time
1858. that he had denied my jurisdiction by an appeal to the Secretary of State, in
the shape of an impeachment of this Government. He afterwards again
resumes the position of being independent of my jurisdiction . There is,
however, one point stated in this letter which is peculiarly worthy of your
attention when you hereafter find Mr. Anstey complaining of the scant justice
done by the Commission . Whether Mr. Austey was prosecutor or witness, it
certainly surprised me not a little to find that on the 24th , more than a week
after the Commission closed its labours, Mr. Anstey was correcting his own
evidence when in the printer's hands. Such a laxity of practice, on the part
of the Commission , is almost inconceivable, for it opens a door to almost
any correction, according to the greater or less scrupulosity of the corrector.
70. On the 28th July a complaint came in from Mr. Anstey against the
Commission for not printing all the documents which he considered to be
necessary appendices to the evidence, which extended over 98 pages of double
columns.
71. For this injury to his cause, even Mr. Anstey does not pretend to
blame the Government. I gave the Commission carte blanche to print what
they liked without any limit. These protests, coming from a party who
denies being an accuser, but represents himself as merely a spectator, or an
unwilling witness, speak for themselves.
72. Mr. Anstey answered the official letter of the 23rd on the 31st ; his reply
is dated the preceding day, Friday, but was not received until about 11
a.m. on Saturday. This document, consisting of about 34 closely- written
pages, almost defies analysis or comment on my part from the vagueness of
the manner in which it either eludes the topics which had been brought to his
attention by the letter of July 23rd, or the bold form of contradiction behind
which the writer retrenches himself where that style of defence better suits
his purpose. This letter shows, in my opinion, in a still more aggravated
form , the same errors which had in other cases disfigured Mr. Anstey's con-
duct ; he will under no possible circumstances ever admit that he has been
wrong, although it be clearly demonstrated to every one else that what he
considers a fact is a creation or distortion of his own imagination ; when
charges that he has brought have been disproved , he reiterates them with
increased acrimony ; when the judges of his cause are on his side, they
are everything which is upright and straightforward ; when they presume
to differ from him, they must be actuated by motives of an unworthy and
hostile nature.
73. I have already gone over much of the ground retraced by Mr. Anstey
in this letter ; but I shall notice some points in it, leaving the whole of it
for your consideration, as a further test of the meaning which this officer
places upon the term subordination, as applied to himself and his superiors.
in office.
74. Mr. Anstey refers to a letter sent to the acting Colonial Secretary by
the President of the Commission , after it had ceased to exist, and in which
that officer somewhat unnecessarily takes upon himself to inform me that
their report was simply intended to refer to the charges as they affect Mr.
Caldwell, and that by it they did not intend to impute anything in the shape
of misconduct to Mr. Anstey or Mr. May. This fact is self-evident, and it
would have been a rather singular addition to other eccentricities of action,
had the Commission constituted itself a judge of persons not on trial before
* Antè p. 510. -They had been drawn up by Dr. Bridges by direction of Sir John
Bowring, as Mr. Anstey's charges -see paragraph 38 of Sir John Bowring's despatch,
antè p. 523.
SIR JOHN BOWRING REPORTS MR. ANSTEY'S SUSPENSION . 531
them. It was for the Government, having that report, and the charges and Chap. XXIII .
the evidence before it, to say whether the public servant, who had created
1858.
the necessity for this Commission, and whose conduct before it could only be
judged by the Government, had or had not acted properly. Mr. Anstey ,
however, wishes to carry this letter still further, and construe it into an
approval of his conduct. He is entitled to draw no such deduction .
75. Mr. Anstey, to further strengthen his position , addresses, without my
sanction or knowledge, the unofficial Justices of the Peace, asks them for
their opinion on a point upon which it is utterly impossible they should be
in a position fairly to pronounce until they had carefully weighed the charges,
the evidence, and then the report of the Commission . Five of these gentle-
men, consisting of two merchants, two bank employés , and a ship surveyor,
do not hesitate to put on record (according to Mr. Anstey's letter, for other-
wise I have not heard a syllable on the subject) letters which, while they
show the amount of party feeling existing on this subject, also convict the
writers of a want of that calm aud deliberate consideration which in that case
was specially demanded . *
76. The name of Mr. Bridges is, of course, introduced by Mr. Anstey into
this letter, as having said something on the Club steps about Mr. Anstey
leaving the Colony within eight weeks, and that gentleman has requested me
to mention that this statement is totally without foundation, and , in fact, his
shattered health had, until the last few days, been such as to prevent his doing
more than move from his private residence to Government offices and back
again.
77. As the Executive Council consists but of three members in addition
to myself, viz ., the Lieutenant-Governor, Lieutenant-Colonel Caine ; the
Senior Military Officer, Major-General Sir Charles van Straubenzee, K.C.B.,
(who was quartered at Canton, and only visited Hongkong on receiving
summons from me to attend the sittings of Council) , and Mr. Bridges, who
very properly† declined to vote on any matter relative to Mr. Anstey. I was
under some difficulty as to the procuring the necessary quorum of two besides
myself, when taking the advice of my Council in these troublesome questions .
78. But there was, moreover, an additional peculiarity about this case,
laying entirely aside Mr. Anstey's conduct with regard to Mr. Caldwell
individually, and also the offensive and hostile attitude he had taken up with
regard to the Colonial Government before the Commission. I had also to
point out to the Council the incessant perturbations of the public peace
emanating from the Attorney-General, and which almost by themselves
demanded his removal. The details of Mr. Anstey's previous dissensions
were all on record, and were well known to him at any rate, and while refer-
ring to them as matters of history, in asking the advice of my Council, I did
not think it necessary to found specific charges upon them,
79. You will find , Sir, Mr. Anstey raising technical objections as to the
form of the proceedings before the Council. Taking what I have mentioned
in the three preceding paragraphs into your consideration , you will be able to
judge whether Mr. Anstey had not only, in fact, the opportunities for a
sufficient defence required by the Colonial Regulations, but, even more, Mr.
Anstey having, as I have before stated, been put fully on his guard by the
letter of 23rd July, as to the possibility of his case being brought before the
Council, sent in his letter in answer to me, after more than a week's delay.
80. That letter I deemed most unsatisfactory, and the General having
come down from Canton on Monday, Angust the 2nd, I summoned the
The Justices thus alluded to were the Honourable John Dent, M.L.C., Mr. J. D. Gibb,
Mr. Patrick Campbell (manager of the Oriental Bank) , Mr. W. Lamond (Sub-manager
of the Oriental Bank), and Captain Rickett, all of whom agreed that Mr. Caldwell was
unfit to remain in the commission of the peace, and were the Justices who also concurred
in the opinion of the minority as alluded to antè p. 502.
† See the reason assigned by him, antè p. 514.
532 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG .
Chap. XXIII, Executive Council, laid Mr. Anstey's letter on the table, stating it in my
1858. opinion to be unsatisfactory, and then proceeded to lay before them all the
matters connected with Mr. Anstey, which had compelled me to resort to
them for advice.
81. On the documents and statements then considered by the Council,
certain resolutions were passed by it, which without in any way determining
whether the Attorney-General should or should not be suspended from office,
were to be taken as expressions of opinion by that body, on Mr. Anstey's
general conduct, and not without weight as to the propriety of continuing
him in his position, when the question of his suspension afterwards came
before it.
82. The second of these resolutions may demand some explanation ; the
others will, I thiuk, speak for themselves. I particularly drew the attention
of the Council to the subject matter, which was afterwards embodied in the
second resolution, because having received from Mr. Labouchere, then Secre-
tary for the Colonies, with regard to Mr. Anstey, certain instructions to be
pursued with regard to his suspension, when he had wrongfully accused the
Chief Justice. * I thought the precedent useful for the information of the
Council, and I also thought it fair to point out to Mr. Anstey, who stood in
a similar position now with regard to myself and the acting Colonial Secre-
tary, to the one formerly held by him towards the Chief Justice, how narrowly
he had before escaped the punishment again impending over him .
83. I incur the risk of wearying you, Sir, with all these minutiæ , because
after having taken every step with the most cautious deliberation which the
peculiar circumstances of the constitution of my Executive Council admitted ,
I find it, and myself, violently assailed Mr. Anstey, for having condemned
him untried and unheard .
84. If I have erred in any way against the spirit of my instructions, it has
been by excess of opportunities for defence afforded to this turbulent man,
certainly not by any restriction of such opportunities.
85. The General was compelled to return at once to Canton ; and having
named the following Saturday as the day on which he could most conveniently
attend to form a quorum, I caused the resolutions of the day's Council to
be conveyed to the Attorney-General, with an intimation that he had until
the following Saturday to send in in writing such further statements as be
might deem necessary .
86. The records of the Colonial Office will exhibit proofs of the wonderful
facility with which Mr. Austey runs over the most voluminous epistles, aud
even from him I did not expect the plea that four days, totally free from all
official business whatsoever, was too scant a period for the preparation of his
defence. A portion of the 3rd of August, one of those given him for his
defence, was employed in producing the letter of that date.
87. Having been allowed the perusal of all the extracts of despatches
which had been laid before the Council, many of these being the despatch in
its entirety, he invents a grievance because he was not allowed the perusal
of documents which in no way related to him ; he then proceeds to impugn
the regularity of the proceedings of the Council, while protesting against its
jurisdiction, and finally calumniates in as far as in him lies each member of
Council in succession, by a tour de force which it is impossible to explain or
to understand ; he attempts to make out that it is the acting Colonial Secre-
tary who is on his defence, and not himself ; and that because the Lieutenant-
Governor in April last entertained,† as he still does, a strong feeling of friend-
ship for Mr. Bridges, therefore in August (Colonel Caine) should not sit in
* Antè Chap. XVI . § II., p. 386.
† Ante Chap. XXI. , pp. 472, 473,
SIR JOHN BOWRING REPORTS MR. ANSTEY'S SUSPENSION. 533
Council on Mr. Anstey again, because through his overbearing disregard of Chap. XXIII.
-
all rules not framed by himself, he was taken up by the Provost Marshal in
1858.
Canton, and locked up for the night last January,* he imputes a bias to Sir
Charles Van Straubenzee, which is to over-rule the obligation of his oath of
office.
88. Mr. Bridges, as usual, is grossly slandered ; and although Mr. Anstey
had seen from the proceedings in Council that gentleman declining to vote,
in order to avoid the appearance even of unfairness towards his bitter perse-
cutor, yet the Attorney-General does not hesitate to inform his superior officer,
the acting Colonial Secretary, " You more than myself on your trial, and
greedy for my succession." I need not also remind you that it is with Mr.
Bridges ' most ready concurrence that I have since appointed not Mr. Bridges,
but another gentleman, to act in the office vacated by Mr. Anstey.
89. Of myself it is said, by my legal adviser, that, disguise it as I may, I
am his chief accuser. For once Mr. Anstey has merely stated the truth ; I
am his chief accuser, and 1 am so as the representative of Her Most Gracious
Majesty the Queen, as the guardian of public morality, and the highest offi-
cial authority for the maintenance of law and order, I feel my responsibility,
and certainly do not shrink from it.
90. I crave your particular attention to this letter, Sir, for it and the simi-
lar and subsequent memorandum are not among the lightest reasons which
necessitated the removal of Mr. Anstey from the public service.
91. I saw nothing in this letter of Mr. Anstey's to alter my determination
of referring his case to the consideration of the Executive Council, and I
therefore directed an intimation to be conveyed to him that, as he himself re-
quested at the conclusion of the document, it would be submitted to that body.
92. Sir Charles Van Straubenzee having again returned from Canton for
the express purpose, the Executive Council assembled on Saturday, August
the 7th, to consider the propriety of suspending the Attorney- General. It
was summoned to meet at ten o'clock, and about that hour the accompanying
memorandum was received from that officer. This document demands the
following observations from me. The protest against the jurisdiction of the
Council is repeated , with this addition, that such jurisdiction had never exist-
ed. A statement is made that Mr. Anstey had not sufficient time allowed
him to prepare his defence, because during part of the days allotted to him,
he was employed on heavy professional business, " three whole days, " accor
ding to his letter. You will observe, from the minutes of Council how even
this fact is exaggerated : on two of the four days there was no Court busi-
ness whatsoever ; on the other two days the Court did not sit until two p.m.,
and on one of these last mentioned days, Mr. Anstey's professional business
did not occupy half-an-hour. Besides, his business was private, not official,
and could easily have been adjourned, had he desired it. I am thus particu-
lar in dealing with this point to show that even to a slow penman there
would have been no hardship ; whereas by a writer of Mr. Anstey's extra-
ordinary power of execution in covering quires of paper, the allegation of
want of time seemed out of place. The pretext of the appeal to your supe-
rior jurisdiction is still persevered in. If Mr. Bridges has been more or less
at issue with every other department, such a fact has not come within my
cognizance, and has assuredly not assumed an official shape.
93. But, above all, must I observe upon the astonishing fabrications which
are to be found in paragraph No. 29, and the still more remarkable outburst
of insubordinate feelings in the conclusion of this memorandum. It is abso-
lutely false that Dr. Bridges obtained in the name of the Governor a day and
an hour for making comments upon Mr. Austey's testimony. Dr. Bridges did
* Ante Chap. XX. § II., p. 463.
† The real reason assigned by Dr. Bridges for not voting was statel by him at the
time of Mr. Anstey's suspension - see antè p. 514 ; also see Chap. XXIV., infrà.
534 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG.
Chap. XXIII, it proprio motu without even mentioning the matter to me at all, and he did
so, as I have above stated, in consequence of the unprovoked allusion , on Mr.
1858 .
Anstey's part, to malpractices of his as acting Attorney-General. It is ab-
solutely false that I entrusted to Mr. Bridges for the purpose in question any
documents on any day. The documents which Mr. Bridges produced were
the originals, which were in his own possession, and several of which I have
never seen up to this moment, nor did they emanate from my Government ;
such, for instance, as a private letter from Mr. Mercer, a letter from Admiral
Sir J. Sterling, and addresses from the English and Chinese communities
here, copies of all of which Dr. Bridges informs me were lodged in Downing
Street in 1856. It is absolutely false, and Mr. Anstey never had a shadow
of a ground for saying that the charge of constitutional aberration from truth
which Dr. Bridges undoubtedly did retort on Mr. Anstey was made in my
name, or with my knowledge. Dr. Bridges had himself to defend , and is
quite capable of doing so, without using me as a shield. Mr. Anstey had,
therefore, none of the justificatory reasons which he alleges in support of his
betrayal of my confidence and distortion of my words, and certainly no at-
tempted justification was ever put in a more offensive shape by an inferior to
a superior.
94. The Executive Council assembled, as I have stated, at 10, and sat
until four its minutes will detail to you the course of its proceedings, which,
I say in all honesty, fairly exhausted the whole subject before coming to a
decision.
95. Mr. Anstey's suspension was decided upon on several grounds, each of
which was, in my opinion, more than sufficient to incapacitate him from a
further tenure of office : his incessant quarrels , his unsoundness and danger-
ous character as the confidential law adviser of the Crown, his conduct
throughout the Caldwell Commission, both as regards his superior and in-
ferior fellow-servants of Her Majesty, the insubordinate, intemperate, and
offensive attitude which he assumed towards myself as Governor, and to-
wards the Executive Council as a body.
96. This suspension , without doubt or hesitation, I ask you to confirm : no
man has ever had greater latitude allowed him than Mr. Anstey , under my
Government. No man could have abused his liberty more, and it is fit that
he should reap as he has sown.
97. In the position in which this Colony and I, personally, have been
placed during a period of extreme solicitude, perplexity, and responsibility, it
has greatly added to my anxiety and labours -greatly interfered with the
quiet and serious discharge of singularly complicated public duties —to be
scarcely ever free from reference in some or other misunderstanding among
officials in the Colony -almost always created or fauned by Mr. Anstey's intem-
perance. He has appeared to me unable to exist out of a turbulent and tem-
pestuous atmosphere, and to possess the unhappy art of creating storms which
it is not so easy to appease ; and , on a review of the past, I feel that I can far
more easily justify the final resolution in which I have been supported by
the cordial unanimity of my Council, than excuse myself for having so long
submitted to so much insubordination and disrespect ; insubordination to my
authority-disrespect to my station and my years.
I have, etc.,
(Signed) JOHN BOWRING.
The Right Honourable
Sir EDWARD B. LYTTON, Bart., M.P.,
Secretary of State for the Colonies.
THE BISHOP OF VICTORIA ON GOVERNOR BOWRING . 535
Masterly for its purpose as this despatch may appear, its Chap. XXIII,
immediate purport, as it so clearly shows, was, neverthe- 1858.
less, but an intemperate onslaught upon Mr. Anstey con-
sequent upon his unwise disclosures, and in extenuation and
vindication of the conduct- and of Sir John Bowring's extra-
ordinary but now necessary support - of Dr. Bridges and his
acolyte, Mr. Caldwell . In his endeavour to save his now tot-
tering administration , and to exculpate these two unprincipled
persons, Sir John Bowring, as has been seen , neither spared
those officials who had run counter to his views , or rather the
wishes of Dr. Bridges and Mr Caldwell, nor even the Justices
of the Peace who had voted in the minority which had con-
*
sidered Mr. Caldwell unfit to be a Justice of the Peace, or the
Caldwell Commission of Inquiry which had disposed of the
charges drawn up by Dr. Bridges,† and which Commission
never for a moment anticipated such a termination, as the result
of their delicate labours. ‡
Taken with the facts now familiar to the reader, it was there-
fore not astonishing that the Newcastle Foreign Affairs Asso-
ciation , when addressing the Duke of Newcastle on the subject of
Mr. Anstey's treatment, ---which , it is needless to say, met with
resentment from various other quarters in England.-- should have
said that they had convicted Sir John Bowring of " falsehood . "§
The records hereafter will show that while Mr. Anstey's dis-
missal rested indirectly on his indiscretions and subsequent
relations with the Government, and that Mr. May was comple-
tely absolved of all imputations , both Dr. Bridges and Mr.
Caldwell met with nothing but their long and well - merited
deserts .
The Bishop of Victoria, who until this time had kept well The Bishop
aloof from all the dissessions prevailing in Hongkong, must have of Victoria
take sa
been disgusted to find that a communication of his , addressed to charitable
view of
a private friend at Home, was reproduced in The Record, a paper John
published in England. That part only having immediate con- Bowring.
cern with the present work is now extracted , and, coming from
the source it does, may be taken as a fair exponent of the true
state of affairs then prevalent in Hongkong. As will be seen
the bishop evidently had ransacked his chalice of charity to
give Sir John Bowring its contents. His letter was dated
Hongkong, August 24th, 1858.'
" Our Governor, Sir John Bowring, looks very ill ; and I think he cannot
last very much longer with his many harassing cares in this trying climate.
• See paragraph 75 of Sir John Bowring's despatch, antè p. 531.
See paragraph 38 of Sir John Bowring's despatch, antè p. 523.
Paragraph 74 of Sir John Bowring's despatch, antè pp. 530, 531 .
See Chap. XXXI., infrà. Also article in The Morning Herald of the 28th April.
1859,-Chap. XXVI., infrà.
536 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG.
Chap. XXIII. He is involved in a great deal of trouble just now in the internal administra-
-- tion of the Colonial Government ; it is likely that the matter may be mooted
1858.
in the House of Commons . I hope Conservatives and churchmen may pursue
a generous part towards him. He is undoubtedly an able and well-intended
man, and both as Consul at Canton in former times , and more recently as
Governor of this Colony, he has always maintained an example of the strict
est morality.
He belongs to an unsatisfactory political and religious school ; but, in per-
soual kindliness of disposition and a desire to benefit the local Chinese popula-
tion, he has shown himself worthy of every consideration. He has fallen on
troublous times . His wife is lately gone to England, having never recovered
the effect of the Chinese poisoning. The greatest enemy Sir John Bowring
ever had would be melted to pity and sympathy if he could see the slow but
certain progress of sickness and infirmity creeping over him. His public
policy and local politics I , of course, have nothing to do with."
The statement in this letter that Sir John Bowring " cannot
last much longer with his many harassing cares " and that his
66
greatest enemy would be melted to pity and sympathy if he
could see the slow but certain progress of sickness and infirmity
creeping over him " cannot at this date be thought otherwise
than ludicrous. Sir John Bowring, who was now sixty- six years
of aget whatever he may have looked , evidently could not have
been so bad, for not very long after the death ofhis wife he re -mar-
ried, which gave rise to the most jocular remarks upon the sub-
ject locally, and, as will be seen, he did not die till 1872 , fourteen
years after the above letter was written. As to the statement
Sir John
that " Sir John Bowring belonged to an unsatisfactory political
Bowring as
belonging and religious school " § and that as regards " his public policy and
"to an
unsatis- local politics " the bishop, " of course, had nothing to do with,'
factory that seemed inevitable, though these appeared to be the very
political and points on which satisfaction had been required of the Governor.
religious
school." It is hardly necessary to say that advantage was now taken of
this letter to heap further abuse upon Sir John Bowring, though
it must be admitted that he had made a great mess of things
generally in Hongkong.
See antè Chap. XX. § II., p . 471 .
He was born in 1792 - antè Chap. XI. , p. 227, note.
See Chap. XXVII., infrà.
Sir John Bowring was a Radical in politics and a Unitarian by religion.
537
CHAPTER XXIV .
1858 .
Mr. Inglis appointed Harbour Master and Marine Magistrate.-Mr. J. Scott, Governor
of the Gaol.- Chinese callousness with respect to suicide. A triple suicide in the Gaol.-
Mr. Scott confirmed as Governor of the Gaol.-Dr. Bridges wishes to be relieved of the
acting Colonial Secretaryship. -The Attorney-Generalship in view. - Condition on which
Dr. Bridges was prepared to remain in office. -Resignation of Dr. Bridges . Mr. Forth,
acting Colonial Secretary. - Mr. Anstey goes to Manila. - Death of Mr. Day, acting
Attorney-General -Secretary of State's approval of Mr. Day, as acting Attorney-General.
-Mr. Green appointed acting Attorney-General. - Criticism . - Meeting of the Legislative
Council.-Freedom of speech. Governor Bowring's proposal to make members of Council
answerable for attacks on private character.- Sir John Bowring's explanation of the
'distorted ' statements made by Mr. Anstey in regard to Dr. Bridges and himself at the
opium monopoly inquiry.-The Secretary of State upon the careless manner in which
legislation had been conducted in the introduction of Acts of Parliament not applicable
to the Colony. -Lists of Imperial Enactments and Rules and Orders of the Superior
Courts at Westminster which were introduced by Ordinance No. 5 of 1858. -The Secretary
of State's despatch. -The report of Sir Frederic Rogers and Mr. Merivale.- Disallowance
of Ordinance No. 13 of 1858. - Disallowance, when notified .- Sir John Bowring's appoint-
ment of Dr. Bridges as counsel to the Superintendency of Trade on the suspension of Mr.
Anstey. Mr. Anstey's complaint to the Secretary of State. - Sir John Bowring's despatch.
-Mr. Anstey and Dr. Bridges resume their old conflict. - An unpleasant scene in the
Supreme Court.-The Chief Justice's attitude.- Mr. Anstey on Dr. Bridges. He breaks
out in poetry. - Dr. Bridges' gorgeous signboards. - Professional etiquette.- Mr. Anstey
and Dr. Bridges in Court again. Legal practitioners who swing Chinese signboards upon
the public road.' The decorous behaviour of the Chief Justice.- Execution of a private
of the Royal Marines on board H.M.S. Hesper for murder.-- A subsequent case in which a
soldier who murdered a comrade was handed over to the civil authorities. - Ma Chow
Wong and other convicts despatched to Labuan.— Mr. Caldwell's grief.- Ma Chow Wong
in Labuan. — Conspiracy to murder. His sentence increased. - The free pardon subse-
quently granted him. Chap. XXIV.
-
Ar a meeting of the Executive Council held on the 25th August , Mr. Inglis
Mr. Inglis, the Governor ofthe Gaol, * received the appointment Harbour appointed
of Harbour Master and Marine Magistrate in succession to Cap- Master
tain Watkins, being afterwards confirmed in the appointment. and Marine
Magistrate.
Mr. Joseph Scott replaced Mr. Inglis . Mr. Scott , formerly Mr. J. Scott,
in the ranks of the army, had for some time been employed in Governor
the Gaol. of
the Surveyor - General's Department.
An account of a triple suicide in the Gaol, not unlike that Chinese
callousness
recorded in this work early in 1845, characteristic of Chinese with respect
callousness with respect to suicide by hanging, was given by to suicide.
Mr. Inglis shortly before severing his connexion with the Gaol. A triple
suicide
Mr. Inglis reported that three pirates , who had been committed in the Gaol .
for trial and were confined together in one cell where there was a
window with two iron bars, determined upon taking the jurisdic-
tion of the case into their own hands, instead of undergoing the
additional troubles of confinement and of trial at the Criminal
See antè Chap. XVIII., p. 428, as to this title.
† Ante Chap. XIV. § II., p. 342.
Antè Chap. 111. § 11., p. 75,
538 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG.
Chap. XXIV. Sessions, and having condemned themselves to death , doubtless
1858. anticipating their fate, these men determined upon hanging
themselves from the iron bars of the window. The way in
which they proceeded was by two of them first suspending
themselves with the aid of the third, and when animation in
these two was extinct, the third cut down one of his dead com-
rades gently, laid him on the floor, and then suspended himself
by his own tail, and all this was done so quietly, that the suspi-
cion of the sentry at the window was never roused by any
sound !
Mr. Scott
confirmed By Government Notification on the 23rd May, 1859 , Mr.
as Governor. Scott was confirmed as Governor of the Victoria Gaol.
of the Gaol.
As may be remembered Dr. Bridges had asked at the latter end
Dr. Bridges
wishes to be of July last to be relieved of the acting Colonial Secretaryship.
relieved This could not have been simply on the ground, as alleged , that he
of the acting wished " to resume the exercise of his profession " as he already
Colonial
Secretary- enjoyed the extra privilege of private practice, and other reasons
ship.
must be sought for, namely, that he had sickened under all the
disclosures that had been made in reference to himselff and also
The At-
torney. that, given a reasonable lapse of time between his resignation of
Generalship the acting Colonial Secretaryship and the supercession of Mr.
in view.
Anstey, he would stand a chance of receiving the substantial
appointment, the more so as he had been recommended for the
post by Sir John Bowring, in the event of Mr. Anstey's sus-
pension being confirmed . Accordingly on the 26th August,
he again addressed the Governor and asked to be allowed to
resign, the latter asking him, in reply, to defer his resignation
" until the inquiries connected with Mr. May " in reference to
charges brought by the latter in conjunction with Mr. Anstey
against Mr. Caldwell " shall be terminated. "
Condition
on which Dr. Bridges then stipulated that he would consent to remain
Dr. Bridges in office " on the understanding that he held the position until
prepared Mr. Mercer's return . " To this Sir John Bowring could not ac-
wasremain
to
in office.
cede, and on the 28th August Mr. Forth, the Treasurer,§ was
Resignation gazetted acting Colonial Secretary. Dr. Bridges further accen-
Bridges. tuated his resignation of the acting Colonial Secretaryship by
Mr. Forth, also resigning his Commission of the Peace on the 10th Sep-
acting
Colonial tember, when his name was removed from the list of Justices.
Secretary. On the 5th September Mr. Anstey, who since his suspen-
Mr.s Anstey
goe to sion had remained in the Colony exercising his right of private
Manila . practice, left for Manila on six weeks ' leave of absence . A few
Death of
Mr. Day, days after his departure, on the 21st September, Mr. Day, the
acting acting Attorney -General . || died . He was thirty-nine years of age
Attorney-
General. * Antè Chap. XXIII., p. 509.
† Antè Chap. XXI. , p. 472 ; Chap. xx111 ., p. 505 ; see also paragraphs 56-38 of Sir
John Bowring's despatch, id., p. 527.
Antè Chap. XXIII., p. 516.
§ Ante Chap. XVIII., p. 427.
Antè Chap. XXIII. , p . 515.
DEATH OF MR. DAY, ACTING ATTORNEY - GENERAL. 539
and the senior barrister in practice in the Colony. It will not be in- Chap. -XXIV .
appropriate here, considering the position he held at the time, 1858.
and at a very trying period, it will be admitted, to reproduce
what was said locally of this gentleman on the occasion of his
death :-
" We have to notice the death of Mr. John Day, the acting Attorney-
General, from an attack of acute dysentery. He passed as a barrister of the
Middle Temple in 1849 , had some practice on the circuits, and in the end of
1855 came out to this Colony, where his sound judgment and remarkable
industry gave him a high position. Mr. Day held himself very much aloof
from colonial matters, but all the more on that account was he to be valued
in the exercise of his own profession . Shortly after arriving here, an opinion
of his, passed in ignorance of the place, was turned to a special purpose by
the ingenious hands of Mr. Austey ; but after that, he followed the wise
course of confining himself to a conscientious fulfilment of his own special
duties. Nor were these discharged by him from a purely legal or narrow
point of view. As the legal examiner for the Caldwell Commission, and
afterwards the commentator on the proceedings of that intelligent Court,* he
steadily brought to bear upon the subject an amount of common sense, legal
acumen, and gentlemanly feeling, which were most serviceable to the Colony ;
and we cannot forget that on that, and one or two kindred subjects, it was
from Mr. Day we first heard a fair intelligent opinion, unbiassed by private
interest or personal prejudice. But it is useless to speak good of one who has
•
eutered into the Happy Valley . Rather, seeing how soon, in these lati-
tudes, the night comes in which no man can work, it would be well if we all
considered how mean, how miserable, our petty strivings for wealth, influence ,
and position are, and sought, more simply, to live worthy lives - the sole
necessity to fearless deaths."
On the 18th January, 1859 , it was notified that the Secretary Secretary
of State had approved " the provisional appointment of Mr. of State's
approva l
Day ( since deceased ) as Attorney-General of Hongkong pend- of Mr. Day,
as acting
ing the decision of Her Majesty's Government on the suspen- Attorney-
sion from office of Mr. Anstey." General.
On the 23rd September Mr. Frederick William Green was Mr. Green
gazetted acting Attorney- General in the place of Mr. Day, appointed acting
deceased, and during the suspension of Mr. Anstey. This ap- Attorney-
General.
* Seeantè Chap. XXIII . , p. 507, and paragraph 65 of Sir John Bowring's despatch, id., p. 529.
The following obituary notice appeared in The Law Times in reference to Mr. Day :- --
" The late John Day, Esq., who died whilst holding the post of acting Attorney-General
at Hongkong, was the eldest son of John and Amelia Day, of Woodland House, Wellington ,
Somerset. He was born at Milverton, in Somerset, on the 9th December, 1818. He re-
ceived his education at the Grammar School at Ilminster, under the late head master, the
Rev. John Allen, M.A., where he early distinguished himself as a classical scholar. After
leaving school, he was articled to and served his time with Messrs. Norton and Chaplin,
of 3 Gray's Inn Square. In 1840 he was admitted a solicitor and attorney- at-law, and
practised in that branch of the profession for some years at Maidenhead , Berks, and at
Taunton, Somerset. In Michaelmas Term 1839 he embraced the higher branch of the pro-
fession, and was called to the bar at the Middle Temple. He went the Western Circuit
and Somerset Sessions until the latter part of 1854, when he proceeded to Bombay. In
the autumn of 1855 he went on to Hongkong where he settled and practised at the bar ; and
where he soon obtained a very extensive amount of business. In the beginning of Au-
gust last, on the suspension of T. Chisholm Anstey. Esq., Mr. Day was appointed acting
Attorney-General for Hongkong, which appointment he held at the date of his death, the
21st September following. He was married on the 1st October, 1851 , to his cousin Miss
Elizabeth Catherine Day, daughter of the late Alexander Day, Esq., of Milverton. Somer-
set, and grand-daughter of the late Rev. Samuel Ashe, rector of Langley Burrell, Wilts.
Mr. Day has left no children . His wife survives him, and is now on her way to England
from Hongkong. Mr. Day has a brother, Lieutenant Estcourt Day, of the 26th Camero-
nians."
540 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG.
Chap. XXIV . pointment took the public by surprise, because neither his short
-
1858. experience in Hongkong nor the state ofhis health entitled Mr.
Criticism .
Green to the post, at all events over Mr. Kingsmill, who not only
had prior claims as Mr. Green's senior, but also as having previously
filled the office during Mr. Anstey's leave in India, the year
*
before, in a satisfactory manner, and especially as he had been
a candidate for the position with Mr. Day at the time of Mr.
Anstey's suspension. Mr. Green took his seat in the Legisla-
Meeting tive Council on the 4th October, his appointment as acting
of the
Legislative Attorney-General in place of Mr. Day being gazetted on the 12th
Council.
February, 1859 , as being approved by the Secretary of State.
A singular coincidence to be noted in regard to this second
appointment to the acting Attorney - Generalship consequent
upon Mr. Anstey's suspension, and denoting an unlucky omen ,
was, that in December, 1859 , Mr. Green found himself com-
pelled to resign the appointment owing to ill-health, dying
some.time after.‡
Freedom
At the meeting mentioned above, Sir John Bowring proposed
of speech.
to introduce a clause in the rules, making members of the Coun-
Governor
cil responsible at common law for any attacks they may make on
Bowring's
proposal private character. As will be seen the Legislative Council was
to inake divided as to its claims to what really amounted to Parliamentary
members of
Council privilege of entire freedom of speech, except as limited by its own
answerable
for attacks rules, a majority, however, being opposed to the addition pro-
on private posed by the Governor. The following is taken from the records
character.
of the time upon the subject :-
" The Governor then stated that, owing to what had taken place in Council
on the 10th and 15th of May last,§ he found it imperative to propose an addi-
tion to the 16th regulation of the Legislative Council. That rule was—
The members of Council shall have freedom of speech, and shall not at
any time be questioned by Government for anything they have said therein ;'
-and he proposed to add the words, But the privilege of Council shall
not protect any member in the utterance of slanderous or libellous matter,
affecting the private character of individuals. ' He intended to send this
proposal Home, but before doing so, should like to afford the Council an
opportunity of expressing its opinion upon it.
Mr. Dent objected to the clause, because the Council was a society of gen-
tlemen, who were not to be supposed capable of uttering slanderous matter.
Mr. Davies raised several objections, the chief being, that the eighteenth
clause of the present rules provided the proper remedy. As connected with
this matter, he would now request leave to table a protest, which had been
intrusted to him by a member of the Council, regarding a breach of privilege.
[On being asked if he professed to represent a member of Council, Mr. Davies
stated that he held the protest from Mr. T. C. Anstey, who was still Her
Majesty's Attorney-General, and had not been ungazetted as a member of
Council. The protest referred to reference which had been made, after the
rules came into force, to language used by Mr. Anstey several months ago.
Antè Chap. XIX., p. 439.
† Ante Chap. XXIII ., p. 514.
See Mr. Green's resignation noticed in Chap. XXX. , infrà, and his death in Vol. II.,
Chap. XXXVI.
§ See paragraph 35 of Sir John Bowring's despatch, antè Chap. XXXIII . , p. 523.
GOVERNOR BOWRING ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN COUNCIL. 541
The protest of Mr. Anstey, which related to a circular the Governor sent Chap. XXIV,
round the members of Council, and to the ascription to Mr. Anstey of the 1858.
charges brought before the Caldwell Commission, was then read, and, on the
motion of the Governor, was entered on the minutes.*
Mr. Lyall objected to the proposed addition to Rule 16th. He should be
sorry to suppose that the authority of His Excellency, or whoever might be
president of the Council, would be insufficient to prevent or restrain the utter-
ance of slanderous matter. In the event of any member commencing to use
slanderous language, it would be quite sufficient for the president to interfere,
to demand an apology, or to put into force Rule 18, which provided that the
imputation of improper motives might be considered " disorderly."
The Surveyor-General thought that the proposed addition would east a
slur on the members of Council as gentlemen. Any libellous charges would
be reported, and punished in the usual way.
The Chief Justice said, in such a case as that just mentioned, it was the
publisher of the libel who would be responsible.
On a vote being taken, the motion was negatived by 2 to 6, the division
being-
Ayes. Noes.
ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY. Mr. DENT.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR. Mr. LYALL.
CHIEF MAGISTRATE.
SURVEYOR-GENERAL .
ACTING ATTORNEY- GENERAL.
CHIEF JUSTICE.
Mr. Dent remarked that, as His Excellency intended to send the proposal
Home, he also should like to send his objections to it, and was informed that
he would be at liberty to do so."
Nothing further is to be found upon the subject in the
records .
The Governor, at this meeting, as he had previously done in the
The following is the protest alluded to : -
แ "Minute of Protest of Privilege.
" My attention is drawn to a publication in The Hongkong Government Gazette of
Saturday last, the 31st ultimo, of a Warrant of Commission bearing date the 20th May
last, and having a List of Charges ' appended . The publication is said to be ‘ by Order,'
and for general information.'
"The Commission states, that those charges embrace certain accusations,' -recited
in the preamble to have been brought in the Legislative Council, and in official docu-
ments, by myself against the Registrar-General, and to necessitate an Inquiry ' : * —and it
directs certain Commissioners thereby appointed, to inquire into the same : -and all
Persons in the Public Service ' are charged to be aiding and assisting unto them therein.'
" I have also perused a Circular Letter under His Excellency's own hand, addressed,
on the 24th ultimo, to every Official Member of the Legislative Council, except myself : -
whereby, such Member is, in effect, required to answer in writing, whether or not certain
words therein specified , and bearing directly on the subject matter of the said ' List of
Charges ' and Commission, were used by me in the Debates of the said Council, in May
last, and by way of an intemperate attack upon the Registrar-General.'
" It appears that no inquiry whatever has been addressed to any of the non-official
Members of Council on the subject ; and I can state that I have received none.
"With the truth or falsehood of the recitals and averments in the said Commission . I
do not mean to trouble this honourable Council, beyond once more recording my emphatic
denial, that the List of Charges - by whom prepared I know notf - does embrace the
accusations made by me against the Registrar-General ; ' -a contradiction which, from
the 24th May last, the earliest opportunity I had for giving it, down to the present time,
has been
66 repeatedly officialized by me, and received without dissent or observation.
But, I do ask this honourable Council to admit this my protest against the above
acts of the Government, as being a manifest , deliberate, and persevering violation of its
* Ante Chap. xxш ., p. 503.
+ See Paragraph 38 of Governor Bowring's despatch, ante Chap. xx111 , p. 523.
Ante Chap. xxш ., pp. 503, 510.
542 HISTORY OF THE LAWS , ETC. , OF HONGKONG.
Chap. XXIV. Executive Council, * now took the opportunity of again referring
1858. to the questionable disclosures in reference to himself and Dr.
Sir John
Bridges , made by Mr. Anstey at the inquiry in the matter con-
Bowring's
explanation nected with the opium monopoly and Dr. Bridges, in May last.†
of the
'distorted' showing how much he felt these disclosures having been made.
statements He spoke with much warmth and feeling, especially when allud-
made by
Mr. Anstey ing to Mr. Anstey's breach of confidence. He began by calling
in regard to the attention of Council to the fact that the public business of
Dr Bridges
and himself the Colony had been interrupted for some time by a variety of
--
at the opium causes, and continued as follows :
monopoly
inquiry. " Recent events had induced the Executive Council to suspend Mr. Anstey,
the Attorney-General, and had led to the resignation of Dr. Bridges, the
acting Colonial Secretary. Illness and death, also, had added to the embar-
rassment caused by these changes. When Mr. Day was made acting Attorney-
General, a quantity of business , and a vast mass of documents were placed
in his hands, but illness prevented his performance of the duties, and on Mr.
Day's death the arrears of business were passed over to Mr. Green. Recent
unpleasant events had been laid before the Home Government, in one of the
longest despatches ever sent by a Colonial Governor ; but," continued His
Excellency, " I must, in justice to others, briefly remark on one subject. It is
a grave error, if expressions are repeated that have been uttered in the inti-
macy and under the protection of social intercourse, and which are calculated
to wound the feelings or damage the reputation of another. It is still worse
if a lawyer give publicity to communications made to him under the supposed
secure guardianship of professional confidence. And it is a far more inexcu-
sable and even serious offence if the Law Adviser of the representative of his
Sovereign shall divulge the most secret and unreserved -unreserved because
supposed to be sacred - communications of that representative, -and the
offence is greatly magnified if, by special arrangement on the part of the
offender, the public press is called in to give its multitudinous echoes to such
privileged communications,-but worst of all, if these communications have
been distorted, misrepresented , and tortured into meanings they were never
meant to convey . Of this, I am bound to say, and of much more, the late
acting Colonial Secretary has a right to complain, and I owe this explanation
to him, to myself, and to the Legislative Council of which he was a member.
The opinion of Her Majesty's Government will, no doubt, be conveyed to me
on this and indeed on the whole matter."
The Se- At the above meeting the Governor also intimated that he
cretary of
State had received a despatch from the Secretary of State, complaining
upon the of " the careless manner " in which legislation had been con-
careless
manner ducted in Hongkong in the introduction of Acts of Parliament
in which
not applicable to the Colony, and , continuing, said : —
legislation
had been " This was the business of the Attorney-General, who alone could be
conducted
in the privileges, solemnly recognized by the sixteenth of His Excellency's own Standing
Orders and Rules for the Council of Hongkong, which has been approved by Lord
Stanley, the Secretary of State, and is as follows :-
" The Members of Council shall have freedom of speech, and shall not, at any time,
be questioned by Government for anything they have said therein.'
.. I desire that this protest may be recorded.
T. CHISHOLM ANSTEY, M.L.C.,
Hongkong, 2nd August, 1858. H. M. Attorney- General.”
* Ante Chap. XXIII. , p. 511.
† Id. p. 505.
Sir John Bowring no doubt here referred to his despatch reporting Mr. Anstey's
suspension, antè Chap. XXIII., p . 516.
§ See also paragraph 60 of Sir John Bowring's despatch, antè Chap. XXIII., p. 528.
CARELESS INTRODUCTION OF ACTS OF PARLIAMENT . 543
expected to look over the Acts of Parliament and know if their provisions Chap. XXIV.
-
were such as should be adopted here. Some Acts had been introduced , 1858.
though there was no machinery to carry them into effect. In consequence of introduction
the illness and subsequent death of Mr. Day, the acting Attorney-General, of Acts of
the preparation of an Ordinance to correct the careless manner in which, Parliament
as pointed out by the Secretary of State, some of the Imperial Acts were not applic
able to the
extended to this Colony by Ordinance No. 5 of 1858 , had been delayed ; but Colony.
Mr. Green, the present acting Attorney-General, was actually engaged in
drawing up the needful Ordinance for submission to the Council."
This statement was indefinite enough, but in fairness to Mr.
Anstey it is but right to say that some of the measures referred
to by the Secretary of State were the direct instruments of Dr.
Bridges while acting as Attorney- General, though that Mr.
Anstey himself had been precipitate in the introduction of
Home legislation without much consideration as to its effect,-
as witness the precipitancy with which Ordinances Nos . 5 , 6 ,
and 7 of 1856 , before referred to, were brought into operation
despite the protest of the legal profession , -cannot be gainsaid .‡
At this stage it may not be inappropriate to reproduce in List of
full the list of Imperial Enactments or portions of same as well Imperial
Enactments
as the Rules , Orders , and Regulations of the Superior Courts and Orders
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.