85
eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, and following days.
A. Weatherhead, Clerk of Court.
PLEA.
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF HONG KONG.
The Queen against William Tarrant.
And now the said William Tarrant in his own proper person comes into Court here, and having heard the said information read, says that he is not guilty of the premises charged in the said information or any part thereof.
And for a further plea to the said Information, the said defendant protesting that he is not guilty as aforesaid, nevertheless, according to the form of the statute in such case provided, says that the said alleged libel in the said Information mentioned was printed and published by him, the said defendant, after the passing of the Act of Parliament of the seventh year of the Queen, chapter ninety-six, to wit on the day and year in the said Information mentioned, and not otherwise; and that, before the composing, printing, and publishing of the same alleged libel, to wit on the 26th day of January, in the 21st year of the said Queen, one William Thomas Bridges did, by connivance with Sir John Bowring, in the said Information mentioned, unlawfully, contemptuously, and against the express declaration of the said Queen and of the Government of the Queen, accroach, assume and usurp unto himself the Government of the said Colony, and the powers, authorities, and duties thereof within the same, and in particular, the authority to bind the obedience of the several departments of and subordinate to the said Government of the said Colony, and to require command and compel the several officers thereof, in all cases, to consider, respect, and render obedience, to all instructions given by him, the said W. T. Bridges, as though the same instructions had emanated, or should emanate, from a Governor lawfully appointed by the said Queen, in and for the said Colony; and such his unlawful accroachments, assumptions, and usurpations did—on the day and year last aforesaid—publish and