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-ing to my opinion thus to have transgressed in such a manner that very
severe punishments should be visited upon them when due regard is taken
of the Colonial Constitution and the times and in such a manner as
exceeds the authority, most graciously vested in me by Your Royal
Majesty, to inflict. Those persons I considered to be of this class, I
have, of consequence, allowed to be indicted before the Commission to
which, in this instance, an extension of commission has been given, for
which extension I shall, through the Council, apply for Your Royal
Majesty’s sanction, as previously this has happened here when, in
extraordinary circumstances, Chief Commissioners have been appointed by
the authorities.
Others among those arrested do not appear,
though guilty of punishable offences, to have transgressed to such a
degree as to expect that long term or indefinite incarceration would
eventually be applied and to these I have, by decree, awarded some days
of imprisonment on water and bread and placed them, for several or fewer
years, under special observation by the Police. The reasons which
hereto have compelled me are first, the severity inherent in holding
under arrest persons whose punishment can only warrant short prison
terms for as long a period as of necessity follows with a case, which
will, in the end, be decided by Your Royal Majesty’s Supreme Court, and
second, the heavy and useless expenditures the boarding of these
prisoners would place on the Treasury of the Realm, and finally, my
conviction that, in this case, a few examples will have as much utility
as many, even if one or another of the thus arbitrarily punished might,
by strict construction, qualify for something more than imprisonment on
water and bread.
All of these I have, though, given the choice
of submitting to the decree or allowing the case to proceed to judgment,
with the exception of the colored police officer Frisberg whose
immediate punishment I considered necessary in order to compel the other
police officers to their duties and since, given the sentiments, a mob
may reappear today or tomorrow, it is of substance to have police on
whom one dare rely. The case document, will, when, in time, it is
repatriated, also show that he has adequately earned his punishment.
Two there are, besides who formed their own category and whom I have banned from the realm; the o- |