Langford to Newcastle
49 St Pauls Road
Camden Square N.W.
June 5 1862
My Lord Duke
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter from Mr Fortescue of the 31st ulto, in which he states that, any charges that I had to prefer against the Administration of Justice in Vancouvers Island ought to have been brought forward in the Colonial Legislature or transmitted through the Governor; in reply to these remarks I beg to state that from the peculiar composition of the small Legislative Assembly of Vancouver's IslandManuscript image an appeal to that body would have been futile and that from the connection of Mr Good and Mr Cameron with the Governor I felt that an application to his Excellency would have been also useless.
Mr Fortescue remarks in his letter that my Statements are imperfect, I must observe that, from the singular nature of those statements and the position of the persons that they affect, it could scarcely be expected that a complete chain of evidence could be produced in England, but as regards the unfitness of Mr Cameron and the impropriety of confiding the Supreme Judicial authority to his hands I did think that the copies of the letters from the Sheriff-Clerk at Perth andManuscript image the Registrar of the Supreme Court in Demerara would have been considered as fairly conclusive. I herewith give the simple facts regarding the Chief Justice Mr Cameron which facts can be proved by persons now living in this country; Mr Cameron is a man of obscure origin with no legal education whatsoever and a very imperfect general one, he was an uncertificated Bankrupt in Scotland and was sometime afterwards discharged as an Insolvent debtor in Demerara shortly before arriving in Vancouver Island. But for the impropriety of such a person as Mr Cameron holding such a high and responsible office, it is extrmely unlikely that I should ever have had to try such grievances before Your Grace.
I can most unhesitatingly assertManuscript image that the purity of Justice has been entirely overthrown in Vancouvers Island, rendering the proceedings in the Law Courts in the Colony the theme of scorn and derision among the colonists as also throughout the American Territories in the Pacific.
I have felt disappointed at the delay that has taken place in instituting even the preliminary enquiries now about to be made, the treatment that I received at Vancouver having been for me fraught with serious loss and inconvenience.
It is important for me to remark that no allusion to Mr Cary the Attorney General of Vancouvers Island as made by Mr C. Fortescue, the chargeagainstManuscript image against Mr Cary is, that he committed a fraud in his professional capacity—and from which I know that he could not exculpate himself before a qualified and impartial Judge.
I have the honor to remain
My Lord Duke
Your most obedient Servant
Edward E. Langford

To His Grace
The Duke of Newcastle K.G.
&c &c &c
Minutes by CO staff
Manuscript image
Mr Elliot
The charge agt the Attorney Genl is that he made out "a bill of Costs containing items of payment which had never in fact been made." (See Mr Langford's letter of 18 June/61. The Attorney General will, as a matter of course, be called upon by the Governor to explain this charge.
As regards Mr L. alleged disappointment at the delay in instituting "the preliminary enquiries" I have only to refer to my own minute, & that written by the Duke of Newcastle on 5078. I wd probably be admissable to let Mr L. understand that the cause of the delay rested with Mr Fitzwilliam & himself.
To me it is obvious that besides a desire to procure compensation an intense vindictive feeling animates Mr Langford.
ABd 7 June
Sir F. Rogers
As this is a case which you have dealt with, I forward the present letter from Mr Langford at once to you.
TFE 12 June
Mr Fortescue
I would simply acknowledge the receipt of this letter and state that a copy of it as of all Mr L's previous communications had been forwarded to the Govr for his report, & so forward it.
It might be added that in the transactions in which this office was concerned, it was generally found that great and unnecessary delay was the consequence of initiating charges against public officersManuscript image in this country when these officers were not present to defend themselves.
But it is probably better to give no occasion for altercation.
FR 13/6
I think so—& wd answer without the addition.
CF 13
N 16
Other documents included in the file
Manuscript image
Fortescue to Langford, 21 June 1862, acknowledging receipt of his letter and advising it had been forwarded to the governor for report.
Manuscript image
Draft reply, Newcastle to Douglas, No. 106, 19 June 1862.
Langford, Edward Edwards to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 5 June 1862, CO 305:19, no. 5614, 663. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. James Hendrickson and the Colonial Despatches project. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/V626L03.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)