ANNOYANCE JURIES (WESTMINSTER).

RETURN of the Amounts of the AMERCIA-
MENTS levied by each ANNOYANCE JURY of
the City of Westminster, during the Years 1841,
1842, 1843, and 1844, &c.

(Captain Rous.)

Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 13 February 1845.

21.

RETURN to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons,
dated 26 June 1845;-for,

A "RETURN of all MANORS belonging to THE CROWN in England and Wales."

CROWN MANORS.

(Mr. Charles Buller.)

GUERNSEY AND JERSEY.

RETURN to an ADDRESS of the Honourable The House of Commons,
dated 6 February 1845;-for,

A COPY of the ORDER in COUNCIL of the Court at Windsor, on the 18th day of January 1845, on the AFFAIRS of GUERNSEY and JERSEY; together with COPIES of the PETITIONS referred to the Right Honourable the Lords of Her Majesty's Privy Council, and COPY of their ŘEPORT thereon.

Ordered, by The House of Commons to be Printed, 13 February 1845.

AT THE COURT AT WINDSOR, the 13th day of January 1845.

PRESENT:

THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL.

W HEREAS there was this day read at the Board a Report of the Right

Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Council for the Affairs of Guernsey and Jersey, dated the 20th of December last, in the words following,

viz.:

Your Majesty having been pleased, by Your Order in Council of the 13th of December 1843, to refer unto this Committee a Petition of the Bailiff and Jurats of the Royal Court of Guernsey, setting forth,-that the Petitioners humbly approach Your Majesty, to appeal to Your Royal authority, in reference to two several matters of difference between his Excellency Major-general William Napier, Lieutenant-governor and Commander-in-Chief of Guernsey, and the Petitioners, arising out of the expulsion from the island, in August last, by his Excellency, of a man named Isidore Le Comte, a subject of his Majesty the King of the French, and upon which they now submissively proceed to enter. That these matters are,-first, as to the right of the Petitioners, the Jurats, to speak in the conference held between the Lieutenant-governor, Bailiff, and Jurats, according to the constitution of the island; not merely to communicate with his Excellency through their President, the Bailiff, as their organ and secondly, as to the authority of the Lieutenant-governor in expelling aliens from the island irrespectively of the jurisdiction of the Royal Court. That Le Comte was domiciled in Guernsey, and, as the Petitioners believe, was neither suspected of any offence against the State, nor had in any way brought himself under the designation of "a dangerous person," in analogy with the Acts of Parliament passed for the regulation of aliens. That, soon after the expulsion of Le Comte, statements appeared in the local public papers, imputing to the Lieutenantgovernor that he had exceeded his authority, and specifying the sole offence alleged against Le Comte to be his having misled the police in order to shield from detection another subject of the King of the French, of the name of Du Rocher, whom, as it proved, the Lieutenant-governor was seeking for the purpose of expelling, and who, in fact, eventually anticipated his Excellency by leaving the island. That the immediate offence committed in Guernsey, charged against Du Rocher, was, the Petitioners believe, that of writing from thence violent, improper, threatening letters to a young woman in Jersey. That the constable of the town parish, Albert Carey, esq., by whose instrumentality the Lieutenant-governor had acted, having inserted a letter in the papers, which seemed to intimate that he had acted upon his own authority in expelling Le Comte, the case was thereby brought directly under the notice of the Court; and the constable being an officer more particularly under their control, he was called on by them to account for having, as it appeared, imprisoned that individual, and sent him away without either producing him before them, or even making to them a report of what had been done;

when the constable justified himself as having acted under the order of the Lieutenant-governor, submitting to the Court that he was responsible to his Excellency alone, and that, without his permission, he was bound to withhold from them any further information. That the charge against Le Comte by the said constable, at the Guernsey gaol, in which the imprisonment took place, was not entered till about a month after the said imprisonment, the said constable having declined to state how the gaoler was to make the entry, both when he imprisoned and when he released Le Comte. That the said charge, then dictated by the said constable to the gaoler, was "annoying the said constable in the execution of his duty;" and that, accordingly, the journal at the said gaol being kept in French, the entry was made by the gaoler as follows:

All which has appeared by a certificate under the gaoler's hand. That, under these circumstances, the Court felt it incumbent on them to endeavour to satisfy themselves with regard to the exercise of such authority by the Lieutenant-governor in expelling Le Comte without trial. That they had in view, in the first place, to settle the question of their authority over the constable in the particular instance; and in the next place, to guard against the establishment of a precedent tending to a collision of authority between the civil power and the military. The Court, therefore, as the most respectful course towards the Lieutenant-governor, resolved to seek a conference with his Excellency, at which they might enter together into explanation on the subject, and come to a right understanding for the future;-a course sanctioned by law and ancient usage, which has been at various times resorted to with most beneficial results. That they were the more impelled to such a measure from the circumstance of Your Majesty's law officers in the island, who are the constituted legal advisers of the Court,-and who, they are informed, had been called on by Your Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, to give their opinion on the Lieutenant-governor's account to him of his proceedings touching Le Comte,—not having felt at liberty to communicate to them such opinion, without his consent. To this account of his Excellency's proceedings, and also to the opinion of the law officers, in the hands of the Secretary of State, under whose consideration the Petitioners are informed the said documents are now remaining, they humbly beg leave to make reference. That the Lieutenant-governor was pleased to accede to the Court's request, and fixed the time and place for holding such conference, viz., Monday, the 9th October last, at his residence, Havilland Hall. Conformably to that appointment, the Court waited on his Excellency, being prepared to enter on a conference in the manner which has always been usual on similar occasions. But the Lieutenant-governor, to their surprise, treated the interview as an affair of ceremony and state. not only attended by his staff, but in the room of audience there was no seat, save that he occupied. His Excellency, however, rose after the Court entered, and remained standing. On the Bailiff adverting to the subject of the interview, the Lieutenant-governor interrupted him by saying that he had acceded to granting a conference in the case of Le Comte, sent out of the island by his authority, but that, before proceeding, he would state in what manner only he was willing to hold such conference; - that as Her Majesty's Representative, the highest authority in the island, he would communicate with the Court through the Bailiff alone, as the organ of that body, and would not allow the Jurats individually to take part in it. He therefore desired the Bailiff to say if he was then fully prepared to deliver the sentiments of the Court. That the Bailiff, on his replying that he could not in this manner express with certainty the sentiments of the Jurats, who, in fact, had not as yet the means of coming to any decision, was told by his Excellency that they had better return to their Court-house, and, after they had considered the matter and were better prepared, another interview might take place. That it was then proposed by the Bailiff, that the Court, with his Excellency's permission, should retire for a few minutes, into another room, to consult

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