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of H.M. 26th Cameronians, which regiment he quitted in the early days of Hong Kong, for colonial employment. He was successively Chief Magistrate and Colonial Secretary, before obtaining his present lucrative post. He has been long endeavouring to obtain leave to retire, upon a pension of equal amount; and for this cause, amongst others, is most anxious to stand well with the local authorities.
From the same date, down to the accidental arrival at Hong Kong, in June, 1857, of the General of the English forces before Canton, the Colonel commanding the garrison at Hong Kong was always the Second Member of the Executive Council.
His military rank made him independent of local interest and intrigue; at the same time that his Colonial station enabled him to acquire that local know ledge, without which his efficiency, as the only check upon the proceedings of his colleagues, would have been of very little worth.
During the period in question, an officer of high ability and honour, Colonel Hope Graham, of H.M. 59th Regiment, (with a brief interval of sick-leave, during which another of my friends, Lieut.-Colonel Dunlop, R.A., provisionally replaced him), had commanded the Hong Kong garrison, and, in that capacity, held the second seat in the Executive Council.
He was next superseded in favour, first, of Brigadier Garrett; of General Ashburnham; and, lastly, of General Straubenzee; as those military Commanders, of the Canton Expedition, successively arrived from England at Hong Kong, on their way to their proper destination. I do not know whether the supersedeas was owing to the inordinate desire of the Governor to surround himself with Councillors of higher than
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