justice which has followed them. Mr. Huggins, the author of these evils, when I was here sixteen years ago, was then as distinguished for his cruelty as in the present day, and his conduct held in abhorrence by every good man in the community, and by no one more than by Mr. Cottle, since become his son-in-law, neither deficient himself in understanding or humanity. Mr. John Stanley, late attorney general for these islands, some years since assured my father, that he was examined before a committee of the House of Commons respecting a murder committed by Mr. Huggins, who has not scrupled to acknowledge to a friend, that he shot a negro. It was understood at the time, that the body had been thrown into a negro hut, and burnt with it. An inquest was taken on the body of another negro, who died shortly after a most inhuman flogging; but the overseer, who is still in the island, refused to give any satisfactory evidence to the grand jury who examined him. Two wretched suicides, weary of life and the sufferings they endured, have been taken out of a cistern with their chains about them. Not whips and chains alone, but iron collars armed with spikes have been used, and I believe still are, as instruments of punishment by this man. Ignorant and brutal as he is, he has amassed an immense fortune, and still is grasping at the possession of more land and more negroes. His doctrine was, that it was cheaper to buy negroes than to breed them. He has publicly boasted of five attempts against his life by poison; and there are medical men who well know the facts. In the first six months after he took possession of the estate called Pinnings, nine negroes died without any epidemic disease. A wretched old woman came to me a few days ago, to tell me she was compelled to work in the field. She was a favourite house-negro in her former master's family, and had nursed one of his children. Being ordered to throw a mixture of gunpowder and salt-water on the mangled bodies of the negroes whipped in the market-place, she refused, and incurred the displeasure of her master; and her intellects have since been evidently disordered. An English

groom, who had been witness to many of these shocking scenes, quitted the estate with horror, and returned to England, where his testimony will have some weight, as he bears a very good character. The negro Fanny, who died, had not been accustomed to hard work for many years before Mr. H. got possession of the estate: but he put her into the field, and she was one of those ordered to carry out dung by night. She never worked with the hoe again after the whipping, and died of an atrophy. Of the three who composed the jury on the inquest, two were on the jury which acquitted Mr. Huggins; and the coroner was one of the magistrates, who, with unconcern, beheld the flogging in the market-place. This inquest was never returned to the secretary's office, as is usual, and was not to be found when called for by the grand jury, who, fortunately for the country, did not present either of the Mr. Huggins's, or we should have witnessed a trial more scandulous than the last."

Extract of a Letter from the Earl of Liverpool to Governor Elliot, dated Downing-street, 12th April,

1811.

"Sir,

"Your several dispatches, inclosing various documents in reference to the case of Mr. Huggins, have been received; and the narrative they contain of the unparalleled severity of that person towards his slaves, has not failed to make the deepest impression on the minds of his Majesty's government. It might have been hoped that the fear of disgrace attendant on an outrage of humanity so publicly exhibited, would have been sufficient, in any civilized country, for its prevention; but it never could have been supposed possible that so flagrant a violation of the clause of the Act, called

the Melioration Act,' could be submitted to the cognizance of a court of justice, and be exempted from the punishment which the judge is empowered to inflict on conviction of the offender.

"With regard to the observations made in some of the letters transmitted by you, on the manner in which the jury was composed, and on the connection of some persons on that jury with Mr. Huggins himself, it might be difficult at this distance of time to prove that corrupt motives influenced the decision of that jury; but as it appears uncontradicted, and indeed admitted, that persons holding the office of magistrates were present at the punishment without interfering to prevent an act absolutely illegal in itself, I am commanded by His Royal Highness, The Prince Regent, to direct that you will remove from that honourable situation any magistrate or magistrates who actually witnessed the infliction of that punishment without interference, and who have no better justification of their conduct to allege than ignorance of the duties attached to their office; and I am to desire that this may be done with that degree of publicity , that may mark, to the community to which they belong, His Royal Highness's reprobation of such culpable remissness on their part. As you state in your letter of the 18th January, that you are about to complete the tour of the islands, and as you will have an opportunity of a direct inquiry into the state of the civil and judicial institutions of each island, you will not fail to convey to me the fullest information on these points, that his Majesty's government may be enabled to consider what steps it may be fitting to take for the reform of any abuses that may exist in the administration of justice in the several islands under your command."

V.

To the Right Honourable the President and Directors of the African Institution.

St. Vincent.

The humble Memorial of JOHN WISE, a free Negro Man of the said Island.

Sheweth,

THAT your Memorialist was, in the year 1797, sold by Henry Haffey Esq. executor of William Wise deceased, as a slave to one Claude Alexander, a free Mulatto man of the said island, but, as your Memorialist is informed and advised, without any sufficient or legal title whatever so to do, in the said Henry Haffey.

That your Memorialist was employed by the said Claude Alexander as a mariner on board of a sloop of his called the Revenge.

That the said sloop having been hired by one James Wilson Esq. of the said island for a voyage to Martinique, then subject to the British crown, was, on the seventh day of October 1801, taken by a Spanish schooner, privateer, and carried first to the island of Margaritta (and from thence to Cumana on the Spanish main) in order to be legally condemned, where the said sloop, with the slaves and cargo on board were accordingly condemned in the Spanish court of vice-admiralty, as lawful prize to the captors, being then subjects of his Catholic Majesty, and at war with the King of Great Britain and his subjects.

That by beat of drum your Memorialist together with the other slaves taken on board said sloop, were then and there sold, under the decree of the said Spanish court of vice-admiralty, and your Memorialist was then and there purchased, by one Rubin Pitcher, an American. And about three months afterwards your Memorialist was again sold by the said Rubin Pitcher, and purchased by one John Gordon Esq. doctor of medicine, then living at St. Croix, in whose

service your Memorialist continued for several years, and until the time of his death, which happened in the city of Bath in England, on the 27th day of January 1807, your Memorialist having accompanied his said master to Europe for the benefit of his health, about twelve months after he became his slave.

That the said John Gordon, in consideration of the long and faithful services of your Memorialist, did manumit and for ever enfranchise your Memorialist, and settle upon him, by his last will, the sum of twenty pounds of lawful money of Great Britain; as a provision for him your Memorialist during his natural life, as a reward for his good conduct and fidelity in the service of his said master.

That your Memorialist after the death of his late said master John Gordon Esq. continued in service successively with various families at Bath, to wit, Mrs. Esdails, Mr. Brewers, and Mrs. Cotton of King-street, and afterwards at Bristol with one Mr. Otway, from which port he embarked as a steward on board the brig Theresa, belonging to Messrs. Brice and Co. of the said city, and whereof George Sele was master, on the day of June or July last past, at the wages of 41. 15s. per month, during her voyage out and home, from the said port of Bristol to Trinidad and back.

That on the 18th day of November last, the said brig touched at the island of St. Vincent, on her homeward bound voyage; and on the 19th, your Memorialist was seized and brought on shore, by virtue of a warrant granted by Daniel M'Dowall, Esq., one of the justices of the said island; and upon the oath of the before mentioned Claude Alexander, claiming your Memorialist as his runaway slave, he was, without any hearing or the permission of any explanation allowed him, committed by the said Daniel M'Dowall to the common gaol of the said island, as a runaway, and as the slave and property of the said Claude Alexander, in defiance of all law and justice whatever, and there detained until the following day, when by virtue of an order to the provost marshal of the said island, from the said Daniel M'Dowall, he was released from prison, and delivered up in