The National Register.
London, England, 1819-01-24 00:00:00

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No. 57t—VoL. XII.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 24, 1819•

COURT OF ALDERMEN.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

ON THE TI FATMENT SLAVKS IN DOMINICA.

A Court of Aldermen wa.4 held at Guildhall, on
Tuesday, when the petition t Messrs. B. Gibbons and
S. of the Ward of ‘. albrook, complaining of
the untlue return of the Cor.mon Council of that Ward

SOME painful documents have been commenicaled
frdin Dominica, relative to the treatment of the on-
fortunate slaves. The facto which we have inserted,
auu to which we refer our reader, appear to have been
printetl by order of the House of COMMOLS. on the
authority of the Governor of • Dominica ; and the
publication of them forms the subject of " much sur-
prise" on the part of the Colonial House of Assembly,
as also of a civil, though rather a cool, correspondence
between the Speaker of that Body and Governor
MaxwAl. When we read of a boy of 15 years of age,
being tortured by a chain of iron round the neck,
fastened by a padlock, and weighing ; of two
infant girls, only twelve years old, much marked by the
oart rrh:p, fastened together with iron chains round
the neck; of an old man, GO years of age severely
beaten and placed in the stooks under a heavy chain ;
finally, of a male child about 12 years old, bottled with
an iron collar, chains, and a log of wood, weighing
f 2 (jib. !—when we real (leech abominations as these,
practised by men who call themselves Christians,
we must wish that either the accounts may be grossly
exaggerated, or that the indictors of such cruelties
might, for a little time, be forced to change conditions
with their slaves, if it were only to teach them the use,

ation.
The Court suggested that witnesses should be called
support of the petition, and the petitioners only
being first admitted, Messrs. Wood, Waithman. and
others, submitted that the investigation should be pub-
and that all the inhabitants of Walbrook were
entitled to admission ; when, rifler a debate of nearly
two hours, the Court was thrown open.
The Lnr Mayor ordered the Petition to be read. ft
n as of great length, and the substance of its allegations
was as : -•••

" That on the 21st bf December last, the annual
election was held at Salter's Ehdl, on which occasion the
names of sixteen persons, among whom were seven of
the former Common Council, were returned by precinct
to the Wardmote ; and that, on a slew of hands, as to
such precinct, the acid seven appeared to be re-elected ;
and that upon the risme of Mr. T. N. Williams (a new
Candidate), being duly proposed and seconded, and
another with him being merely returned, the Petition-
er (Mr. B. Gibbons) Proposed that his Lordship, in
consequence of the prozeedi:Ts, should adjourn the
Meeting before the return was declared; that his Lord.
ship refused so to r.o ; whereurx.n the Petitioner int-
'medial* prcipoled the name of G. '.. Shottlevvorth,
us of. the Common Council of 'awl; and that
i4.llsairl proposition was duly secon ed 'by Mr. S.
Smith, the other Petitioner. That hii Lordship en-
quired of Mr. Shuttleworth, whether, if he were
elected, he would serve the office ; and, hying answer-
ed that he did not wish to do so, nor had he any de-
sire of Lord Mayor refused
icioner, B.

of power, by making them feel its abuses. NVe en-
tertain no visionary fancies abnut withdrawing, the
Negro population of the West India Islands from"that
wholesome measure of authority and discipline, ever be
which, while involuntary servitude exists at all, must
the most effective instrument by which the slave is
pelted to tv
Sc lief; but the application
infancy is not a wholesome lesson of
fitting punishment, nor a• useful example. We see
that the Assembly of Dominica have attempted to re-
but the accusation thrown o.tt, against t.:tie of the
managers implicated in this ,:harge of ty:annical treat-
ment to the slaves, by bringing to the bar the penult
complained of, and one of the Neg:o•.:s who had suf-
fered. This gentleman dt.es not deny that he had
chained the slave ; but he says that the chain weighed
less than 41b.; and the poor Negro (who still remained
under his management) is represented as Omitting tint
a chain, produced by Mr. Cross, resembiol that with
which he was loaded. Front this ere trial the Assem-
bly infer, that in the cases specified, the Governor had
Font home erroneous information to the King's fili-
niccrs. They seem desirous to have it :mkt-stood that
slaves in Dominica arc as contfur:ably situated as those
in the other islands. We, on the other hand, are
ru:st willing to belicve,that in the majority of the other
West India islands, neither chains. nor such thingennl
as those of Dominica, have been resorted to for many
y cars.

pledging himself that if he was elected, he would I
make him serve. That the Lord Mayor persisted in
refusing to put Mr. Shuttleworth iu nomination, net-
withstanding that Le immediately aftetwards enquired
whether any other persons were to be nomivated.
That the Petitioner, Gibbons, said he hod a list of four
other respectable persons to nominate, hut it was Me-
leS4 t..) Millie carte if his Lordship mead only nomi-
nate wham he pleased. That the said Petitioner then
addressed himself to the Len' Mayor, saving, ' Re.
member I demand a poll ii.r :Jr. `4huttiewor.:l!' and
that nevertheless the eight r rums returned by the
precithe were sworn in befi:re his Lordship. That the
said G. E. Shuttleworth was in every way qualified
to be one of the Comumn (Vaned of the Ward, and
that he was in titet a candidate, and polled, in the year
1817, 37 votes. That th... I.ord 'Mayor, sitting at the
Wanlmote as Returni.:g Officer, lied no right to de-
termine who should or should not be proposed, liar
then it would not be all election of the freemen and
householders of the Ward, bat of the Alderman him-
self, contrary to the spirit of reel franchise, and of
the precept 'tor election itself. That finally, tbe Yeti.
tion compared the otli at of Common Councilman to
that of Sheri& of London, or the inquests/tan of a
Ward, w:iere the party chosen to serve such offices
ore left without any option; and that by the nature
of their oath, upon .suctii:g •enrolled as freemen, they
are boutsd to serve, or subject themselves to certain
punishments and penalties. Under all the circum-
stances, the petitioners prayed that time Election of the
eight Common Councilman, as aforesaid, sight be
dechtredquall and void, and :t new one appointed."
After the Petition was read, the Goart enquired if
the Petitioner had any thing to add. Mr Gibbons re-
plied in the attiraneive, and entered into an .illustra-
don of the fasets lie complained of tile unwarrantable
means resorted to of calling a Wardmote on Monday to
discuss the merits of his Petition, and prejudging it
the day before it was to be acit;Aed by the proper tri-
bunal. He was Froreoling to cite cases where Com-
mon Couneihuen had been elected and obliged to serve
I against their will ; when he was stopped by the Re-
corder, who said, the Court wanted facts, net argu.
ments.

T.ord Castler:ngh experienced on Wednesday a se-
vere relapse of the goat, which confined his Lordship
t:, his uoom. Ili. Lordship had invited between thirty
and forty noblemen and gentlemen to dine with him,
and not being able to meet them, Lord Stewart did the
lutstotirs of the table iu his Lordship's absence.
Coup-r OF Esettrovan.—.l novel occurrence took
place on Thursday morning in Gray's Inn Hall. When
the Lord Chief Baron ordered the next cause to be
cdled on, the Registrar answered that there was no
ether cause. Fur this the peblie are ind bted to the
3.t.rd Chief Baron, who, since he has presided in that
Fetal. has applied himself with so much assiduity,
that he has heard every cause that stood in the paler
for hearing, of uhich, for ninny years past, there has
been so great all arrenr.
Mr. Roe on of the ex-Chairman of the Hoard of
Customs, it is said, will be one of the new Comatis-
siouers of that department.

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Alderman Waithmari said, they alsoald hear the
case first, and then the evidence.
Sir J. Shaw was of the same opinion.
Mr. Gibbons said, he thought his ease so clear that
he did mot employ Counsel: if he had, a right would
Have been insisted upon to state things more fully, and
it would not have been disputed. He concluded by
asserting, that there never was a more illegal and un-
justifiable proceeding than that of which he complain-
ed, nor a more &trine attempt t.-destroy the franchise
of the City of London.
Mr. J. Dawes, Mr. N. T. %illiams, and another,
were produced us witnesses of the facts which took
place 420 the day of election. They all underwent a
strict cross-examination i)y several of the Aldermen,
and more particalarly by the Lord Mayor himself.
Their testimony, however, strongly bore out all the
allegations of the Petition, as to the names of two
persons for each precinct being read over, from which
one was returned; as to the proposition of Mr. Shut-
tletworth, as a Common Councilman, before the return
of the eight successful Candidates had been declared ;
and the positive refusal of the Lord Mayor to put him
•
in nomination.

"~;`"

The Court was then ordered to be cleared ; when
after a.vcry long discussion, it was decided that tim
l'etition of Messrs. Gibbons and Smith was fully sob.
stantieted ; that the election of which they complained
was null and void ; and that a new election should im-
moilkately take

On Frilly the Lord Mayer held another Court
of Aldermen, for the general despatch of busi-
ness, at .Bich several Aldermen, the Sheriffs, and
City Officers attended.—Twelve hers of gold. weigh-
ing clB6 ounces, and 35 bars of silver, weighia4 up.
ward11.6£24,000 ounces, were produced in Court, and
swore off for exportation.--A petition and memorial
from the sworn twofers, relative to sundry recent re.
gulations, and for the adoption of mesw•res to protect
them in their rights, was presented, and referred to a
committee of the whoic Court, to consider and report
upon immediately.—The presentments of the Ward.

ed to , taken tlireon.- 2d of
appointed for licensing the victuallers, and precepts
directed to issue accordingly.

An amusing report has crept into the Barhadoes
per 3, by the waY, as it is 'laic, of Martinique, vie,:
that St. Helena had been attacked, and Ruonapartc
rescued. We are not informed as to any particulioa
respecting the force by which this grand exploit was
acsannplished ; whence it had sailed, or how it wea
cmnposed; or whether it betook itself afterwards. The
Martinique intelligence says nothing as to the mode
the attack ; whether it was by sea or land, or both
whether the garrison was beaten in the open field, ( r,
the British Admiral was sunk or captured; or whethce
the Iltionapartists came in the night and caught Sir
fludaon napping. Fur all such interesting and
able details we must wait with as much patience as the •
thing admits of, in the hope that some other Captain
may, peradventure, arrive from Martinique; or that
a. prcelaination by the great Napoleon may appinr
in due films, dated " from our Palace at Loaf,,-
wood ;" and promising his fai::.1111 English, that :he
Imperial Eag!cs shall fly from island to island,
they roost upon the cross at St Paul's. The Barlat.
does Editor does, indeed, appear to he troubled with a
twinge of incrAulity on this subject ; inasmuch as the
' ex-Emperor was snug in his birth on the 17th of Au-
gust last, although a band of worthies from the Champ
d'Asyle bad sworn to liberate their patroa. The si7!y
rumour from Martinique, it' it prove nothing. seems to
counteaance a belief, that sonic sort of projea
been really in contemplation for the escape of Kama-
parte. That the conspirators should boast of abea,:y
succeeding in an enterprise which they had not vet st-
,
tempted, is natural to that consummate arrogance,
through which, in order to gain a victory, their leash.:
has "pore than once f,rgotten that it would be necea- , •
nary to fight a battle. •
Mr. Cullen, a ten-dealer in Dublin. who was prose-,-as- ;:::•-
cuted on the charge of selling ;purities tea, utter .
days' investigation, has proved that the aporioos tear
found among his stock were recciVt.d from the [IC;
horse, and cousequen,ly must either. b.tvc Lceu
tuatca in LtAtieuluill-street, or in China.
:
•

upon the last eleeticn, upon the ground that 51r. G. E.
Nhuttlesvortb AVIS not put in tuuninatiou by the Return.F.
ins °dicer (the Lord Idayos)-Othotsh. tly proposed
and seconded on that occasion, Vias Lain intesonsider4

, .
!rich the slaver ing• Aire of coming forward, the Lord Mayor refused upon immediately.--The presentments of the Ward.
iaLinti,444140.114 to ut him in nomination. That the l'etitioner,. B. mote Inquests of ate several Wards, as returned on
of torture to femiTe • laslasaski alalatkintd,r eU te.n ka.l_?ittlUvill Plmigh.Mouday. of non.tieeinen, ruinous houses,. eta-
urging that it was not fo. tti aec ^o,lW°4' Cat senses, dte. were read, and 'Use 1111Wayttf. itivadipost• , •
of diligence, nor a
should or should not be in the Common Council, and ed to be taken th-:reon.—The 2d of March next was