The Sun.
London, England, 1829-05-01 00:00:00

What a complication of atrocities ! Mr. Huskis-
kisson is disposed to think that the Grand Jury were
justified in refusing to put Mr. and Mrs. Moss on
their trial for the murder of this poor slave ; and,
legally speaking, he may be right ; at least, it would
doubtless require very clear and decisive testimony
to sanction him in impeaching the verdict of a Grand
Jury. But speaking morally, Mr. and Mrs. Moss,
we conceive, stand convicted of the guilt of more
than ten ordinary murders, if the deliberate malig-
nity of the transaction he duly estimated. The de-
tails of the evidence, which are summed up with sin-
gular clearness and ability, by Mr. Huskisson, will
be found to add to the impression ultheir guilt; and
!when we consider that the culprits were among the
aristocracy of the Bahamas, to whose " highly re 7
sPectable character" not only many of that atisto-
cracy (including nine Members of the Legislative
Assembly), but the King's representative, General
Grant himself, bear the very strongest testimony,
we have exhibited to us a state of society of which
happily it is difficult for those who have never vi-
sited a slave colony, to form an adequate idea.

It appears that the Governor, den. Grant, was
absent from the colony. when these crimes were per-
petrated, and the authors of them were brought to
trial: . Mr. President Munnings was then acting as
his substitute. This gentleman, whom we.greatly
honour for his conduct on this occasion, transmitted
to Earl Bathurst 'on • the .sth of April, 1827, the
following account of the matter :
" Henry Moss, Esq. of Crooked Island, having
been accused of excessive cruelty to'a negro slave,
by confining her for the period of seventeen days
and nights in the stoeks, without intermission, by
giving her, while in.that situation, tasks which she
was unable to perform, and by causing her to be re-
peatedly flogged for the non-performance of such
tasks ; and after releasing her froth the stocks, by
having sent her to labour in the fields, before she had
recovered from the effects of her confinement, and by
having caused her to' be flogged in the fields, (and
the girl having died in the field on the morning after
she had received one of those floggings); and Mr.
Henry Mois, jointly with his wife Helen, having
been accused of rubbing red pepper (capsicum) upon
the eyes of this girl—The Attorney-General pre-
ferred a bill of indictment against Mr. Mosi and his
wife for murder. The Grand Jury having returned
Not found' upon this bill, the Attorney-General
preferred two other bills for misdemeanours, one
against Mr. Moss, the other against Mr. Moss and
his wife. Both these bills were found by the
Grand Jury, and after a very full and patient inves-
tigation of the circumstances of the case befOre the
Petit Jury, during a trial of .upwards of sixteen
hours' dUration, a verdict of Guilty was returned
upon both indictments.

" The Court •sentenced Mr. and Mrs. Moss to
impiisonment in The common gaol at Ntissii3,
for five calendar months ; and Mr. Moss to the pay-
ment of a fine of 300/. over and besides the costs
of the prosecution.

" I have been solicited to remit or to shorten the
term of Mrs. Moss's imprisonment, but .1 shall in
no degree whatever alter the sentence of the Gune-
ral Court, by the extension of mercy to those by
whom it appears none was exercised."

In a few weeks General Grant returned to the
Bahamas and resumed his command. He,,was im-
mediately applied to by the most respectable in-
habitants of the • town and colony," to remit the
sentence of 'Mr. and WS. Moss; and he lost no
time in applying to Lord Bathurst in a letter dated
18th May, 1827, to authorise such remission. " The
unfortunate Henry and Ellen Moss," he tells his.
Lordship, " are rather to be pitied for the untoward,
melancholy occurrence which has tae pkace;"
he tbereforefore hastens to prevent the impression
the.bare mention of the Case might make on his
I.ordship's'lnind. In a letter of .a later due (3J
July, 1827), he recurs with much solicitude to the
subject. Some extracts from that letter have already
appeared_itt the,admirable dekpateh of Mr, fluskis-
son, who held the Colonial Seals when it arrived,
It expresses a strong sense of the respectabil6
Mr. and Mrs. Moss, and of their gene al .kipstf4ess
to their slaves, and refers to 6;3 q i li c:,6ngttion iti
which they arc held by w1:10 oayo 'visited I:fir.
!Moss, and
Itospitality."# Nay,
1‘11:*. 141'4 C4Pecittily Mrs. Moss, Lave never
been otherwise that favourably spoken of in every
respect, including that 'of his slave manamement.".
The GOVCIIIOI', in Omit, is most anxious trni.i. " per-