The Sun.
London, England, 1820-01-11 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, GUILDHALL JAN. 10.
.thijourned Sittings after Michaelmas Term, before the Lord
Cltirf Justice and a, Special Jury.

SLAVE TRADE.

MADHAGO V. WILLEi,.

This was an actio❑ of *trespass to recover from
the defend-Ho, wl;O is an officer in the British
Navy, compensation for dam.ges sustained by the
plaintiff, who was the proprietor of a Spanish
ship, employed in the Slave Trade on the coast of
Africa, and which was seized and her cargo con-
fiscated by the defendant, then commanding the
Cherub sloop of war, one of the ships of Sir James
Yeo's squadron on t hat station, for the purpose
of preventing the Slays Trade.

The ease for tht plaintiff was conducted by Mr..
Scarlett with Mr. Campbell i for the defendant,
Mr. Jarvis and Mr. Gurney.
The4latuages were laid at 30,0001. The, cit..,
citinstances of the case as they appeared in evi-
dence were as follow :

The plaiutiff, in the summer of 1817, fitted out
. _

- - -
the Spanish ship D'E'scutadore, hurdle') about
240 tons, at the Havannah, fo(a voyage to the
coast ot Africa, with an investment of suitable
e rehandizes on board, to trade for a cargo-of
530 slaves, with which she was to return to the
Havannah. She arrived at her Aftican destina-
tion on the Ist of September following., ~!ten site
began the objects of her de3tinatiou. Some of-
ficers were sent on shore with goods to purchase
200 slaves, and the ship then proceeded to ano-
ther 'pert of the coast to pursue her traffic; She
arrived off Porto Novo on the 4th of October,
and remained there until the middle of Decem-
ber, She had met with a Portuguese ship, also!
engaged in the Slave Trade, with which she en-
tered into some traffic, and contracted for 'a num-
ber of slaves,. for which she sent a large chianti
ty of goods on board the Portuguese ; but the
boatswain of the Spanish vessel, who condocted
the business, conceiving that the Portuguese had-
not In:filled their contract, by returning anumber
of 'slaves adequate to -the quantity ot merchandise
sent on board, roomed with a part of his crew,
and insisted un taking; by forco.the litityks of 'the

{PRIG. VENPENC E.

goods sent on board, abovethe, value of-the slaves
delivered over. The Portegoese.ship afters ards fell
in with the Cherub. and complaioad of the-out-
-rage eutnmitted'ot, her by the crew, of the'D'Ese
entadore as an act of piraey,rald;"in consequence
Captain IVilles sailed in pursuit of the lat ter ves-
sel, and, after three days sail, came Aithiu sight
of her. The D'Esent,,,lere, 'on pt4eiving the
approach. of the Cirereb,• immediately cut her ca.
bie and put to sea, The.. Cherub c.hased Iter,:aed
having come up, boarded her.' Captain Willes
and his offieers inquired Of the only ostensible
officer on deck, named Pelliser, for the Captain ;
but this person said there was no partic.das offs,
cer on board. This person, who was ie reality
the 'master, Was himself sick-. The crew con-
sisted of forty men, bne -half of whore were sick.
The master said he had two hundred and ninety
:slaves on board, but did. not state there was
ally of them in ill health. There was,nireergeoe.
or medical man in' the ship. The' Biitis'a offie
cereinterrogated the master about the piratical
transaction committed on the Portuguese ship ; but
he said. he did not understand any thing or a pi-
ratical nature. The British officers then tOld hint
they would teach him, how to commit •piracy on
a Portuguese ship, and they captured the Spaniard
On a charge of piracy, am! carrying be an illegal
traffic in' slaves'. The Spanish crew were trans-
ferred .to •the Cherub, and they proceeded =for
Sierra Leone with the ship and heecargo, •in ;or-
der to submit the case to an Admiralty Court of
competent jurisdiction. When they first came
on board the Spaniard they found that be-
side one half of the crew being disabled by
sickness, the whole of the slaves were in a
state ;of the most deplorable wretchedness.—
Out of the two hundred and ninety, one half
of whom were men, and the rest women and
children, one bad died. The rest were chained
together in couples. They were brought on deek,
anti their irons struck off. They were all infected
by disease.
.The dysentry and smallpox had bro.
ken out among them, and none of them were able
to stand. Medical aid was rendered to them by
the British surgeon. The portions of provision
were directed to such as could take sustenance,
and %vine was gi'ten to such as were fit to Aake it.
Several died on the voyage to Sierra Leone. • The
survivors were there landed, and were delivered
to the British Commissary; they remained sick
for a considerable time; several died of, diseAse,
and nearly the whole of the survivors did no: re-
cover for two months, when they were emanci-
pated by order of the Constituted Authorities
i here, under the British Acts for the Abolition of
the Slave Trade. The merchandises found ott
board the D'Eseutadore were sold by auctiain, to
defray the charges of maintenance and other ex-
panses for the slaves landed; but as theme was no
legal authority at Sierra Leone to try the charge
of piracy-against the' crew of the Spanish shin,
she was sent with her crew to 'Jamaica, where
she was delivered, with her rigging, sails and
furniture, to a person named Niteliell, an Beg-
lishman, resident there, and accredited agent to
the plaintiff.

The only witness examined for tite plaintiff was
Peliiser, who appeared to have been mate of the
D'Escutadorc ; and he stated, that at !he time the
ship was captured, there •' were 259• slaveS urt
board, which, with the remainiog goods on board,
were worth between 30 and 40,0001.; that they
were taken into Sierra Leone ors the 24th April ;
that the goods on board the -Spanith ship were
there sold by anction, and that the .ofticers and
crew of the Cherub were the chiet purchaser;
that the 289 slaves on board were worth, Go al)
average, from 901. to 1001., and rated altogether
at 20,0101.

The witnesses for the defendant were, Lieut.
Stokes, and two other Lieutenants of the Cherub,
and it appeared from documents produced that
the goods of the D'E;cutadore sold at Sierra
Leone brought but 4251. 2s. 61. out of which suui
2021. was paid over to Mitchel, the plaintid 's
agent at Jamaica, and the remainder was expend-
ed in maintenance and other charges for the
slaves.

•
The CHIEF JUSTICE, es well in the course of the
trial as in summing up for the Jury, expressed his
strong doubts, whether, since the•tbolition of tlie
Slav'e. Trade by the kasv of this country, a British
Court of Law was competent to take cognizance
of any 'claim urged to recover for the - value of
slaves but he would wish to reserve this point
for the final decision of the Court above. ,The
other points for the Jury to consider, if they deem-
ed the capture of the Spanish ship illegal, were
the loss, sustained by the plaintiff on the goods
sold by auction, the wear and tear of the vessel to
being taken out of her course by a circuitous
voyage, and the.loss the plaintiff would sustain its
the probable•profits of his adventure, in conse-
quence of his ship not being allowed to complete
the objects of her voyage and return with her in-
tended cargo to the flavannah.
The Jury retired. for about nn lrour, and re-
turned their verdict for the plant viz.:--
Loss on the goods sold by auction at sierra Leone 4'3,000
Loss by wear and tear, and failure of returning
with her cargo

18,201

. . Total
~01,201
SOb,Pct, however, to. the decision of the Court
above on the point reierved.

Thurolay.;it!ernoon a Greet)land bear, enclosed
in an iron cage, was landed at Leith from the
Montague smack , from Hull, and sent op to Etiio',
butgli. lie is a large full-glow') animal, and ap,-
peared ferocious when any one approached him.
Oo Friday last a sparrow laid an egg on the
Malone- road, a little below the turnpike near
BelfaSt ; Lt is now in the possession of Mr. Sloan,
at the Library of the SOciev for promoting
wiedge.—(Kilkenny Moderatorl