Star.
London, England, 1818-05-23 00:00:00

NEGRO SLAVERY.

The following extract from Papers laid on the table
of the House of Commons will be read with indigna-
tion by every pens► of common humanity. The
Dr. Birmingham, who so cruelly treated Thornton,
though a graduate of Edinburgh, is, we rejoice to
find, not of European blood, but himself also a negro,
and the individuals who justified his cruelty were
white men !

" The moment the poor negro was taken out of the Court, he
was directly, by order of Dr. Birmingham, put in chains with the
galley gang, then working close by the court; Thornton continued
to be daily worked in chains, with all the other negroes belonging
to Evertor-hall, who had been brought to town for their trial,
until the day of August, 1815, when, as they were all working
an chains at the new court-house, they were called away by Mr.
Jones, the clerk of the market, and conducted to the market place.
where they all received 39 lashes, inflicted in the most severe man-
ner passible, without informing them for what reason they wry so
punished; Thornton was the third person so punished, and he
happened to have a cloth tied round his middle, which being
perceived by Mr. Sutherland, the Deputy-Marshal, who was
looking on from a window of the then Court-house, in the
Market, he ordered it to be taken away, that he might receive
his punishment, as he stated, " well inflicted." Mr. Johnstone
was in Roseau, at the time of the punishment, but he did not
know of it until it was finished ; the moment that he was in-
ibrmed of it, be addressed a letterto Mr. Anderson, the Pr..ses
of the Special Court which had tried Thornton, but he received
no answer to it ; the same day, Mr. Johnstone went to Mr.
Hobson to state the circumstances, and on his way he met Mr.
Sutherland, to whom he complained of the shameful conduct of
Dr. Birmingham, in having punished Thornton after he had been
acquitted by a Jury, and also for having punished the otlit.n. Ne-
groes without bringing them to trial, for which purpose they were
brought to town under a military guard; the only reply Mr.
Johnstone got from Mr. Sutherland was, that Dr. Birmingham
had a perfect right to do so ; Mr. Johnstone did not find Mr. Hob-
son at home that day, but he called upon him the next day : on
passing the new Court-house he was accosted by the Everton-
hall Negroes, then working is chains: Thornton bad nothing
but his shirt an, and he pulled it up to shew Mr. Johnsone the
nature of the punishment he had received, which, in the opinion
of Mr. Johnstone, was the most severe he had ever seen; the
posteriors were all is a. mass of blood, and the marks of the cart
whip were at least two inches broad ; indeed, even at this date,
25th October, 1816, 14 months' date from the punishment, he
bean upon him, and will for life, the marks of this cruel and
unexampled punishment : all the other urgrocs, seven in num-
ber, remely, Pompey, Billy, Simon, Jack, Anthony, Boatswain,
and Clapham, where also in a most shucking state, and were
with Thornton compelled to work in chains, without being al-
lowed any time to recover from the effects of the punishment.
a Dr. Birmingham, not satisfied with the punishment he had
inflicted upon Thornton, was desirous of separating him from
'his family, and had actually entered into a treaty with Mr. Roc,
clerk of the commercial house of Messrs. Dumoiard and Co. of
Trinidad, to ship Thornton to that island ; but, as the negro
was mortgaged, it was necessary to procure the consent of the
mortgagees, which was easily obtained. Fortune-Ay for the
poor nezro, Mr. Johnstone received information of the intend-
ed shipment, and had time to apply to the Court of Chancery,
which directly granted an inj.3uction against this most scanda-
lous transaction.

" Matters remained in this state until the meeting of the Court
of General &-islons and Jail Delivery, which was held at Roseau
last February On that day the lion. Mr. Hobson called the at-
tendon of the Court to the atrocious circumstances attending the
conduct of Dr. Birmingham towards the negro, Thornton, who,
independent of the severe punishment inflicted upon his body,
(although he had been acquitted), hadbeen fur sir months past
compelled to "perk in challis with the galley gang. Dr. Birming
ham was in Court, and attended by his Counsel, Mr. Glanville,
the acting Attorney-GenemL Mr. Hobson called upon the Court
to protect the poor negro from the vindictive fury of the Doctor
Mr. Glanville interposed, and stated that the Court had no au-
thority or right to interfere in the transaction: and the Doctor
personally stated, that he considered his life in danger, if the
negro, Thornton, was ever suffered to get out of Jail.
" The Court called upon the Doctor to state if the Negro had
ever threatened or insulted him; and if he had, to make an affi-
davit to that effect, to which they would immediately attend.—
This the Doctor declined, aware that he had no grounds for so
doing; in consequence of which, the Hon. Mr. Gloster summed
up the circumstances attending (as he stated) the shocking trans-
action of cruelty and oppression, and how necessary it wag, for
the honour and character of tke Colony, that the Court should
interfere. His Honour stated, that he had himself applied seve-
ral times by letter to Dr. Birmingham, requesting that he would
liberate the unfortunate Negro, but that he had met with a re,'
fusal. The Court unanimously coincided with the Chief Judge
la sentiments of abhorrence of the transaction, which they hoped
would be. taken notice of by the Government of the Colony ; but
that in the mean time it was their bounden duty, as a Court of
Gaol Delivery, to liberate the pour Negro, and to place him out
of the recch of the fury of Dr. Birmingham ; ir. consequence of
which the Court made a particular Decree, which is inserted in
the proceedings of the Court.—lt is here tiec.assary to state, that
Dr. Birmingham, although a Member of the Honourable Col-
lege of Physicians of the City of Edinburgh, is a black man, of
the same colt.ta as poor Thornton, who is the subject of this
statement ; and that the cause of the disturbance on the estate
was, their having expressed to Dr. B. their regret at his having
privately purchased them front Mr. Mathews without acquaint-
ing them ; and that they did not wish to work for him, knowing
him to be cruel in his treatment towards Negroes. Thornton
was a carpenter upon the estate, a Negro of an excellent charac-
ter, who had never been punished.".

We add also the cars of other Negroes, and must
ezpress our conviction, from the perusal of these pa-
pers, that the conduct of the Grand Jury in reject-
ing three bills has been very singular; and that the
Governor of Dominica is fully justified in directing
official informations to be filed in future cases wherein
Slaves have sustained brutal treatment from masters:
44 Ist—A boy, about 1.5 years of age, a large iron chain round
his neck, fastened with a padlock, total weighing 221 b.

" 2d—Two girls, of 12 years of are, much marked by the
effects of the. cart-whip ; fastened together with iron chains
round their necks, padlocked, weighing 161 b.
" 3d—A full grown man, al- Wit severe flogging with the
cart-whip ; loaded with au ::en collar and chains, weighing 211 b.
" 4th—An old man, apparently 60 years If age, after having
been severely beaten by.his master, was plased in the stocks,
with an iron collar round his neck, and chains, weighing 201 b.
. .

sth—A boy, about 12 years of age, loaded withwan iron
collar, chains, and log of wood, weighing t6lb.
" Government Douse, Duminica, 50th Sept. 1817."
The above are occurrences on the Island of Domi-
nica ; but Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY moved on Wednes-
day night to refer papers, relative to transactions of
a similar kind in the Island of Nevis, to a Select Com- '
mittee, for the purpose of inquiring into their truth. ,

The Assize Court at Colmar, on the 1 Ith instant,
condemned to death a person named Xavier Lintacher,
for shooting his brother with a musket loaded with
nine slugs. The unfortunate victim has left behind
eight children.
A crime, remarkable by the number of its victims,
has occupied lately the attention of the Assize Court
of the Seine and Marne. It was the murder of his
grandmother and three aunts, by a person named
Falict, who endeavoured to elude justice by proving
an alibi ; but besides that he was unable to prove
one, the mute witnesses of his crime, the stolen pro-'
perty and his bloody clothes, convinced the Jury of
Lis guilt, and he has been condemned to death. He
exhibited much impudence during the trial. The
President made a moving exhortation, intreating him
to implore the aid of religion.—" Ah!" exclaimed the
wretch, " that only concerns myself."

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF CHANCERY, MAY 22.

This being the first day of Term, the LORD CHAN-
CELLOR came down in the usual state, attended by
Sir T. PLVMER, the MASTER of the ROLLS, and Sir J.
LEACH, the Vice-Chancellor. His Lordship was, as
usual, attended by all the Judges, except Baron
GRAHAM, who is indisposed. On entering the Court,
his Lordship said he was necessarily obliged to go to
the House of Lords, but that his Honour the Vice-
Chancellor had very kindly consented to hear motions
for him. On that account, he should bid the Court
adieu for the present day.
The only motion of general interest was the pay-
ment of some money, amounting to 4501.. owing to the
Duke of Norfolk. It was agreed to be paid into Court.

COURT OF KING'S BENCII, MAY 22.
CRIMINAL INFORMATION.
LIBEL ON THE MARQUIS OF EXETER.

Mr. CLARK moved for a Rule to shew cause why
a criminal information should not be filed against the
Editor and Publisher of the Stamford Paper, for a
libel on the Marquis of Exeter.
The libel was expressed in a letter addressed to the
Noble Marquis, and published on the 19th of March,
in the above named Journal. It was preceded by a
paragraph to the following effect, which appeared on
the 13th of March :

" If a cermin Marty is in the neighFotrrhood of our Borough,
which he calls his Borough, does not desist from certain prac-
tices insulting to us, and disgraceful to himself, we shall feel it
our duty to give him a general admonition."
Next week, a letter appeared, addressed to the
Marquis of Exeter. After adverting to the rank and
education of the Marquis, it calls upon him to regard
the liberties of the subject, and.to consider, that every.
Englishman's house is his castle. The writer does
not say his Lordship will ventute over the threshold
of any man, to do him injury ; but he adds, " It is
not enough for your Lordship to ride through our
streets, accompanied by Captain Percy, without
any precise object. It is not enough for your Lord-
ship to turn tuiadote-peeper ; but, if a young female
is seen, she must be nodded to, or honoured with a
kiss from Nobility, which leads on to infamy. When
your Lordship is seen at the Theatre, the buskin he-
roes say, His Lordship is a sly dog after the girls.
This character was not worth the care of the noble
descendant of Burghley. The youthful part of the
females might defend hint ; but the grave and re-
spectable could not. Parents might be deprived of a
child,. who, but for . . . Nobility, might have
smoothed their way to the grave. To the Noble Mar-
quis this might he pleasure, but like sport to the boys,
it was death to the frogs." The letter concluded by
advising him to go and sin no more.
Mr. CLARK observed, that this was published in a
newspaper, printed close to the place where the Mar-
quis resides. The domestic news of the said paper
had also noticed the intention of the Marquis to ap-
ply for a criminal information on the last day of last
Term ; and it added, that Mr. Drakard would enter
the lists with the Noble Marquis, daring, as it were,
" to stand between the wind and his NObility." Un-
der all the circumstances, it was necessary for the
Court to put a stop to these libels, in order that the
Marquis of Exeter might live in comfort.
Lord ELLENBOROUGII—Does he deny riding up
the streets for the object stated !
Mr. CLARK—He does deny it.
Lor ELLENBOROL/011—In what terms?

Mr. CLARK—He says, my Lord, that these insinu-
ations are malicious. He did net insult the females
in the streets of Stamford, nor did he behave in the
bp: lobbies of the Theatre, in a way to violate the
decorum due to the female character • on the con-
trary,, his constant practice has been to hew kinkiness
to all the inhabitants of Stamford, many of whom are
his tenants.

Lord ELLF.NEnROUGII—He does not indicate who
was the object of his attention : He does not deny
riding through the streets of Stamford. He might
have been intruding on decency, and the decorum of
the place.
Mr. Justice Asit.zy—There is a particular insinu-
ation, which say;•, he was riding through the streets
for the purpose of seeing whether he could select
young females or not.
Lord ELLENBOROUGII—He is charged specifically
with indecently nodding. No person has a right to
obtrude themselves on the attention of the public. It
is not a strolls; case to support an information ; but
I think enough is presented to induce the Court to
call upon the parties to explain, by affidavit, that
conduct which may be more or less penal.
The Court granted a Rule to rhea• cause.
THE KING V. PRICE.

On a former day, Mr. Scalmery obtained a Rule,
calling on Captain Price to shew cause why a crimi-
nal information should not be filed against him for
sending a challenge to General Kinsey to fight a duel.
Mr. GURNEY; this day, sheaved cause against the
Rule, and stated several matters of provocation on
the part of General Kinsey ; in consequence of which
the Court enlarged the Rule, for the purpose of af-
fording General Kinsey an opportunity of rebutting
the charges against him.