THE STATE TRIALS.*
IF he only knew it, there is nowhere better food for that butterfly of the bookshelves—the general reader—than the pages of The State Trials. The new volume is no ex-
ception. There he may read a hundred curious and unexpected things. No doubt the strange stories of the State Trials are told allusively rather than directly, but a very little looking below the surface will lead to rich dis- coveries. When we speak of unexpected things, we do not speak at random or without warrant. No one would expect to find the Barons of the Exchequer (Parke, Alderson, Rolfe,
and Platt) listening, in the year 1848, to a story of slave- traders and pirates, with incidents quite as original and exciting as those to be found in Treasure Island. The story
that the Court of Exchequer heard unfolded in February, 1848, might almost have inspired Mr. Stevenson to write a new romance for boys. At any rate, one or two of the details casually dropped in affidavits in the case would have filled him with delight and admiration. The action in question was one for trespass, brought by a piratical gentleman occupied with the slave-trade against the captain of a Queen's ship. Nothing could open better than the first count of the declaration. It states that the plaintiff was not a subject of the Queen, and was "lawfully possessed of certain slaves,
goods, chattels, effects, &c that is to say, of 4,000
slaves of the value of £100,000, and of divers goods, chattels, effects, and bills of exchange," and then goes on to relate how
the defendant, "with force and arms seized both, and carried away the said slaves, goods, Lc., whereby the same were wholly lost to the plaintiff." We do not get very far into the
arguments of the case before a certain " dusky potentate," called Bing Siacca (or as the report puts it, " the negro Sove- reign of that country "), appears upon the scene. His eldest son, Prince Manna, appears to have carried off a negro woman with the astonishing name of Fry Norman, and her child. These were British subjects ; and, accordingly, three Queen's ships and an armed force of one hundred and twenty men were sent to the realms of Siacca to liberate the woman and her child. What happened is described as follows in the Report :—
" The defendant landed at Dombocorro, and, having taken possession of the plaintiff's barracoons, spiked the guns and placed sentinels at the doors. At this time the Government of the Gallinas consisted of King Siacca, his eldest son, Prince Manna, and three chiefs of the name of Rogers. The defendant • Reports of State Trials. New Series. Vol. VI. 1842-45. Published under the Direction of the State Tr al; Committee. Edited by John N. P. Wallis. 1894. London : Eyre and Spottiswoode. wrote to King Siacea, demanding the liberation of Fry Norman and her child, and complaining of the conduct of the Spaniards in carrying on the slave trade. Several letters having passed, the woman, Fry Norman, and her child were delivered up, and on the 21st of November, 1840, the following treaty was concluded and signed by the defendant, and Prince Manna on behalf of King Siacca (who was bedridden from old age), and the chiefs of the country :—' In consequence of the white slave dealers settled in the River Gallinas having prevented the boats of her Britannic Majesty's ships from receiving the common rights of humanity when in distress and seeking refuge in King Siacca's waters, in violation of his dignity and of his rights, thus exposing him to differences with the Queen of England ; and also in consequence of a Sierra Leone boy having been made a slave of by these men at the River Gallinas, who was discovered and released by Com- mander Denman on the 19th inst. 1st.—King Siacca engages totally to destroy the factories belonging to these white men without delay. 2nd.—King Siacca engages to give up to Com- mander Denman all the slaves who were in the barracoons of the white slave-dealers when he entered the river, and have been carried off into the bush. 3rd.—King Siacca engages to send these bad white men out of his country by the first opportunity, and within one month from this date. 4th.—King Siacca binds himself in the most solemn manner that no white man shall ever for the future settle in his country for the purpose of slave- trading. Done at Dombocorro, in the River Gallinas, this 21st day of November 1840.—Prince Manna x (mark), Licomi Rogers a (mark), John Siliphi Rogers a (mark). Signed, Jos. Denman, Commander and Senior Officer on the Sierra Leone Station.' "
The conversion of King Siacca to a proper view of the slave- trade, the two chiefs " of the name of Rogers," and the " barracoons," all give a delightful Treasure Island air to the story. The third clause of the treaty is indeed a gem. It begins in a pleasant colloquial missionary sort of way, with a reference to " these bad white men," and then seems to remember what is becoming to a treaty, pulls itself together, and ends in a most approved legal tone,—" Within one month from this date." The treaty was soon acted upon by the English Captain, and the barracoons—slave prisons—were promptly burnt. One gathers from the Report that the royal family and the chiefs of the name of Rogers wore not above getting a certain amount of amusement out of the incident. At least we read in the Report that " on one occasion, at the request of Prince Manna [the black Paris who stole the negro Helen, Fry Norman], the defendant with his own hand fired two rockets which burnt the barracoons at Kamasura."
Does not "the barracoons at Kamasura" seem to suggest considerable opportunities for a rollicking slaver's song P In the final account of the pillage and burning of the barracoons there is a very romantic touch. The gunpowder, of which there were large stores, was thrown into the river, says the Report, but it adds drily, " The casks of spirits were broken in and the spirits allowed to flow away on the sand, it being suggested that they were poisoned." That "it being suggested" is delightful. Of course they were poisoned. Any boy in the third form could have sworn to that in the witness-box. Why, it comes as natural as possible for the heading of the chapter, "The Slaver's Treachery; or, The Poisoned Puncheons." We cannot quote any more of the trial, except the fact that " the defendant continued to fire the barracoons till the 26th, that at Dombocorro being the last destroyed." Space must, how- ever, be found for a phrase in which the Foreign Office com- mented on the incident. " The coarse," they say, " pursued by Captain Denman seems to be the best adapted for the
attainment of the object in view." There is something very piquant in the contrast between such official phraseology and "the chiefs of the name of Rogers." It only remains to be said the verdict was in favour of the defendant, Captain Denman,—i.e., " Not guilty."
We have dwelt so long upon the slave trial that we have little space for the other good things in the volume. Apropos of the discussions as to the status of the Duke of Coburg, it may be mentioned that the volume contains a case—the Duke of Brunswick against the Sing of Hanover—which seems to show that a man may be both a foreign sovereign and a subject of the Queen. Another interesting case is the Sussex Peerage Claim. Here is given in a note Lord Eldon's delightful retort to Lord Thurlow, when the latter was pre- siding over an inquiry into the marriage :— " All this put Lord Thurlow out of humour, and he then said to me angrily : Sir, why have you not prosecuted, under the Act of Parliament, all the parties concerned in this abominable marriage ? ' To which I answered, that it was a very difficult business to prosecute,—that the Act, it was understood, had been drawn by Lord Mansfield, Mr. Attorney-General Thurlow, and /ill.. Solicitor-General Wedclerburne, and unluckily they had made all parties present at the marriage guilty of felony' (liable to
the penalties of a Prasmunire) ; and, as nobody could prove the marriage except a person present, there could be no prosecution, because no person present could be compelled to be a witness.' This put an end to the matter."
The volume also contains some very curious and important Irish trials for treason-felony and also some Chartist prosecutions. We will give in conclusion, as an example of the florid eloquence in which the " patriot" lawyers of Ireland delighted, the following passage from Hr. Holmes's defence of John Mitchell :- " A Russell of the present day calls upon the men of Waterloo to steep in brothers' blood the swords which saved England and conquered France. Should the battle thus provoked by England come ; in that struggle to the death Ireland may perish, the noise of her song may cease, and the sound of her harp no more be heard ; her cities may be wasted, and her habitations left without men ; her fruitful valleys may be laid desolate, and her green fields may be crimsoned with blood; but should the victory belong to England, so will the guilt. The actions of men are not to be judged of by the event—the actions of men are not to be judged of by success or by defeat. Had the liberties of Greece perished with Leonidas at Thermopylae, Spartan glory would have been the same. Had the days of Marathon, Salamis, and Phar- salia (sic) been days of defeat instead of victory to Greece, orators might still have spoken, and patriots sworn by the sacred memory of the dead. He who dies in battle for liberty and his country, dies the death of a soldier and sleeps in a hero's grave. Gen- tlemen of the jury, I speak not here merely for my client—I speak for you and your children, and your children's children; I speak not here for myself—my lamp of life is flickering and must soon be extinguished ; but were I now standing on the brink of the grave, and uttering the last words of expiring nature, I would say, May Ireland be happy, may Ireland be free.' It rests with you, gentlemen of the jury, this day, by your verdict of acquittal—it rests with you to contribute your parts towards making Ireland happy and free. I call upon you, as you value truth, as you value justice, as you value public good, as you value manly bearing and personal honour, as you value and love the country of your birth and the land of your fathers—I call upon you, by your verdict of acquittal in this case, to do your parts towards making Ireland happy and free."
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