APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



183 



'iie plaintiff had now an oppor- 

 tunity of appealing to a British 

 jury, who would not tliink that 

 his claims to their serious consi- 

 deration were lessened by the cir- 

 cumstance of his being a destitute 

 foreigner. No doubt, the excuse 

 of the defendant would be his zeal 

 for the abolition of the slave trade ; 

 but, as he had participated in the 

 booty obtained by this expedition 

 to the Congo, as he had himself 

 received a considerable share of 

 the prize-money, the jury would 

 reflect, whether his zeal had not 

 been a little inflamed by his love 

 of money as well as humanity. It 

 was also a circumstance not im- 

 worthy of notice, that Colonel 

 Maxwell had knowingly exceeded 

 his duty ; for when the expedition 

 was projected, the objections were 

 pointed out to him, but he chose 

 to proceed in his course, and to 

 set up a paragraph in the Edin- 

 burgli Review against a clause in 

 an Act of Parliament. 



Malcolm Brodie was the first 

 witness : he had resided for some 

 time at a factory on the Congo, 

 until it was destroyed by Major 

 Appleton and his troops, in March 

 1813 He had known the plaintiff 

 since 1802, who in October 1813 

 became proprietor of Bengara fac- 

 tory, which he bought of Zebulon 

 Miller, who as well as the plaintiff 

 was an American. 



The Attorney-General here took 

 an objection to the competency of 

 this witness, on the ground that 

 he had been convicted at Sierra 

 Leone of a felony, by dealing in 

 slaves. He put in a certified copy 

 of the record of conviction, but 

 Mr. Scarlett directed the attention 

 of the learned judge to a few of 

 its informalities. It contained no 



caption, no count, no jurisdiction, 

 no grand jury, and no crime. He 

 contended, therefore, tliat it could 

 not be received in evidence. 



Mr. Justice Bayley was clearly 

 of opinion that this document 

 could not be received in evidence. 

 It was m fact only a part of the 

 record of conviction, and that im- 

 perfect. 



Tlie examination of the witness 

 was continued. He with others 

 had taken an account of the stock, 

 on the transfer of the factory from 

 Miller to Cooke. The valuation 

 was about 1.5 or 16,000L When 

 first he knew Cooke he was ser- 

 vant to an American factor, named 

 Curtis : he was about twenty 

 years old when the witness first 

 saw him. There was not much 

 trade between October and March 

 1813, but in slaves, in which 

 Cooke had not dealt since the 

 abolition by this country, to the 

 witness's knowledge. He could 

 not pretend to swear that Cooke 

 carried on no traffic in slaves at 

 his factory ; but he believed none 

 since the abolition. 



He understood that Dr. Purdie, 

 the surgeon of the colony of Sierra 

 Leone, had been appointed for that 

 day to be chief justice. No wit- 

 ness was sworn or examined on 

 Cooke's trial, and counsel and at - 

 torney were refused to the wit- 

 ness. 



Major Appleton. — In the begin- 

 ning of 1814, I was at Sierra 

 Leone, of which Colonel Maxwell 

 was at that time governor. I com- 

 manded an expedition up the river 

 Congo under written orders. 



I had 3 vessels under my or- 

 ders, and about 150 troops, Bri- 

 tish and native?, besides the crews 

 of the ships, when 1 sailed in 



March 



