GENERAL HISTORY 



[111 



under-rate than exaggerate the 

 information which he had received. 

 His motion would be for copies 

 and extracts of certain papers in 

 the office of the secretary of 

 state for the colonial department ; 

 leaving it, of course, to the proper 

 officer to select such documents, 

 or parts of documents, the pro- 

 duction of which would not injure 

 the public service. 



In the Spring of the year 1817 

 several cases came before the 

 grand jury of Dominica, in which 

 it appeared that great cruelty 

 had been exercised on the persons 

 of slaves, by their masters. The 

 first of these was a case in which 

 John Baptiste Louis Birmingham, 

 doctor of medicine, was charged 

 with having violently, cruelly, 

 and immoderately scourged and 

 flogged certain slaves, his pro- 

 perty. The slaves were not 

 found guilty ; and yet, as soon as 

 they were acquitted, they were 

 brought out into the public market 

 place, and underwent the penal- 

 ties limited by the law. This bill 

 was thrown out by the grand 

 jury. Another case was that in 

 which John Mc Corry Esq. was 

 charged with having with cords, 

 whips, sticks, and rods, immo- 

 derately scourged and flogged his 

 slave. Jemmy, who, it was stated, 

 had been guiliy of drunkenness, 

 quarrelling, fighting, neglect of 

 duty, absence from labour, or 

 absence from the plantation, with- 

 out a written pass. This bill was 

 also thrown out. A third case 

 was that of Alexander le Guay, 

 planter, who was charged with 

 having assaulted his female slave, 

 named Jeanton, and that he did 

 confine the said Jeanton in an 

 iron chair, by affixing and fasten- 



ing the same with padlocks in and 

 upon the neck, arms, and legs of 

 the said Jeanton, such punish- 

 ment not being prescribed in and 

 by a certain act of that island in 

 such case made and provided; 

 and it was farther charged, that 

 the said Alexander le Guay 

 maimed, defaced, mutilated, and 

 cruelly tortured the said Jeanton, 

 by fracturing, and causing to be 

 fractured, her arm. This bill 

 likewise was thro^vn out ; and not 

 contented with this, the grand jury 

 thought fit to declare, that these 

 several indictments were nothing 

 more nor less than nuisances. 

 This presentment was dated 

 Dominica, Grand Jury Room, 

 the -ith day of February, 1817, 

 and was signed by John Gordon, 

 foreman. In consequence of these 

 proceedings, the attorney-general 

 had thought it expedient to have 

 recourse to informations ex officio, 

 considering it not right to trust 

 to grand juries again. 



The House had heard the 

 nature of the offijnces with which 

 the parties were charged, but in 

 each case the persons were ac- 

 quitted. The laws were benefi- 

 cent ; but what availed the laws 

 when the unhappy slaves could 

 not avail themselves of them. 

 There was a general concurrence 

 in opinion in the West Indian 

 islands, that nothing was more 

 improper than to interfere between 

 master and slave : it was thought 

 to have a tendency to excite a 

 disposition on the part of the 

 slaves to revolt. This, he believed, 

 was the general impression ; but 

 he should be glad to find that he 

 was mistaken. In the island of 

 Dominica there was a species of 

 punishment called " the public 



chain," 



