280 ST. HELENA 



Upon the close of the prosecution. Mr. Fowler " applied to be 

 allowed till the next morning for the defence. The Court there- 

 upon adjourned till ten o'clock the next day, and directed that the 

 jury should be kept together, and that accommodation should be 

 provided for them. 



On Friday 26th the Court again sat. Mr. Fowler, for the pri- 

 soners, contended that the Court had no jurisdicion, as they were 

 Brazilian subjects on board a Brazilian vessel : and that at the time 

 of the commission of the offence as laid in the indictment, no con- 

 version of the vessel had taken place. He observed that English 

 Acts of Parliament could not apply to Brazilian subjects in a Bra- 

 zilian vessel which was Brazilian ground. He also observed that 

 the indictment stated the prisoners to be late of St. Etelena, whereas 

 they were taken out of the Galgo ; and that Capt. Ussher's authority 

 being limited to the seizure of Brazilian vessels could not warrant 

 his seizure of Brazilian subjects. He then read a paper which three 

 of the passengers had prepared stating that they were passengers 

 and took no part in the resistance : that some of the sailors com- 

 menced the firing without the Capt's. orders whereupon the pas- 

 sengers and the remainder of the crew went below : the firing from 

 both parties continued for some time : at last it ceased for a few 

 minutes, when the voices of those whom they afterwards found to 

 be English sailors were heard on deck mingled with the ones from 

 the Galgo' s crew, who were being fired upon and killed by their 

 opponents. As their hiding place was below the cabin, they could 

 distinctly hear what was going on in the cabin, where the captain 

 of the Galgo and two others who had concealed themselves 

 were killed. The captain (in French) begged the English to be 

 merciful, to pity and spare him, but in vain. After which they (the 

 English) took their breakfasts in iheGalgo's cabin, which just before 

 had been the scene of so much horror and bloodshed. He then 

 related the appearance of the decks, cabin, and the other parts of the 

 vessel after they had ventured from their hiding-place when all 

 was quiet, their removal to the Wasp, and the rough usage which 

 they experienced from the exasperated seamen. Thirteen of the 

 Galgo's crew were killed, and one, who was wounded, died afterwards 

 in the hospital at'St. Helena. Another statement in writing was read 

 from five others of the prisoners concluding with the assertion that 

 those who were killed were the parties who had defended the vessel. 



Mr. Fowler proceeded, after reading the above, to maintain 

 that the prisoners had taken no part in the resistance made to the 

 boats, and that those who had were all killed. He insisted that no 

 offence had been committed against the British laws, and said if 

 the prisoners had been guilty of any crime, they ought to have been 

 tried by the laws of their own country. 



The crew list was again referred to for the purpose of showing 



that the prisoners were foreigners, also the affidavit of Lieut. Elliot, 



on bringing the Galgo into the Vice- Admiralty Court to prove her 



national character. 



Lieut. Elliot and William Hill, captain of the forecastle on board 



