SIR THOMAS PICTON 239 



fair one who had caught the eye of this ancient 

 * Judge Clark ' of the ' all aged ' Venus Stakes. 



Among the individuals who were benefited un- 

 consciously by Queensberry's bursts of generosity was 

 that fine old soldier, Sir Thomas Picton. I take from 

 a Memoir of Sir Thomas, by a relative, Heaton Bow- 

 stead Robinson, the following anecdote of his grace's 

 eccentric charity. This took place a few years prior 

 to the period now under review, 1806, when Picton 

 was proceeded against for alleged abuses, the chief 

 of which was his ordering torture to be applied to a 

 female slave while acting as Governor of Trinidad 

 after its capture in 1791. But, though morally 

 innocent of the charge, he was legally guilty in 

 signing the order to torture the woman at the in- 

 stance of a Spanish magistrate, who told Picton it 

 was the 'custom of the country,' while he should 

 have substantiated the assertion of the Spaniard, 

 and also not have forgotten whose uniform he wore. 

 Having briefly described the case for Picton's prose- 

 cution, which, I must add, was being conducted with 

 all the rancour of party spirit, Mr. Robinson pro- 

 ceeds : ' A few staunch friends, however, still clung 

 to him; some of whom had opportunities of wit- 

 nessing his conduct in the West Indies, and others 

 who knew him too well to believe for one moment 



