TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



97 



in the said Island previous to the surrender thereof to 

 us, shall, for the present, be continued in the exercise 

 of all the judicial powers belonging to them in all 

 criminal and civil cases, and that they shall proceed 

 according to the laws by which the said Island was 

 then governed ; and that such judicial powers as, 

 previous to the surrender of the said Island to us, 

 were exercised by the Spanish Governor, shall be ex- 

 ercised by you, our Governor, in like manner as the 

 same w r ere exercised previous to the surrender of the 

 said Island.' 1 



Did this not remove all responsibility from 

 Picton in the administration of the laws as they 

 existed, no matter how repugnant, or how contrary 

 to British notions they may have been ? M'Callum 

 then goes on to say : — x 



" The circumstance of a British governor strug- 

 gling to prevent the extension of British laws to a 

 British colony is so extraordinary, and so totally r 

 repugnant to every principle of freedom, that, I 

 think I shall be excused for dwelling a little on the 

 cause which produced it, and the violent conse- 

 quences which resulted to the inhabitants (?) 



' ' He has frequently declared in his correspondence 

 with His Majesty's ministers, that the inhabitants 

 were perfectly satisfied with the existing laws. A 

 contrary declaration from the inhabitants themselves 

 he contemplated with horror." 



I have carefully read every word of the petition 

 referred to and fail to find one word of complaint 

 against Picton or his mode of government. I here 



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