TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



103 



was a surgeon present at the picketing ; there was no 

 necessity for one then or afterwards, as the feet were 

 not swollen or injured. 



The frequent disagreements between the com- 

 missioners caused Picton to resign, but at the request 

 of the General commanding the troops at Barbados, 

 he accepted, for a short time, the appointment of 

 governor of Tobago. 



On his return to England serious charges were 

 preferred against him, the case of torturing Luisa 

 Calderon being the principal. He was tried, and on 

 two false statements — that Luisa Calderon was un- 

 der 14 years of age, and that the Spanish law rela- 

 tive to applying the c 6 question ' ' was not the law in 

 Trinidad — he was convicted. He, however, appealed 

 against this decision, and asked for a new trial and, 

 the case being referred to the Privy Council, he was 

 granted it. 



In the meantime no device was left untried to 

 enlist public sympathy ; Luisa Calderon was even 

 taken over to England. She was a good looking 

 coloured girl, of a specimen rarely seen in London in 

 those days, and she was constantly driven about the 

 streets and parks of London in an open carriage with 

 Mrs. Fullarton ; and with the desired effect of in- 

 flaming the public mind against Picton. 



On the 11th June, this new trial came before 

 Lord Ellenborough and a special jury, when the evi- 

 dence was again gone through at greater length, and 

 Mr. Dallas proved beyond doubt that the law of Old 

 Spain, which is the law of Castile, was in force in 



