LON 
Where did.you go after you left the gaoler’s room ? — 
To the fame apartment where I had been fufpended. I 
was kept there all night. 
Were you put in irons ?—Yes, in grillos, (fetters for tha 
legs.) 
Defcribe what thefe grillos are.—They are formed of an 
iron bar,i fattened to the ground, to which are attached 
two rings to receive the legs. [A drawing of this inftru- 
ment was then produced, which the witnefs faid was an 
exaft reprefentation of the grillos J 
Were you put upon the picket next day ?—Yes, upon 
the fame inttrument, and in the fame manner j it was in 
the morning. 
How long were you kept upon it?—Twenty-two mi¬ 
nutes. There was a watch to /how the time j Alvarez. 
Beggorrat, Francifco de Cattro, and Rafael an alguazil 
(conltable), were prefent. 
With which arm were you tied up the fecond day ?— 
With each, one after the other; and I was fo fufpended, 
that I could jull touch the fpike by extending my toe.— 
(My feet were without ftroes or ftockings, fhe faid, in re¬ 
ply to a quettion by lord Ellenborough.) She then de- 
1'cribed, that fhe was feized with a fainting fit, and that 
fire knew nothing of the time or circumftances of her re¬ 
covery. 
Were you again put in irons?—Yes, in the grilles, the 
fame evening. 
How long were you in this ttate ?—All the time I was 
in prifon, during eight months. 
Are there any marks of the injury you received now 
•apparent on your perfon ?—On my wrifts there are, 
but none on my feet. [The witnefs now expofed the 
feam or callus, formed on her writts in confequence of the 
torture.] 
To forne queftions, on the crofs-examination by Mr. 
Dallas, file faid that fhe did not know how long fhe had 
been releafed before (lie was brought over; that fits came 
with colonel Fullarton, and that fhe had been maintained 
by Mr. White, of the treafury. 
Don Rafael Shando, all'o aflitted by the interpreter, faid, 
that he was an alguazil in the ifland of Trinidad in the 
year 1801 ; that he returned from the interior of the coun¬ 
try on the zzd of December, and faw Louifa Calderon in 
gaol; that they were then giving her a glafsof water, after 
bringing her down from the torture. She was fupporting 
lierfelf on a table ; it was about feven o’clock in the even¬ 
ing. Beggorrat defired witnefs to bring Carlos up, and 
told her that (lie mutt repeat to Carlos what fhe had faid 
to him. After this interview, at which nothing tranf- 
pired, fhe was inftautly put in the grillos , and in the fame 
room in which fhe had fuffered the torture. The apart¬ 
ment was like a garret, with Hoping fides, and the grillos 
were fo placed, that, by the lownefs of the room,fie could 
by no means raife lierfelf up during the eight months of her con¬ 
finement. On the 23d of December fhe was again put to 
the torture, between eleven and twelve in the morning, 
and flie remained in this tttuation twenty-two minutes by 
the watch. 
[The witnefs here examined the drawing, and deferibed 
the pofition much in the way it had been before repre- 
fented, and then added,] She fainted twice in his arms.—• 
Beggorrat fent vinegar to the executioner, to adminifter 
to her in this fituation. There was no advocate appoint¬ 
ed to attend on her behalf, and no furgeon to affiit her. 
No one but a negro belonging to Bulio the gaoler, to 
pull the rope. As foon as fhe was taken down, file was 
put into the grillos. The witnefs had feen her fitter bring 
her victuals, but never noticed the admiffion of her fitter 
or her friend into the gaol. The witnefs had been four 
or five years in the poft of alguazil. He never knew the 
torture inflicted in the ifland until the arrival of the de¬ 
fendant. There had been before no infirument for the purpofe. 
Don Juan Montes faid, that he was acquainted with the 
hand-writing of the defendant, and proved the document 
containing the order of the torture expreffed in thefe 
4 
DON. igt) 
terms: “ Aplicafe la qufi.ion a Leu fa Calderon. (Signed) 
Thomas Picton.” 
After forae obfervntions from Mr. Dallas, which were 
anftvered by Mr. Garrcw, the lord chief jultice ruled, 
that the application of the alcalde Beggoratt, which led 
to the 3 flue of this order, fhould be read. Fir. Lcwtera 
then read the reprefentation of this offic. ", advifing that 
flight torture fhould be applied, (kiting that his own au¬ 
thority was incompetent to do it, without the orders of 
the governor, and giving the refult of the proceedings, in 
the courfe of the^examinations Louifa Calderon had un¬ 
dergone. The inttrument was eounterfigned by Francifco 
de Cattro. 
Mr. Harrifon now proceeded with the teftimony of Don 
Juan Montes, who faid he had known the ifland of Tri¬ 
nidad fincei793 ; that the torture was never introduced 
until after "the conquefi of the ifland, and was then prac¬ 
ticed by order of the defendant. 
Mr. Dallas, for the defendant, retted his defence upon 
the following ftatements:—ill. By the law of Spain, in 
the prefent inttance, torture was directed ; and, being 
bound to adminifter that law, he was juftified in its ap¬ 
plication. adly. The order for the torture, if not unlaw¬ 
fully, was not malicioufly, iflued. 3dly. If it were unlaw¬ 
ful, yet, if the order were erroneoufly or mittakenly iffued, 
it is a complete anfwer to a criminal charge.—The learned 
counl'el entered at confiderable length into thefe pofitions, 
during which he compared the law of Spain, as it prevailed 
in Trinidad, with the law of England as it fubfitted in 
fome of our own iflands; and he contended, that the 
conduct of general Picton was gentlenels and humanity, 
compared to what might be practifed with impunity un¬ 
der the authority of the Britifli government. After a 
long interlocutory difeuffion, feveral items of the exami¬ 
nation taken on the ifland, for the purpofe of this caufe, 
were read by the clerk of the court. The next teftimony 
adduced was that of Mr. Gloucefter, the attorney-general 
of his majefty in the ifland, who depofed to the authenti¬ 
city of feveral books on the laws of the ifland, among which 
were the Erizondo, the Curia Phiilippica, the Bobadilla, 
the Colom, and the Recopilacion de Leyes. Various paf- 
fages in thefe books were then referred to, and tranllated, 
for the purpofe of (flowing that torture was not only per¬ 
mitted in certain cafes, but in the particular inttance be¬ 
fore the jury. 
On the part of the profecution, Don Pedro de Varga's 
was then called to contradict thefe authorities. He laid 
that he had fhulied the law of the Weft-India Iflands un¬ 
der the dominion of Spain feven years, and that he had 
praCtifed it two years. In the courle of his enquiries and 
experience, he had never known any boo& of authority 
cited to juftify the application of torture. It was true, an 
ancient edift, as early as the year 1260, mentioning tor¬ 
ture, had been referred to by fome learned perfons in co¬ 
lonial law ; but this authority had long been confidered 
obfoltte and nugatory, fo that nothing now remained ei¬ 
ther to fupport the principle or the practice. Au.r tha 
crofs-examination of this witnefs. 
Lord Ellenborough. “The fpigle quettion for youtt 
confideration is, Whether, by the Spar.ifli laws obferved 
in Trinidad, the defendant was julfified in infiiittiug tor¬ 
ture upon the profecutrix ? I would advife you by all 
means to diveft youvlelves of every thing that may inflame 
your minds, fo that you may give impartial attention to 
the prefent cafe. The inquiry for you to make is, Whas 
was the fubfifting law by which Trinidad,.at the time 
it was taken by fir Ralph Abercrombie, was governed l 
The various authorities upon the fubject of the diftribu- 
tion of juftice in Spanifh courts do not mention the inflic¬ 
tion of torture ; and therefore the right of applying it, if 
it can be applied at all, mutt depend upon authorities be¬ 
fore us, or upon the jurifdiction of the judge. Depofi- 
tions of witnefies have been read, who have known tire 
ifland for 32 years, and one of them was horn there, and 
(wears torture was never ad mini fleered. Mr. Nugent alia 
