Page:Trials of the Slave Traders Samo, Peters and Tufft (1813).pdf/20

 My Lord, and Gentlemen of the Jury,

Though in this case I confidently anticipated the result of the evidence, yet that result has been the anticipation of truth ; it fully appears that every count in the indictment is supported by evidence that can neither be questioned or refuted. I am indebted to your Lordship and the Jury for your attention in this long investigation ; and submit whether this be not a proper occasion to state by what means this body of unexpected evidence has burst upon us, and developed the continuance and mode of pursuing the slave commerce practised by the remaining slave factors.

The daring violations against the acts of parliament prohibiting the traffic in slaves, which were known to be daily committed in the Rio Pongas by British subjects, could not fail to attract the attention of the government of this colony; when these violations had, in the hope of impunity, attained a gross pitch of criminality, no longer to be tolerated, the prisoner at the bar, and one of his slaving associates, were apprehended and secured; it was not certain that the evidence then had would absolutely establish their guilt; to obviate this difficulty, his Excellency the Governor and my Lord the Chief Justice devised a plan, highly to their honour and fame, of obtaining the essential proof from the place where these illegalities had been committed. This plan was to send to the King of the Soosoo nation for such persons as were qualified to be evidences for the crown ; and I congratulate myself that it was appointed to me to bring them forth. It was proposed to me to present myself to Mungo Catty, King of the Soosoo nation, and, with his permission, bring away such residents in his dominions as I might think proper, pursuant to written instructions from his Excellency Governor Maxwell. This I did, and the evidence you have this day heard is the fruits of the attempt. I request your Lordship