Page:Trials of the Slave Traders Samo, Peters and Tufft (1813).pdf/21

 and Gentlemen of the Jury to listen to a few observations respecting the gentlemen whom I brought from various parts of the Rio Pongas. In coming to this colony, these gentlemen have been put to some expense and much inconvenience; they have fulfilled their parts as evidences for the crown; it would be unjust in me to withhold the public expression of my entire satisfaction of their conduct. 1 promised the King under whom they lived that they should be protected, and when the trials were over, that they should be safely restored to their former places of abode. Of Mr. William Skelton I ought to speak in particular; he and the other gentlemen have not shewn a little virtue in coming forward; but Mr. Skelton is certainly in a peculiar manner distinguished. He was a long time balanced between a wish to be true to his former friend and master, and his desire of rendering his duty to the country in which he was educated and protected. When I had convinced him of the exceeding wickedness and cruelty of the slave trade, and of the humanity of putting an end to it, he no longer hesitated, or thought it incumbent on him to hold confidence with him who was at the head of the infamous traffic, but yielded at once to a spontaneous and candid avowal. I trust that the remunerative liberality of the Government will not overlook the worth and the services of this young man. To his behaviour there is a striking contrast in the conduct of some of the slave traders, who refused to renounce the monstrous traffic, and who still remain in the Rio Pongas. I allude to John Ormond, Robert Cunningham Wilson, and J. Faber; but I will not enlarge on the subject. Justice will overtake them. I cannot close without lamenting the death of one of the principal witnesses, who first gave the information, and who was to have been heard this day: but of “who can tell what a day may bring forth?” Mr. David James Lawrence fell a victim to disease and a broken