Page:Trials of the Slave Traders Samo, Peters and Tufft (1813).pdf/28

 and returned to his own country, she ought to apply to the sovereign to have justice done in the case. Now, my Lord, the prisoner at the bar has done an injury to the state; that is, he has violated the laws of England, and if even he had proved himself a Dutchman, by the law of nations we have a right to punish him, nor, as Vatel has it, shall we scruple about the matter. On this ground then, my Lord, I submit to the Court whether, as the prisoner has been found guilty of a felony, the judgment of the Court can be legally arrested? I beg that the affidavits of Mr. Alexander M'Cawley and Mr. Philip Gordon may be read, and they will be found to support the statement I have made. The affidavits were read, and it appeared that the prisoner had declared himself to be a British subject; and when it was, on some particular occasion, proposed to him to become a citizen of the United States, he publicly avowed he was an Englishman, and said he never would deny his country; and it also appeared that the prisoner had not claimed Holland as the place of his birth till he shuddered at the punishment consequent on slaving.

The said the points in arrest of judgment were strong and clearly put; as to the prisoner's being a foreigner, and not within the reach of the statute, it could not be allowed. Two persons swore they believed him to be a Dutchman, and two others swore that they consider him an Englishman, and that he considered himself an Englishman till very lately. A passport from Surinam to New York is produced, but it does not state the prisoner to be a Dutchman. The prisoner has domiciled above sixteen years in the Rio Pongas; this may be considered foreign dominions, but the chiefs of that country consider the white men as British subjects; and they also consider themselves British subjects; they have claimed, in cases of distress, British protection, and received it; they purchase, reside, and trade as British