be prejudicial; and among impartial and reflecting men, there could scarcely be two opinions on its impolicy and impropriety.

The instructions given to the new Commissioners had nothing of a retrospective nature in them; Mr. Fullarton had neither orders, nor any authority whatever (unless, which cannot be believed, they were privately given for some particular purpose) to investigate and pronounce upon the merits or demerits of Brigadier-general Picton's government; but, nevertheless, he began, immediately almost, to exercise such authority; and, as far as we are able to judge from his own accounts, and from the comments which they have extorted, and the documents which they have drawn forth, to inake such investigation his primary object. He very soon appears' in the high and honourable character of grand inquisitor; and, instead of promoting the object and end of his appointment, he seems to us so to have acted, that if he had wished to create dissentions, and to throw the whole colony into confusion (which cannot possibly be supposed), he could not have taken more effective means for the gratification of such wish.

We have already extended this article so far, and so much more remains to be said on the subject, that we find it impossible to conclude it in the present Number. We shall, therefore, depart a little from the chronological order of events, for the purpose of laying before our readers the circumstances of two transactions, to which we have already alluded. The first relates to the forgery which we stated to have marked the origin of that infamous plot, for in no other light can we possibly consider it, of the mulatto prostitute, Louisa Calderon, the bastard of a bastard's bastard, and the recent mother of a bastard +, too, whom we are told, Mr. Fullarton did not blush to render the associate of his wife! O tempora! O mores!

The forgery to which we now direct the attention of our readers, was perpetrated by the Spanish curate (a Neapolitan by birth), as he is called (we should suppose rector), of the church of Port of Spain. This man made a false entry of the birth of Louisa Calderon, in order to substantiate the allegation, that she was under fourteen at the time

The following is an extract from the second examination, upon oath, of Miss Louisa Calderon's mother.

"Q. Was your mother born in wedlock ?—A. No.

"Q. Were you born in wedlock ?-A. No."--Evidence, p. 115. If our readers had been as well acquainted with the genealogy of this interesting young lady, as the Hon. Mrs. Fullarton no doubt mast be, we should not have taken the trouble to extract this passage from the deposition of the mother of her illustrious protegée.

We have heard, from good authority, that this interesting young lady has been delivered of a child, since she has had the happiness and the honour of being under the protection of Mr. Fullarton, of Fullarton, F. R. S.-Let it not he supposed, however, for a moment, that we mean to insinuate, that the Laird of Fullarton is the father of this bairne. We abhor calumny too much in others, to be guilty of it ourselves. Miss Louisa may be called, indeed, "The Public Ledger" of Trinidad, for she is evidently "open to all parties," though she cannot be said to be "influenced by none."

that

that she was put on the picquet*; and of course that she was at an age at which the Spanish law does not allow the infliction of torture. As we feel convinced that this one fact affords à fair specimen of the impartiality, the fairness, the honour, with which the whole of these proceedings have been conducted, we shall enter into a full exposition of it.-Ab uno disce omnes!

In Mr. Fullarton's voluminous quarto,

tenet insanabile multos,

"Scribendi cacoethes, et agro in corde senescit,'

we find the following amongst the charges, preferred by him. against Governor Picton:

"For the application of torture, to extort confession from Louisa Calderon, a girl under fourteen years of age, respecting a robbery supposed to have been committed by Carlo Gonsalez against Peter Ruez, stated to have been frequently employed as an agent by General Picton." 4to. P. 66.

When our readers shall recollect that this book was printed for the avowed use of the Privy Council, before whom Mr. Fullarton had preferred a specific charge to this effect, they will probably be astonished, and not a little indignant, at the cool ambiguity of the language employed on so solemn an occasion. Here are three facts meant to be established: First, that Louisa Calderon, when put to the torture, was under fourteen years of age; secondly, that the robbery, which was the ground of her apprehension, was only supposed to have been committed by Gonsalez; and thirdly, that the man said to have been robbed, was an agent of Colonel Picton's. But is it to be ́endured, that a man, standing forth as a public accuser in a great criminal cause, shall insult the judges and the public by saying, as Mr. Fullarton incessantly does, that the principal facts are supposed, or are stated, or are understood to have occurred, without condescending even to specify by whom they were so supposed, stated, or understood! Is this the language of justice, or of truth? Either he must know that the facts were, as they were supposed, stated, or understood to be; or that they were not; else his inquisitorial powers must have been exerted to very little purpose indeed! If he knew that they were, it was his duty to make a positive averment of them; if he knew that they were not, the insinuation is most indecent, unmanly and unjust. It is impossible to mistake the significant allusion in the last sentence, respecting the agency of Ruez; it was meant to affix a dishonourable motive on the conduct of Colonel Picton in the affair in question; and to make the Privy Council and the Public believe, that the Go

* We cannot here too strongly reprobate this most infamous perversion of language, in calling the punishment of the picquet, the ordinary punishment in use in all our regiments of cavalry, putting to the torture. Hence. forth, no doubt, when a dragoon shall have suffered such punishment, we shall be told in the newspapers, that he has been put to the torture!

vernor

vernor was not actuated by a sense of duty, in acquiescing in the punishment of the mulatto prostitute, but by some base and interested desire to gratify an useful agent. We will not express our feelings on this point, any farther than to say, that we would infinitely rather be the object than the author of such an insinuation. Heavens! what a heart must that be, which could give birth to it! Though the fact itself be foreign from the immediate subject of discussion, yet we will not for a moment suffer our readers to suppose, that there was the smallest foundation for the statement in question.

In consequence of a Mandamus issued by the Court of King's Bench to the present Governor of Trinidad, General Hislop, a Court Session was holden at Port of Spain, for the examination of evidence. in the affair of Colonel Picton and Louisa Calderon, &c. On the 3d of May, 1805, Pedro Ruez, this reputed agent of the Colonel's, was examined upon oath, when the following questions, among others, were put to him:

"Q. At the time of the robbery in your own house, did you not know that the Chief Justice, and the two Alcaldes, had power to redress the inju ries of which you complained: and that, from their judgment, there was an appeal to the Governor ?-A. Yes, but as the Governor was the nearest *, I applied to him.

Q. Was there, at that time, any account standing between you and General Picton?-A. Before and after, I had several accounts for males and cattle; but I was paid immediately.

Q. Was there no money due to you by General Picton, at the time of your making the report of the robbery of two thousand dollars ?—

A. No."

These questions, be it observed, were put to the witness by Mr. Fullarton's Counsel, Mr. Hayes; and, beyond all doubt, with a view to substantiate Mr. Fullarton's allegation of agency! The Attorney General, on the behalf of the defendant, Governor Picton, then closed the examination of Ruez with the following question:

Q. Were you not in the habits of selling mules and cattle to any body who wanted them ?-A. Yes."

We now return to the forgery of the register, or certificate of the little prostitute's birth, which was produced by Father Josef Maria Angeles to the Court:

"Louisa, an infant, natural daughter of Maria del Rosario Calderon, coming from Cariaco, in the Province of Cumana, on the Costa Firma, BORN THE 25TH OF AUGUST, 1788 (and this day, the 11th of September, of the same year, in this rectorial church, the Conception of Our Lady, the parish church of the Port of Spain, Louisa Villegas, a free Mulattress, being her godmother, accompanied by Juan Santiago Bacuba, a free Mulatto, informed of the spiritual relationship, and other obliga

* The Governor's house was nearly opposite to that of Ruez.

tions, contracted by so solemn an act) she was, agreeable to the forms and ceremonies of the Roman ritual, baptized solemnly by the Presbyter, Don Esteven Aneses, and Arragon Sacristan, Military Curate and Parish Rector, that I am of the Island of Trinidad, to Windward, as also of the ancient inhabitants of the Port of Spain, by his Catholic Majesty. "To which I give faith,

"ANESES.

"JOSEF MARIA ANGELES." This reverend father made no scruple to add perjury to forgery, by swearing that this was a fair entry, conscientiously made.

"Q. Have you given any transcript, or certificate of the baptism of Louisa Calderon to herself or any other person; if so, when ?-A. I gave two to Don Juan Montes and her mother, when he went to London from this Island.

"Q. Were such certificates precisely conformable to the entry?— A. Word for word."

It appears, however, from the examination of the young lady's mamma, that another certificate had been given to a certain Smith, alias Vargas *, who was language master to Mr. Fullarton; these two worthies (of whom more hereafter) Mr. Fullarton brought over to England, and they were his principal witnesses before the Grand Jury, and upon the subsequent trial of Governor Picton.

66

Unfortunately for the Reverend Father Angeles, there was a superior ecclesiastic in the Island; his superior not only in station, but in honour and honesty; this was Don Pedro Reyes Bravo, VicarGeneral of Trinidad, and Ecclesiastical Judge of that Colony, who swore, that he had very carefully inspected the register in question, which was evidently of no authority whatever, and very suspicious.'" On a subsequent day, after he had had more time to examine this forged instrument, forged for the most wicked purpose, he swore :"that the baptism of Louisa Calderon, entered in folio 89 of the register, by the Father Josef Maria Angeles, Curate of the Port of Spain, is FALSE, and of no value, and that that found in the register of the ancient inhabitants is, and ought to be regarded as the true one, which I sign in this city of St. Josef of Oruna, the 21st of May, 1805.”

"Q. Did you ever see the register of your daughter's birth ?—A. Don Pedro Vargas shewed me a copy of the register which had been given him by the curate."

"Great liars," says the old adage, "should have good memories." This interesting female had forgotten that she had before sworn that she could neither read nor write.

"Q. Who is Don Pedro Vargas ?-A. He was the linguist of the Governor, who carried away my daughter."

Possibly Mr. Fullarton may deny the fact of his having carried away Miss Louisa, as he denied his having carried away the records of the Criminal Court-of which more anon,

The

The register here adverted to is as follows:

"Louisa Antonio, an infant, ON THE 6TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1786. I Joseph Antonio Alvarado, Curate Coadjutor of the Parish of Port of Spain, certify that in the parish church I solemnly baptized with holy oil, and chrism Louisa Antonio, twelve days old, daughter of Maria Nunes, a free Mulattress; the sponsors were, Juan Santiago, and Louisa Antonio, whom I advertised of their spiritual obligations. In confirmation of which I give faith.

The good Vicar-General

"FRAN. JOSEF ALVARADO.”

"Immediately followed up his report (concerning the register of Angeles) with a petition to the Lieutenant Governor, respecting the great scandal which the curate's conduct had brought upon the ecclesiastical character, and requiring that he should be suspended from his sacerdotal functions. He was, in consequence, removed from the curacy, and a prosecution instituted against him for forgery and perjury, which was carried to conviction, definitive sentence being referred to the VicarGeneral, he being the competent judge, where an ecclesiastic was concerned *.”

But to set the question of this mulatto prostitute's age at rest, and to clear it from all possibility of doubt, we shall first adduce the evidence of the Judge who tried her, Mr. BEGORRAT. It is well known, that in all countries where the civil law prevails, at the commencement of every criminal process, the name. quality, and age of the prisoner are asked and written down. Mr. Begorrat accordingly, in his examination on oath, before the above Court Session on the 9th of May, 1805, stated what passed in this respect on the trial of Louisa Calderon.

"Q. Did ever Louisa Calderon, in any stage of the proceedings before your tribunal, allege that she was a minor, and under the age of fourteen years ?—A. No; on the contrary, in her first extra-judicial declaration, which I have already mentioned, the first question put to her before the Escrivano Castro f, was as to her age and profession; and she answered, that she had passed 14 years ‡; and, as to her profession, she had been living with Pedro Ruez as his concubine for near three years, which declaration left no doubt with me as to her age, as the law fixed the age of puberty at 12 years."

* Evidence taken at Port of Spain, &c. p. 136.

And, strange to say, this said Castro (Mr. Fullarton's prime agent and special protegé, of whom we shall have much to say), one of the most abominable prevaricators, whom the Court were obliged to commit for contempt, in refusing to answer questions, and thereby perjuring himself, was compelled to admit this fact, respecting the girl's age.

Hear the evidence of her perjured mother, when examined, on oath, by Mr. Hayes:

"Q.Was Louisa Calderon more than TEN YEARS OLD when she was in prison?-A. NO, RATHER LESS THAN MORE."-Evidence, p. 17.

Now,