with his family from Trinidad: at that moment I was in Ayrshire, and mixed with several of his friends; and dining one day at the (Lord Provost's) Mayor's house in Ayr, mark my astonishment! when I was told, that along with Colonel Fullarton there had arrived with his lady a Ma demoiselle Louisa Calderon, whom the Colonel and Mrs. F. paraded about with them in their carriage, introducing her wherever they went *, as the blessed innocent' who was the devoted victim of Colonel Petion's tyranny, &c. &c.

(Signed)

"Trinidad, Sept. 8th, 1805."

"JOHN DOWNIE.:

What will my honest countrymen say to this transaction?"

We have thus completely elucidated the first of the two transactions to which we before alluded; and we now proceed to investigate the second, which is of a still more extraordinary nature, and which it behoves the government of the country to sift to the very bottom. We have already said, that Mr. Fullarton derived no authority from his instructions, to enter upon a retrospective examination of Brigadier-general Picton's government. Indeed, the very nature of these instructions, which were addressed to the three Commissioners conjointly, preclude the possibility of any such orders; as the association of B. G. Picton in the government with him proves, beyond all doubt, that his Majesty's Ministers were perfectly satisfied with his conduct (for if they were not, they were guilty of a criminal breach of duty, in appointing him Second Commissioner and Captain General of the Forces), and, consequently, that they could not give to Mr. Fullarton any power to investigate his past government, which would have implied a doubt of its propriety. However, it very soon appeared that Mr. Fullarton acted, as if he had received such instructions. He took a very early opportunity of insulting B. G. Picton, by allowing a woman of the name of Duval-whom Governor Picton had banished (in perfect conformity with the instructions received from his Sovereign) for an attempt to excite sedition among the French people of colour; who had, moreover, been ordered to quit Guadaloupe (where her son was executed for rebellion); and banished from the South American coast, whither she had fled for refuge; to return to Trinidad. We will not argue the point with Mr. Fullarton, but we will assert, that there is no man, who

* This introduction of a little abandoned thief and prostitute, in a country where decency and sobriety of manners, respect for virtue, and abhorrence from vice, prevail, in a greater degree, than in almost any other part of Europe, was such a gross and intolerable insult, as will, no doubt, be properly resented by the respectable persons to whom it was offered, as soon as the facts of the case are made known to them. Such breaches of propriety should never pass without due notice, and timely

correction.

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has the feelings of a gentleman, who would not consider such an act as an insult; and we have, farther, not the smallest hesitation in pronouncing it a gross breach of duty on the part of Mr. Fullarton. Be that as it may, the difference to which this strange proceeding very naturally gave rise, supplied Mr. Fullarton with a pretext for convincing the Council of Trinidad, that he did not mean to confine himself to his public instructions, and to make the future good government and prosperity of the colony his sole end; or even his primary object; for we find him, in less than six weeks after his arrival, on the 12th of February 1803, making the following curious motion in the Council:

"From the mode in which the transaction respecting Madame Duval has been conducted on the part of B. G. Picton and Mr. Woodyear*, it becomes essential for the public service, (risum teneatis?) that Colonel Fullarton should now move, that there be produced a certified statement of all the criminal proceedings which have taken place since the commencement of the late government, together with a list, specifying every individual, of whatever country, colour, or condition, who has been imprisoned, banished, fettered, flogged, hanged, burned, or otherwise punished; also specifying the dates of their respective commitments, trials, senterices, periods of confinement, punishments, and of all those who have died in prison!"

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When the place in which, the circumstances under which, and the person by whom, this motion was made, be considered, we may safely defy any one to produce its parallel from the annals of human modesty †. It is unique; it is matchless! But we shall possibly have occasion to return to this motion, under another head of our inquiry; it is only introduced here to shew how early Mr. Fullarton acted as if he had received authority to establish an inquisition on the past government of B. G. Picton, though his instructions unquestionably gave him no such power. Now let us see what Lieutenant-colonel Draper says on this subject:

" I myself heard of some curious stories at that time, and of some still more curious information, of a very particular nature, being sent out from this country a little before the Commissioners Commissioners sai sailed from England, take upon them the government of Trinidad. When I was in that island,

to

* Mr. Fullarton's liberal and manly attacks upon Mr. Woodyear, whom we knew, and knew him to be a man of sense, of integrity, and of honour, but who unhappily is not alive to answer for himself, shall not pass without some appropriate comments.

+ Though Mr. Fullarton had gravely stated that this motion was essential for the public service (which, by the bye, it was calculated to impede in every possible way) he tells us, in a note, that it was only made " in order to check the violence with which the Brigadier seemed determined to overpower him." See his ponderous quarto of literary lumber, p. 44, and note. a variety

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a variety of reports assailed my ears; to these I paid very little attention, and indeed all remembrance of them would have been obliterated in (from) my mind, if a document had not been transmitted to me of such a nature as at once to put my suspicions beyond all doubt, and to prove, from an authority so high, so unspotted, so entirely beyond the reach of contradiction, or disbelief, as most amply and completely warrants me in giving it my own full and unequivocal belief, and in laying the whole of it now before the British public."

Colonel Draper then proceeds to exhibit this document, which is, indeed, a most important, and a most extraordinary one. It is an affidavit sworn by Doctor Lynch, a physician of respectability and character, before Mr. Nihell, the Chief Judge of Trinidad; and the substance of which was first communicated by the Doctor, in a letter to Mr. Gloster, the Attorney-General of the island, a copy of which Colonel Draper also gives. The following is the affidavit in question.

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"TRINIDAD.-Frederick J. Lynch, of the Port of Spain, Island of Trinidad, Esq. Doctor of Physic, maketh oath and saith, that in or about the month of November, one thousand eight hundred and two, he was present at the office of his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, and a conversation then took place between this deponent and John Sullivan, Esq. respecting Trinidad, and particularly as to grants of land, about to be made to persons going thither, and on what terms such grants could be obtained; when the said John Sullivan, Esq. in the course of such conversation, inquired whether this deponent had any letters to his Majesty's Commissioners; to which this deponent answered, that he had two to General Picton. Upon which the said John Sullivan, Esq. recommended this deponent to procure some, if possible, to the First Commissioner, Colonel Fullarton, and stated, that the said Colonel Fullarton would have it in his power to be of more service to this deponent than General Picton could be, or words to that effect; and gave this deponent, as a reason for such recommendation, that in all probability General Picton would be ordered to return to England before six months, as Colonel Fullar. -ton was instructed to investigate the (then) past conduct of General Picton in Trinidad. And this deponent further maketh oath and saith, that he expressed his surprize, on his arrival in this Colony, in the month of March 1803, that it was not generally known or understood, that the said Colonel Fullarton had such instructions, the said John Sullivan having mentioned the circumstance to this deponent as a stranger, and not in a confidential manner, which induced this deponent to relate the substance of the conversation herein before mentioned, immediately after his arrival in this island, and several times since.

"Sworn at the Port of Spain aforesaid, this fifteenth day of July, 1805, before me, John Nihell, Chief Justice, and Judge of the Consulado."

"FREDERIC J. LYNCH, M. D.

We confess we want words to express our feelings no this occasion. casion. We know not how to designate, how to characterize this transaction. Here are wheels within wheels, an imperium in imperio, with a vengeance! A Secretary of State giving one set of public instructions, and an Under-Secretary giving another set of private instructions, as it would seem, totally different in measure and effect! Public applause-secret accusation! What a chaos!We can plainly descry, however, through the obscurity in which this dark transaction is involved, the features of a plan, the probable effect of which on the fame and the fortunes of a distinguished officer, who, but four months before, had received the commendation of the Secretary of State, may be easily conceived. Colonel Draper feels as a man, as an officer, as a gentleman, should feel on such an occasion; he summons Mr. Sullivan to answer for his conduct at the bar of the public, and calls upon him to declare by whom was Mr. Ful larton instructed to investigate Governor Picton's past conduct?"I have a right, Sir, to ask you this question; and I do now, in the face of your country, call you to the bar of the English nation, and I do demand of you, as a matter of right, which you are bound, as a gentleman and a man of honour to answer; I do say, I have a right to demand of you, by whose authority was Mr. Fullarton instructed or commissioned ?" - The Colonel asserts that Lord Hobart, by his letter of July 19th, 1802, totally disavowed the transaction; and so did General Grinfield, the Commander in Chief in the West Indies, who declared in August, 1803, that Colonel Picton's " fame will rise the higher for the unmerited persecution under which he now labours."

"The then Premier, Lord Sidmouth, I know, has disavowed it utterly and in toto; and it would appear an unseemly insinuation of my want of confidence in that declaration, if I presumed to remind his Lordship or the public, of the particular language which announced that disavowal. I believe his Lordship was, and is, perfectly sincere in that statement. Where, then, are we to look for the author of those instructions to in. vestigate the conduct of Colonel Picton?' 'There is no doubt that Mr. Sullivan's threat, for at present I shall give it no other name, was rea. lized; his conduct was investigated, although Colonel Picton was not ordered to return to England,' as Mr. Fullarton has falsely asserted *; yet Colonel Picton did certainly leave Trinidad, to return to England, in about six months after Mr. Fullarton's arrival there: I, therefore, say, that the character of the British nation, the honour of his Majesty's government, the public service itself, and the safety of the individual who hereafter de,

"* General Grinfield, the Commander in Chief's words are: You will, therefore, not hurry yourself, either in coming here or in going to

Europe, either of which is in your optron. (Signed)

Barbadoes, June 13, 1803."

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"W, GRINFIELD.

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votes his service to it, are all equally connected, and most deeply interested in this momentous question. I do, therefore, again call upon you, Mr. Sullivan, to come forward and to answer my question. In the name of the British empire, in the name of the army that supports, serves, and sheds its blood for that empire, in the name of every thing honourable, just, and fair, do I call upon you, John Sullivan, Esq. to avow the author of those secret instructions. You must, Sir, now come forward; this business shall no longer be overlooked or forgotten. While I live, and have a pen, or a tongue, you shall not escape investigation or notice. I will take you from your hiding place, or your protection, be it where or who it may, and summon you as an officer and a gentleman, to avow your author for those private instructions. The task, I know, is. Herculean; but I will endea, vour to draw the Cacus from his den. It is in vain, Mr. Sullivan, to sophisticate about the business; a disavowal on your side is totally and utterly impossible entirely incredible. You, Sir, I am satisfied, will never think of it. Doctor Lynch, I state, is anxious and ardent to re-assert and corroborate his affidavit at the bar of a British Court of Justice. Nothing, therefore, but an open, manly, unqualified, avowal of the author of those private instructions will satisfy the nation. I do not, Mr. Sullivan, mean or insinuate any thing contrary to your honour or reputa. tion, when I say that the nation knows of your connexion with Mr. Ful. larton in the East Indies. It is asserted, Sir, that you were the chief cause of his being appointed to the Government or Commissionership of the Island of Trinidad: however, of this I do not pretend to be fully informed. That you had any hand in suggesting or in forming that unhappy and ill-fated Commission, is very unlikely; for giving you all credit for abilities, Under Secretaries are, in general, not the persons consulted in those important measures. However, Sir, all these things apart, not to spin my web too fine, and that I may be at once understood, I assert, you have been, and were, the friend of Mr. Fullarton on the occasion. I do not blame you for this, Mr. Sullivan. I blame and accuse you in the face of your country, and before that body of men, the root and source of whose honour and reputation you have attempted to undermine and de. stroy for ever, by secretly, insidiously, and without any just cause, pre. suming to circulate a report, for which you had no right or legitimate authority, no honest or honourable pretext for circulating or insinuating. This, Mr. Sulliyan, is my charge against you, and you will now clear yourself before God and your country as well as you can."

Lieutenant-colonel Draper pursues this spirited appeal through several pages. Hejustly characterizes the prosecution of Colonel Picton, he points out the nature, progress, operation, and effects of it, both on the immediate object of it, and in its relation to the service itself, and to the public at large. His pamphlet should be read by every officer in the service, and, indeed, by every other person.-Before we quit this part of the subject, however, we must again most seriously, and most solemnly, exhort the Government to investigate this dark and mysterious business;-the honourable and comprehensive mind of the gentleman who now presides over the colonial department will, we are persuaded, grasp, at one view, the whole bearings and tendency of this important questioni