Madame Duval was conducted on the part of the Briga dier and Mr. Woodyear, Colonel Fullarton deemed it essential for the public service, that a certified statement should be produced of all the criminal proceedings which had taken place since the conquest of the island, specifying, in a list, every individual of whatever country, colour, or condition, who had been imprisoned, banished, fettered, flogged, mutilated, tortured to extort confession, hanged, burnt, or otherwise punished, with the dates of their respective commitments, trials, sentences, periods of their confinement, punishments, and of all those who had died in prison, in order that he might know the individuals who had incurred the Brigadier's displeasure, and the grounds on which they were considered as dangerous to the Settlement. This list was arranged so dis, tinctly, formally, and in such specific terms, that it paralis ed the minds of the junto, who, with their chief, were in full possession of the military power, and were determined to render Colonel Fullarton's situation at the head of the civil government, at once contemptible and inefficient; and therefore the list thus moved for, was to check the violence with which the Brigadier seemed determined to overcome him.

You must know, Sir, that by his Majesty's instructions, the Colonel was precluded either from returning to Europe, or, in the capacity of first commissioner, of making use of those ordinary means (between gentlemen) of repressing the outrage with which he was assailed; therefore his own energies were the only means left to rescue him from circumstances so degrading. The sequel justified the conduct of the Colonel: for this decisive measure alarmed them, and gave a turn to their mistaken views of the man, whom they considered so humble and mild in his temper. Hence they foolishly

imagined, that if the Brigadier let loose the reins of his opposite qualification of violence and outrage, the Colonel would be forced to sanction and continue the sanguinary system of terror and severity, cruelty, and horror, without any regard being paid to the forms of Spanish or of English law. Matters stood in this situation when Lieutenant-General Grinfield, and the third comnissioner, Commodore Hood, arrived: but in the interim, I shall take the liberty of closing this letter, which the importance of the subject made its diffuseness unavoidable.

Vale.

LETTER XV.

Scene at the Mole-Lieutenant-General Grinfield and Commodore Hood received with Military HonorsThe Awkwardness of the Troops, and the Embarrassment of Brigadier-General Picton-The Commodore prejudiced against the First Commissioner—His Dream, and Conduct unaccountable-Military Aid denied the Civil Power Colonel Fullarton's Statement to the Commissioners-Brigadier-General Picton's Determination to persist in forcing Colonel Fullarton to concur in sanguinary Measures-The Commodore's Conduct on this Occasion-The Brigadier's Intention to destroy the Criminal Records, but frustrated by Colonel Fullarton, who gains possession of them-Proceedings on this Occasion-Colonel Fullarton embarks on Board the Schooner Start, &c.

DEAR SIR,

Head-Quarters, PUERTO DE ESPANA, March 1803.

ON the 22d ultimo, I went to the Mole

to see Lieutenant-General Grinfield and Commodore Hood land, where I found the Brigadier surrounded by a possé of his adherents, who, I suspected, were displeased at the Colonel's conduct in going on board to congratulate them on their arrival. In this I was confirmed when they

landed, for the Brigadier thus ironically insulted Sir James Bontein, whe attended the Colonel on board:"I hope your Excellency has arrived in good health; I beg leave to congratulate you on your landing safely in Trinidad!" Sir James expressed his surprise at this address; when the Brigadier answered, that he understood Sir James had been appointed a commissioner; and after a display of his habitual abuse, he charged the Colonel with having sinister views in visiting General Grinfield and the Commodore. Sir James asserted positively that not a single word had been used on board respecting any business; but still the outrageous Brigadier defied him, as a gentleman, to uphold his position. To complete this scene, the discarded Secretary stept forward to assure Sir James that he would not apply to him to be reinstated. From the Mole, I followed the Commander-in-Chief and his retinue, &c. to the place [ where they were received by the Brigadier and the garrison with military honors. But although I was much surprised before at what I heard, I was now particularly so at what I saw. The common ceremony of presenting arms was ill performed, and, instead of going through their ceremonial evolutions with precision, they bore an assimilation to the untutored militia of Nora Scotia, which must have convinced Lieutenant-General Grinfield that they had been much neglected. The Brigadier gave a word of command, which the troops obeyed by reversing it; some faced one way, and some another. The General, with an angry countenance, said something, and the Brigadier seemed extremely embarrassed, which was, in all probability, heightened by the loud peals of laughter from the adjacent gallaries, indicating either pity or contempt. The Brigadier, however, soon recovered himself by riding up and down the ranks

abusing the officers. Some days after, I went to see them all reviewed, and being close to General Grinfield, I heard him exclaim: D-n my bd! these troops are a disgrace to the service,raw recruits would have done it better!" Independent of these particulars, the General constantly shewed his displeasure on the parade, by reprobating vociferously their neglected state of discipline.

It is positively asserted that the sanguinary party, when they found they could not corrupt the Colonel's integrity, nor bend his mind to relish human sacrifices, assailed the Commodore, whilst he remained at Burbadoes, with such misrepresentations as would at any time lead a puerile mind astray. The grand object they wished to attain, was to separate the first and third commissioners, by interrupting the cordiality that subsisted between them, which would ultimately rescind the commission, and thereby vest the whole power again in the hands of the Brigadier. That the Commodore's mind was strongly tinctured with the poison which had been administered, became visible by the influence it had in regulating his subsequent conduct. Having dreamt that the first commissioner and himself had been sent to Trinidad to screen, or to adopt the measures of the former Governor, who acted the bloody Moloch, and delighted in human sacrifice,-an oppressive and arbitrary tyrant, blind to the charms of virtue,-deaf to the complaints of truth,-drank without remorse the tear of the afflicted, and invariably poisoned the cup of distress to embitter the draught:-it was, therefore, under the influence of this dream that he conceived Colonel Fullarton's conduct improper, who, being in the confidence of Government, ought not to pry into the former turpitude of the Brigadier, or bring forward any charges against him.