5293. Would there be any difficulty or objection to that?—There is no establishment of clerks connected with the Vice-Admiralty Court to supply copies at all, and it is not the custom of the judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court to report his proceedings home.
5294. Mr. Evans.] Do you think that the Mixed Commission Court has sufficient power for the objects for which it is instituted?—I think that they have. They have been rather shy of exercising it sometimes, but I believe that they do possess much more power than they ever exercised.
5295. You have no improvement in the court to suggest?—No. There seemed to be a deficiency of authority in the marshal a short time ago; but that was supplied by a local Act, which gave him all the power which the marshal of the Vice-Admiralty Court possesses.
5296. Chairman.] It is stated by Dr. Madden, in page 14, that the new interests which he supposes to be created in the minds of the British residents, especially in the minds of the liberated negroes, “have a very unfavourable influence upon them when employed in public situations, or called upon to act as petty juries in our courts.” He states, “if the case is one which involves the interest of a slave dealer, no matter what his nation, the disposition of a jury thus composed is invariably to give a verdict in favour of the slave trader, unless the chief justice should take extraordinary pains to make them do their duty honestly and impartially.” Do you know instances in which this has operated?—No; I believe it never operated in any case.
5297. What are the cases in which slave dealers come before juries in Sierra Leone?—Slave dealers have come before them, and been convicted and executed; I never knew an instance of a man who ought to have been convicted escaping.
5298. He mentions here an instance of a vessel, the Gollupchik, being captured and being sold, and becoming the property of certain London merchants, and being again sent out with a cargo of goods for the slave trade factories of Gallinas, under British colours, and commanded by a British subject. “The vessel,” he says, “was condemned by the Mixed Court of Justice at Sierra Leone, and the English captain was committed for trial at the ensuing assizes. The grand jury found a true bill against this man on the clearest evidence, but the petty jury, all of whom were persons of colour, returned an unanimous verdict of acquittal, which was received by the coloured persons in the court, and by some others of similar sentiments, with decided tokens of approbation.” Are you acquainted with that case?—Not at all; without knowing the case it would be impossible to say whether the jury were right or wrong; I have known cases where they have discharged persons accused of slave dealing, and where they were right. In the case referred to by Mr. Hartung of the Echo, the jury thought that the prisoner was not liable to conviction; but I never knew in my time any man who ought to have been convicted of slave dealing escape.
5299. Generally speaking, did you find the coloured juries do their duty in all cases?—Certainly; they do their duty very well.
5300. Mr. W. Patten.] Is it from any particular class that juries are selected?—The grand juries are selected from the most respectable inhabitants of Freetown, and the petty juries from shopkeepers and the reputable class of traders.
5301. Viscount Courtenay.] Who selects them?—The sheriff.
5302. Chairman.]—Has the office of chief justice been frequently vacant?—It has been vacant several times since I was in the colony, and an acting chief justice has been appointed.