ch
27th.
It appears from the London papers, that "the king has remitted the
sentence of death of the court martial on Mr. Smith, the missionary of
the London Society in Demerara, (which sentence was accompanied by a
recommendation for mercy on the part of the court,) but has given orders
that he should be dismissed from the colony, and should come under
obligations not to reside within any of his majesty's colonial
possessions in the West Indies." The charges against Mr. Smith appear to
have originated in the perjury of some of the negroes engaged in the
insurrection.
In the mean time Mr. Smith was languishing under the influence of
disease, which rendered the stroke of the executioner unnecessary to
remove him from the earth. He died in prison, before the intelligence
had arrived that his sentence was reversed. The following notice of his
death appeared in the Demerara Courant.
_Died,_--In the Colonial Jail, at Demerara, February 9th, where he had
been confined, as a state prisoner since the 26th of November last, on
the termination of his trial by the general court martial, on a charge
of high treason, sentence thereon having been transmitted to his majesty
for his final decision--JOHN SMITH, missionary; he had been in a poor
state of health, and had been attended regularly by skilful physicians.
We are happy to state, from personal inquiry and inspection, that this
unhappy man had the utmost attention and kindness shewn to him, by the
humane keeper of the prison, (Mr. Padmore,) all the time of his
confinement. His apartment was airy and commodious, he had always at his
command every comfort which his taste fancied or his necessities
required. He has left a widow to deplore his fate, and deplore his loss.
The conviction which results from the present state of our information
on this subject, is that, through prejudice and exasperated feeling, Mr.
Smith was condemned, being innocent. The directors of the society under
which he laboured, have, however, given us reason to look for further
intelligence in a future number of the Missionary Chronicler, which we
hope will soon arrive.
It appears that none of the negroes under the instruction of any
missionary, either of the London or Wesleyan Missionary Society except
Mr. Smith, were implicated in the insurrection. Respecting the
Methodists in the colony we quote the following statement from the
Wesleyan Methodist Magazine:
We stated in our last number, that Me
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