ent under the
denomination of colonels, Colonel L-- alone excepted, who had nothing to
say, and was only brought there in order to give credit to that party,
made so ridiculous a figure, and gave so absurd, contradictory, and
inconsistent an evidence, as no court or jury could give the least
degree of credit to. On the other hand, it was observed, that the
nephew and Mr. M--, his chief manager, being absolute strangers in that
country, and unacquainted with the characters of the persons they had to
deal with, were obliged to lay before the court and jury such evidence
as came to their hand, some of whom plainly appeared to have been
put upon them by their adversaries with a design to hurt. It was also
manifest, that the witnesses produced for Mr. A--, were such as could
have no manner of connection with him, nor any dependence whatsoever
upon him, to influence their evidence; for the far greatest part of them
had never seen him from his infancy till the trial began; and many of
them, though poor, and undignified with the title of colonels, were
people of unblemished character, of great simplicity, and such as no man
in his senses would pitch upon to support a bad cause. It is plain that
the jury, whose well-known honour, impartiality, and penetration, must
be revered by all who are acquainted with them, were not under the least
difficulty about their verdict; for they were not enclosed above half
an hour, when they returned with it. These gentlemen could not help
observing the great inequality of the parties engaged, the great
advantages that the uncle had in every other respect, except the
truth and justice of his case, over the nephew, by means of his vast
possessions, and of his power and influence all round the place of his
birth; nor could the contrast between the different geniuses of the two
parties escape their observation. They could not but see and conclude,
that a person who had confessedly transported and sold his orphan nephew
into slavery,--who, on his return, had carried on so unwarrantable and
cruel a prosecution to take away his life under colour of law,--and who
had also given such glaring proofs of his skill and dexterity in the
management of witnesses for that cruel purpose,--was in like manner
capable of exerting the same happy talent on this occasion, when his all
was at stake; more especially, as he had so many others who were equally
interested with himself, and whose abilities in that respect fell