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762 X, AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

not at the time she was taken, And whst became of them
after they left the vessel? Why they sought refuge among
the negroes and in the forest. How different was the conduet
of the Portuguese, who shipped at Prince’s Island, and had
no concern with the robbery. One of them went on board
the Panda immediately after the English had taken possession
of her, and the other songht a passage home in a vessel lying
very near the Panda. From the instructions of the captain
of the Panda, I believe the whole affair was a regular pirat-
ical and slaving speculation, on the part of certain individu-
als in the Havana, for the Panda had not a sufficient cargo
to purchase the number of slaves (450) she was going for,
and the wages of the crew also were $1000 per month. Mr.
Peyton informed the court that slaves on the coast of Africa
eould be purchased for $12 each.

I shall now advert to the alleged contradictions in the evi-
dence of Perez, The statement of this witness, ‘‘that he had
not been drunk, and had not had rum given him,’’ was not
contradicted by the statement he made in gaol to Mr. Bad-
lam. He told Mr. Badlam that on that oceasion he had had
wine given to him; but never acknowledged that he received
Yum, or that he had been drank. The witness’ state of mind,
too, when he said this should be taken into consideration. He
believed he had been dealt faithlessly with by the govern-
ment, and under this impression made use of words attrib
uted to him. At the conclusion of the interview, however, be
stated that ‘‘when before the judge he would tell the truth,”
thus clearly intimating that his previous statement about the
wine was a falsehood. In relation to Perez's declaration, that
he could not read or write, he had used the words in their
common aeceptation and meant to say that he could not read
as others did, with any degree of fluency.

Tf Perez had declared he could read and had given no bet-
ter specimen than he did in the court (reading or rather
spelling two lines in five minutes) the counsel for the prison-
ers could have accused him of taying claim to @ qualification
which he did not possess, But, even admitting that Perez had

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