it is hard for my Daughter Caracter to be taken away falsly and which Mr Curtiss was the permenence Guard that make Silence and She is a Common Disturbeance threwout the neabour Hood. "I am "Your obedient Servant The next case is that of a negro suing for divorce on grounds certainly of very strong suspicion of infidelity on the part of his better half. The following epistle is the preliminary application: "TO MR MADDAN ESQUIRE "Anderson Mattix beg the favour of Mr Maddin to grant him paper to carry to Church to join together in Matrimony as I had taken one before and ask my Master for a paper to Marry and he told me he would join us in Matrimony himself and the Overseer accordingly he did and since he join us togeth Buckra has taken away my wife from me these nine years I have tried to see if she would return to me and she will not leave Buckra after I found that be the case I went to him to give me a paper to join a fresh he said he could not I must go to the Bishop and he will give me leave to join according to his orders I went and he send me to Parson Camill of half-way Tree and he told me he would Bublish the Banns and on the third Sunday I must come to join together on the Sund I was to go my master would not allow me to go I have brought this to you my Master to beg of you to look into this Complaint for me as I am a Religious man and wish to live as Christian life and not a sinful one my Master can never give me a bad Character as since I was a Servant of his I always try my endeavour to obey him as a Servant never absent from my work but alway try to obey his Orders." I had to inform the applicant in this case, that there is no jurisdiction in the colony, in matters of divorce; on which information the negro lawyer of my poor com plainant immcdiately induced him to alter his application, and to demand a restitution of conjugal rights. But here again was a difficulty,-the question of the validity of a marriage ceremony performed by an overseer; and, lastly, there was the advantage of the applicant to be considered before proceeding to extremities for the recovery of a worthless woman. He eventually agreed to leave it to the decision of the rector. The next epistle is from a negro cook, which savours prodigiously of a lawyer's kitchen: the writer appeared before me in a sort of demi-official culinary costume— a blue frock-coat trimmed with frogs, a white apron rolled up under his arm, and a bundle of papers in his hand, neatly folded up-either cookery receipts, or characters from his various places. THE COOK'S LETTER. "To DR. MADDEN, Special Justice of the City and parish of Kingston. "Having being informed, that you are appointed to investigate, and to hear, and determine upon the Several matters and things, and all Cases ariseing in this said City and parish of Kingston, I am induced to lay before your Honor, my case, viz. As I was informed, by the individual whose protection I am under, at present That I am at liberty to work for the use of myself, without any molestation, from any person or persons, whomsoever, and as my profession being a Cook, and I may obtain an employment in some part in the Country, I crave much to have a paper of some kind to show that, I am at liberty to go wherever I may thinks fit, unmolested, by which means, I solicits your Kind interference, by giving me an advice, how I am to act,— By so doing, you will be ever esteemed by "Your most humble, "and Obedient, Servant, 1 "Kingston, Aug. 14, 1834." A female apprentice was brought before me for refusing to put herself under the treatment of a white doctor, and preferring the assistance of a black one-a very natural predilection, which the negroes commonly have, for doctors of their own colour. The editor of a paper described the approach of the black doctor, when called on, as a sort of hop-skip-and-a-jump movement, with his arms swinging backwards and forwards, and as styling himself a member of the Jamaica College of Physicians, duly ordained to subscribe for the sick, and to arbitrate limbs, when occasion required it; and that on my expressing some doubt of his qualifications, he made a low bow, and then, making one tremendous stride, quitted the office. There was some truth in the account, mixed with a great deal of exaggeration; and in a day or two after its insertion, I saw the following letter in the newspapers from the black doctor, Mr. Wm. Barclay, which is a tolerable specimen of the altered tone to buckra, which may be remarked, since August; the negro no longer speaks "with baited breath, and in a bondsman's key." The black doctor felt himself aggrieved by the report in question, and he remonstrated with the buckra editor, with the spirit of a freeman, and with the propriety of a respectable person,-barring a few hard words, which go for nothing in a Jamaica newspaper. "To the Editor of the Kingston Chronicle and City Advertiser. "SIR,-I have been perusing an elaborate, and, in your idea, creditable production of yours, in your paper of the 25th inst., giving an account of a trial which took place before his Honour the Special Magistrate, respecting a Mrs. Forrest and her apprentice, which is completely garbled, and void of facts. It is time you should put aside your childhood, and not tell fibs. You have distorted my expressions; and as to your invidious remarks of my being a black doctor, it tends but little to your credit. I am, Sir, black, 'tis true-my colour shows it; but pray, Sir, what colour are you of? I am not presumptive enough to style myself an M. D. I am known as a druggist, and attended the said female for a chronic affection, found her medicines, and tendered her relief-more was not required of me, (without her owner's aid.) I never applied to his Honour for the amount of my bill, as you stated. That and the other statements are void of facts. "I never was sent to college: you, probably, may have walked to it, and round about it. But I value but little your sarcastic sneers: but the day is fast approaching when it will be seen the blacks will have the same advantage of emulating as you have, and possess equal capacity, and are made of the same materials. You may designate me a blue man, for all I care; but as long as my conduct claims respect of all my superiors, a fig for your bombast. "There is at present a wide field for you to display your abilities, and not to be grovelling to injure one who does not, or have any wish to offend. But, Sir, it is out of your power, or your coadjutors, to stamp me with dishonesty, or want of integrity; and, as Pope said, an honest man was the noblest work of God, so I take my leave of you, and remain, Mr. Editor, " WILLIAM HAM. BARCLAY. "Kingston, August 30." I shall merely give you an outline of two cases of recent occurrence, in which the sable parties were a couple of as accomplished knaves as I have yet met with. The first was that of a negro boy named Adam, about twelve years of age, a remarkably sharp, intelligentlooking boy. He complained of an iron collar having been kept on his neck for about a twelvemonth by his master, for having repeatedly ran away. The fact was admitted; and I made up my mind to turn over the matter to the attorney-general, for his jurisdiction. The boy, likewise, preferred à claim to freedom, on VOL. II. 10 Mr. the ground of having been to England some years previously, with the children of his former owner. Hyslop, and several of the local magistrates, were on the bench. They were all struck, as I was, with the artless and ingenuous manner in which he described his voyage to England, and arrival in London. I called on him to describe the River: he said it was more than a day from the sea to London-that there were a great many ships-and where he landed, the ship was shut up in a square place filled with water; there was also the church of London not a great way from the place where he landed, and the king's palace opposite to it, with a great many big trees. The church and the palace confounded me a little; but my friends around saw nothing in the account but evident proofs of veracity. The church was no other than St. Paul's-the palace no other than Greenwich Hospital, which the poor boy had mistaken for the King's house. I asked him to describe the streets of London: he instantly gave me a most elaborate account of the big street that run through the town: this my friends immediately discovered to be the Strand;-and the little streets, that were smaller than the great one, with beautiful gardens, and great big trees growing in them-these, it was evident, could be nothing else than the squares, and the shrubs and plants therein. His accurate description of the jail of London, which must have been the Old Bailey, and was built of big stones, with great iron bars in the doors and windows, that looked very dark and terrible, left no doubt of his veracity; while the extraordinary intelligence displayed in all his answers gave us a very favourable impression of his character. I now summoned his former owners, and all the persons whom he had spoken of as cognizant of his having been sent to England. They came; and the result of their examination was, the clearest evidence that the boy had never been to England in his life. During their examination he never changed a muscle. He even cross-examined one of the witnesses to support |