September 21st, 1827.—­On this day I attended the Court, to hear the trial to which I have already alluded.  It was a case of adultery, and the parties were all free blacks.  The action was brought by a carpenter against the Rev. Samuel Thorpe, a preacher at one of the Independent chapels, for criminal conversation with his wife; and, as I have a copy from the records of the Court, I think it will be much more satisfactory to insert the document in full, than to supersede it by any desultory remarks of my own.  It will give a clear and characteristic idea of the state of society amongst these people.  The occurrence was so unusual, that it created no small astonishment, that such a case should be brought into Court.  The following is the address of the plaintiff’s counsel, and the verdict.

  BERNARD v.  THORPE.

  “Gentlemen of the Jury,

“I bespeak your attention and indulgence.  I am not only this day the advocate of my client, but I am lending my humble efforts to defend, perhaps I ought to say, assert, the divine right and sacredness of the social compact of marriage, the palladium of every married man’s family, happiness and comfort.  I will remind you, gentlemen of the jury, that this is the first action of the kind that has been tried on these boards since the colony has been ceded to the British crown.—­Among you, gentlemen of the jury, I see fathers, brothers, and husbands, to all I appeal this day on behalf of my client, and of this colony.  Shew the world this day, by your verdict, that you will not suffer with impunity the foul crime of adultery to be committed in the face of a rising family; shew the value in which you hold the solemn engagements of your female relatives; let your verdict warn the seducer that he dare not trespass on any man’s honour, or blight with apathy, for one moment, any pleasure or gratification of his conjugal tenderness.

“It has been too common in actions of this kind, for the defendant to treat with contumely the humble situation of the injured prosecutor.  I do not apprehend much from any such attempt in this cause.  I acknowledge, gentlemen, that my client is a very humble individual, but he is a respectable and an honest man, by trade a carpenter.  I see, gentlemen, on your countenances, that his humble lot shall not deprive him from having his happiness considered as dear to him as to any man, and equally inviolate; for you need not be told, that the comforts and happiness of the rich and the poor originate from one source:  as it is not necessary to be rich to feel with acuteness the pain to which our weak frames are subject, or to enjoy with zest the most pleasurable sensations, so the poor possess the same advantages; indeed, it is the poor to whom family happiness must be the greatest solace! the rich have various resources to derive comfort from; the poor seldom more than centres in their family.  But before I attempt to describe to you the sufferings