Note 260 — SECTION XIX: CHAPTER V

It should not be forgotten that Picton, no less than Craufurd, was at this time living down an old disaster. But Picton’s misfortune had not been military. It was the celebrated case of Rex v. Picton. He had been tried for permitting the use of torture to extract evidence against criminals while governor of the newly conquered island of Trinidad, and convicted, though Spanish law (which was still in force in Trinidad) apparently permitted of the practice. After this Picton was a marked man. The story of Luisa Calderon, the quadroon girl who had been tortured by ‘picketing,’ had been appearing intermittently in the columns of every Whig paper for more than three years.