5410. _Chairman._] But it may exist?--Yes, it may exist; but unless you can prove it, the penalties of the Act would not reach him. 5411. Do you conceive that the act of selling a vessel or goods that may be hereafter employed, or that shall be, to the knowledge of the person selling them, employed in the slave trade, falls within the meaning of the Act, unless that person is to have a share in the profits of the transaction?--Yes, I believe it does include that; I think that it forbids aiding and assisting in every way, even as servants, or employed in boats. 5412. Mr. _Forster_.] Then you think that a British subject selling goods to Pedro Blanco, or any other slave dealer, with the impression on his mind, or, in fact, the conviction on his mind, that those goods would be employed in the slave trade, would come within the meaning of that Act?--Yes certainly; but the difficulty would be in the proof of the guilty knowledge. Such an act as that is certainly intended to come within the Act; not that I would recommend that those words, “knowingly and wilfully,” should be taken out entirely; I think it might be a dangerous thing to do so; but I am speaking of what, in my opinion, the meaning of the Act is, namely, that it is absolutely necessary in every case to prove the guilty knowledge, in order to bring the party accused within the penalties of the Act. 5413. In what way would you prove the mental impression upon the man’s mind?--There is the difficulty. 5414. Do you think that any British Act of Parliament would impose penalties for the mental impression upon a man’s mind?--I have stated that I am not prepared to say whether or not the words “knowingly and wilfully” might be advantageously omitted from the Act, but a guilty knowledge may be inferred from particular circumstances. 5415. Then you consider that that Act of Parliament is an Act against constructive slave trading?--No. 5416. _Chairman._] You consider it to be an Act against aiding and abetting the slave trade in as many ways as the Act of Parliament can reach it?--Yes; there is no Act that I ever read that is so general and comprehensive in its terms; but unfortunately it is limited, as it must be limited, in its application. 5417. Mr. _Forster_.] Can you quote the authority of any British lawyer for the opinions you have expressed with respect to the construction of that Act?--Yes, I have heard opinions expressed on the subject from the Bench at Sierra Leone repeatedly, and by educated lawyers. 5418. In the case of a British merchant selling goods to a person who was known to have no other means of gaining his livelihood, except by the slave trade, the party selling the goods would in your opinion be liable to the penalties of that Act?--It is the same thing in that case; you must prove guilty knowledge, direct or implied.