Star. — London, England, 1824-01-07 00:00:00

& ••••1•Imm, but oh, to raise his arm against the life of his friend and fellow-creature, it was terrible, it waiappalling, it was most horrible. His mind shuddered at such a thought, t was one which he could" not -dwell upon. He had been represented as a sporting man—he had been so, but he ha( only followed in that the example of many thousands of persons of the first rank and dis tinction in the country ; but etis he declared, and could prove, he had never entered a gaming-house for the last three years; and when he had unfortunately addicted himself to this course, who were the sufferers? why, his unfortur rte father and family ; and it was unneces sary for him to say, no fortune could sustain the shocks of a man addicted to gaming, and no one could now describe what his feelings were for his past misconduct and its effects. He had, as before stated, served his King and his country, and when peace shed its lustre over the land, his services, like those of thou sands of others, was considered as no longer neces, sary : on his return to his native country, be engaged inl commercial pnrsuits ; but in these, like other indi.. l viduals, be had been unsuccessful —le had. failed ; but his' a,signees had thought well of him, though he had found bitter enemies where he had hoped to find. the sincerest friendship—his confidential solicitor had deceived him, and he had been ruined. •He had not obtained his certificate, and svby had he not? his principal creditor had demanded a bonus of 300/. above the proportion paid to his creditors generally, before he woul.l sign ii, and in resisting what he considered an attempt at fraud, he had been made the sacrifice. lie had Afterwards. become a partner in a concern with his bro_ ther ; they had the misbirtune to have their house burnt down ;he afterwards brought his action against the Fire Office, and in that action, tried before the Learned Judge who now presided, his claim had been allowed. He had, however, been charged by Mr. Barber Beaumont with a conspiracy, and if he were so inclined, he could soon skew that he was not the conspirator—that he was not the suborner of evidence. He, the defender of his King and Country, had been charged with conspi racy by that amass who had dared to raise the standard of rebellion in the very front of his Sove reign's Palace. The Newspapers—the Public Press, which ought to be the defenders of public liberty and private individuals, had charged- him with at tempting to inveigle an individual, named Woods, to a house in Manchester-buildings, with an intention of having him assassinated. If he thought it right to take up the time of the Court and Jury, and if it were not in consideration of the happiness of an amiable woman, he would prove, by the evidence of many most respectable inhabitants oi Norwich, that he was not at that time in London, but was in his native city The public papers had also charged bins, most cruelly . and calumniously, with . having, after the rage of battle was over—(llere the prisOner's feelings.were so much overpowered that he was obliged to pause to re• cover himself ; after a few moments he recovered so far - as to be able to proceed)—He had been. charged with having, after the rage of the battle, was over, cruelly, basely, and savagely slaughtered a defeated, wounded, arid ur.at med enemy in ccol blood. ; Had there ever been a case in which calumnies' so base had been Leaped on any individual, 0 r in which a man had been sent to be tried by his Peers for his life, with such a load of prejudice heaped on his devoted head? Ile would tic.w i teceed to call the attention of the Jury to the facts of his case, and the evidence produced in sup port nf it: bui first, he must beg leave to return his most sincere and hean.felt thanks to the High Sheriff for his kindness and attention to /sins during his imprisonment ; he must also beg leave to express the same sentiments of the . Magistrates of the cupnty, for their uniform attention; and. greatly did Le lament that any misunderstanding or misconception had arisen between some of them and the Reverend Mr. Lloyd to whom he was under great obligations; and lastly: though not least in the list, he must acknowledge ehe unremitting kindness of Mr. Wilson, the governor d the prison. To the Reverend Mr. Franklin his obligation was indeed great—to his instructions it was owing that his religious and moral feelings were in such a state as bad enabled him to meet his present awful situation without shrinking from it. Ile would now, to the best of his abilities, proceed to point Out to the Jury those variances in the evidence berme the Jury and the Co-' tuner, and the differences of facts as stated by the several witnesses; and first, he must beg the Jury to keep in their recollection, that the piincipal ana only evidence who proved the murder was the in dividual whose motive for giving evidence was to save his own life. Thobert alone proved the mur der ; and vtliat weie the facts he swore to? How did it appear that the body ens en! placed in the Poed where it was found immediately atter the murder was committed? Prebert alone was tie witne-s to speak to its being deposited in the pond in Nobel is ga: den ; so, also, he was the only evidence to !stove the remove) from that pond to the 'other; or from the la..e to I'm o bstres pond. He knew not whether he was right or riot, but Isis opinion was, that the body never was in Pro beres portd,•or on his premises at all. What proof, in fact, was there of the murder ever having been known to him ? According to Probert's evidence, and accord ing to what had been stated its What was called Hunt's confession, Hunt bought the pistols,Hunt bought the sack Hunt brought the : cords Hunt hired the chaise, and Hunt. did everything until probert was called into action t and front Probert's evidence N ikko appeared, that on coming from town on the night of the alleged murder, in company with Hunt, they = frequently at pthilic-houses, and took large .. of Arica spirits, as if for the purpose of . • t, : .. '• ~ . - ' ,i _ kterver4i . _ _ ,~ : U - . ' • • s t . . . 3. .. . ~- • . • . - . . AR ....L.,-..., l' * 4 . :''', If ‘4 ; lit _ ~.,, .' i. ~ ; 'l% . . - s.''A''''' ' v. ~...*:''.47(e;* - • . - _ .. .. is, - ' winding up their courage and resolution to do . some desperate deed. Nest, as to the cloaths bf' Hunt, which were said to be those of the deceased man, and to have been given to him, is appeared that; Hunt washequehtly in the habit of wearing his andltix: brother's wearing apparel; and further; as to the property found in his apartment at his brother's house, how were they found concealed or locked up ? No, they were in open closets, or open drawers,free of access to every one ;. and where any of the family or servants of the house might see them continually. Nest, as to the blood upoti ' his (the prisoner's) shirt collar, that it was proved i was an appearance which might be accounted for without difficulty. Hunt had been introduced to him (the pri-' sorter) by Probert, for what purpose they themselves best knew ; but he was inclined to think; it was in pur suance of some plan of their own ; and there were many parts of Mts. Prol?gert's evidence which, when compared with that of Probert, would go to strengthen that suspicion. The prisoner next pi oceeded to call the attention of the Jury to various parts of the evidence' as given by the dilfgrerit witnesses before the Coroner' and to point out the contradictions which were obvious as he contended, on the face of the several depositions, and the still greater variance which would he found between the depositions swimn before the Magistrates and the Coroner, and those now made before his Lord- ship and the present Jury, and to urge that there was not sufficient proof on which to justify the Jury finding a verdict of Guilty against him. He con tended that . here was nothing but circumstantial' evidence ; lie was aware it- would be said that:cir cumstantial evidence was all which could be ob tained in cases of murder. It certainly was so in many cases, but it should also be recollected that circumstan tial evidence of the strongest description had fiequently led Juries to come to a wrong decision as to the gilt of the parties accused. The cases of Calas, of the fa ther convicted of murdering his own child, and of the servant who had also been convicted and executed fur the murder of her master. There was also a case mentioned in Lord Hale . ; works, of a man being executed for the murder of_another, in which case the circumstantial evidence fell little short of fact. The accused was hanged for the murder; but in about 'a year atter, the supposdd murdered man appeared aliaLe, and in good health. It then, ion investigation, ap. peared that the missing Man bad been sent out of the kingdom, by the man afterwards hanged for his supposed murder, who had caused him to be taken out of the . way to forward and promote his claims on certain property. There was no doubt that the man guilty of this out- rage on the person of another deserved punishment. Still, however, the man suffered for an offence of which he ha , .i not been guilty. He would 'also take . the' . liberty of detailing another case, in which a man, wa! executed on the charge of having murdered, a child ; ] and afterwards reduced the corpse to ashes in an oven. _ The ashes were found, as were the clothes of the supposed murdered child, and on this 'and other strong circumstantial evidence,' the supposed mur derer was found guilty and hanged. The supposed murdered child was soon after found alive and uninjured; The prisoner then proceeded to read from the PePry Anecdate.g of Justice, similar anecdotes calcolated to spew how flequently erroneous latemeats were drawn from circumstantial evidence, where such alone was to be taken as the evidence on which to. find a verdict ; amongst other cases, he cited those of Cole man, Shaw, Jennings, the case Welted ,by Sir James Dyer, and others, and the opinion of Voltaire as to the frequent sacrifice of innocent victims- at the shrine of circumstantial evidence; and having thus,brought these cases under .the consideration of the Jury, was he net justified in calling on.them to consider that,notwithstand ing all the circumstantial evidence which had nowbeen brought against him, unless thoie circumstances were corroborated by positive testimony, and that, even if there should be sufficient evidence to excite doubt, these doubts should be given to the advantage of the prisoner? Oa the breath of the Jury his existence now depended, as, in cases like his, no mercy could be extended to those charget and (let:fared guilty of such crimes as that intpoted to him. Ile solicited mercy not so much f or hi o l, e :f as 1, 1 - his family, a family highly respectable and happy within themselves, until this heavy calamity fell upon them, in his person ; but should a verdict cif guilty he passed against him, that respectability which had never yet been tainted, and that happiness, which was exemplary, would 'both fall together. It was nut • for him,elt he pleaded; he felt that he was innocent, and, conscious of that fact, he was prepared to meet his fate, he that fate what it might. He was innocent, and would s tfely say with the Apostle, when questioned • as to his feelings by any of his friends: " Would that these were even as I am, except as regards these bonds." should now leave his fate confidently in' their hands, " only entreating you, Gentlemen," he observed, to bear this, my last 'solemn declaration in your minds —I am innocent, so help me GOD ! !". SECOND EXPRtSS. HERTFORD, HALF-PAST TWO O'CLOCK. The parts of Thurtell's speech which had been com posed by himself, or were at lea s t com m i tte d by him to memory, were delivered in a very distinct, audible, and iinpressive manner, and with but a slight taint of provincialism in his accents. When le spoke of bis parents, and the excellent lessons they had in stilled into him; and when again he alluded to the possibility of_ his butchering, in cold blood, the help less prisoner who had fallen into his hands, after Vic htiat of the battle was over, •he evinced a considerable degree of emotion, so much so, that in the abrmer instance he was unable to proceed for a few moments. His acknowledgments to the High Sheriff, to• the Magistrates, to the Ret. Mr. Franklin' and to Mr. Wilson, the jailer, for the kind and humane treatment he had experienced at their hands, were made in a very heartfelt and sincere manner. One of 'the turnkeys was so much affected as to shed tears. - He commenced his address at twenty minutes pist nine, and concluded precisely at a quarter past eleven: No man of the most unspotted innocence could have 'delivered in a manner more solemn and emphatic, his concluding affirmation—" So help me GOD." The prisoner then called the following witnesses: . Samuel Waitson—Was solicitor to Probert under his commission of bankruptcy ; he was' committed by the Commissioners of Bankrupts, and recommitted six or seven different times; but his answers still proved un satisfactory. The witness, declared Probeit was a man whom he would not believe on his oath, unless corrobo rated by other testimony. John Langdon Haydon, a surveyor, had known the prisoner Thurtell for some time, and always considered him as a mild, kind-hearted, open, and generous dis po ed man. Captain Nlacinlay, a Captain in the Navy, and one of the Captains of the Hospital at Greenwich. Was tinder the command' of the witness, in the Bellona, for two years, nameli from the - year 1512 to 18.14; witness considered bins as correct in - his conduct as an officer and as apilO•tempered humane man. - --- Walstsley, an officer to the Sheriff of Mid. dlesex, had known the'pris s oner for three years, and hid *alWays.fcnind . him a lititnane, peaceable, good tempered man.—This do. ed Thurtell's defence, and Mr. Justice.PAßlC then stated to. the prisoner Hunt that now was his Gate for offeting anything be had to. say M Iris defence. • • . . 'l he prisoner skid—My Lord p I hate prepared a few observations as my defence;.but the extreme agitation ' under %%hid' I am at present labouring, is such, as en tirely to incapacitate me from reading it. Mr. Justice PARK—If you hand it ill, the cfficer of the Court shall read it for you. The prisoner then handed in a written piper, which was read by Mr. KnaPp. The address was to the Court and Jury, and commenced, by stating, that re lying confidently ch the .promise of rrtrcy formerly held out to .him,' and deceived, - by a conviction that Ile should be admitted an evidence for the Crown, he had not taken any measures for making cut a defence until very lately ; and he • still presumed. to hope, tha t when his case was taken intoConsidetatien, that. mercy would be extended to him, which had been promised as the.inducernent for his confessing all he was ac. qusinted with on the subject of the murder. THIRD EXPRESS. • HERTFORti, THREE O'CLOCK. In addition to this Address, Mr. Knapp read a paper, in which, be endeavoured to shew that the greater part of l'•ohert's state ment was false, and that be intended to ;shield himself: one part was obviously so. Ile states in one pact, that Hunt, in travelling down to Gill's-hill, on coming to the part of the road where he was to have joined Thurtell, observed." This is the plaor at which . l was to have met him." Such a thing he never could have said, inas much as he was ignorent of the road, and did not know ace spa; from another. . , !The Leasoren JUDGE then proceeded to sum up the, evidence to, the Jury, and to describe the nature ache indictment-. This, like all inquiries of a similar nature, was highly importaut, inasmuch as it related to,the life of a man, and therefore the time eniplcryed in ! the ' lnvestigation had been well employed ; and having said this much, he would nest proceed to point out the iiiirerence in the several °Tepees with which the two prisoners were charged.— The Learned Judge then proceeded to describe the difference be tween the accessary and the principal In eases of murder, and re minded the Jury, that ,if they !livid once think there was not evidence to convict Thurtell, the principal, tbettl they would have no inquiry to make with regard to liuut. The Jorthad heard the ad_ dress of the prisom , r,"Thurrell, and be felt himself bound in justice to say he co, sidertd that defence, especially the latter part of as doing him infinite honour, which was eloquent and manly. Ile could not sotneelvapprove of that other portion of the defence which related to circumstantial evidence. If circumstantial evidencl WAS to be rejected, there would be an end, in the most atrocious cases, of all earthly justice ; he fully agreed in what had been said by Thurtell Of the character of probert, the principal witness; no man could have a worse-character. The witness who-had been examitred.on oath and declared he woul4 not believe Probert on his oath unless . corroborated by other testimony, had not painted that character in colours at all too high ; it fell short. indeed, in some respects ofl that which rrobert deserved, but still l'robert was corroborated ' by so many independent, impartial, unbiaued witnesses, that it was impossible not to give all due weight to his testimony. It would' be unreasonable to imagine that all these SS witnesses were in a con spiracy to give credit to Probert's story, and here he must again advert to what he had, on former occasions, said on the subject of the 'publications which had taken place in the public prints. It was a shocking thing to think that in a case like the ,if mut, it should be necessary for a prisoner to caution, and not oily to oaution, but even to entreat, that the Jury would not suffer their minds to be prejudiced by these improper, and he would say wicked state ments. He trusted be should sever fear to utter his thoughts or opinions on this subject, before any power, however high, or how ever low; and in the face of all the Public Press, and all the libels which might be hurled at his head, he would repeat what Ise bad formerly said ; and he would add, that if such a prac tice was to be persisted in and tolerated, he trembled for the ezistenee of all our boasted liberty, and equality of administration of justice in this country. This much he had again considered i; necessary to say on this important subject; and now he must ad vert to another part of the case, which applied more.partinlarly to Hunt, and to the defence which be had put in, and which was, in fact, but a repetition of the application put in yesterday.— On this part of thecase, be must say, his opinion was decidedly against the claim of Hunt to be admitted an evidence. The con. fusion of Hunt, as it was called, he should not have suffered to have been given in evidence; but it bad already been publisbed over and over in the Newspapers, and thus had got abroad that which sever ouslbt to have been published. and which the presiding Magistrate would not have suffered to be received as evidence. This was another proof of the evil tendency of Newspaper publication. —The Learned Judge proceeded to make further observations on tbe.evidence of accomplices, and observed, that if this system was once put an end to or discredited, it would be utterly impossible to bring to light many of the most atrocious offences which marked occasionally our criminal proceedings; the evidence was most Im portant end material, and be should go minutely through it. The Learned Judge first took that branch of vidence which wen t to skew the identity of the body, for be had no hesitation in .. _ ~_ . ._a.. ~~~. again repeating, that the evidence of Richard Weare and Rot worthy suflicienily established that fact ; and the _evil 1 1, e the surgeon fully established another, namely, that the won given to the body of the deceased were the, evident c.inse .1 death. The nest question, the great and important one, was, whose was the band which . committed the act of violence? Thar was a fact to be ascertained only by the evidence; and herele %omiti point out particularly the parts of theevidepce which eorroborat, d each other ; and amongst these would he the cirennistance of Thurtell's having in hie possession the fellow pistol to thar found in the lane; the conduct' of the parties whilst at Gill's-bill Cut. rage, and in town ; and the articles of wearing apparel, the pin, the bag, the backgammon-board, !ice. found in the possri ion of Thurtell \ ,all tending to confirm and supprt the testimony 61 rrohert• Our next Express, which we are anxiously expecting, will !wine the conclusion of the Trial, and the Verdict of the JurY,.which shall lose no time in announcing'to the Public. [Our Reporters at Hertford state, that the anticipations ni the result are universally unfavourable to the prisoners. Every ono remarks of Thurtell's defence, who heard it, that it totally Pn1..11 in giving any satisfactory account off' himself on the night of tl r murder, and was at best but an elaborate piece of special pleadiz:-. Indeed he never twee touched on the subject.] THE I4WENEVer STAR, I.OVDON. WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 7, 124. STOCK FAt'll A NQ P. TNV PTA'S O'Ci:OCK. Coniolsopeped this morning r and went up to at which price they hale kept. st&itdy np to this hour. This day being the first Transfer for• Consols, a great deal of bu siness has been doing: The Bankers sign to-day, and the Pub;: , Will receive their dividends to-morrow. Several Expresses from Park bring the French Rentes of Mon ' day at 94t. 46c. and Spanish , Bonds 914 to 27. .F 0 R RIC N FONDS. :.. Spanish Bonds opened at 2* L, went dawn to 25.1(0t up ar'n to '251. at which price they are up to this hour. Austrian hurt's Inaintain their price. Colombian Bonds also remain steady. (*Revert Prices :--444d Spanish 4 2.51 to Columbiana', .tt!s:tl:.a '4 to .5, Russian 633 Poyais 34 E . • PP ICI 7 . (W STOCKS A:r O'CT.ACK. Bank Stock 2;2 1 /—`3 ever (I , nr. Redo. 37 1 / 8 1 / 3 3 per Cons. ex. div..86 1 / 4 f`/, — 7 33 per Cents.. 99% 4 per Cents. Old 101 1 /, rl s 1 / 1 4 per. Cents. New ex. div: 161 1 / 8 0/, Bank Long Annt4 l !ies 21 15.16. 22. Imperial. 3 per Cents. 86'/9 India Stock 265 1 /.—Ditto Ba-ds 85. Exchequer 11111 , 565 . . 514:53'5;_,515. . • India:for Account 271. - - o Compla for Acct. 87% B.BIA. • • - The appalling interest which is attached to the pro. ceedings at Hertford, ,and. eta'• anxiety to gratify the Public . tiytht most ampledetails, prevented our yester day . giving more than one, but that the most im portant, of the doeoments relating to the Reveniie, the remainder we now insert. In examining these ac counts, it will be seen that they are not only highly gratifying, as exhibiting the prosperous state of our finances, but as evidence .of the improvement of trade, and the consequent comfort and happiness of the com munity. The income Int. the Quarter jest ended ex • ceeds the charge on the Consolidated Fund £3,101,77f3' ; and in the i.ncrease of the Quarter over that of the pre ceding year, notwithstanding the repeal of millions cf taxes, is £262,949. The decrease, as we stated ye , - •terday, is invariably in those articles where tax ?.5. have been remitted..—the increase is on articles of g - neralscronstirriptiorf. • There is a deficiency in the F.,•- eise,.,owing 'to , the late 'regulation of the Irish act Scotch,Distillerie.s, by which the duties have been re. duced; but in beer, cider, and wine, there is an in crease.' In tea there is an increase of £55,160; and in coiree and cocoa, the increase is £9,761. In soao and candles there.is an increase; as there is in printed goods; all articles of essential convenience. In bricks and tiles, there is also an increase of £27,661 ; which proves that the building trade, which employs solarge a body of men, and is so sure an indication of commercial. pro sperity, is carried on with great. activity. In the article under the head of Miscellaneous, there will be found an unusual increase, which arise from the receipt of £760,000; as part of the Austrian Loan. • Thus, what with increased resources at hoMe, and the recovery of debts abroad, the finances of:this country exhibit the most gratifying and the most cheering pro spects. We need not say what a different picture we should have had to draw, had Our Ministers not pre served that strict neutrality which nearly the whole of our contemporaries wished them to break, 'though they were divided as to the part they wished our Government to take. The French Papers of Sunday and Monday reached us this morning, thelatter by Express. They de not contain an article worth quoting. This morning we received,th. following article front Bayonne • BAYONNE, DECEMBSR 30. .We have letters - from Madrid, of the 24tlf and 25th. They contained npthing very remarkable, an we shall probably not hear much that is interesting till after the publication of the Decree of Amnesty, which is said to,be in the pres , :. The three principal articles of which arc the folloWing exceptions to the Royal Pardon : 1. The officers of the Isle . of Leon, .of the rank of captain, and above. 2. All persons who signed the deposition of the King at Seville. 3. All the Municipalities which proclaimed the Con stitution before they were authorised bf the King.— This last article will affect a great number of persons. On Sunday last, Count LIEVEN had a long interview with Mr. Secretary CANNING at GloUcester Lodge. Mr. Rem the American Minister was wit h the Right Honourable Gentleman era Mot, ay, ! and the French Ambassador yesterday. The Baron WERTHER, add Mr. DE NEUMANN have had interviews this Morning. CORN-EXCHANGE, JANUART 7. Since the.wind has moderated our Supplies have increased— Wheat, 31.30 qra. Barley, 2100 qrs. Oda, 6900 qrs. Irish Oats, 1020 qrs. Flour, 7100 sacks. The Wheat trade is not so heavy as on Monday, but there h no reduction in prices. Bailey sell* oil much the same terms as last quoted. Prime Oats meet bur ts freely at Munday's quotations. LON DON : rratittd and published Ly J,tsst, Karr. l'isketp • Plact. Tratplt-Lair • . , - • dightigaiMlNOMMili - w~~~' 11_ ME