The National Register. — London, England, 1812-05-17 00:00:00

MEV 17. character had been free from a spot, as the Attorney-General had very candidly admitted, till that fatal, melancholy, and lamentable catastrophe, o n which he could never reflect without blasting into tears. .Again he appealed to the feelings of the Jury, and asked, if his situation had been their's, what would in such a situation have been their alternative ? He had no private animosity against Mr. I'erceval; and he declared to God, that rather than have deprived him of life from any feeling of malice he would have lost his own. Whenever he might stand before the tribunal of God, he could justify his conduct, and clear himself of the charge of murder. That his arm had been the means of Mr. Perceval's death, he allowed; but, to prove that he had committed mu rder, it must be proved that the act had been done with malice. That which he had done could amount to nothing, unless a felony were proved, which in his case was impossible, and therefore he must of necessity be discharged. To con stitute a murder it was necessary to prove malice prepense. This could not be traced to him; on the contrary, his uniform and undeviating conduct in seeking redress by a regular legal course, had, be thought, been proved to the Jury by that which they had already heard. He had suffered the greatest distress for eight years, and been left in a ruined state, because it was Ootahe will of Mr. Pereeval that justice shauld be done, while he (Mr. P.) sheltered himself under the idea that do alter native remained to him (the Prisoner). When a man submitted such a ease to Government as that which he had made out, to concede the re quired redress was not a matter of favour, but of right. He had given information at Bow-street, against .his Majesty's Ministers, accusing them of not doing their duty, and stating, that ifjustice were not dune in his case, he should feel himself bound to do himself justice on them ; and doing this, he would defend it against the Attorney-General, where ver he might meet him. On calling for an answer, he received his own communication, with a little memorandum in the hand-writing of Mr- Read, attached to it, informing him that that Office could not interfere in the business. If means were not taken to make those power feel this, the will of the Minister, for the time being, would he law, and law would be one thing to-day, and another to-morrow. The injustice of the Minister in the present instance had caused the melancholy catas trophe, in consequence of which be stood there. To obtain justice had been his only object. If in such cases justice were not to be obtained, what security was there for his person or for theirs, when their cora dons called them to a foreign country ? Their views might he thwarted, their honour insulted, their characters blasted, their hearts rent and bro ken, and they return home to vent their sorrows in vain complaints with out hope of redress. He had hoped to bring the subjsct of his claims before Parliament, when he would have brought serious charges against Lord G. L. Gower and Sir Stephen Shairpe. If the charges he wished to prefer were false, it was true that he ought to he punished ; hat, if an the contrary, they proved to he true, his wrongs ought to be redressed. Governmer.t had but to reflect on their own impure col:duct for what had happened. If a poor wretch stopped a man on the high way, and took from him a few shillings, he was punished with death. What was his case ? He had.been robbed of his liberty, torn from hie family, disgraced and deprived of every thing valuable in this world, and then he was called upon to forfeit has life because the Chancellor of the Exchequer had thought proper to withhold the justice he had re quired. ' What was the crime which he had committed, compared with the crime which Government had coneaitted against him ? Nothing. It was a mite to a mountain, yet the one was to hurry its perpetrator to the gallows, while the perpetrator of the other was insultieegly to stall: at liberty with impunity. He had committed the act for which he stood there to answer, not because he bore any malice against Mr. Pereeval, but because he wished to bring his case before a Court of Justice. What were the crimes of those who suffered a short time ago for their conduct in the Isle of France against Government, compared with the crimes of the Government against him ? If an individual was bound to obey Go vernment on the one hand, Government was bound to afford just ice to the individual on the other. Ministers had denied him jtttiee. Every one, he thought, must feel for his situation ; but to die mane he would put it as husbands and fathers, what must be the anguish of his heart. tie trusted that this serious lesson would haVe a psoper effect on the conduct of all future Ministers, and induce them to da justice, which if done in his case, would have saved the Court the trouele they were put. to on the present occasion. Rather than suffer what he had endured within the last eight years, he would willingly die five hundred dezolie, and far from shrinking from the grave with horror, he would fly to it as a refuge from sorrow, and welcome it as a resting place. Ile hal no more to say after what he had said, and what they wuuld.hear from his Lordship; the question on which they were to decide would remain be tween God and their consciences. Mr. ALLEY then called witnesses to establish the fact of his in sanity. Ann Billing was called up, and examined by Mr. ALLEY. She said, she was a widow, who resided at Southampton, that having learned from the Newspaper the circumstances of Mr. Perceval's assas sination, she had left her home, and arrived in London last night, thinking that she was in possession of some particulars which would contribute to save the Hie of the prisoner. She had known him troll] his childhood, he was in business at Liveool, which place head left last Christm a s, and conic! to London ; his!wife and ch.ldren remained at averpool; his father had died insane; she had frequently eppertunities of knowing the state of the pm isener's mind ; he had been in a state of derangement for the last four or five years, in her owo oiailion, and j •• • •V 313 that of his other friendi, abant this busino,s; she had not an opportu nity of seeing him lately in London ; had not seen him fur more than a year; he was always deranged when he spoke !of his claims on thLt Government ; she had seen him at Liverpool about a year and a half ago, at that time he did not wish to converse on the subject, saying, that it irritated his mind. _ Mrs. Clarke examined by Mr. REYNOLDS, stated, that she had known the prisoner for several years, and had considered lnin in an unsound state of mind ever since his return from Russia ; had seen him six or seven times, the last time he was in London ; his conversa tion then was that of a deranged person. Hannah Fidget, a servant-maid of Mrs. Roberts, the prisoner's late landlady, was next examined by Mr. REYNOLDS. She said, the pr'.- soner had lodged in her mistress's house for four months before the day he was taken into custody. She recollected observing, on the day before , that he was somewhat confused and agitated; she bad not made any bservation of that kind the Sunday before ; she had been out hi the evening for two hours. On the Monday he was taken, she thought before he went out that he was unwell. Sir JAMES MANSFIELD then summed up the case ; he sired that the indictment was for the murder of Mr. Perceeal, a man dear to , 'very Englishman. (Here the venerable Judge was so much affec ted, that he paused some time unable to proceed.) In naming him, he said, he was overpowered by his emotions; but the Joy y would consider it only as the case of the meanest of their fellow subjects. The law knew no distinction of persons ; they would attend to the evidence, and drew their conclusion accordingly. His Lordship then read the evidence to them, and observed that they had three things to consider ; first, whe ther Mr. Perceval died by the pistol shot ; secondly, whether the pri soner fired that shot; and, lastly, whether he was in sane mind, so as to know what he was about when he fired it ? His Lordship then stated the different degrees of mental derangement, and told the Jury that if the prisoner, .at the time of the act, knew right from wrong, he was a fit object for the Criminal Justice of the kingdom. The Jury withdrew for about a quarter of an hour, and returned a verdict of—Guilty. The Recorder immediately, in an eloquent and impressive speech, in which he eulogized the public and private virtues of Mr. Percesil, pro nounced the sentence of Death—by which the prisoner was ordered to he hanged on Monday next, and his body to be dissected and anato mised. The prisoner, during the whole trial, which lasted from ttn a. In. to Aix p.m. was perfectly calm and unmoved, and htard his sentence with out the least change of countenance. When the prisoner came into Dock, he appeared somewhat affected by his situation ; but his countenance exhibited nothing of dirulay, and after a few minutes his deportment was wondecfuily calm and coliected On entering, he made a profound bow to the Court. Whif:i standing at the Bar, he frequently looked round and appeared to comemo.ite the crowd with a curious eye. He was attired in a brown great coat, a yel low wlistcoat,iwith small stripes of black, and nankeen trowsers. After standing a considerable time, he asked if he might be allowed the indul gence or a chair ? This the Court permitted, and he accoriiingiv seated himself And appearei very much at his ease. He frequent': tqok•up sJifl of the leaves which were strewed in front el the Bar, and strell,4 to them, and was almost all the tune apparently trying in sonle measure to amuse himself with them, Before he was accommodated w , th a chair, he took an orange from his pocket, which he ate during one of tue pauses which occurred duriNg the course of the nil'. The Horse Guards were stationed in the vicinity of Black-friars Bridge, during the trial. Mr.WILK'E'S EXHIBITION of all Lis PICTURES he has Painted, is NOW OPT- N. Nn. Pall-mall. Allatittance One Shilling.—Subscriptiow; for Mr. it A. tAIIIACH'S PRINT of VILLAGE POLITICIANS, are reeived at the :ttnae K. B. DAY.—Tickets and Shares are Selling by LADY BRA NSCOMB, N. t i3 - tr , , the Corner of Middle-Row, for the Little i,ottery of Uhl) 604)u "1 . lc-Pet.; Priz:s of ,L2o ,u 0 •r I"0 Iwo() ,t) ce 2000 1:11:Ull, 60.. 4111 aii it) be Drawn the FOURI'II. of JUNE. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. LIGHT W.A MR-PH.OOF BEAM!, HATR. FItANCIF and SANICEf. EVELEIGH, No. 40;, Souelwark, re;pectfully i•lfor the Public tl.at they 14,tntifactur.. suptfOor Light li" . .tti-proof Beaver It io3 on an entirely new prui&ph.,, vartac.ted to re , i,it the effect. of raia and all kind of damp, ret their sliape ord beauty inue;i long•er tha3 any utber 111t7; (the nap wearing free to the 'act), ard the ad of 'Witness and d }Leta!' lay Fraplis Evelei:,•h; No, 50, (31 . eap-iit'oe and by many of the respeetatle Hatter; in 'town and Country. TO LADIEi OF FASJITON._ CLAIM, 1:? Bess' Habit aMlPelic.;:..iaker, (i'rom Mr. Allen'F., 133at1-st.ett a ) be--; to inr..rin bis nunierumi Fri.-q,d3 and Ci!,ttmteri, tll:It the ,ni - -ims=i ber,:toi . urti coAnctett by him, under the !inn of DI::TP.I.III3N VA Ca ti!S., or it itl,l•o v:OW carried tra by him. Foie4y on hi;. c•wn :teconnt ' at No. Fccadilt, gen,:rll are informed, th at he his just czmipleu , 71 nom itabit and Pelisse, which, fur neatnes anti elegance of des4y. and ha% hrmi rArel.v equalled, surpassed he none, .•.rt , l need oak, to h s., ea to be ad m red,—Twang aid Gentlemen's fancy Gr, , at Coats, as a1 ,, 0 young Gentle. in:Os am.. 1r and Arab Dressos, in the first , :tyle of elegance.—colittry rer.ffients i!! :;tr.f,r.l l may have An o, der executed at a %cry Kbort notice Ai o,eir arcivai it t 4 Wit, or tu.,..v oc iaortued by luttur Low to Avuti up their ittoasuit.. •