The National Register. — London, England, 1813-03-28 00:00:00

• ••• r et-t . t4 . • 41•• •' Oft the evidence, he thought that it ought to be almosta suflieieht pro tection against SitVil a charge, that he and the Nohte Commissioners ivere pm., vroted ft um appealing. to tact. (Hear.) ' . Ld OR EN N I.LF: ClllllCSscli that he seffered under painful feelings, in iirswei ieg Itch a charge. The bare circumstance of replying to au ac cusation- of falsifying and fabricating evidence,if amen had the least tpark oflionotiraW feeling, must appear to him no inconsiderable de gradation. He cook) not think tle.t they were railed Num, by such an accusation as this,• to make any defence. There must be the 'Strongest presomptioa—there must be proof, before any one ought to have 'it imposed upon him—to plead not guilty to the basest eel Ottlest charge that could be preferred. against the vilest of man kind. It was about seven years since -he ha) been cut' usted by his 'Soseereign with the most important duty to %Odell this acensation 'referred :—it was a'tity imposed upon him,—for no man would he frantic'euongli to desire to. have it to fulfil. Nothing but a sense of 'duty emild tma - ve prevailed upon him to undertake it. He knew that 'they were subjecting themselves to obloquy ;red slander, from power .01i one side,--fmom faction on the other. They had, •theretbre, n•- protection but in the undeviating rectitude of their conduct, and to tat abine they looked for protection. • • It he should be assailed on the ground of want of formality in the proceedings, he tett -she matter to those who thought themselves better lawyei ,-- than Lords Ellenborough and Erskine, and Sit Sunuel it many: • If these ar at luminaries of the law should -h C proved to hate erred, he silo* not.blush to own that he had participated he 'the error. But he did not wish to shelter hiaiselfuneler theautlitalty '?of their great names. He confidently asserted, Oat when the time • came when the sulmject cou!ii fairly come into discussion, every thin' 'would appear to• have been done correctly i .31 t h e course of the Ckil.. linnation. l-Te spoke of the subject as it would appear upon the 'face of the authentic documents, not as it might be collected fioni pocket nurrativt 5, fabricated he knew not. when,--concealed foi . seven years he knew not where,-,.and now brought firmer(' to. blast , 'the eltaractos of tholew who migh , , , 4l possibility, • have been left J without any means of (teener : but as long as tin-re was a spark of 1 justice remaining; the very meanest of mankind could not be con- j drained on such a production.. By such evidence they ought not to j be tried or condemned. if upon the original examination., anthill- I ;tinted by the signatures of the Commissioners and the witnesses, it should appear that there was any thing liable. to- objection, he ad. • milted, that they mast abide by the consequences. Before it was possible to discuss the subject with any chance of arriving at an SCem•ate•toneinsion, it was necessary they should have the whole of the documents, produced ; and upon these terms lie should be ready, its far as he was personally concerned, •at any time to come to his Taal. He trusted, however, that neither he nor his Noble Col. • leagues would do any thing that should look like a violation. Of con fidence ; a tintlt so characteristic 'of the present time,. and which -threatened the mo , t mischievous consequences. If the judgment of' Parliament, and the public, should be against them in the point of form, it would give him undoubtedly a painfid feeling: but this was bottling compared to the storm of indignation which he felt at be ing accused, - together , with his Noble Friends, of the loudest crime :midi vide!' any human being could he charged. 'They had to mewls of knowing what had been'said, extept ti-om rumour; bat Whatever • bad been said, he knew the impression which had been pt oduced on the minds of his friends. l'he charge was, that they had substituted in the room of the original Minute a fabricated Minute, different in form and purport, and leading to a diflisrent CollClllbioll . trout the origiital authentieNinute. That there was one Minute, consisting of question and answer, which was the real one ;'that there was . another which was forged, and falsely reported to be authentic. It might have happened, that at the distance of seven years they could have nothing but as%ertion to oppose to as G i me an imaginal ion as ever was harboured by mail : hut lie thanked God they were not left in this situation. Their 'defence existed in the original Minnie, in the nand-writing of the Chief Justice, in the very words amid form in which the evidence was given by the witness. It was taken down by his Noble . and Learned Friend, at the time mentioned in the 1110C11111Clit, 111 the presence bf the witness,--read to the witness e'er tainly,--he believed read by Alm . w itness. This was the . only . I‘li snite,--it was not iii the form 4 .Iquestion and answer; and upon the face of the Minute itself them . Were various corrections,' 0 as• to Make it convey exactly time sense arid meaning of the witness. th coda not have instructed Sir S. kt‘e•mily how to have taken a De , position. If he had ti...t aaliPi.m. milty, he shook ratifier have applied to' s:r S. Konmitly. • le the atexeceor SirSanntel Romilly, who eon'd te line c properly fist!) upon to take dow le- time evidemite Mien the. hief Justice of F,egiamt, who t% as , of all others, the most peen liarly comet-ant with takisig down evidence, upon whose acenraey in the discharge of this dut y , vas he himself had stated, the property •• ", • • - •• • • ••• 41.• • ..4••••••• ••••••• • • r • • ••. f ! •••• .11,0 fa.••• 1•• •• • ^ • PO • • •••:%. •);;•,• • TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER. .. _. 'mAncirw. and lives of the subject might depend? • Hitherto his conduct had been unimpeaehed in the dischurge of his duty, and he hoped, this would not be the case in which he should be found to have prosti tuted his functian his station, and hisacharacter. • Earl SPENCER had only to obaerve,that he comp!etely adhered to all that his noble friend had uttered; and that he perfectly agreed with them in the feelings they bad expresried. He could • not' but fret ashamed at. being called upon to defend himself against a charge of bting concerned in one of the foulest conspiracies that was ever ascribed to man. Nothing could be more agreeable to him, than that this Mirth should be investigated in a Court of Justice. They were only prey► nteil by reasons of public policy from complete ly convincieg their Lordships, and the public, of the injustice that had, been done them. Lord Nloina was anxious to take this opportunity of clearing himself from certain charges of a different nature from those which had been made against his Noble Friends. His Noble Frieads had alverted to the degradation of being esen called upoa to defend themselves against a charge of fabricating evidence : but how humi liating must it he to him, to be called upon to def'endlimself against a charge of attempting secretly and covertly to procure evidence against any person whatever ? Fir: t, then, lie never was at the place where he was s taled to have been, for the dirty purpose of covertly cqllecting evidence,.at any time during the proceedings on this subject. He was neither there, nor in its vicinity, at any time during the period in question. Ile not ()lily sa id this, hat, on the faith and honour of a bentteman, he had revel spoiltanconsfy sought for information on the subject ; and he introdaced this, and desired it be more particularly attended to, on account of the asser tions with which he intended to lollow it np--naniely, tiat he not only awry'. spontaneously sought for iitiormation on the subject, but th,..t he haul never been instigated to do so-41140r. hear.)— But as a Councillor in a certain quarter, he cowsidered himself as bound by his oath, to enter into the examination accidence of in matters f deep concern to, the honour of the individual, and the interests of the public. With regard to the examination of a servant of a mi. taro Noble Lord, that 'had not proceeded from any spontaneous mo tion ()ibis (Moira). The Noble Lord in uptestioo„(we understood him to state,) had solicited an audience, and bad communicated most nn pleasant and unwelcome information, that the subject was the talk of the whole vicinity, and that a clamour existed in regard to it. He (Lord Moira ) ) had, lion ever, aio.7ested, that there might by possibility be some misapptehensiou iu the ease, .and t h at it might be proper, before any thither proceeding took place, that the ser vant should be examined before him ; and so tar waa lie from at tempting to procure evidence by any improper menus, that the re port which he made was, that it did not appear to him to be neces sary to take any further step-, and that it was not proved that the subject was the common talk of the vicinity, or that it had exeited any clamour. He recollected that an nun liking winless, a certain servant, (Fanny Lloyd),ltad stated, that one of the medical men in question had made an observation which called for attention. Con sidering the nature of that observation, the quarter from' whence it came, and the unwilling manner in which the communication Was made, it would have been singular, indeed. if some inquiry had not taken place' in regard to-it. If he had erred as to the most proper manner of proceeding in that hiqusry, lie must submit to, the consequences; but he had suggested, that the most proper and delicate method would be to send for these persons to meet the Ma g istrate (Mr. Conant) at his house, to have their examinations taken there, rather than send them to 31a rlborough-street to deliver their depositions in the usual manner. Doctor 51ills was accordingly sent for, but it was found that he was not the person stated to have made the observation alluded to, and lie was dismissed and desired to send his partner. He believed he di.l make use of some such expressions as those mentioned by that partner; but he could !thew by Mr. Conant's testimony, if necessar,y, al Well as by other Means, that the e*pressions ni qne;tion were not used in a conciliating tone, or in such a Manner as to evince any wish on his part to procure evidence in favenr of a particular side. So far were they from being iestd in such away, as to reader them liable to be unde r stood iu that sense which ie person in question was evidently, desirous of attaching to them, that they were in reality intended ty operate as a severe check upon 'on account of the pert manner in which he gave his evidence.. He (Lord Moira) then believed, and be still relieved, that the mail did make use of' the observation ascribed to hhn. He did' not meau that this statement of his belief should operate as a charge against Cie individual who had been the sauect of the observation ; lint it. was very possible that this rash and ran dam observation Might account for all the : strange stories that had been going about with respect to the chcninstance to Which it re ferred. It was obvious that it would have been very desirable for , ) ) • • • .•