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▪• - on being reproached with their former inconstancy, they promised ptver to desert or recriminate upon their foreman any snore. " Upon these assurances they proceeded again irto Court, and . ißaia aneoplstia the primes tag lips**. Thostaditot • unnhle. is cosi-cal his rage at a verdict width appeared to Mm lb the meal iniquirqua light, reproached diem severely, and dismissed them with the cutting reflection, s That the blood of sue deceased lay at their doom.' tt • kiireltinffilth " The prisoner, on h part, sp. up. lifted eyes and hands to tiod; thanked hini roost divinely for Ms delirevance and adding •hirnitilf fit The Jadges. dried. 011 t. VOL are, my Lord, that Ood and a good conscience ars the hem trinnia/m he .1 " T circumstance made • deep immersion on the mind 'of the t'"(iftet Sod'as noon as he hid retired (him Court: he entered in:o root crestflOta with the Viet Sheriff tenon what had passed, and par tieularly, ha to his knowledge of the foreman of' the Jury.. "011' !Nitre/end his Lordship , that he had been rcq airiviOsars that he had a freehold estate of owb ribleggeg and that he rented a very considerable (inn ; that weer knew him charged with an ill action. sad dna jia wail dial) beloved and esteemed in his neigh- I information, his Lordship sent for the minister ref „N")+0l ho Rave the same favourable amount of his parish t"garnbeT wtibtthis addition, that he was a constant churchman and a devote nolomnnicant. •• Thee 'accounts increased his •Lonhhip's perplexity, from *Melt hettobld think of no expedient to deliver himself, but by lisvingr nomference in private with the only pennon who could give hi osatisfacdon g this he retruested the Sheritlio procure, who sea. lily afferie 'his service, and ,without delay brought about the de slind interview. '" Upne the Foreman of theohry being introduced to the Judge,' 10 'Lordship retired with him into a closet, where his Lordship tweed MI MOODS for desiring that visit, nicking no scruple of ac- Trimledging the uneasiness lie was under on account of the ver diet. and majoring - his visitor frankly to discover his reason fix aegnitting the prisoner. The Juryman returned for answer, that Ise lied sufficient reasons to justify his conduct, and that he was neiiiier ashamed nor afraid to reveal them ; hot as he had hitherto 'keel thtm up in his own breast and was under no compulsion to divine, them, he expected his Lordship would engage, upon his hnnour, to keep what he was shout to unfold to him, a secret, as he himself had done. Ilis Lordship having done so, the Juryman proceeded to give his Lordship the following account. The de emed being the Tythe-inan where be (the Juryman) lived, be had, Hu morning of his decease, been in his (the Juryman's) grounds, a. angst his corn, and had done him great injustice by taking more than his due, and acting otherwise in a most arbitiary man ner. When lie complained of this treatment he had not only been ginned with scurrilous language, but the deceased had struck at him several times with his fork, and had actually wounded him in two places, the scars of which wounds he then shoved his Lord_ ship. The deceased seemed bent on mischief, and the farmer hating ro weapon to defend himself, had to other way to preserve his own life but by closing in with the deceased, and wrenching Vie fork out of lira hands: which having effected, the deceased at ttmpted to recover the fork, and in the scuttle received the two wounds which hail occaSioned his death. The farmer was inex peensibly concerned at the accident which occasioned the man's death. and especially when the prisoner was taken up on suspicion of the murder. Rut the assizes being just over, he was unwilling to surrender himself and to confetti the nutter, because his farm and affairs world have been ruined by his lying so long in gaol.— ese was SUM to have been acquitted on his trial, for he had con nuked the ablest Lawyers upon the case, who all agreed that as the 41traf.ed had been the Kremer, he could only have been guilty of rnanslivighter at most. It was true he had suffered greatly in his own mind en the prisoner's account; but being well assured that imprisonment would fie of less consequence to the prisoner than 40 manitif, lie bad suffered the law to take its comm. In order, itewever, to redder the prisoner's confinement as easy to him as Platildee • be. had given him eery kind of assistance, and had Arbon, supported his family ever y since. And, to get him clear of 'lbw charge laid against him, be had procured himself to be sum inonedon the jury, and sat at the heed of them ; having all along' eletterotirted in his own breast rather to die himself, than suffer' any hvm to he done to the prisoner." His Lordship expormcd great satisfaction at this account; and after thanking the fuoier for it, and snaking this farther atipula-, that intim his Lordship should survive him, he might then brat liberty to.relate this fact, that it might be delivered down to posterity—the conference broke up. Se ..horrame lived' fifteen years afterwards ; the Judge in_ haired after him every year, and happening to survive him, deli lend dig above relation." " A wen was tried fur and convicted of the murder of his own *moan s ' The evidence against him was merely circumstantial, and *he principal witness was hinaister. She proved that her father a small income, which, with his industry, enabled him .live cpmfort; that her brother, who was his heir at law, :bad often expressed a great desire to come into possession of his laekts's effects ; end that he had long behaved in • very uidutiful .1•11/1•1 to him, wishing, as the witness believed, to put a period she lie, existence by uneasiness and vexation ; that on the evening Alba impeder was committed, the deceased went a small distance from -Abe house to atilk a cow be bad for sonic time kept, and that the riwitness also went out to spend the evening and to sleep, leaving .seedy her brother in the house; that returning house early in the . battening, and finding that her father and brother were both absent, esdas was much alarmed, and sent for sonic of the neighbours to „insestult with them, and to receive advice what should be done ; vast in company with these neighbours she went so the hovel in aaebidrlter father was accustomed to milk the cow, where they found slime murdered in a most inhuman manner; that a suspicion imnie. diately falling on her brother, and there being then some snow vinpois the ground, in which the footsteps of a human being, to and from the hove l, were observed, it was agreed to take one of Aar brother's shoes , and to measure therewith the impressions in rides snow ; this wee done, and there did not remain a doubt that stem impressions were made with his shoes. Thus confirmed in their • Miquelon/4 they then immediately went to the prisoner's roain, and t after diligent search, they found a hammer in the corner of a pri o.isate drawer, with several sputs of blood upon it. " The circumstance of finding the deceased and the hammer, sande* Identity of the footsteps , as described by the former wit - sae, were fully proved by the neighbours whom the had called; .inoi upon this evidence the prisoner was convicted, and suffered o alsath, but denied it to the last. see S'• About tour yea *Aker, the sister, who had been chief witness, aslenneatremely ill; and understanding that there were no hopes et 1:1re neovery, she cenfemed that her father and brother having .eirsided her, she was determined they should both die; and I i. memedingly, when the forms went to milk the caw, she followed I. rim with her brother's hammer, and in his shoes ; that she felled ..,her father with the hammer, and Lid it where it was afterwards Mind ; :hot she thea went from home, to give a better colour to .i•tha hoed transaction, and that her brother was perfectly innocent atf the coigne for srlitib he bad suffered. " tale was immediately taken into custody, but died before she • Amid be brought to trial:" • ••Anitloll4flti of the name of Wm. Shaw. who was residing at Edinbur in the year 1731 , had a daughter Catherine who lived with him, an who encouraged the addresses of John Lawson, &jeweller, ••• contrary to the wishes of her father, who had insuperable objections against him, and urged his daughter to receive theadresses of a eon at Alexander.Hobertson, a friend and neighbour. The girl refused . moat rerempiakily. The father grew enraged. Passionate ex. proesions arose on both sides, and the words ' barbarity, cruelty, and death,' were fregaently pronounced by the daughter. At length the father left her, locking the door after him. • The apartment of Shaw was only divided by a slight partition . from that of one Morrison, a watch-ease-maker, alto had indistincl . :beard the conversation and quarrel between Catharine Shaw and wear father; and was particularly struck with the words she heel .•iikunouneed so emphatically. for some time after the father had 1-. gene out all was silent; but presently Alorrison heard several 'roans from ebcdaughter. Ile called in some of the neighbours, ' and these, listening attentively, not only beard her groan, but also faint exclaim Cruel father, thou art the cause of my death !' • Stru t* withiligsgapressiou. they got a constable, and forced the door of Sharlirosartmeat, where they found the daughter welter ing in. horebinod, and a knife by her side. She was alive, and spaechl t on questioning her as to owing her death to her fah just able to make a motion with bee head, arra rentlrbethe nffirntative, and then expired. "At this moment Shaw enters the room. All eyes are upon ideal Ile art his neighbours and a constable in his apartment, tad seams much disordered ; but at the sight of his daughter he turns pale, trembles, anti is teDdy to sink. The first surrrise, and the succeeding horror, leave little doubt of his wilt in the breasts of the behokkams and even that little is done away, on the m umble discovering that the shirt of William Shaw is bloody. •• He wa' instantly . hurried before a Magistrate, and upon the deposition of the parties committed for trial. In vain did he pro. mat his ianocesce, and declared that the blind on his shirt was oc casioned by his basing blooded himself some days before, and the haulage having become untied. The circulate:axes appeared so • arcing against him, that he was found guilty, was executed, and hang in chaiLs at Leith. His last words were, • I sun innocent of hay daughter's murder.' There WAD scarcely a person in Edinburgh who thought the father innocent t but in the following year, a man echo had he. vane the occupant of Shaw's apartment, accidentally discovered a piper, which had fallen into a cavity on one tide of the chimney. It was folded as a letter, and on opening it, was found to contain o follows: 6 Barbarous father 1 your cruelty in having put it out of any power ever to join my fate to that of the only man I could love, and tyrannically insisting upon my marrying one whom I • always hated, has made me form a resolution to put an end to an existence which has become a burthen to me.' " This letter was signed • Catharine Shaw ' ' and on being 'hewn .9 her relation s anti friends , it was recognized es her writing. The Maiistraey of Edinburgh examined it, and on being satisfied of kw authenticity, they ordered the body of %Villiain Shaw to be taken from the gibbct, and given to his family for interment; and as the oily reparation to his memory, and the honour of his surviving relations, they abused a pa's of cukurs to be waved over intOkeitof rds innocenie." • In the year liZg. Mr. Hayes, a gentleman of fortune, in huge/ling, etopt at an inn in Oxfordshire ' kept by one Jpnathan 111radfovd. lie there met with two ge n tlemen, with shorn he *speed and in conversation unguardedly mentioned that be had then with him a considerable sum of money. Having retired to net, the twa gentkuien, wno slept in a double -gelded room, were awaloved by deep molls in the adjoining chamber. They in stantly rose anti pnieeztied silently to the room wiirace the groans were heard. The tins VIP bait open, anti on entering they per ceived a poWoon we ring in his blind, in the bed, and a man stand ing ever biro, with e 'dart lantern in one hand and a knife in the otger. They somidisenvered that the gentl.mian murdered was the one wish whenvfietY list strived, and tint the man who wasetand— ing over him was their host. They instantly seiztd him, disarmed bins of the knife, and charged hits with being tic tutaJcza. Ile • • h e s ame the crime, and battle/ thatlle earn, theta with answering questions. I would not believe him * on - his oath, the same intentions as themselves; ta r that bearing a /Mite, which unless the evidence which he gave was substantiated by other testi was succeeded her groans, ha gut up, 'struck a light, and armed many. himself with a knife in his dermek and had but that minute en- lesagdon Hayden examined by Mr. P;.arr.—l am a land. ttred the room before them. surveyor. I have known John 'Mullen for some years. I never •••Ttrese awsertiomt ware( swayed. ho was kept is close custody heard anything of him contrary to humanity and good conduct un until morning, when he was taken before a neighbouring Justice of , til the present time. I thought him a liberal, open-hed, the Peace, to whom the evidence appeared so decisive, that on humane inam writing out his mittimus, he hesitated not to 'say, `Mr. Bradford, By the C urer . — N7 acquaintance with him continued uninter *biter. you or mewl( com mitted this murder.' I i rupteti. I never lost sight of him since the period of our fast ac " At dui emitting Assizes at Oxford, Bradford was tried , con- quaintance. relied, and shortly after executed, still, however, declaring that he Cant. 31•Kinlay, examined by Mr. PLATS—I am a Captain in l iras not guilty of the murder. This afterwards proved to be true; the Navy. John Thurtell was under my command, as officer of the .murder was actually committed by 31r. Hayees footman, who Marines, for two years, from 1812 to 1814, in the Ikiluna trigate, immediately on stabbing his master rifled his pockets, and oicaped which I then commanded ; his character appeared to me to be that of a to his own roan, which was scarcely two seconds before Bradford's humane and kind man. entering the du:tuber. The world owes this knowledge to a re. By the Court—l have known nothing of him since the year 'weer of conscience of the footman on his death-bed, eighteen mi t months after the murder; and, dying almost immediately after he Mr. ll'almsler, examined by Mr. ANDREWS—I am an officer of had made die declaration, justice last its victim. the Sheriff* of Middleseic I always found John Thurtell, whom I "It is, hoe/ever., remarkable that Bradford, though ir.nocent„ know to be a humane man . and not at all privy to the murder, was nevertheless a murderer in Th e evider.ce fur the defence of Thurtell here closed. design. Ile•confessed to the clergyman sib° attended him after his sentence, that having heard that Mr. Hives hail a large sum of money about him, he went to the chamber with the sante diaboli. cal intentions as the servant. He was struck with amazement, he could not believe his senses; and in turning back the bed-clothe' to assure himself of the fact, he, in his agitation dropped his knife on the bleeding body, by which both his hand and the knife be came stained, and thus increased the auspicious circumstances in which he was found." " In the year 1712, a gentleman, in travelling, was stopped by • highwayman in a mask, within about seven miles of 11a, and ribbed of a pnrse containing 20 guinnue. The gentleman pro ceeded chant two miles further, and stopped at the Bull Inn, kept by Hr: Brunel'. He related die circumstances of the robbery, adding, that as all his gold was marked, he thought it probable that the robber would be detected. After he had supped, his host cowed the room, and told him a circumstance had arisen which lid him to think that he could point out the robber. lie then in formed the gentleman that he had a waiter, one John Jennings, whose conduct had long been very suspicious; he had long before d.ek sect him out to change a guinea for him, and that he had only come hack since he (the gentleman) was in the house, 'eying he could not get charge; that ,Jennings beizf in liquor, be ICU him to bed, resolving to discharge him in the morning; that at the time he returned him the guinea he discovered it was not the same he bad given him, but was marked, of which he took no further notice until he heard the particulars of the robbery, and that the guineas which the highwayman bad taken were e'l marked. He added, that he had unluckily paid away the marked guinea to a man who lived at some distance. "Mr. Brunch was thanked for his information, and it was resolved to go softly to the room of Jennings, whom they found fast asleep; his pockets were searched, and trom one of them was drawn a purse containing exactly nineteen guineas, which the gentleman identified. Jennings was dragged out of :red and charged with the robbery. Ile denied it most solemnly ; but the facts having been deposed to on oath by the gentleman and Mr. Brunel!, he was committed for triad. " So strong did the circumstances appear against Jennings, that several of his friends advised him to plead guilty, and throw him self on the mercy of the court. This advice he rejected ; he was tried at the ensuing assizes, and the jury, without going out of court, found him guilty. Ile was executed at Hull a short time after, but declared his innocence to the very last. " In less than twelve months after this event occurred, Brunel', the master of Jennings, was himself taken up for a robbery can mined on a guest in his house, and the fact bring proved on his trial, he was convicted and ordered for execution. " The aPproach of death brought on repentance : and repen timer. confeneion. Brunell not only acknowledged having tom , mined many ghway robberies, but also the very one for which poor Jennings suffered. The acccunt he gave was, that after rob bi..g the gentleman, he unired at home some time before him. That he Mind a man et home waiting, to whom be owed a small bill, and not having quite enough of money, he tante out of the purse one guinea from the twenty which he had just possessed him. self of, to make up the sum, which he paid to the Oran, who then went away. Soon after the gentleman came to his house, and re. feting the account of the robbery , and that the guineas: were mark ed, he became thunderetruek !. Having paid one of them away, and not daring to apply for .t again, as the affair of the robbery ond the marked guineas would soon become publicly known, detection, disgrace, and ruin, appealed inevitable. Turning in his mind every way to escape, the though; of accusing and sacrificing poor Jawing' at last struck him ; and thus to hie other crimes he added that of the murder of an innocent man. " J :act Ai. Parc irrrariow.—The ease of ill. del , ivarditre is one of the most singular instances of criminal precipitation and 'iniquity that the annals of French justice furnish. Madame de Chstivelin, his second wife, was accused of having had him as geminated in his castle. Two servant maids were witnesses of the ' Dundee; his own daughter heard they's; and last words other father: 'My Ood, have mercy upon me !' One of the maid servants, fall ing dangerously ill, took the sacrament; nnd while she was per 'forming this solemn act of religion, declared before God that her mistress intended to kill her master. Several other witneossatoul. rib/admit they had seen linen stained with his blood ,• others de dared that they had heard the report of a gun, by which the 1111.• soisination was supposed to have been committed. And yet, swinge to relkte, It turned out after all that there was no gun fired, law blood shed, nobody killed ! What remains is still more extra ordinary i M. de la Fivardiere returned home; he aping?rs la per ono before the judges of the province, who were preparing every thing to execute vengeance on his murderer. The judges are re solved not to their process • they affirm to his face that ho ,dead; they brand him with the accusation of imposture for saying that he is alive ; they tell him that he deserves exemplary punish ment for coining elle before the tribunal of justice ; and maintain that their procedure is mere credible than his testimony ! In a word, dais criminal process continued eighteen months before the poor gc simian could obtain a declaration of the court that he was, alive !" HUNT'S DEFENCE. Mr. Justice Pats then called upon the prisoner, Hunt, to state whatever he might wish to offer in his vindication. Hunt, in a weak and trembling voice, which bespoke deep In ward agitation of mind, said—l have a defence, my Lord; but from the extreme anxiety I feel, I fear I could not rend it with satisfaction. The Learned Judge then directed the officer of the Coon to read llunt's defence. My Lord,—Having, under a positive assurance that I should be admitted a witness for the Crown, made a full and tnte confes sion of all the facts within my knowledge respecting this horrible and melancholy event, and having implicitly relied on the good faith of the Magistrates, for the due performance of their solemn promises, made previously and subsequently to my disclosure, I forbore to make the slightest preparation for my defence ; and after your Lordship shall be mode acquainted with all the circumstances under which that confession was drawn from me, your Lordship's feeling and compassionate heart will be able to appreciate, although I am unable to describe, thk painful emotions of surprise and dis appointment by which I was overwhelmed, when, only a few days before the Assizes, it was notified to me, for the first time, that I was to be placed in my present perilous and awful situation. Your L o rdship will perceive, that the very circumstance which I was told would procure me forgiveness, and ensure my safety, has alone rendered me amenable to the laws—namely, my own disclosure and declarations ; for, although the prosecutors may not offer my confession in evidence, yet, as that confession has been published in every newspaper in the kingdom, and has been circu lated in many thousand primphlets, and been the subject of uni versal =venation, is it probable, or even possible, that any of the gentlemen who are now sitting in judgment on my case, can be ignorant that such a confession has been made? How futile, then and unavailing, would be any observations or arguments to raise a presumption of the innocence of a man, who already, to a r ' certain extent, stands self-condemned. Feeling myself in this dilemma, I shall abstain from troubling your Lordship with any detail of facts or observations upon the main question in. volved in the indictment, but merely assert, that I was not present when the unfortunate deceased lost his life, and that I was ignorant of any premeditated plan or intention to de- I army him ; I never knew of the Murder until after it was com mitted ; my crime consists solely in concealment; and my disco very could not bring the dead to life: my error arises, not from any guilt of my own, but from my concealment of the guilt of others. lam now on my trial Ibr having been privy to the previous design--I never was ; I certainly concealed it afterwards, sooner than betray the misfortune whkh had been confided to me. Your Lordship, however, will, I am sure, tell the gentlemen of the jury that no concealment or conduct of mine after the death will make out the present chatge ; and I hope both your Lordship and these gentlemen are too just and merciful to convict me from pre judice, and not from proof. I now, my Lord, most respectfully solicit your humane atten tion to the following statement : On the morning of Wednesday, the 29th of October, I was apprehended in Londdn, and directly conveyed to Wilford, where an investigation was wing on respecting the then nsrpoard otrefer of Mr. Weore. On my snivel I found several Magistrates as sembled, and Mr. Noel, who was apparently conducting the pro- secution, addressed me es follows :—" Mr. Hunt, for God's sake, tell the Magistrates whatever you know of this murder, and in all probability you will be admitted nan evidence. It is clear that Mr. Ware has been muttered, and we only want to find where the body b, and if you know, for God's sake tell tn.' I repeatedly denied all know/edge' of the circumstance, and Mr. Noel as fre quently importuned and urged me to confess. At last the Magis trates said, ' Mr. Hunt, you had better retire and consider the oder made to you, and recollect your perilous situation.' I was then conveyed into another room, and was presently followed by Mr. Noel, who, in the presence bf Ruthven and Upson, repeatedly told me that if I would tell where the body was (provided I did not actually commit the murder), that I should be admitted as an evidence, and my life would be spared; and added, that the Ma gistrates had authorized him to make a pledge to this effect. Still, however, I was firm in my denial, and continued so until Upson the officer tortured my feelings by the Mention of my family. He , said to me, ' Hunt, you have a mother ?' I answered, ' Yes, I The prisoner having read these anecdotes, which omit in succes sion in the volume of the • 6 Percy Anecdotal" entitled Jostice..de. didted to Lord Eldon, turned to another part of the same book, front which he read the following observation of Voltaire on the fate of Illonthaille, who had been condemned, without accuser or witness, to a cruel death t•-66 Thepen trembles in my hand," says Voltaire, " when I relate these enormities ! We have seen by the letters of several French lawyers, that not one year passes in which one tribunal or another does not stain the gibbet or the rack with the bloat of unfortunate citizens, whose innocence is af terwards ascertained when it is too late." Thurtell procealcd--The next and last case to which I am de -1 sirous of calling the attention of the Jury, is that of Richard Cole man, who was tried at Kingston in 174 N. I will not tronhle the (Court with a detail of the trial, but simply confine myself to a brief statement of the outline of the MAC. There Coleman had been seen to go across a road with a girl a few minutes before she was murdered. As the murder could not be traced to any other source, this was tortured into circumstantial evidence, and the man was tried on the alight circumstantial evidence that the circum stance of his Laving been ado with a girl afforded • he was con victed anti executed. After his execution several persons were taken up--one of them, Nicholls, turned approver, and the rest were tried and executed, on the same charge on which the °thee had been wrongfully sentenced to death. Such, elentlemen, are the instances we hind of convictions founded solely on circumstantial evidence. Anti I now expect front you, that in the exercise of a judicious motion upon such evidence, you will give me the benefit of whatever doubts may arise in your minds upon what has been stated to you. Nay, more; I expect that unless you find in the evidence something that is irreconcilable with my innocence, you will dismiss me from the dock end return a verdict of acquittal. This is a benefit which the law allows me, and which, lam sure, your hearts will not deny me. I now appeal to a British Jury, to whose breasts mercy is no stranger. They will feel for my situa tion ; they will rot, without full and all-sufEcient deliberation, cat me off iti the summer of my days —although it is not foe myself I now feel so much as for my family ; for those whose reputation is spot:ess and unstained ; for thins; sham I love and cherish, and whose home my death will make desolate. [The prisoner was deeply affected, even to the shedding of tears., at this part of his speech and an allusion to his family in the course of the trial always produced a marked expression of concern in his eotintenance.l However, let my fate be what it may, I shall look forward with sweet tor niesure to my future state, front a full and entire consci ousness of my innocence. Although there are no persons here pee. sent this day, who nittstflOt have been horror-struck at the narration which th,:y have Ward, yet I hope that there is not one also who clod not believe me innocent, and incapable of the crime which has been laid to my charge. I hope too, that they believe I have only spoken the genuine and sincere sentiments of my heart. To than I cannot express a kinder wish than that I trust they ore as inno cent as I ant. I would address them even In the language of the Apostle, `• NI - odid you were ouch as I am, except thome Loads."— Gentlemen, my existence hangs upon your breath; that existence I cannot more safely confide than to the sacred institution of a British Jury—an institution which is the pride and bassi of our own country, and the admiration and envy of all the world— i have now laid before you the mints which I felt myself &led upon to offer in my vindication. Whether they may be available for my full vindication or not, it is for you to decide, but, whatever may be the result of your decision, I again call upon you to bear witness to this my last solemn declaration t " I son innocent, u help me God !" • TOVIRTII4 the latter part of tha foregoing address; Thurtell was deeply affected. In alluding to his family, and to the disgrace which his conviction might inflict upon them, he abed tears. The mincer of his delivery was bold, resolute, and vehemently intonesionate. Ilia voice is susceptible of every variation of tour, from the lowest cadence of expression to the high& pitch ; and his deli very, aided by his very personable appearance and confidence of department, was really a piece of very line declamation. Tilt:Jury and the crowded audience were extremely attentive whilst he was speaking, mad the narration of his misfortunes excited a strong and lively sympatny in every breast. The only part of his address in which lie seemed to lose his perfect aelf-pconninion was that in which he spoke of Mr. Barbee Isdroniont ; nod in speakismg of that gentleman, Lis voice and manner bespoke a whet:int and ran corous hostility. llis prateatation cf innocence at the close was I most coy tident cad ininosinn. .Ir. Justice Pont:, at the termination of Thorn:ins Odeon, I called epon the prisoner Joseph Bunt to state 214 thing he might deem available for his defence. I in an intimation being made, however, that Thortell wintld "refer to have his witnesses pravious ly examined, the Learned Jidlge directed that Ilii.it should riot -1.117.0 el alder he might thin!: jrrnver to say until Omer time exami nation of Thuren's wiirtrod. 1 Tim first witless relied for the defence was Samuel Ni - rolessn ; examined h' 31r. Awnanw 4.-1 mini a solicitor. ID July, lisln, I .1 become acquainted with Probed. I was the solicitor who sued cut a ClMMlil.ioll at bankruptcy against him. lle was committed se. • ver..l4 on seven or eight exaa.inations, for prevarication and rut have.' And a wife also ?` I said' Yes.' And you love them dearly I answered Yes, very dearly.' Then said he, for I their sakes do not risk suffering an ignominious death, but tell where the body is, and give your evidence immediately, or you may be too late; for Probert or theother will disclose, and then no thing can save you.' This address had a great effect upon me, anti Noel perceiving it, again pressed me, saying, 'Do not hesitate, for you have now a chance ; consider the situation you are in, and avail yourself of the offer r.ow made to you, for I an, authorized by the magistrates to say, that you will be admitted as an evidence for the Crown, and not treated u the others. You will merely be confined until the trial, to give yotir evidence, and then be discharged.' On receiving this assurance, I consented to become a witness, and Mr. Noel then asked me if I knew where the body was? I told him yea, that I could not describe the place by name, but I could point it out : on which, !Ir. Noel struck his hand on the table, and exclaimed, That's all we want, and shaking me by the hand mid, ' Hunt, I am very glad you have saved your own life.' We now returned into the mom where the magistratre were, and Mr. Noel told them I was ready to make a disclosure, and said, ' I have !suede known to him, by your orders, that if he discover where the body is, he is to be admitted as an evidence; but before he says anything, I wish him to have that assurance in your pre sence, that he may be satisfied from yourselves that I was author ized to make the promise.' The magistrates, Mr. Clutterbuck and Mr. Mason, replied, that Mr. Noel had their authority for what he he. date; and then air. Noel said, Now, Mr. Ilunt, having heard the magistrates' decision as to your being a witness, i hope you are satisfied, and I beg you will take a seat, and tell us ail you know.' I then detailed every thing that occurred to my recollection, but having been apprehended early on the preceding day, conveyed into the country, and harassed and importuned throughout the night, it could hardly be expected that I should, at tour or five o'clock in the morning, lin making a long ,statement, recollcet every cir. cumstance; indeed, the magistrates were aware that such could nit be the case, and they told me, that es in the very hurry and ennfu lion of the moment, I had no doubt omitted many facts that I should afterwards on reflection recollect, and if such should be the case, I had only to address a letter to the ningistrates, and they would immediately attend to it. Shortly after quitting the room, several particulars cane to my recollection which I had not named, and I directly sent for Mr. Noel, and ment oned them to hint. At 9 o'clock in the morning, I went with the officers and pointed out the spot where the body had been deposited; I was then taken back to the magistrates to sign my statement, and previous to my being taken to prison, Mr. Clotterbuek desired that I should be treated with kindness, and not put under any unnecessary restraint. I was accordingly conveyed to St. Alban's without being ironed or hand culled, and ►as there treated with every possible indulgence. On being taken before the Coroner, I experienced very diferent treatment; but still I had no intimation given me that I was not to be admitted as a witness for the Crown, until just before the pre. sent indictment was found. It is perfectly true, that when before the Coroner I was admo nished to make no further confession; bat the admonition was a moc'Aery. I had already, under a solemn promise, confessed every thing intend ; and the Coroner himself, when he thus affected to forewarn an, well knew that he and his Jury were that instant, sitting in iaquest on the body, solely in consequence of my dia. closur:-; no Jury could have sat—no death could have been proved —no burly could have been found—no trial could have been had— but fr ray instrumentality. I was trepanned into a confession by the i e rghtcd faith of the Magistracy of this county. If they break it now, thvy will not merely in eke me the victim of its violation, but they will be answerable to society for e►ey future crime against the discovery of which their conduct will be an eternal ad , monition. Who can confide in promises hereafter? Who can rest his life on magisterial assurances? To no human being can they ever pledge themselves more sacredly than to me, yet lime stand to-day a proof of their insincerity ; nay, more than this--not only have they broken faith and violated honour. but while the press was uncen.ing in the excitement of prejudice—while the theatre :IA the painter were employed in poisoning the public mind--while every engine was at work to diminish the chances of an ip!partial trial—these csry men, who had thus ensnared me by perlitlicus declarations, closed their prison door against friends and ' legal advisers. and opened them only to the mandate of the King's 13ench. Thus was I first ensnared, and afterwards sought to be sacrificed. Seduced into a confession, which was trumpeted through the world, and then cruelly secluded until the time arrived when 1 was to starer—not for my crime, but my credulity—not because 1 crred, but because I trusted—not because I violated the law, but because I confided in the conscience of its ministers. It is in vain to say that my confession was not complete; it was as ample as could have been expected at the moment, from an ex hausted frame and an agitated mind. It was subsequently amend ed, where it was at first deficient; and no sophistry can evade the fact, that through that confession alone the body was discovered. Thus, then, the main circumstance—that on which every thing turned, was disclosed at once; and it is absurd to attribute to aught but momentary confusion, any minor concealment, when the great, essential, and indispensable development had taken place. As a proof that even the Coroner himself considered my eon fession so ainvle as to ensure my pardon, and that in his mind, notwithstanding his admonition, the promise of the magistracy ought to be held inviolate, hear his own words to Mr. Nicholls, one of the witnesses—. The consequence of your delay has been, the escape of Ilunt front justice; for he has been admitted a witness' for the Crown, by the Magistrates, as they were afraid the body was disposed of.' Now, what did these words mean, if the Coro ner was not fully convinced that I had merited and insured my pardon ? The prosecutors, my Lord, may affect to say, that as they re fuse to grant the boon promised for the disclosure, they will de cline using, or taking any advantage of the confession, and I hum bly submit that such a line of conduct would be alone consistent with justice and fair dealing for if they retract their engagement, they ought not to place me in a worse situation than I was in at the moment when, confiding in their integrity, I unbosomed the secret. If the prosecutors act with liberality, and forbear to offer a tittle of evidence respecting the body, and, in conducting the case, consider it as still undiscovered, I can have no cause to complain of plighted faith and broken promises, because your Lordship need not to be reminded that it has bccn laid down as a principle, that no death can be considered as proved unless the body be found, and conse quently in this case no conviction can take place. But if witnesses are produced to prove the finding of the body, can it be said that my confession is not taken advantage of? and will not the prosecu tors be taunting me by an affectation of candour, if they take cre. dit for not giving in evidence any declaration made by me, while they avail themselves of the very essence and substance of the com munication ? In confirmation of the promises made to me by the Magistrates and Mr. Noel, I beg to refer to a statement which the latter Gentle man has published in the Newspapers; wherein he says—' It is now incumbent on me to state the reasons for the offer of mercy held oat to Hunt;' and then he thus proceeds:—' Notwithstanding the most diligent searches for the body, no discovery had been made of it as i late as four o'clock past midnight of Thursday morning, the 30th of October, the sixth day after the murder, and at that hour the infor ' mations and investigations had terminated with no Glue whatever to the real person murdered.' Mr. Noel next describes his invitations to me to make a disclosure, with a view to my being admitted as an approver ; his desiring me to retire to ay:cider of his proposal ; and after I had left the room, he says he addressed the Magistrates as follows Gentlemen, if you do not approve of the offer of merry now held out to Hunt, say so, and I will go to him. Recollect, without the body is found, notwithstanding the strong evidence against one of the parties, we shall do nothing ; and Mr. Clutter buck and Mr. Mason both gave unqualified approbation to my mode of examination, and of the offer of mercy held out to Hunt.' And in another part of Mr. Noel's statement he says, t Not only at Watford but at the inquest, it was the general opinion of Mr. Mason and the Magistrates, that the body might halve remained concealed in H ill's slough, the place where it was found, (a distance of three mile, and a half from the spot where the munfireiras com mitted) until it had been decomposed, and beyond the pOssibility of identifying; and such was the insignificance of the slough, that persons employed to drag all pits, ponds, &c., would have passed by it, and therefore they were confirmed in their opinion as to the policy and propriety of sanctioning my offer of mercy to Hunt ; and previous to the offer being made, it was our united opinion that the corpse had been removed to London, and probably thrown into the Thames, either entire or piecemeal.' In addition to this statement, Mr. Noel inserts a letter from Mr. Clutterback to himself, in which the Magistrate observes, that as my case was then gone out of the hands of the Magistrates, all that could be done for me was to ask of the Court whether they would allow me to be evidence for the Crown. Having now, my Lord, faithfully stated the inducements by which I was led to make that disclosure which alone rendered my self and my fellow-prisoners amenable to justice, I respectfully sub. mit to your Lordship, whether, in being now put upon my trial, and made the victim of my own credulity, I have been fairly and candidly dealt with ? I will not, my Lord, attempt to point out or discuss the mischiefs likely to arise if such engagements as were entered into with me arc to be cancelled at pleasure, because they will occur n. :ch more forcibly to your Lordship's enlightened mind. Indeed, so fa as I am individually concerned, my fate is a sub ject of trifling importance. I have no desire to prolong a wretched existence, unless it be to afford the oppertunity of endeavouring, by prayer and penitence, to obtain mercy and forgiveness of the Al. mighty, for the sins and transgressions I have committed. But in pity to the feelings of an aged and respectable mother, a virtuous and amiable wife, and my dearly beloved brother and sister, Ido feel most a mums to avoid an ignominious death ; and it is there. fore for their sakes, more than for my own, that I fervently and ca-nestly entreat the performance of the solemn pledge made to me of sparing my life. i • I have nothing further to add, but most humbly repose my fate on the justice and humanity of your Lordship. _ . . . . When the reading of this document was finished, the prisoner Hunt said he wished to add a few remarks to the Court. His Lordship asked him if he would not have it read by the offi cer of the Court ? The prisoner said be would read it himself. Ile then stated from a paper as follows :—The greatest part of the evidence of l'robert is utterly false, especially that which refers to a declaration which he affirms was made by me previous to the murder. For the pur pose of screening his own life, be has invented falsehoods to take away mine. Ilia evidence of my saying. " There is the spot where lamto be se; down," is particularly false. I was never in that part of the country before ; how, therefore, could I know the spot, espe:ially . as the way was intricate, and the night extremely dark? This prisoner called no witnesses. Here his Lordship expressed a wish to put a question to the Corona. Upon his being sworn, his Lordship asked if he knew the spot where the body was found ?-4 do. Is that spo i t n the county of Hertford ?—it is, my Lord. His Lordship said that was all he required to know. THE JULIGE'S CHARGE. His Lordship then proceeded to address the Jury. lie said that I this important inrfttigation had occupied a considerable portion of I their time and labour, and justly occupied it, as the trial was of I the utmost importance to the primness and the public. As to the manner of the prosecution,—the prisoner John Thurtell was in dieted as the principal felon, as the murderer ; the other, Joseph Hunt, was indicted as, though not present, aiding, abetting, emu forting, and exciting him in the murder. This was making him an accessary before the fact ; and he would agree with the prisoner in the papa reed to the Court, that if he was only an necessary after the fact, however it might prove him to he a wicked and despi. cable character, he could not be convicted under the indictment, as he was tried as an mectsery before the act. This, like all iraes tigations respecting the life of man, was moat important ; foe the law held human life in so valuable a light—it looked upon it in so tender a view, that it considered all loss of life as murder until it wes reduced to manslaughter by such circumstances as the law could justify or excuse. Hut in the present case there was no such consideration. The only question here was, Who ormunitted the fact ? It was not pretended that it was done under any of those circumstances which could eithee excuse or Justify it ; and therefore, in his defence, John Thurtell has said that lie has not committed the murder at all. There is this distinction between the prisoners (though not in the legal consequences, for the law ;laces an accessary before the fact, and justly pleets him, in pre cutely the same snuation as the other), that if the jery were not disposed to convict 'Austell of the murder, they treed rot trouble themselves with any consideration respecting Hunt ; for it Thurtell was found no; to have committed the murder, Ilunt must he ac j quitted of 'aiding and abetting hint in • murder which be never committed ; oral r.ltheul. Timmefl may be found guilty of the murder, it did not follow, as a necessary connequenee, that Hunt was to be declared in aiding and comforting him. Th e two charger, were entirely distinct and se state. Before he entered upon the evidence, which, notwithstanding its length, ee wo u ld do most minutely, he must make a few comments on the defeat of the prisoner Jahn Thurtell. The commencement and conch'. sion 0 t his document, if it ware his own composition—and he would give him the credit of the supposition-edict him honour : th e y were manly, energetic, and proper. He trusted he was one of thes e who would never travel out of the line of his duty to sae a mu te thing of any person ; but he must say that he could rot admire that Mtleneent which advised the middle portions of the production, Ile muse regret that the entire should be weakened by such beg quotations from works which, for aught he knew, were mere ro. mances such as the " Newgate Calendar." and the " Percy Ana_ dotes"—works possessing no authority—of which he knew nothing, and by these means losing the effects of the precepts of the immur. tad Sir Matthew Hale, upon which he had at all times acted, and more particularly since he saw tnem last, in the county of ounces. It was the opinion of this great authority, u it was well known to every Judge who knew his duty, that no trial of murder could b e proceeded in until the body of the dead man wen identified. This authority, he must repeat, received no weight fiom the fee rap which was mixed up with it. lie did not lay this peg of the defence to the charge of the prisoner; lie gave him credit fir the other parts. With regard to the emfidence which was to b e reposed in circumstantial evidence, dwelt upon by Thurtell, if the lengths which he wished were to be gene to, there would be at once an end to all the judicature of man ; for though nothing es. cape the eye of Omniscience, how can we, clothed in infirmity arel frailty, come to a discovery of the truth, except by a uneaten:Eton of circumstances? And although from the frailty incident to hat. man tribunals, in the lapse of centuries a mistake or two miget have occurred, yet circumstantial evidence is considered by those who are in the least conversant with the administration of jus. tire, as the surest test of truth ; and in the case Whore the Court. he would not hesitate to say at once, that it was its. possible for the button mind to imagine a person of greater in famy appearing in any Court than Probert, on whose direct • T i. deice th e case depended. The respectable individual, Me. W. son (whom he had long known) could not make him blacker dui he had made himself. Thin wieless had deposed that he would sc believe Probert on his oath, if he were not confirmed by other ca. cumstances. He knew hint to be a perjurer; he knew that he had perjured himself before the Commissioners of Bankruptcy, when he (31r. AVadeson) was solicitor to the commission; though he would ask, how could say perjurer be possibly more wicked the he who concealed the murder of his friend ? lie would assume, with Thurtell, that bad motives had operated on the mind of P.o. beet; he affirmed he was a conspirator against the prisoners. Whet evidence was there that Probert enis a conspirator aireinat the pre son ers ? "Though," said his Lordship, " what are we seki ng about? Are we to believe that the fifty .three witnesses who have been tl. 'mined, who are nut even acquainted with Thurtell, are also con. spirators with Probert against him ? Circumstantial evidence (the prisoner says) is to be teceived with hesitation and doubt; so is all human testimony whatever; if not, said his Lordship, why are rot in that box? lefty am I and such as I here? It is that we shduld exert every faculty of the mind with which God has blessed us, for the purpose of investigating and sifting testimony by every test, of punishing guilt and protecting innocence. If, therefore, to use the words of the prisoner in his defence, such a reasonable doubt of his guilt occurs to you, as may suggest itself to the minds of honest, bee nourable, and conscientious men, give him the advantage ofthi e doubt. There is, with respect to the two prisoners, a distressing circumstance, which cannot be gainsaid by any person whatever. both the prisoners meet us with it ; and, for myself, I trust, that in the opinion of every person who knows me, I am sot GOO who would use a harsh or severe expression of any man living ; but I do think that I would be open to impeachment. if I did not do my duty when called on, fearlessly and resolved. This duty I will perform, though I may be attacked with the whole artillery of I trust that I fear the face of no man, either high or low. Both these prisoners have commenced their defence by warning, praying, imploring, beseeching you, that if you have heard anything of the evidence to be given on this trial, you would drive it as it a pestilence from your minds. And if the publication of evidence given before trial continue, I tremble for the fate of my country—that country which has made it its boast to entrust its justice to lands Eke yours. You arc to decide as God shall help you. How can.you to decide, if your minds are previously poisoned by statemetts, which, if true, are not offered in evidence at all ? The confession of Hunt has been read in newspapers, pamphlets,'and every de. scription of writing. A confession is in general read as canine from the mouth of the prisoner : it has not been tendered to the Court; and, if tendered, it would be rejected, if contrary to kr. It was upon this principle, and from my regard to justice, that when the affidavit which was read in the Court, and contained all the statements given to the public against the prisoners was published, he thought rt proper, under the fermentation of the public mind, to put off the trial, and come a second time; and, in this course of pew exuding, I am gratified by the approval of my consciencesad that of those most conversant with such matters. But why, I weld ask, were the prisoners compelled to make those complaints? Why were the labour and anxiety of mind thrown on me of coming a se cond time, though I do not or ought not to value labour, if theends et justice be answered ? But lam sure, that notwithstanding ousel. pert, pamphlets, and libel s,t he Jury will do their duty, as they ougat, to God, their country, and their oaths." His Lordship said, that as to the application made in the outset by the other prisoner, It was fitter to be discussed by himself than the Jury. It was argued on the die before, that the trial of that prisoner sbould be postmen& to enable him, under the eirenumeresses, to apply to the Crowe. But no argument, however ably conducted, ouglet, tn his espiews. to cause the trial to be postponed. Was not the argument allemid, the very reason for which th e trial ought not to be put off? The reason of the postponement was, to give time to apply to the Crown; that is, be makes application yesterday to do what be had two months time to perform. With respect to the confession. if it was made by the prisoner, and tendered as evidence, it is probable that it would be rejected ; and he regretted that some statements respecting it should be made • part of his defence ; if had the as ' /distance of persons conversant in the law (and he knew that he hail the advice of learned individuals, both above and below the beef, they would tell him that if a confession was extorted from a im sooer, it would not be received as evidence against him. He would instance the case of a yicraon saying where stolen goods were, or, SIX in the present came, to ing where a dead body was concealed: the finding of these in the place described proves that he is not fiuenced to state a falsehood by fear alone, foe his account is found. ed to a certain extent upon truth. A circumstance similar to this, it is well known to myself and the respectable gentlemen at the bar, is extremely common in our criminal Judicature ; so far, there fore, this young man has not to complain of any inconvenience to which others are not exposed. As to the other considerations at tendant on the question, it was not for the .lury to decide on then: they were merely to try facts on their oaths. Neither was it for him ; for, high as his powers were in that ('ourt, there were still higher powers, whose duties he was not to dispense. As to the {le dente given on die prosecution and the defence, he would state it with the greatest accuracy of which his judgment was capable, making such comments on it as he went along as occutrtd to hies, and the Jury would reject or adopt his comments, as it appeared fit to them. It would appear to the Jury that the body of de crime rested on the direct evidence of Probert and his wife • it au the clear and distinct law of England, that when an accomplice came into Court as a witness, lie comes loaded with the guilt of the person against whom he appears ; his character becomes the chw racier of the accused; it cannot be more blackened than by himadf: whatever the nature of the crime be, he is to that extent a aiming/ He was a competent witness. In cases of this kind it was for the Judge to decide whether such a witness as Prober was a comm. tent one, "And," said his Lordship. " 1 think him a competent wit ness." • After such evidence was admitted by the Judge, the Jul were to decide as to its credibility. If Probert was not supported in his testimony, he ought to have stood in the dock, and tee* 4 , tried by his peers. But if he was corroborated in par 'mar pane they were bound to take the whole, however wicked the person might be in other transactions out of the case. A great deal Ins been said about admitting accomplices; but it was every day done. and it was of the deepest importance that it should be done, he' cause it was oftentimes the only means of bringing offenders of the • worst description against the laws of their country to justice. Met Noel had taken a most unwarrantable part in recommending Hu* to disclose all he knew respecting the murder, and in holding 00 hopes to him, that by so doing he might be admitted an evideee for the Crown. Ile had run as soon as he could, lest some one else should make the disclosure. But the fact was, that MAO* traces themselves had no power to grant such indemnity ; all inert could be done by them was, to recommend it to the Counsel le I the prosecution, to make an application to the Court t o admits accomplice as an evidence for the Crown; and the Counsel,* moving the Court on the subject, pledged their profession al charades that it was necessary. Hunt was certainly not accepted as swami for the Crown. Ha Lordship then commenced the recaphulnise of the ekidence. In going over the testimony of Hexwerthy sea eare, the deceased's brother, he remarked that Lord Hale had mo* - wisely held, that it WWI necessary to prove the identity of the body of a person murdered. " I think , " said his Lordship, " that gee * man's words are these, although it is many years since I reel it, hoed Hale save, I never have, as a Judge, allowed a pel o ' to be convicted - of murder, unless the fatal blow was seen s r"° on the body, or the body could be recognised.'" Ilia Lordship rr (erred to a case tried in the county of Sussex, at which heprueled where a woman was arraigned for the munkr of her duke The body, when found, was an such a state of petridity, that the ..' even could not be known. His leardship continued, " I stoppol that prosecution as all former Judges had; whether with the err probation of every one I know net: therefore, gendtmen, firs" the evidence of He:worthy and Weare, we may make ourseene perfectly satisfied that we are inquiring into the murder of We Hain A% care." The Learned Judge. in proceeding to the eve:race of Mr. Ward, the surgeon, obetrod, th at in the whole coots 1 his practice lie had ncser met with a mom sensible surgeon ths.-. Mr. 'Ward, or ole who eaves better evidc ace. Ile had proved t either the wound in the jugular vein, or that made by the pie,e• would have caused death ; therefore it was immaterial to ireue: further what caused ike.:ll. The two great points were thcrea ptmed. vie. . the identity of the deceased, and that the viols: named in the ineictuent was the cause of his death. In tfcastieLrisnt:gi,,rzatcotift?hniur.o;wpe3dricergyee,. of j u t si h tiki e cte r t e he .ca pap i r e ri i i, u w il o a n t bse4ff ion nedu to n, t y hai u m n tairin t' in s part they had not beet guilty of a it chievous notiwi, if two or mom p ie:l t e i as .al p i ot a rt b F„ , : e i t e,,ripo se c -- , th t wgu l ti h luL iol er ar ti : oo . f dd a ori;::,:. property who was sh ale guilty ; ... • therefore,purpose of coinnnitting s foamy , it was in vain for Hunt to lay the " fiatterarg," and env • wenn to la. soul." "Of the character of Probers.. . id hs hor,l,hi` ', •no titan can doubt: I hale expressed n" before as tn i utg yasl am able; i wish tuna to be cooaahr" th'e case in L ynn:eft: l g Thurtell and together its this fret' I 1 ,1 1