The National Register.
London, England, 1820-10-08 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER

to give his disimerested evidence he n as atrected at losing his
situation as courier, and had nettle every eftlirt bb regain it.
This tea, the manivlio deutpAspii he heal received reds thip;
—that he had any future expectations. The last of those
general observations w Inch : should submit to their Lord-
ships was the great blanks amongst the witnesses—the
exceeding fewness of the witnesses compared with what the
public were led to expect from the titteinent of the Attorriey-
General. lie conjured their Lordships to attend to this tact,
for it was of leading impatience. It there were no other
argument for throwing out the Bill, that was a capital one.
Whatever might have been the case, whether it lied been
proceeded in tee a matter of ordinary or extraordinary cha-
racter, he should still adhere confidently and steadily to that
part of the case us furni,failig thiciptivocal proof of the weak-
ness of the prosecution. It was re consideration fatal to the
Bill. Toe Attorney-General had told their Lincships that
there existed rumours at Naples, to to the reasons the Queen's
Ladies had fur leaviiig her Majesty. Rumours I if there
had been rumours to that effect, aby had not the proper
witnesses been called to prove their existence ? Where are
those Ladies? They were all persons of rank and honour,
respected and beloved, upon whose character there lay no
imputation. They were the very persons who could he best
of all introduced, as a contrast to those who had been already
examined; why had out those been called, and the same
course been adopted with regard to them which would have
been followed if the case was in a course of investigation
before one of the Judges at the Old Bailey ?—No. More
elevated pursued had been in the service of the Queen, and
might be supposed to be influenced? Was that a reason for
nut calling evidence which would at once determine so im-
portant a part of the ease ? Could their Lordships act upon
such a foundation? lie was not here contending upon the
subject of a Bill of Exchange. or of any other case connected
with the inferior Courts, in which the refusal to call evidence
important to the case might be considered necessary ; but he
was there upon a Bill of Pains and Penalties, which their
Lordships might give the go-bye to if they pleased. Aud
were they not to have been before them all that would tend
to lead to ajust conclusiou, without being fettered by any of
the ordinary restraints which were acted upou in other places?
He would not call those witnesses. He would leave it to
those who conducted the proucution to call them; but he
would leave it to them iu vain, for the persons to whoa he
alluded did not belong to the Cotton-garden troop. and of
course did nut come under the denomination te which the
enemies of the Queen looked with hope mid satisfaction. In
this sacred temple it would be a shame to permit the cause
of her Mikiesty to sustain injury, because those witnesses were
not called; to allow ruin to come down upon her, because
her adversaries bad refused to call those trutn whose testi-
mony she might receive the utmost benefit. The very
ntsetopt made to prejudice the cause by making the assertion,
without bringing forward the proof, wassudicient to destroy
the charge. And if their Lordships meant to maintain the
character of that august assembly, they would at ouce reject
the Bill, and remove the necessity of any further address
from him. [Here Mr. Brougham, evidently exhausted by
the exertiou, requested to be permitted to retire fur a few
moments.]
At a quarter before two o'clock, Mr. Brougham returned,
and began to comment on the contradictory nature of Majocci's
evidence. He said, there were sayings which had been used
by celebrated men in alleges and by the sages of antiquity, which
were handed down to us and identified with their dim e+: Ma-
jocei had his phrase too, for so leag as thermals Now asi rimed°
shall be remembered, and he buccal they would not soon be
forgotten, the image of Mnitieti would Hoe to the recollection.
The evidence of Awed esamidat almost ewer the whole period
et this charges against the emus, and which were made when lie
retina hem her Royal Highwine's service. The Lammed Gen-
doom then animadverted be straw tame, upon the mimosas
of this man's mammy on some ea his total want of
recollection on °duns it was a most instance of guilty
forgetfulness,
_en* no gnaw termer et perjury could be produced
—a perjury whack be pledged to prove to their Lordships.
The witness had on all occasions, in his examination in chief,
' sworn that the Prbms—'s bed-room, was very near that of Ber •
wherever they were, era that there was a communication
between them, and that the rest of the suite slept at a distance;
but when erommanthsed on those points, he said he did not
knew; be did net mesliect A witness might fabricate one
ends* any likely to be credited, but by building falsehood on
?Po holes& wicked Mame might put the file of an honest man
Medial the character of an illustrious Princess.
The sedend Mejeed, es is shop, pikes, sod circumstance,
was always wig -re. what examined by his employers. He
had "eke le the dame she Primes was in Bnipmes bed-mom,
as ono twenty aliatelle•-mnother, from fifteen to eighteen mi•
nutest and he bed also mid, be fired a gun three minutes after
some other circumstances be had mentioned. But when cross-
examined, he did not know whether he had travelled four hours
or eight hours one night, because he said he had not a watch.—
The witness did not know whether there were two or two-and-
twenty men on board the ship; nor where any of them slept.
His memory in every thing that wan to make against the Queen,
was astonishingly retentive; but, when he was asked any ques-
tion for which he was not so well prepared, he answered by a sow
ssi ricordoi although that very answer was often in direct contra-
diction to his former statement. The Learned Gentleman con-
tinued to point out various iostainees of such contradictions, allot
which were evidence of direct perjury on the part of the witness.
He alluded to that part of the mu-examination where Ma.
jocci in reply. to a question upon the subject of his application
to be restored to his situation, said " It was a joke," anal com-
mented upon the conduct of this witness, upon being told that he
could not have joked with Hieroninnui several tames. The reply
M that was Non sal ricordo.—Now that was gross perjury, and
was certainly equalled by his conduct in saying, that '• he would
rather eat grass than go back to the service in which he had been
engaged." Now as to those witnesses who had beta so well paid
for their services; the House were aware that a great deal was to
be drawn from the demeanour of witnesses. W hen witnesses
were determined to swear to what was false, they were ex-
tremely apt to be impertinent and flippant. When the mate of
the vessel. which was represented acs the scene of some disgrace-
ful familiarities, was examined, he answered, that •• To be sure
they were, they were not in his pocket I" And other answers of
the same character, marked the evidence of this creditable per
son. Now a better paid witness was never seen than this Mate,
for he was paid at the rate of two thousand pounds a year. The
sum was tilled a compensation for his leases • but what would be
said when it was known, that at Matins, where this witness had
made those great sacrifices, there was no land proprietor, no
mercantile dealer who would not look upon himself as a person
of unequalled affluence it' he was in possession of half the sum
His name would resound through the world, and persons from
the country would be rejoiced to get letters tat recommendation
to hint. The Captain was paid still higher--at the rate of two
thousand four hundred pounds. All his expenses, too, were
paid, and his expectations were not limited to that sum, for he
looked to the bounty of a Royal Husband, whose interests he
was to serve. This man, too, had acknowledged, that he had a
quarrel with part of the establishment of the Queen ; and his.
evidence was built upon revenge. Now it was unquestionable
that a Princess of Waled sitting on a gun with a menial servant,
wholearros were rotuid her neck, was an extraordinary occur-
:we, Witty to Luke a holing tinpreasipn, and yet the CiptAin