The Sun.
London, England, 1812-05-16 00:00:00

Sanalcmel by that Meinister. The Noble Marquis
was then art. Court, _and could ,contradict leis state=
merit was false.; He, represented the cif corn-
stances, as they really were- ; and not as peesenally
conc-ruing himself, hut as involving the honour of
tile British Gevernment. He was reterred by the
No Ie Marqnis to the Privy Council, and from the
Privy' Council to the Treasury; and' thus bandied
'from o;:ie department to another, he ,applicd to Mr.
*Perceval, who refused to.support his.clainese He was
next advisedeto petition Parliament ; but then
,he
wa- informed it .was necessary to have the satiation
of ,his M.,jeSty's Ministers; as his claim, was of a.
pecuniary nature; and be accordingly wrote to Mr.
Perceval during the Sestiun of I'Bll, but received
for answer 'from 'his secretary, that .the' time. for
presenting private petitions to Parliament was gone
by, and that Mr. Perceval 'could not encourage hit
hopes that he would recommend his claisns to the
House of Commons. He next memorialized his
Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in a statement
of his sufferings ; some time Afterwards, he receiv-
ed an answer from 'Colonel MeMalion, stating that
by some accident his petitioh.was mislaid.. He then
wrote another petition to his tioyal Highness, and
he understood it was reterred to the Treasury, as ap-
peared by, a letter to him from Mr. Secretary Ryd4er,
'dated Whitehall, on the very day his Royal High-
ness came to unrestri&ed power ; but at the Trea-
sury he was afterwards told that nothing could be
done,, and that he had nothing to expeate He
- wrote .another memorial to the Prince Regent, but
was informed by a letter from Mr. Ryder, that his.
'Royal Highness had not been pleased to give any,
commands on the subject. Foiled in all his at-
tempts to obtain justice, he applied about six weeks
since to the Magistrates at Bow-street, in a
letter, stating his grievances-s-intreating their inter-
ference by application to Government—and adding,
that if all redress was refused -him, he must be
obliged to do himself justice, by taking such steps
as those must be repunsible for who resisted all his.
applicationS. He received an answer in few lines
from Mr. Justice Read,' saying, that the office could
riot interfere ; 'but he found that. Mr. Read, as was
his duty, had' represented the circumstance to Go-
vernment; and on a subsequent application to the
Treasury, ho was informed there, that lie had .no•
thing to expe6t, and that he was at liberty to take
stieh steps as he thought fit. " Finding himself thus
bereft of, 411 hopes of reclreas ; his affairs ruined .by
his long imprisonment in Russia, through the:fault
of the British Minister ; his property-all dispersed
for want •of his own' attention ; his family driven
into tribulation and want ; his wife and children
claiming support, which he was unable to give '
them ; himself involved in difficulties, and pressed
,on all sides by claims he could not answer; and
that justice refused to him which it was the duty of
Government to give, not as a matter of favour, but
of right ; and Mr. Perceval obstinately refusing
sanction his claims hi Parliament, he was, driven to
despair, and under these agonising feelings, was im-
pelled tO that desperate alternative which he had
unfortunately adopted, and for which the last an-
swer of the covernmeut had given him a cqzle7
blanche.
Lord G. L. GOWER was then in the Court, and
he called-on hirn to contradict, if lie could, 'the
statement he had made.. Mr. Perceval, had unfor-
tunately fallen the victim of his d.'sperate reixAut len;
No man lamented more sincerely than he dill the
calamitous event. He could never reflect cu .it
without being ready to 'burst into tears. 11 he lead
metefecad Gower, in thedesperate resolution he had
taken, he (Lord G.) should ha, e received the ball—
and not Mr. Perceval. . He appealed to the feelings
of the Jury,- as fathers,-!--as husbands,—as• men ;
and to the affeetion which they owed to their ferni-
lies, and the regard they felt for the honour and in-
, tegrity of their charkiers,—what, they would have
done under the provocation he had received. He
concluded by disclaiming most solemnly all personal,
or premeditated malice against Mr. Pereeval. As to
death, if it were to be suffered five hundred times,
he should prefer it to the iejuries and inclesnities
which he had experienced in Russia. He should
considler it as tine wearied traxe'ller does Cie inn
which affords him an asylum fur repose. But Go-
' vernment, in the injw,tice ti,ev had done him, were
infinitely more crietina, than the wretch who, for
deptiving the tre.-11ey of a few shillings on the high-
way, totteits his life to the laWs: He relied upon
this, however, that is was impossdale by the law of
the country to convict, him of the crime of w ilful
murder, unless it was preyed that he had malice
prepense towards the unfortunate Gentleman for
whose death he was then on his trial, and towards
whom he utterly denied all personal or intentional
• malice. _ er-

• Thredivitnesses were then called—Mrs. Phillips,;
'who said, she knew the f.rioner from his childhood
that his lather' had died insane, and that he himself
had been 'all his life in a state of derangement,
'and particularly since. he, came from Russia ; and
he talked on this subject for the last three years.—
Mrs. Mary Clark, who lives in Bagnio-court, New-
gate-street, also stated her opinion of the prisoner's
insanity for the List two years.—Anne Fidghts, ser-
vant at she house where the prisoner lodged in New
Millman-s:reer, for the last four months,. deposed,.
that she thought his manner confused and deranged
forsTne time back, and particularly on Sunday last :
but on cross-examination of these ,4wituesses, it ap-
peaiefl that none of them ever kisew any instance of
his being attended by any medical person, or in: any
manner confined or restr::lued for one hour by his
friends on account of insanity, or
.prevented from
the Management of his own affairs, or from trans?
aeling busine4s with others. And, Ann pidgins, in
particular, 'admitted that he had gong to attend di-,
vine sers.ice both morning and evening, last Sunday,
at the Foundling Hospital Chapel,.with her mistress
• and her little son ; and that he attended them on
Monday to the European Museum ; ,and had been
always, respected in the house as a most regular and
orderly persqn.-
Sir JANES MANSFIELD then proceeded to'charge
the Jul. His Lordship commenced by impsessing
on them. the necr-ssit.y of puuing entirely out of
their minds all consideration of the high charatter of
the lamented Gentleman who had bectimurdered.
The laws Of the cbur.tr) held out their protec-
tion equally to the humblest and the highest subjeat
of the State ; and. it Was :for the Jury to consider the
' MC(S, independently of al) personal considerations.