The Sun.
London, England, 1810-11-13 00:00:00

profels7on, who have derived their celebrity from
havin4 preclised in those assemblies. I have a strong
and ardent wish that I could possess their Lordships
with the feelings that aieuated my mind ; it was not
for the want of a sincere and honest wish that I nave
erred against the letter of the law , but I ,suffer be-
cause I have been misled and drawn aside by the
excess of my feeling-4, in bringing forward a ,-us)jer.t
of, discussion on ',behalf of one whom I conceived to
be air oppressed and persecuted individual. As tar
as re•peets the Noble Prosecutor acrd NIL Finnerty,
they are equally strangers to me-, and equally in-
diltieeht. I neither know nor .care for ought re-
speeting Lord Castlereagh. I can hate no personal'
politic against Lim. I owe him neither fiyour nor
enmity, and should not know him if present in Court.
The sentiments I expressed were delivered publicly
there Lvas 1.6 dark and malignant effort made, but I
stared what I thought at ~the time to be ties.. It
must have occurred to the mind of the Courtthat I
hare very recently returned _from imprisonment
for another cause.; that scarcely was I dragged to
pfison, hardly alite, but at that. very moment the
Noble Prosecutor . fastened upon my back the in-
die-talent in question. I do not wish to make
any observation personally; but it appears • to me
that I have ben treated .rather harshly, for I
think, than it it depended upon the
,Honourable
Counsel who is instrumental in managing this cause
for the secution, he • would hate s lid that
I hed already suffered enough, having endured tour
month, imprisonment.; but I have scarcely-had time
• to return to the bosom of my wife and family--to
recover the
,derangement necessarily imident to a.
situation of that s.rt,',and to taste the•sweets of li-
-,berty, beiore another indictment is fixed upon me
he would have said that it was vindidive, and would
not have eqconraged • it ; but the AttotnerGeneral
had no choice, and must do what belonged to his
ottice, and I muSr endnre it IA ith patience acid re•
signatione It would have. beesme the pros' tutor;
and would have shone as a feather in his cap,
with. a noble inagoanitnity, he had passed over this,
and had saii, that
after such sufferings he would no,
press ag,on,t- such an huniule inaivldual—that .bis
.character stood fir eitough in the- world, and needed
not a I indieiive prosecution to place it higher. Un-
der these circumstances it would be indecorous in
me to otter any thing which does not .belorg to my
own case ; it would be improper to utter anything
disrespeetful of the chara&er and motives of the
Noble Prosecutor ; but still I cannot help feeling a
something that convinces me that I shall sleep more
soundly in the cell to which pcs,ihly I may be sere.
tenced, than Lord Castlereagh will sleep either upon,
his pillow of rests or his bed o down. The tunes
are such, that even it it had 1.),..tt0 only from motives
of polity, I think the Noble Liird ought rather to
have let me escape, because I think at this moment
every hand -arid heart, o.ight to be engaged, and
. meanly as I think of my own abilities,- I think they
could have been of sonic service in my country's
and it would have better become his Lord-
ship to have sacrificed his own private feelings upon
the altar of justice. I know not what impression
the sentimei:ta I have uttered may have made upon
the:" Lorcish ps,. but alt I have had in view was to
put them in possession, as far as could be; of the ho-
liest sentiments of my mind, however mistaken thi y
may have been. As to the character of the institu-
tion, it was not tor the purpose of introducing a
mock tribunal, or of assembling together low and
illiterate persons; hut 'the audience was really re-
spettabie, the di•cussions were fair—every Gentle-•
man mi,bi speak on either side—and though I will
not defend the sort of meeting, taking for granted
that there has been no mistake in laying down the
law in this case, and that' they have not the advan-
tage of legal authority, yet I have adted with an
honest intention, and the Court may be carried too
far, if, under these circumstances, 'it is induced to

pass a severe sentence on the individual who stands
before it. I trust their Lordships will suffer no idea
tp come across their minds that shall induce then
to suppose that the man who stands for judgment
would, to save his life, be guilty of meanness or
prevarication, but that while he stands before them
for justice, he asks of their Lordships that mercy
which it is becoming in them to grant."
Al TORNZY -GUN ERAL—" My Lords, as I am
st holly unacquainted with the nature of those ser- •
vices which the defendant, it' he were suffered to
remain at large, would be able to render to the public •
/in these popular discussions, I Cannot well judge
whether it were or were not prudent in my Lord
Castlereagh to institute this prosecution against him,
at the expence of that public loss. The defendant
Las stated to your L• ordships, that he is a man who,
in times like these, must be of great use to the
public, and that therefore it would, have become
Lord Castlereagh more, iii, his magnanimity, to have
overlooked this otieuce than to have prosecuted him
for it, lest the-public should suffer by the loss of
his service;, occasioned by his imprisonment. In-
deed, my Lords, I am unacquainted with any ground
that the defendant can have for urging such an ar-
gument. lam not, aware of any loss which the
public will sustain, even if your Lordships should
infli& the sentence'of imprisonment upon the de-
lendant, and thst consideration, therefore, I am
sure, will be no obstiuclion to the dispenoation of
that justice which your Lordships will think ought
on this occasion to be dispensed in regard to him.
Lord Castlereagh has instituted this prosecution
against' the defbridant, complaining of a wrong ;
the defendant presen's himself before your Lordships
extenuating. that which Lord Castlereagh feels as a
via,ng, and stating to your Lordships that he acted
in the exercise ofa right ; that he had a right to call
together this assembly, for the purpose of, judging
of Lord. Ca4lere,;gh, and that in the exercise of
that right, he most magnanimously gave to Lord
Castlereagh a fair opportunity of dtAending
that if Lord Castlereagh did not appear befOre this
tribunAl and delnd himself, it was his fault, and
that be, -the defendant, did no mote than his
duty in delivering to the public the result of those
diectisqinns. Your Lordships, in this .Court, will al-
ways support the rights of ad the subjeas of this
country. Your Lordships will also redress the
wrongs which they sustain, aid if that xvhieh the
cielendint insists upon as a right be indeed a right,
your Lardships will support.him in the exercise of
it. IT, on the other hand, it be not a right, but