Star.
London, England, 1824-01-07 00:00:00

Sheriff, to• the Magistrates, to the Ret. Mr. Franklin'
and to Mr. Wilson, the jailer, for the kind and humane
treatment he had experienced at their hands, were
made in a very heartfelt and sincere manner. One of
'the turnkeys was so much affected as to shed tears.
- He commenced his address at twenty minutes pist
nine, and concluded precisely at a quarter past eleven:
No man of the most unspotted innocence could have
'delivered in a manner more solemn and emphatic, his
concluding affirmation—" So help me GOD."
The prisoner then called the following witnesses: .
Samuel Waitson—Was solicitor to Probert under his
commission of bankruptcy ; he was' committed by the
Commissioners of Bankrupts, and recommitted six or
seven different times; but his answers still proved un-
satisfactory. The witness, declared Probeit was a man
whom he would not believe on his oath, unless corrobo-
rated by other testimony.
John Langdon Haydon, a surveyor, had known the
prisoner Thurtell for some time, and always considered
him as a mild, kind-hearted, open, and generous dis-
po ed man.
Captain Nlacinlay, a Captain in the Navy, and one
of the Captains of the Hospital at Greenwich. Was tinder
the command' of the witness, in the Bellona, for two
years, nameli from the- year 1512 to 18.14; witness
considered bins as correct in-his conduct as an officer
and as apilO•tempered humane man.
- --- Walstsley, an officer to the Sheriff of Mid.
dlesex, had known the'prissoner for three years, and hid
*alWays.fcnind.him a lititnane, peaceable, good tempered
man.—This do. ed Thurtell's defence, and
Mr. Justice.PAßlC then stated to. the prisoner Hunt
that now was his Gate for offeting anything be had to.
say M Iris defence. • •
. .
'l he prisoner skid—My Lordp I hate prepared a few
observations as my defence;.but the extreme agitation'
under %%hid' I am at present labouring, is such, as en-
tirely to incapacitate me from reading it.
Mr. Justice PARK—If you hand it ill, the cfficer of
the Court shall read it for you.
The prisoner then handed in a written piper, which
was read by Mr. KnaPp. The address was to the
Court and Jury, and commenced, by stating, that re-
lying confidently ch the .promise of rrtrcy formerly
held out to
.him,' and deceived, -by a conviction that
Ile should be admitted an evidence for the Crown, he
had not taken any measures for making cut a defence
until very lately ; and he • still presumed. to hope, that
when his case was taken intoConsidetatien, that. mercy
would be extended to him, which had been promised
as the.inducernent for his confessing all he was ac.
qusinted with on the subject of the murder.
THIRD EXPRESS. •
HERTFORti, THREE O'CLOCK.
In addition to this Address, Mr. Knapp read a paper, in which,
be endeavoured to shew that the greater part of l'•ohert's state-
ment was false, and that be intended to ;shield himself: one part
was obviously so. Ile states in one pact, that Hunt, in travelling
down to Gill's-hill, on coming to the part of the road where he was
to have joined Thurtell, observed." This is the plaor at which.l was
to have met him." Such a thing he never could have said, inas-
much as he was ignorent of the road, and did not know ace spa;
from another. . ,
!The Leasoren JUDGE then proceeded to sum up the, evidence to,
the Jury, and to describe the nature ache indictment-. This, like
all inquiries of a similar nature, was highly importaut, inasmuch as
it related to,the life of a man, and therefore the time eniplcryed in
!the 'lnvestigation had been well employed ; and having said this
much, he would nest proceed to point out the iiiirerence in the
several °Tepees with which the two prisoners were charged.—
The Learned Judge then proceeded to describe the difference be-
tween the accessary and the principal In eases of murder, and re-
minded the Jury, that
,if they !livid once think there was not
evidence to convict Thurtell, the principal, tbettl they would have
no inquiry to make with regard to liuut. The Jorthad heard the ad_
dress of the prisom,r,"Thurrell, and be felt himself bound in justice to
say he co, sidertd that defence, especially the latter part of as doing
him infinite honour, which was eloquent and manly. Ile could not
sotneelvapprove of that other portion of the defence which related
to circumstantial evidence. If circumstantial evidencl WAS to be
rejected, there would be an end, in the most atrocious cases, of all
earthly justice ; he fully agreed in what had been said by Thurtell
Of the character of probert, the principal witness; no man could
have a worse-character. The witness who-had been examitred.on

oath and declared he woul4 not believe Probert on his oath unless.
corroborated by other testimony, had not painted that character in
colours at all too high ; it fell short. indeed, in some respects ofl
that which rrobert deserved, but still l'robert was corroborated
' by so many independent, impartial, unbiaued witnesses, that it was
impossible not to give all due weight to his testimony. It would'
be unreasonable to imagine that all these SS witnesses were in a con-
spiracy to give credit to Probert's story, and here he must again
advert to what he had, on former occasions, said on the subject of the
'publications which had taken place in the public prints. It was a
shocking thing to think that in a case like the ,if mut, it should be
necessary for a prisoner to caution, and not oily to oaution, but
even to entreat, that the Jury would not suffer their minds to be
prejudiced by these improper, and he would say wicked state-
ments. He trusted be should sever fear to utter his thoughts or
opinions on this subject, before any power, however high, or how-
ever low; and in the face of all the Public Press, and all the
libels which might be hurled at his head, he would repeat what
Ise bad formerly said ; and he would add, that if such a prac-
tice was to be persisted in and tolerated, he trembled for the
ezistenee of all our boasted liberty, and equality of administration
of justice in this country. This much he had again considered i;
necessary to say on this important subject; and now he must ad-
vert to another part of the case, which applied more.partinlarly to
Hunt, and to the defence which be had put in, and which was,
in fact, but a repetition of the application put in yesterday.—
On this part of thecase, be must say, his opinion was decidedly
against the claim of Hunt to be admitted an evidence. The con.
fusion of Hunt, as it was called, he should not have suffered to
have been given in evidence; but it bad already been publisbed
over and over in the Newspapers, and thus had got abroad that
which sever ouslbt to have been published. and which the presiding
Magistrate would not have suffered to be received as evidence. This
was another proof of the evil tendency of Newspaper publication.
—The Learned Judge proceeded to make further observations on
tbe.evidence of accomplices, and observed, that if this system was
once put an end to or discredited, it would be utterly impossible to
bring to light many of the most atrocious offences which marked
occasionally our criminal proceedings; the evidence was most Im-
portant end material, and be should go minutely through it. The
Learned Judge first took that branch of vidence which went
to skew the identity of the body, for be had no hesitation in

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