The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-07-10 00:00:00

act he was committing, he was not, according to the law
of England, an accountable agent, and therefore it will be
your duty to acquit on that gronnd. In former times, under
a statute of Henry VIII., the plea of insanity could not
avail against a charge of high treason ; but the law has been
altered, and it lies on the party making that plea to make it
c3bt clearly and satisfactorily. He must shlw that not only
on former occasions there had been strangeness and eccen-
tricity of manners, but that at the time the offence was com-
mitted the individual charged was not in such a state of mind
as to be an accountable agent. To establish exemption
from a criminal charge there must be a greater degree of
aberrrtion of mind proved than would be necessary in a
civil proceeding to set aside a contract. The learned gen-
tleman here quoted the dicta of Lord Coke and Sir Matthew
Hale, and also a principle laid down in " Harrison's Prin-
ciples of the Criminal Law of Scotland," in support of 'his
proposition. He cited also the cases of Arnold, tried for
shooting Lord Onslow, of Lord Ferrers, for shooting his
Steward, and of Bowler, tried before Mr. Justice Le Blanc
(in all of which cases insanity had been the plea), to show
the strict proof required of insanity ac the moment the act
charged was committed. He also went at length through
Mr. (afterwards Lord) Erskine's defence of Hatfield in 1800,
and Lord Kenyon's judgment in that case. He next pro-
ceeded to contend that there was no grounds for contending
that the prisoner was at the time of perpetrating the deed in
a state of mind to exempt him from the force and punish-
ment of the law.

The following witnesses were then called:—
Samuel Perks examined by the Solicitor-General.—On
the 10th of June I was in the park on Constitution Hill. I
saw her Majesty leave the Palace • she was in au open car-
riage, and was accompanied by irince Albert. After the
carriage drew near to me I saw the prisoner Oxford. He was
on the right side of the road; I was exactly opposite to him,
a few yards off; he was walking with his arms folded, in ad-
vance of the carriage. The prisoner gave a nod towards the
carriage when it had advanced within 10 or 12 yards towards

him. -I then saw him pull a pistol from under his coat with
his right hand. When the prisoner discharged the pistol he
was only five or six yards from the carriage. I was within a
toot of it. After the pistol was fired I heard a whizzing noise
in the air. I was then at the back of the carriage. As soon
as Oxford fired his pistol he turned his head round as if to
see whether any one was near him. He then drew another
pistol from his breast, I think with his right hand, and fired
a second time. Be took a deliberate aim at her Majesty.
When he fired the second shot the carriage was three or
four yards in advance of the prisoner.
Dord Denman.—ln which hand did the prisoner hold the
pistol the second time he fired ?

Witness.—ln the left hand, my lord. When the second
pistol was fired three or four persons ran towards the pri-
soner, and a man named Andrew Lowe was seized by mis-
take. Lowe had got hold of the prisoner, and took the pis-
tols from him. Lowe was the person who it was first sup-
posed had fired the pistols. A person named Clayton said
to Lowe, `• You confounded rascal, what have you been
doir

_ On which the prisoner said, " It was not him ; it
was me who tired the pistol." Clayton and I then gave the
prisoner into the hands of the police.

Cross-examined by Mr. Sydney Taylor.—The pathway on
Constitution-hill is about level with the road. It may be a
few inches higher.