The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-06-04 00:00:00

a

TILE CASE OF BELLINGIMM.

In the writer of the following eceelletit letter,
whiA appeared in the flutrulent Whig of Sunday
lint, .4e recognise an old Correspondent.

TO THE EDITOR.'
Cta,—Although the deed done by the unfortunete
niegliam was a great crime in the const*:ction of
the law, yet it seems to have been done without
ail) nicked intention. Intentions, Sir, proceed
entirely from the mind ; and therefore to he wicked
most be known and consciously Pt as such by the
psrty eh* entertains them. Now this consciousness
Mr. B. appears not to have had. It may seem ex-
traordinary, perhaps, to some, that he should not
bee fuel it ; hut the fact appears so notwithstanding.
He sincerely believed himself justified in what he
did: he rested his defence on that ground, and the
idea never quitted him to the last moment of his ex-
istence. In all this he was consistent, and it is im-
pessinle, 1 think, to harbour the thought for one
ef,ment that the whole of this proceeded from hypo-
crisy. Mr. Perceval was, in his opinion, the first
aggressor: he had refusedlim jostice, and therefore he
'opposed him entitled to none himself; in short, be
appears to have persuaded himself that it was per-
fectly justifiable to' oppose one violation of the law
against another violation of the law.—According to
the Cuuricr's Report of the Trial, he said, that,
• hat he demreitied was Right, not Favour : that it
was no more than the birth-right and privilege of
every Englishman : and that a Minister, who set
hiarself above the law, as Mr. Perceval did, must do
it at his own personal risk. . Arta any malicious in-
tention town!, Mr. Perceval (said he), I solemnly
crow that it was most averse from my heart. Justice,
and justice only, :las nt,y sole object. I gave no-
tice at Bow-street, that, if my claims were finally
vejevted, I should do myself justice; and that
544 y to ascertain in a criminal • court whe-
ther a Miuister of England has a right. to re-
fuse justice to a Subject of the Realm."—
Now upon all this there can, I conceive, be but one
opinion, among men of liberal minds, who under-
atatl any thing ef the nature of our Government.—
With regard to the point of what constitutes a refu-
sal of justice, his notion seems also to have been very
correct. iiis demand was, that his case should be in-
vestigated, and decided according to its nierits. The
refusal of this demand he considered as a refusal of,
justice; and I do net see that what was urged by the
Judge, in reply to this allegation, amounts to a satis-
factory refutation of it. Ido not mean to empire,
how far a man, possessing undoubtedly great energies
of mind, goaded by acute sufferings, and ruminating
perhaps on the many examples of resistance to the
oppressina of wicked ministers with which our his-
tory is filled, may not hare been persuaded to
think, that it was allowable, and even laudable,
to adopt such a dreadful mode of retaliation ; but
this I must say, that if such a persuasion did
exist in this man's mind, then does he hold a very
dill ,rent place, in my estimation, from him, who is
fully conscious of the atrocity of the act that he is
about to perpetrate. I beg lease to ask, if it is at
all extraordi..ary, , that a person shotild have enter-
tained such a cm.viction in sincerity of heart ?
Have not many men given in to notions far more ex-
travagaet ? Ttatisithstantiation, for instance; is not
that really believed by many men ? Why then should
we doubt that Belliegham sincerely believed what*
itlil•etv and Locke supported in theory, and Brutus
pre' i d? This persuasion was either sincere, or it
vas not. I for one, Sir, believe it was sincere, and
ther ,fore 1 cannet think that he who entertained
that persuasion, right or wrong, had any wicked in-
tention. That, however, is a matter now that totally
rtvards himself : it may ,make a great ditference to
his prewtit condition, but it makes none to
us. We have olter concerns to look after—
the primary caesc. of this sad catastrophe—the
true ori:;in of the evil—and how suck fatal
conse.ptences may best be prevented in future!
—that is what most concerns us now. It has
been asserted in the most solemu manner, by a dying
man, that justice had been refused him, and it be-
comes those, who administer the Government, to
acqnit themselves of -all su‘pcion of a crime so very
atrocious.--Now, sir, if any man, who is injured,
or who only supposes hinuelf to ha injered, is, by
inn), direct or indirect manner, prevented bringing
the merit! of his case before those :'hose duty it it to
redress hie wrongs, then, no doubt, justice is ob-
eructed. L would be impossible, !sir, for you oe,l
to obstruct the course of justice, were we disposed so
to do ; bat Mr. Perceval had that power, because he
had a certain influence in Parliament ; an influence
that has been acknowledged tee he as notorious as
tit:• sun at noon amyl—And,. H what appears to
have been told to Bellingham, by a Member of that
loose, be true, that no application to Parliament
sco .Id succeed without his sanction, and such sane-
tian was refused to the unhappy man,—then must it
1* clear, that Mr. Perceval did in this case, indi-
ertl y, obstruct the course of justice.
Witoever, Sir, pas himself in such a situation as j
to obstruct justice o,ight to he removed:. I do not j
say by means of assassination, but I say that such an
obstrucion ought to be removed ; for if it is nct re-i
elov.d, there is an end to the Government. It ought
to be removed, I repeat, not merely for the rake of j
the People, but of the King also; for under such
circumstances, the King's O.th is broken. The an- '
tient law of ;.'figland enjoined that the King should*
swear first, for •frse the allegiance of the People to
im depensled on his keeping his Oath to them. We
-e, then, thy such 't refusal of justice cannot be
ide without a d:ssolutionta the great bond of so-
ciety ; its coinequence is to bring us all back again
to a site of nature; and is not that a most atrocious
ethise?---Pata says, that a King of England can no
• ttintre:titop the ete..tiest of lag subjects from freeking
redness In Parliament than he can shut against Into
all the church dours in Etnetint. Yet it seems that
pest rk4lingham was in this state, and that he was
put (u that state by the
,unconstitutional influence
Odds Mr. Vetieval exercised over the House of
Commons. •
Perceval was a lawyer--a second-rate lawyer,•
they called him ; but one would think that
e‘ on second:rate law-mea would not be unacquainted
vrth the Lee- of Pailiameut. I most, therefore,
plume that he was riot ignorant of the following
awls ; and) Übe was sot Ignorant of them, then