The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-04-28 00:00:00

THE S 7 ATESMAN.

11. also a person of the name of Edwards.
rid tatter was utZen at our house. 1 re,ollect hating
seen rhos: Mines ut our house before. A part or them
was Paten away trern nay rather'%, on Al elliresday. by Ed-
The) ECM a firm arils brought but I not
Avow hy The hux hail been t In toy lather's
a few days eri•re. I hate set.° the thi:. s grattadvi:
tilt.) were of rlitr.,ront sirec the large ••..t• brought to
my `7oher's h0.,!.e Acl:•no..
IF:iwarti examined by Air. t'titusion.-11
knew a luau of the name ut Dvt)er for ~e% eral years. l Nei
ili/U at a public-house. I do not think he is worthy of being
believed on his oath.

The Court adjuurited at • warier past six.

THIRD DA V.-WEI/NE.IIIAV, .tYItIL 19.

The Judges arrived this morning at a quarter past
nine o'clock. The prisoner was then put t.. the bar,
and was as before aecommodate'l with a chair. After
the names of the Jury hail been called over, the AT.
.0 oxat-licxemat. observed to, the Court, that as an
observation had yesterday been wade upon the non-
appearance of Major James, that Gentleman was now
in Court ready to be examined, if the prisoner's
Counsel itislenolit. Mr. Atmo.eitios declined pressing
an examitiation. Aneill.t a sil•.h.e which denoted the
attention of the Court, 3ir. Atole:.coo s :Len rose, and
thus addressed theism :---
Uentlen►en----1 cannot rise to address von on behalf
of the unfortunate prisoner at the her, without first ex-
pre.tstng sue gratitude to von and to his Lordship, for
having allowed the boars to adjourn at so early an
hose yesterday, in .der to give me time to prepare ,
for the dctro.•e. in all eases the situation in which I
now stand is sue peculiarly distressing, but in the pre-
sent case that distress is aggravated by the fear, that,
in the short time which l have had to prepare fur the
task of addresring you, I may not have been able to
simplify my thoughts and expressions in such a man-
ner as may be best calculated to serve the prisoner.
Gentlemen, of all the men that (I think) hate ever
lived, the prisoner is the 'west ueiliappy, anti I may
say the most uuloctutiate. I have knots n tinny trials,
hut I never knee one, respecting w►tich public preju-
dice had been so warmly excited as the present : never
ona in whidi a primmer nall so ellVetilaily deprived of
all public charity, sympathy, and wipport. To say
that he has arrayed against he,,. ail the Agree of pro-
fessional talent, is to say nothing, for in these easel
the Crown has a right to demand the hest offices of its
best servants, and it would h•• injustice on their part
did they not exert all their ability and industry. lint
upon former trials of this kind. we have seen advocates
of the highest reputation and character entering the lists
in behalf of the person accused, and fully prepared on
every point to meet the talents to which they have
been opposed. Far different, Gentlemen, is the pre-
sent case. I was out of town oa Thursday ; it was
only on Friday that my name was nitoitioned, and it
was late on Saturday evening befare the brief was put
into my hands. I du nut complain of this ; I only
feel anxious lest my want of experie sire and ability
should be of prejudice to the prisoner at the bar. Gen-
tlemen, in general person barged uith !his olfeace
hare been connect .d with families of respectability and
fortune, who have stopped forts to aid and assist
them. In the present instance the parties are all poor,
and so far have I been from receiving the itiferniation
which I ought to have received, that I hate had no
_ _

Tliftlttutttnn whatever except sot* as this lientlentan
(Jlr. Harmer) hay with difficuity betel able to culled.
There is another peculiar ein netistance which marks
this can. In the celebrated trials of 94 or 4s, when
the prisoner was enabled to procup• his discharge his
perial was at an end, and the in;;ltiry into his case
ended with the inquiry submitted to the Jr.r‘. But
other indictments await the prisoner at the bar, even
if he should escape from this, in !evil, he seems re-
duced to the melancholy elt.tice et* deciding whether
the office of the ex•Tutioner shall end with his fife, or
whether his butly shall afterwards Le subjected to the
further mutilation, which in some rases the law has
decreed. Gentleman, the Attorney General has re-
quested you, in a manner becoming his rank and situa-
tion, but nut less be..oming his chararter as a man and
a Gentleman, as a Christian and a Britua, not to allow
your opinion to be biassed by any other matter save
the evidence before you. Still, however, this remains
behind, that where a ease like the present has been so
long before the public, and when it has excited such
a spirit of detestation and animosity against the pri-
soner, it is not easy to dismiss every taint of pr..juplice,
every bias of opinion previously formed. Gentlemen,
I will ob s , that itup priant as is this trial to the
prisoner, whose life it involves, it is still of less
imports:tee as it affects him, than as regards
the public, and their posterity at large, and it
is therefore necessary that the es Menet. brought for-
ward to support tho charge should be weighed and
scrutinized by the strictest rules which c.,n possits:y
he applied to evid-nce. Nese: was a law 11, strip sly
worded, where so much core an.' precision were Ex-
erted in defining the offence, a' in the law of treason.
It is the only offence in which the King stands so-
lemnly arrayed against the subject; and it is neces-
I therefore, to exercise a great degree of ;timeline;
to !invert any eiwroachinent un tit. part orate t roWa.
I have before men Wiled that the task of defending* the
prisoner very totexpectedly devolved upon ine ; I do not
consider that any political opinions are at all engaged
in this question : but I will say, in going into this in-
vestigation, t:.at. I never held an opinion tiisresp,clful
to the Crown, and that I il:sapprove of those schemes
and propositions %thick have of lace so violently a;.i•
tared the public tuind. Gratlemen, alkur the evidence
which during the last two days has been laid 10.10,e
us, it would he offering au insult to your undept t;el-
- were I to assert that I believe the prisoner to be
guiltless of the crime of couteitsplating the murder of
his Majesty's Ministers; but I am maxims that you
should no. come to the conclusion, that because he
may be guilty of murder, he is on that account the
more likely to be guilty of high treason, the crime of
compassing and intending the death of the King. .1 his
is the offence with which the 'prisoner is charred, and
unless the evidence which has been offered appears to
you fully to fix its commission on the prisoner, it will
he your duty to acquit hint. As far as it regards the
law upon this subject, I will merely observe, that the
four charges or counts of the indictment. each aLlvgcs
ten ureters:l distinct overt arts. Now, th .se overt acts
ars to be consideped with relation to the intentii it with
which they were committed ; fir allowing them to be
prayed ups the clearest evidence, they will ntake no-
thing against the prisoner, utiles• they also proved
that his intrados& in esunsaitting them was to bring

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