The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-02-02 00:00:00

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Ile therefore truitett 'it *odd obviously appear to
the Court there was not the slightest ground for the
present application.—The Court•desired that all the
affidavits might be read. When they were concluded,
• Mr. Jos. Mitchell presented himself to the Court in
support of his affidavit. He trusted the Court wield
pardon his manner of addressing their Lordships-4-'1
till the present Term he had never appeared before,
Court of Justice. As their Lordships might per.
ceive, he had not a single individual to step forward
to make an affidavit in his behalf, not i single in.:
divides) to assist hiM:' nor had he even ^the' ss. to
pay for drawing up the 'rule lie had obtained on a
former day. if he had had money he could
hive obtained affidavits in . Nippon of whet he
had stated. He then adverted
.to the affidavits
which had been stated by Attorney. General ;
absolutely denying the tritft—of them, but more
particularly with regard ter 'the affidavit made
by the person of the name of FArington. lie poi&
tively denied having made use of the expressions
which were attributed to him by that.man. In mak-
ing this declaration, he wished to be understood as
doing it in the most solemn *manner ; for he hoped.
he had some knowledge of what was able to the Wade
in .which he was now standing. Ike felt that 'what.
he was stating was under the sanctify of an oath ; he
was a Christian, and revered the Christian principlest:
and as he firMly believed in a future state, he avowed
before God and the Court, that he had never tittered
the leaguers which'had been imputed to him. It was
Prue he bad told Edrington thit he had not had a wink']
ef sleep all night; and he 'would explain the reason -Nei
saying so. In the course of a conversation with Sir N.
Colima, or rather when their couversatiou was
finished, Sir Nathaniel, tornieg to Adkins, said,
You will pay him his coach-fare, and see him off ;"i
upon which he, Mitchell, said, " that in cootie.
!pence of his long confinement, and hi; befog dragged
from his business by the thief-takers, his busitiesi
bad been deranged, and his latift6COnSidellibiy
volved. Ile had many matters to settle in Londoni
and therefore he reqrseated Sir Nathaniel that hst
might be permitted to see. the persons with wheal"
had transactions in business' previous to his 'b
hurried out of town, particularly as his future breed,
and that of his children, very much depended oft
his making the arrangements he had in prospect.—
Besides, be did not conceive at that time that he was
a prisoner. Mr. Adkins asked him if had any ob.
jections to his going with him; to Which he replied,
that he did not see any necessity there was for hit
being followed by a turnkey. However, Sir Nettle-
Hirt thought there was sin objection to it. He had
afterwards observed to Adkins, that he had better
lake a bed at the inn, in order that he might be ready
to go off in the coach in the mowing; but Adkips
replied, he was sorry to inform him he must remain
in the prison all night, and that his instructions were
to conduct him to the coach, and see him fairly out
of town. It was this circumstance which he had
stated to Mr. Edrington, that prevented him from
having any sleep. He thought he had suffici-
ent reason for complaint at having been so entrapped
and held in fetters, after having considered himself
at large. H. proceeded to argue on the improbabi.
lity of the statements in the affidavit against him be-
ing correct : he considered that the sort of con.
duct attributed to Shim by Sir Nathaniel Conant
upon the subject of entering into the recognizance,
was what oo man in his senses could have acceded to
—it was very unlikely he should have entered into is
recognizance, when, having desired to hear the en-
tire indictment read, he had heard only a small part'
of it. It was unlikely he should not have insisted
upon hearing the remainder. He protested he
Lad
no idea the recognizance was a proceeding which
would have subjected him to ulterior inconvenience.
lie had no conception it rendered him liable to be I
capriciously called upon by the Ministers of the Go-
vernment. It had been suggested to him by Sir N.
Conant, that to refuse entering into the recognizance
would look es if he was afraid of appearing before 'I
the Court. His mind spurned at such an idea. It
had ever beets his wish to be brought to trial, for be
was conscious of his innocence. lie had been im-
plicated with an infernal spy, a fellow employed by
Government to tack himself to him.
Lord ELLENBOILOUGH.—There it nothing of this
in the affidavits.
Mr. Mitchell.—He said he stated this to show hoot
ansious he must have been to behrought to trial, and
consequently that he could not have beets influenced
by the observation 'of Sir Nathaniel, that if be did
not enter into the recognizance, it would look as if!
he was afraid to face the Court. Ile had no Wish,
he observed, to detain the Court. Ile only Wished
to ask their Lordships whether he could possibly have
consented to enter ibto a teCognizatice whets no
charge waist the time preferred against him, surd
when he was sensible he had committed no crime ?
Ile wished, however, even supposing he had entered
into it, to submit to their Lordships, whether the
proposition to him of such a measure by a Magistrate
was legal ? He had been told,.ihat for a Magistrate
to eztort.such an instrument, by tektite ad;awtage of
the situation of a party, was illegal, and, therefore,
upon that ground he hoped the recognizance Would
be discharged. He repeated that Sir N. Conant (old
him, that if he wished to get rid of the recognizance
be had only to make his personal appearance in the
Court of King's Bench the first day of Term. .He
hoped the trap and snare he had been luredintoiwould
not be used for his destruction, and that his recogni-
•zance would not be suffered to bang over him, like a
scarecrow •or a bug.a-boo. If the Court had any
thing to allege against him, he would wiiiiugly deliver
himself up to trial. He wee not afraid of suffering
or of answering any kind of charge. He had been
afraid of being put into a dungeon, and locked up in
a loathsome cell, without any charge being preferred
against bier. He had got out of ,the way to aroi4
such evils ; but he never bad, and never would,'
shrink from a fair trial. On this ground he entreated
their Lordships to discharge his recognizance. 1161
had come op to London to attend the Court, being
warned by the Mayor of Liverpool, in consequence
of Lord Sidmouth's letter. He thought his Lord-
ship had conceived he had enteredinto a recogui
zatice when he'really had tint. Ile trusted he should
not only be 'discharged, but that he should, have
some kind of satisfaction made to. him for his severe
sufferings. He was destitute); and having been
cruelly deprived of his'bpslness,, bid subsisted only
by testing himselidifilie ii;t4vrifinte of his friends.

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