Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1830-12-08

The Reporters communication as relates
TO what | still with "no sort 0t fear" call
the avowcd and decided antimasonic .J,i-
ror, who was retained by the Court, not
because there was no evidence offered to
shcw that he was an antimason, but sole
M for the reason given ut the time bv the
Chief Justice, or the Court-sthat if he
was what was termed an antimason it did
not appear nor was i! pretended by Us)
that he had taken any oaths, or that he
was under any obligations as an antima-
son, that might conflict with his oath as
an impartial Juror"-and "ihcrejore said
the Court, the juror is not to come of. "
The public will now perceive that had a
right to complain ofthc Reporter, and his
report AT one time | am represented
as having confirmed under my oath as n
witness, the truth Of Bcrnard's book, and
at another time, | am reproached and
charged with having considered my ma
sonic obligation, as paramount to my civ
il oath taken as a witness, and Of rcfis-
ing to answer, notwithstanding l had
sworn to tell the whole t,uih, and this by
the by, you (mr. Hallet,) do not consider
could be meH done unless witness should
have answered any and every impertl-
nant and foolish question the Reporter or
mr.. Pcarcc might have put to him, for
the purpose of'bloming masonry sky high.
All that | have given in the preceding
statement as having been said by me, is
correctly and truly stated. This am tho
roughly convinced of s. know to be fact,
as well from my own recollection rs from
the aid derived from my own notes, pen
ned by me directly after my cXamina-
ton and on the very evening of the trial.
! have purposcly and studiously avoided
entering into any conversation or enter
ing into any spond cncc on this sub
jcct with those to whom the Reporter re-
iers, and nnhcsiiaiingly appedis; such for
instance as 'thc whole Court, the Bar. the
Jury and the great body Of the spccta
tors. know what sworc to, and there
fore uncounscllcd,I state it upon my own
responsibility, and do it with $40 sort Of
! tcar." | am not inscnsiblc, however, that
run some risk in adopting this course
But that risk results erclusirely from
knowing that even the best men in the
, world can lay claim to no very "grcat
! perfection Of memory" that even such
men may err in giving recital or an cx-
! partc account of the whole history of n
. tralin which they were not conccrncd,ci-
thcr directly or collatcrally, ,and ofwhich
! they took no notes at the time. But for
all my present purposes (and to my own
satisfaction ] have driven this "Report-
c,'" to the wall, and al wiH get fasten him
\ 10 hc ring" and there EI will bait him at
it," until his report shall fail of producing
its intended effect that it does mol "contain
every material fact and argument" and
"thc testimony of the witnesses, ne arly
word for word ~ have now done with
those men. But before, close, | must
address myself to the Hon. Joseph
I Childs, Chief Justice of the Court, be-
fore whom the case was tried" and in
! which Court, | practice as an Attorney.
! do not feel myself called upon to
take any further notice of the eTparie
statements made by my opponents in the
case, and by those interested in making
such statements. The cast and COM
plcyion of those statements speak loudly
for themselves, and Il knowledge ofthosc
who made them, and the circumstances
under which they made them, will cna-
bic the public to form a correct estimate
of their real weight and crcdibilty. My
chief and only difficulty is with Judge
Chlds, and must therefore here briefly
rcstatc the case. lie is member of
! the Court in which ! practice as an At
torncy. That Court is bound to protect
me i'll the discharge of my duty as an
/, officer of the Court, or as witness in
} any case or trial before it. But Judge
Childs has allowed himself to be used as
n witness against me in this controversy; :;
and has gratuitously given for publica-
tlon in the newspapers, n certificate in
which, referring to the statement publish
cd in the r. |. American of the 10th,
inst he says that che is persuaded from
his onn recollection Mat IL presents mrar-
, iy correct om line Of The case, and hoi The
points made are truly stated, and Me sub
: sidnce Of The arguments and The testimony
| Of Me riinesscs nearly mord for word, and
: ihot no material fact or argument is omit
/ icd." ! was one Of the witnesses who
, testified in that case, and one of the
. Counsel who argued it, and perfectly
: well knowing what had testified as a
witness, and what | had advanced as
, Counsel, had in the Herald of the
, Times of tho 18th inst. (ihe rery day ot-
, Ter the Providence publication Judge
Childs refers toy explicitly declared that
| the pretended report ofthc case published
/ in the American of the 10th, was
: an erroneous, garblcd, and defective re-