The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — 1826-03-24 (London, England)

AII I. ETT rose to address thfjury, and said that the testi. penny to convict the defendant of perjury, rested solely on the evidome of Mr. Rushworth, who had been extremely cautious in what he had sworn, and always qualified what he had said, that it Was to the best of his belief, to the best of his recollection. If the Jury this day convicted his client on the lame charge that hsil been rade on the testimony of this single evidence, it would consign bias to gaol, the pillory, and hard labour; but he thought the Jury would pause before they came to such a conclusion ; the very evidence showed that a distinct tender of the rent had been made. The Learned Illesuleman then went through the evidence, making comments on tharontradictory statement of the witnesses. Ile said that Hensley had made a legal tender, and there was nothing false iu what he had swore. and he really believed there never was a case that eoethined such a tissue of wickedness, fraud, malice, and absturdily in all the course of his professional practice. And if his chant had not been tried this ckey before the same Judge who exsatinets him at the last assizes, he should have lost the benefit of tftweffect of his eross-examinatioo of the witness Mr. Rushworth, and tee had no doubt but that the Jory would acquit his client of ane'ef the fool: st charges that man could be guilty of, and that disk verdict would establish his innocence.  LonDSUIP said, in his charge to the Jury, that he hoped they would dismiss from their minds all tibsereuttorta•that might have been thrown out that did not immediately to the case, and comine themselves to the evidence alone, argtbeir testimcby decide on the guilt or innocence of the defendant. There were three points for their consideration : did the defendant or not, when he swore the words laid in the indictment, and which the prosecutor charged him with uttering, know at the time that they were false, and that he swore them corruptly and falsely, with • view of making a false representation. Now it was pos. bible that a man might say what was false, but not corruptly. It had been the ease in several instances; and had witnesses been suffered to sop at certain parts of their examination, many might have been indicted for perjury. In this particular casette° instances of the kind had occurred, in the evidence of Mr. Rushworth and Dlr. 0 .o.ly : hut they were to make *ll4 WIIIOCOI for witnesses who, is the hurry of the moment, might be led into unintentional errors. Ilta Lordship, in conclusion, said he thought they cught to he extretnely cuttious in finding a verdict of guilty upon the testimony that had been submitted to them this day tor the prosecution ; and that, alnico, the Jury wished it, he would not resit over the evidence. The Jury assented ; and, under his bordahiVa direction, found the defendant Not Guilty.  Suictne.—W. Pollock, a man who was under sentence of death for the murder of his wife In Edinburgh. and who was to bare suffered the last punishment of the law on Monday, strangled himself in his cell with a portion of his own shirt. At eight o'clock the upper turnkey visited Pollock, and cleaned his cell. Thu prisoner then said he felt more easy, and in better spirits. When breakf st was taken to him about half-past nine, he was found dead, but not quite cold. lie had torn out the back of his shirt, and &strip from the aide of a blanket, and these he twisted in the form of a small rope, and fastened to the cross-bar of a table, a piece of weed about l 3 inches long, and three-fourths of an inch thick, which he had laid ac-oss the ventilator of his cell, a small circle of lR inches diameter, formed in the wall which separates the apartment from the passage. The height of this ventilator is only' six fret four, or thereabouts, from the floor of the cell ; but between it ant the floor is the bed--a thick oak plank, on which the unhappy man lay—and likewise the gaud, or iron bar, to which he Oaa fastened. He had adjusted his bed.eiothes so as to entangle his feet, and prevent them reaching the ground, when he threw himself off. He had also drawn a rug between the gaud and the eintLof his fetters, to prevent -,14e. Indeed tire whole circumstances evi4od a degree of determination and deliberation that Is surprising. Pollock left three letter., and a scrap of paper containing an inventrry of his effects, in the gaol; these he wished to be given to hit son. The letters were all at nearly the mime teems: Fr, :heath, admits the guilt of suicide, but states that he could not eutdre the thought of suffering on the scaffirld for a (rime he celled net bring his mind to believe he rat guilty of." • To 11r. Young. the governor, he wrote—" Excuse this rash acts whew •,ost Lc!wirler all, you will see there is good intentions, though riot towards iiymelf." Pollack had, throughout the whole course of his couflneimmt, conducted himself very qu stly ; but always de'tied • the murder, and appeared rather Irritated when taxed with It. Warmer.