Celebrated trials of all countries, and remarkable cases of criminal jurisprudence / Selected by a member of the Philadelphia bar [i.e. J.J. Smith].

  • John Jay Smith
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Celebrated trials of all countries, and remarkable cases of criminal jurisprudence / Selected by a member of the Philadelphia bar [i.e. J.J. Smith]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    my person endeavouring to be made the stalking-horse of justification to one of the greatest insults that could be offered to the crown. But, in order to avoid so reluctant and abhorrent an alternative, I have hoped to be allowed to bring my petition to the house of commons, or that they would do what was right and proper themselves. On my return home from Russia, I brought most serious charges to the privy council, both against sir Stephen Shairpe and lord G. L. Gower, when the affair was determined to be purely national, and, consequently, it was the duty of his majesty's ministers to arraign it, by acting on the resolution of the council. Suppose, for instance, the charge 1 brought could have been proved to be erroneous, should 1 not have been called to severe account for my con- duct; but, being true, ought I not to have been redressed ] After the notice from the police to government, Mr. Ryder, conscious of the truth and cruelty of the case, transmitted the affair to the treasury, referring me there for a final result. After a delay of some weeks, the treasury came to the resolution of sending the affair back to the secretary of state's office; at the same time, I was told by a Mr. Hill, he thought it would be useless my making further application to government, and that I was at full liberty to take such measures as I thought proper for redress. Mr. Beckett, the under-secretary of state, confirmed the same, adding, that Mr. Perceval had* been consulted, and could not allow any petition to come forward. Thus, by a direct refusal of justice, with a carte blanche to act in whatever manner I thought proper, were the sole causes of the fatal catas- trophe; and they have now to reflect on their own impure conduct for what has happened. It is a melancholy fact, that the warping of justice, including all the vari- ous ramifications in which it operates, occasions more misery in the world, in a moral sense, than all the acts of God in a physical one, with which he punishes mankind for their transgressions; a confirmation of which, the sin- gle but strong instance before you is one remarkable proof. If a poor unfortunate man stops another upon the highway, and robs him of but a few shillings, he may be called upon to forfeit his life. But I have been robbed of my liberty for years, ill-treated beyond precedent, torn from my wife and family, bereaved of all my property to make good the conse- quences of such irregularities; deprived and bereaved of every thing that makes life valuable, and then called upon to forfeit it, because Mr. Perceval has been pleased to patronize iniquity that ought to have been punished, for the sake of a vote or two in the house of commons, with, perhaps, a similar good turn elsewhere. Is there, gentlemen, any comparison between the enormity of these two offenders ? No more than a mite to a mountain. Yet the one is carried to the gallows, while the other stalks in security, fancying himself beyond the reach of law or justice: the most honest man suffers, while the other goes forward in triumph to new and more extended enormities. We have had a recent and striking instance of some unfortunate men, who have been called upon to pay their lives as the forfeit of their allegiance, in endeavouring to mitigate the rigours of a prison. (Alluding to some recent trials for high-treason at Horsemonger-lane.) But, oentlemen, where is the proportion between the crimes for which they suffered, and what government has been guilty of in withholding its protection from me? Even in a crown case, after years of sufferings, I have been called upon to sacrifice all my pro- perty, and the welfare of my family, to bolster up the iniquities of the crown, and then am prosecuted for my life, because I have taken the only possible alternative to bring the affair to a public investigation, for the purpose of being enabled to return to the bosom of my family with some degree of com- fort and honour. Every man within the sound of my voice must feel for my situation ; but by you, gentlemen of the jury, it must be felt in a peculiar de- gree, who are husbands and fathers, and who can fancy yourselves in my