refcue Mr. O'Connor?

A. Certainly not; and I have stated upon my oath, that every man in the narrow gate-way endeavoured to ftop him: I remarked it particularly; because, there being a common feeling among Englifhmen, and he being acquitted, I thought they might form a plan to let him efcape.

2. You have ftated that you faw no one act done or com mitted by any one of the Defendants, indicative of an intention to aid O'Connor's escape?

A. Certainly.

2.1 ASK YOU THEN, WHETHER YOU BELIEVE DID TAKE ANY PART IN RESCUING MR. O'CONNOR ? A. CERTAINLY NOT.

End of the Evidence for the Defendants.

THEY

MR. ATTORNEY-GENERAL.

GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY,

Ar this late hour of the day, I do not think that the duty which I owe the public can require me to detain you any confiderable time in reply to the obfervations of my Learned

Friend.

Gentlemen, my Learned Friend has addreffed you with great ability; and unquestionably with great but guarded zeal, on behalf of his clients ;-this his duty called upon aim to do; for certainly the best exertion of his great abilities was due to them. On the other hand, your attention is now to be occupied by a perfon who must address you upon pinciples which forbid him to have any zeal upon the subject..

The Attorney-General of the country, as i appears to me, has a public duty to execute, in reference to which be ought to conceive, that he has properly executed that duty, if he has brought a fit and proper accufation before a Jury, and has proseeded to the length of honeftly and fairly examining the fe

veral

Gentlemen, Having been charged with the duty of laying this important cafe before you, I have not the least doubt but you will difcharge the duty which is now impofed upon you with a full and confcientious regard to juftice; and I difmifs here all the obfervations my Learned Friend has made upon the high rank and fituation of Lord Thanet, upon the refpectable fituation in his profeffion of Mr. Ferguffon, and of the fituation of Mr. O'Brien; because it is quite enough for me, according to my fenfe of duty, to fay this, that, as a Jury fworn to make a true deliverance, you are not to convict any of them, whatever rank or fituation belongs to them, unlefs you are confcientioufly fatisfied that they are guilty. You will deliver the fame verdict that you would between the King and Defendants of any other defcription.

Gentlemen, What has fallen from the last witness obliges me to take the character of the proceeding which gives rife to the caufe, from his friend; who, when he was addreffing you, in the course of this afternoon, faid, and truly faid, that fuch a proceeding in a Court of Juftice, which the laft witness reprefented as an idle panic, moft loudly called for the interpofition of the law. That witnefs may have reprefented thofe tranf actions, as I have no doubt he did, as it seemed just to him to reprefent them. Certainly I was not perfonally prefent; but I was within hearing, and I can fay that that Gentleman is a man of ftronger nerves than any other man in this country, if the reprefentation he has given of this fcene is a true one. By a true one, I do not mean that it is not one that the Gentleman believes to be true; but the evidence of Mr. Juftice Heath gives it a character which I believe every man in the county of Kent who was prefent would give it, namely, that it was a proceeding utterly inconfiftent with the fafe adminiftration of juftice; that it was attended with a degree of indecency and tumult that was never witneffed in a Court of Juftice before, and I truft never will be witneffed in a Court of Juftice again.

Gentleinen, Having no anxiety about the fate of this or any other caufe, except fo far as it is fit for me to have an anxiety founded upon the public interests, whenever this caufe comes to

its conclufion, I think the Noble Peer, the Defendant, who holds a fituation high in this country, ought to join with all his fellow-fubjects, in thankfully acknowledging, that the Attorney-General, having reasonable accufing evidence to lay before a Jury (whether it is fatisfactory to their minds, is another confideration), should shew to the country, that transactions of this fort fhall not be carried on, without being brought under the notice of a Court of Juftice.

Gentlemen, Accufations of all forts are tried in this country with great propriety; but if you acquit a man of treason, is a man to start up and fay, that the public are to be indignant, because another warrant has been iffued against him? I remember in this very Court, in the last cause that was tried here at bar, my Lord exerted himself with great vigour, by taking immediate notice of fuch an infult as was then offered to the Court. My Learned Friend fays, why did not the Judges, who were prefent, do their part, by taking notice of the fact at the moment? I will give the answer to that: The Judges of the country are but men. Although they are placed in high judicial and honourable fituations, yet they are placed in fitua tions in which they are to fee that their conduct is not only the best that they can purfue, but, when they proceed to acts of punishment, that their conduct is perfectly adapted to the fubject with which they are dealing. If the five Judges upon the Bench had feen this as an idle panic, perhaps thofe Judges would have treated it as an idle panic. But how does Mr. Juftice Heath, upon whom my Learned Friend relies fo much-how does he mention the fcene that was paffing? He fays that he never witnessed such a scene before.-My Learned Friend fays, I might have called another Learned Judge as a witnefs, but when I call witneffes who are above all fufpicion, men as honourable as any men in this country, to ftate to you all that that Learned Judge would have had to ftate to you, I think I shall have acted neither unfitly for the public, or the Defendants. But with reference to that converfation (upon which I must farther obferve by and by) that has been stated by Mr. Solicitor-General and by Mr. Abbott, to have paffed between Mr. Juftice Law. rence and Lord Thanet, I fhould be glad to know, what foundation there is for the reasoning of my Learned Friend, that Mr. Juftice Lawrence ought to have committed or attached Lord Thanet. I think I am entitled, under the circumstances of the evidence in this cafe, to reprefent him as perfectly ignorant of thofe caufes which occafioned fo much confufion in the Court.

Mr. Erskine---I never meant to fay fo.

Mr. Attorney-General---My Learned Friend certainly did not state it exactly in these words; but he will, I am fure, exeufe me for putting him in mind of the expreffion he made use

of

of, and I fhall now endeavour to repeat the very words he ufed, "Mr. Juftice Lawrence, instead of asking Lord Thanet to "do him a kindness, should have attached him." My Learned Friend will not, I am fure, interrupt me again; for when I take notice of any thing that is faid in so able a defence, I do not mean to lay it down that Counsel are to be responsible for every expreffion that haftily falls from them; but expreffions may have an application which I feel it my duty to remove; and I only wish to fet right one of the moft refpectable, and indeed all those refpectable characters who prefided on the Bench upon that day. I fhall therefore fay no more upon that fubject.

Gentlemen, The question is now before you; and I am happy to have the teftimony of my Learned Friend, that, taking this proceeding as a mere proceeding of accufation, it is a highly proper one; and when I ftate that, I mean to ftate merely the fatisfaction I feel in the concurrence of his opinion with my own judgment.

Gentlemen, Having said thus much, give me leave to concur moft fully in all that my Learned Friend fays, with respect to the beneficial effects of a lenient administration of the law, but not fo lenient as to make the law ineffectual.

Gentlemen, It was hinted to me, before my Learned Friend began his address to you, that, with respect to two of the Defendants, it might be confiftent with the interefts of justice, that the trial should end there; and why did I confent to that? There was evidence to go to the Jury, as against Mr. Thompfon; I admit, not evidence to convict him, not evidence, perhaps, with respect to his identity-But with refpect to Mr. Gunter Browne, there was much more confiderable evidence to go to you, fubject ftill to the question of identity-But I know this, that the great interefts of public juftice are better satisfied, by not preffing for conviction, even when you can, perhaps, obtain it, if you think there are doubts whether or not you ught to obtain it.

Gentlemen, Another circumstance is, that I thought it due particularly to one Defendant, with refpect to whom I think this the cleareft cafe, Mr. O'Brien. I wished to give him the benefit of Mr. Browne's and Mr. Thompfon's evidence, if he thought proper to call them, with refpect to fome material cir

cumítances.

Gentlemen, Attend to what I am now stating.-When Mr. Sheridan is afked, whether, from the circumstances that fell within his obfervation, he believes that Lord Thanet and Mr. Ferguffon meant to favour the efcape of Mr. O'Connor? he fays: "From the facts that fell within my obfervation, I anfwer it in the negative." So I fay in this cafe, it is not merely (for the rules of evidence permit one fo to ftate), it is not merely from what does appear, that a Jury is to judge, but

alfo

alfo from that which does not appear. Now fee what is the cafe on the part of the Crown, with refpect to Mr. O'Brien? In the first place, you have the evidence of a most honourable" perfon, Mr. Serjeant Shepherd.-My Learned Friend says, that, you, Gentlemen of the Jury, are not to attend to general queftions, fuch as, "Did a perfon appear to do fo and fo?" but you are to have the facts as the grounds upon which that appearance is inferred. That propofition is to be carried this length, that as far as the nature of the tranfaction will admit, inftead of giving the impreffion of your mind, as collected from the circumstances, you fhall give the circumstances which have created that impreffion. I am fure his Lordship will remember, that in the cafe of Kyd Wake, who was tried for that detestable riot, with respect to the King's perfon, a question was put, "Did he appear to be active in the riot ?" and the Jury concluded that which they did conclude, upon that circumstance; recollecting that the nature of the tranfaction was such, that they must be content with fuch an answer, And indeed my Learned Friends themfelves put the queftion to Mr. Smith, and Mr. Warren, refpectable witneffes unquestionably: "Did they (the Defendants) appear to encourage the riots?" But permit me to fay, it did not reft fo with Mr. Serjeant Shepherd; for he told you, he wished to give you the evidence upen which he formed his opinion.-Gentlemen, you will next obferve, that, giving Lord Thanet all the benefit that might arife upon this ftatute of I 4 Geo. III. (upon which I fhall fay a word by and by), can Mr. O'Brien alledge any thing of that kind? Rivett has told you diftinctly (and fo it turns out from Mr. Sheri, dan's evidence), that there was a rumour of a warrant, which created fo much indignation; Mr. Sheridan admits, that there was that rumour, but Mr. O'Brien did not chufe to rely upon that; he wanted to know how the truth of the rumour was; and accordingly, in the prefence of Mr. Thompfon, a member of parliament, he did make inquiries of Rivett, and coming to him, as Rivett relates, he, Mr. O'Brien, propofed a bet; he fays, that Mr. O'Brien then went back again to where Mr, O'Connor was there was fome converfation between them, and when the verdict is brought in Mr, O'Connor attempts to efcape. Now, I afk you, as honef Jurymen, if this is not true, why is it not contradicted; and if it is true, is it poffible to acquit Mr. O'Brien?

Now, with refpect to the cafe of my Lord Thanet and the cafe of Mr. Ferguffon, Gentlemen, I declare to you most folemnly, that I refpect the high fituation of the one, as I refpect the profes fional fituation of the other; but in this cafe, Gentlemen, the queftion, and the only question is, "Did they make a riot ?" I defire that the queftion may be put upon its true merits. My Learned Friend fays, "It is a moft extraordinary thing, that in

fuch