son.

meant to defend his life. I state this only from report, and I hope in God I am mistaken; for human nature starts back appalled from such atrocity, and shrinks and trembles at the very statement of it. But as to the perjury of this miscreant, it will appear palpable beyond all question, and he shall answer for it in due seaHe tells you he attended at Chalk Farm;62 | and that there, forsooth, among about seven or eight thousand people, he saw two or three persons with knives. He might, I should think, have seen many more, as hardly any man goes without a knife of some sort in his pocket. He asked, however, it seems, where they got these knives, and was directed to Green, a hair-dresser, who deals besides in cutlery; and accordingly this notable Mr. Groves went (as he told us) | to Green's, and asked to purchase a knife; when Green, in answer to him, said, "Speak low, for my wife is a damned aristocrat." This answer was sworn to by the wretch, to give you the idea that Green, who had the knives to sell, was conscious that he kept them for an illegal and wicked purpose, and that they were not to be sold in public. The door, he says, being ajar, the man desired him to speak low, from whence he would have you understand that it was because this aristocratic wife was within hearing. This, gentlemen, is the testimony of Groves; and Green himself is called as the next witness, and called by whom? Not by me-I know nothing of him, he is the Crown's own witness. He is called to confirm Groves's evidence. But not being a Green, who sold spy, he declared solemnly upon his oath (and I can confirm his evidence by several respectable people) that the knives in question lie constantly, and lay then, in his open shop-window, in what is called the show-glass, where cutlers, like other tradesmen, expose their ware to public view; and that the knives differ in nothing from others publicly sold in the Strand, and every other street in London; that he bespoke them from a rider, who came round for orders in the usual way—that he sold only fourteen in all, and that they were made up in little packets, one of which Mr. Hardy had, who was to choose one for himself, but four more were found in his possession, because he was arrested before Green had an opportunity of sending for them. Gentlemen, I think the pikes and knives are But (8.) Story about now completely disposed of. something was said also about guns; et us, therefore, see what that amounts to. appears that Mr. Hardy was applied to by Samuel Williams, a gun-engraver, who was not even a member of any society, and who asked him if he knew any body who wanted a gun. Hardy said he did not; and undoubtedly, upon the Crown's own showing, it must be taken for granted that if at that time he had been acquainted with any plan of arming, he would have given a different answer, and would have jumped About a fortnight afterward, how

Contradicted by

the knives.

guns.

at the offer.

ever (Hardy in the interval having become ao quainted with Franklow), Williams called to buy a pair of shoes, and then Hardy, recollecting his former application, referred him to Franklow, who had in the most public manner raised the forty men, who were called the Loyal Lambeth Association. So that, in order to give this transaction any bearing upon the charge, it became necessary to consider Franklow's association as an armed conspiracy against the governmentthough the forty people who composed it were collected by public advertisement-though they were enrolled under public articles—and though Franklow himself, as appears from the evidence, attended publicly at the Globe Tavern in his uniform, while the cartouch-boxes and the other accoutrements of these secret conspirators lay openly upon his shop-board, exposed to the open view of all his customers and neighbors! This story, therefore, is not less contemptible than that which you must have all heard concerning Mr. Walker, whom I went to defend at Lancaster, where that respectable gentleman was brought to trial upon such a trumped-up charge, sup ported by the solitary evidence of one Dunn, a most infamous witness.63 But what was the end of that prosecution? I recollect it to the honor of my friend, Mr. Law, who conducted it for the Crown, who, knowing that there were persons whose passions were agitated upon these subjects at that moment, and that many persons had enrolled themselves in societies to resist conspiracies against the government, behaved in a most manful and honorable manner-in a manner, indeed, which the public ought to know, and which I hope it never will forget. He would not even put me upon my challenges to such persons, but withdrew them from the panel; and when he saw the complexion of the affair, from the contradiction of the infamous witness whose testimony supported it, he honorably gave up the cause.

Gentlemen, the evidence of Lynam does not require the same contradiction which fell Lynam upon Mr. Groves, because it destroys itself by its own intrinsic inconsistency. I could not, indeed, if it were to save my life, undertake to state it to you. It lasted, I think, about six or seven hours, but I have marked, under different parts of it, passages so grossly contradictory, matter so impossible, so inconsistent with any course of conduct, that it will be sufficient to | bring these parts to your view, to destroy all the It rest. But let us first examine in what manner this matter, such as it is, was recorded. He pro fessed to speak from notes, yet I observed him frequently looking up to the ceiling while he was speaking. When I said to him, Are you now speaking from a note? Have you get any note of what you are now saying? He answered, "Oh no; this is from recollection." Good God

A place in the country, a little out of Loudon, where a meeting of the reformers was held

63 Mr. Walker, of Manchester, with some others,

was indicted, in 1794, at the Lancaster Assizes, for a conspiracy to overthrow the government. The prosecution depended on the evidence of an inform er of the name of Dunn, who was afterward convict el of perjury at the very same Assizes.

ers.

This man Watt read from a paper designs to be accomplished, but which he never intended to attempt, and the success of which he knew to be visionary. To suppose that Great Britain could have been destroyed by such a rebel as Watt, would be, as Dr. Johnson says, "to expect that a great city might be drowned by the overflowing of its kennels." But whatever might be the peril of Watt's conspiracy, what had Hardy to do with it? The people with Watt were five or six persons, wholly unknown to Hardy, and not members of any society of which Mr. Hardy was a member. I vow to God, therefore, that I can not express what I feel, when I am obliged to state the evidence by which he is sought to be affected. A letter, namely, the circular letter signed by Hardy, for calling another convention, is shown to George Ross, who says he received it from one Stock, who belonged to a society which met in Nicholson Street, in Edinburgh, and that he sent it to Perth, Strathaven, and Paisley, and other places in Scotland. The single, unconnected evidence of this public letter, finding its way into Scotland, is made the foundation of letting in the whole evidence which hanged Watt, against Hardy, who never knew him! Government hanged its own spy in Scotland upon that

Almighty! Recollection mixing itself with notes | turned upon him, he was hanged by his employ. in a case of high treason! He did not even take down the words; nay, to do the man justice, he did not even affect to have taken the words, but only the substance, as he himself expressed it. Un, excellent evidence! The substance of words taken down by a spy, and supplied, when defective, by his memory! But I must not call him a spy; for it seems he took them bonâ fide as a delegate, and yet bona fide as an informer What a happy combination of fidelity! faithful to serve, and faithful to betray! correct to record for the business of the society, and correct to dissolve and to punish it! What, after all, do the notes amount to? I will advert to the parts I alluded to. They were, it seems, to go to Frith Street, to sign the declaration of the Friends of the Liberty of the Press, which lay there already signed by between twenty and thirty members of the House of Commons, and many other respectable and opulent men; and then they were to begin civil confusion, and the King's head and Mr. Pitt's were to be placed on Temple Bar! Immediately after which, we find them resolving unanimously to thank Mr. Wharton for his speech to support the glorious Revolution of 1688, which supports the very throne that was to be destroyed! which same speech they were to circulate in thousands, for the use of the societies throughout the king-evidence, and it may be sufficient evidence for dom. Such incoherent, impossible matter, proceeding from such a source, is unworthy of all further concern.

(9.) Atrocious charge against

the crimes of Watt.

that purpose. I will not argue the case of a dead man, and, above all, of such a man; but I will say, that too much money was spent upon this performance, as I think it cost government about fifty thousand pounds. M'Ewen says that Watt read from a paper to a committee of six or seven people, of which he, the witness, was a member, that gentlemen residing in the country were not to leave their habitations under pain of death; that an attack was to be made in the manner you remember, and that the Lord Justice Clerk and the Judges were to be cut off by these men in buckram-and then an address was to be sent to the King, desiring him to dismiss his ministers and put an end to the war, or he might expect bad consequences. WHAT IS AL!. THIS TO MR. HARDY? How is it possible to affect him with any part of this? Hear the sequel and then judge for yourselves. Mr. Watt saic (that is, the man who is hanged, said), after read

Thus driven out of every thing which relates to arms, and from every other matHardy, touching ter which can possibly attach upon life, they have recourse to an expedient which I declare fills my mind with horror and terror. It is this: The Corresponding Society had, you recollect, two years before, sent delegates to Scotland, with specific instructions peacefully to pursue a parliamentary reform. When the convention which they were sent to was dispersed, they sent no others, for they were arrested when only considering of the propriety of another convention. It happened that Mr. Hardy was the secretary during the period of these Scotch proceedings, and the letters, consequently, written by him, during that period, were all official letters from a large body, circulated by him in point of form. When the propositioning the paper, that he, Watt, wished to correspond took place for calling a second convention, Mr. Hardy continued to be secretary, and in that character signed the circular letter read in the course of the evidence, which appears to have found its way, in the course of circulation, into Scotland. This single circumstance has been admitted as the foundation of receiving in evidence against the prisoner a long transaction, imputed to one Watt, at Edinburgh, whose very Existence was unknown to Hardy. This Watt had been employed by government as a spy, but at last caught a Tartar in his spyship; for, in endeavoring to urge innocent men to a project which never entered into their imaginations, he was obliged to show himself ready to do what be recommended to o hers; and the tables being

with Mr. Hardy in a safe manner! So that, because a ruffian and scoundrel, whom I never saw or heard of, chooses, at the distance of four hundred miles, to say, that he wishes to correspond with me, I am to be involved in the guilt of his actions! It is not proved or insinuated, that Mr. Hardy ever saw, or heard of, or knew that such men were in being as Watt or Downie; nor is it proved, or asserted, that any letter was, in fact, written by either of them to Hardy, or to any other person. No such letter has been found in his possession, nor a trace of any connection between them and any member of any English society. The truth, I believe, is, that nothing was intended by Watt but to entrap others to obtain a reward for himself, and he has been amply and

justly rewarded Gentlemen, I desire to be un- | you, the jury, whose province it is to judge of derstood to be making no attacks upon govern- its existence, it must be believed by Recapitulation ment. I have wished throughout the whole you to have existed in point of fact. of principles. cause that good intentions may be imputed to it, Before you can adjudge a FACT, you must believe but I really confess that it requires some ingenu-it-not suspect it, or imagine it, or fancy it—but ity for government to account for the original BELIEVE it. And it is impossible to impress the existence of all this history, and its subsequent human mind with such a reasonable and certain application to the present trial. They went down belief as is necessary to be impressed, before a to Scotland after the arrest of the prisoners, in Christian man can adjudge his neighbor to the order, I suppose, that we might be taught the smallest penalty, much less to the pains of death, law of high treason by the Lord Justice Clerk without having such evidence as a reasonable of Edinburgh, and that there should be a sort of mind will accept of, as the infallible test of truth. rehearsal to teach the people of England to ad- And what is that evidence? Neither more nor minister English laws. For, after all this ex- less than that which the Constitution has estabpense and preparation, no man was put upon his lished in the courts for the general administration trial, or even arraigned under the special com- of justice-namely, that the evidence convinces mission in Scotland, but these two men-one for the jury, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the reading this paper, and the other for not dissent- criminal intention, constituting the crime, existed ing from it when it was read-and, with regard in the mind of the man upon trial, and was the to this last unfortunate person, the Crown thought main-spring of his conduct. The rules of eviit indecent (as it would, indeed, have been inde-dence, as they are settled by law, and adopted cent and scandalous) to execute the law upon in its general administration, are not to be overhim. A gentleman upon his jury said, he would ruled or tampered with. They are founded in die rather than convict Downie without a recom- the charities of religion, in the philosophy of namendation of mercy, and he was only brought ture, in the truths of history, and in the experi over to join in the verdict under the idea that he ence of common life; and whoever ventures rashwould not be executed, and, accordingly, he has ly to depart from them, let him remember tha! not suffered execution. If Downie, then, was an it will be meted to him in the same measure, and object of mercy, or rather of justice, though he that both God and man will judge him accordwas in the very room with Watt, and heard dis-ingly. tinctly the proposition, upon what possible ground can they demand the life of the prisoner at the bar, on account of a connection with the very same individual, though he never corresponded with him, nor saw him, nor heard of him—to whose very being he was an utter stranger? Gentlemen, it is impossible for me to know what impression this observation makes the justice upon you, or upon the court; but I declare I am deeply impressed with the application of it. How is a man to defend himself against such implications of guilt? Which of us all would be safe, standing at the bar of God or man, if he were even to answer for all his own expressions, without taking upon him the crimes or rashnesses of others? This poor man has, indeed, none of his own to answer for. Yet how can he stand safely in judgment before you, if, in a season of alarm and agitation, with the whole pressure of government upon him, your minds are to be distracted with criminating materials brought from so many quarters, and of an extent which mocks all power of discrimination? I am conscious that I have not adverted to the thousandth part of them. Yet I am sinking under fatigue and weakness; I am at this moment scarcely able to stand up while I am speaking to you, deprived, as I have been, for nights together, of every thing that deserves the name of rest, repose, o comfort. I, therefore, hasten, while yet I may be able, to remind you once again of the great principle into which all I have been saying resolves itself.

Appeal to

and humanity of the jury.

Gentlemen, my whole argument, then, amounts to no more than this, that before the crime of Bompassing THE KING'S DEATH can be found by

can set aside

These are arguments addressed to your rea sons and consciences, not to be shak- No precedents en in upright minds by any precedent, these princi for no precedents can sanctify injus- ples. tice. If they could, every human right would long ago have been extinct upon the earth. If the state trials in bad times are to be searched for precedents, what murders may you not commit? What law of humanity may you not trample upon? What rule of justice may you not violate? What maxim of wise policy may you not abrogate and confound? If precedents in bad times are to be implicitly followed, why should we have heard any evidence at all? You might have convicted without any evidence, for many have been so convicted, and in this manner murdered, even by acts of Parliament. If precedents in bad times are to be followed, why should the Lords and Commons have investigated these charges, and the Crown have put them into this course of judicial trial, since, without such a trial, and even after an acquittal upon one, they might have attained all the prisoners by act of Parlia ment? They did so in the case of Lord Straf ford. There are precedents, therefore, for all such things. But such precedents as could not for a moment survive the times of madness and distraction which gave them birth-precedents which, as soon as the spurs of the occasions were blunted, were repealed, and execrated even by Parliaments which (little as I may think of the present) ought not to be compared with it; Parliaments sitting in the darkness of former times

in the night of freedom-before the principles of government were developed, and before the Constitution became fixed The last of these

precedents, and all the proceedings upon it, were | Burgundy. How was this people dealt by? All ordered to be taken off the file and burned, to the intent that the same might no longer be visible in after ages-an order dictated, no doubt, by a pious tenderness for national honor, and meant as a charitable covering for the crimes of our fathers. But it was a sin against posterity-it was a treason against society; for, instead of commanding them to be burned, they should rather have directed them to be blazoned in large letters upon the walls of our courts of justice, that, like the characters deciphered by the prophet, of God to the Eastern tyrant, they might enarge and blacken in your sights, to terrify you from acts of injustice.

In times when the whole habitable earth is in Motives for ad- a state of change and fluctuation hering to the

who were only contending for their own rights and privileges, were supposed to be, of course, disaffected to the Emperor. They were handed over to courts constituted for the emergency, as this is, and the Emperor marched his army through the country till all was peace-but such peace as there is in Vesuvius or Ætna, the very moment before they vomit forth their lava, and roll their conflagrations over the devoted habita. tions of mankind. When the French approached, the fatal effects were suddenly seen of a govern. ment of constraint and terror: the well-affected were dispirited, and the disaffected inflamed into fury. At that moment, the Archduchess fled from Brussels, and the Duke of Saxe-Teschen was sent express to offer the joyeuse entrée so long petitioned for in vain. But the season of concession was past, the storm blew from every quarter, and the throne of Brabant departed forever from the house of Burgundy. Gentlemen, I venture to affirm that, with other counsels, this fatal prelude to the last revolution in that country might have been averted. If the Emperor had been advised to make the concessions of justice and affection to his people, they would have risen in a mass to maintain their Prince's authority, interwoven with their own liberties; and the French, the giants of modern times, would, like the giants of antiquity, have been trampled in the mire of their own ambition.

Burke in favor

In the same manner, a far more splendid and important crown passed away from Authority of Mr his Majesty's illustrious brow-THE flating IMPERIAL CROWN OF AMERICA. The the people. people of that country, too, for a long season, con

of when deserts are starting up into the law. civilized empires around you; and when men, no longer slaves to the prejudices of particular countries, much less to the abuses of particular governments, enlist themselves, like the citizens of an enlightened world, into whatever communities their civil liberties may be best protected-it never can be for the advantage of this country to prove that the strict, unextended letter of her laws is no security to its inhabitants. On the contrary, when so dangerous a lure is every where held out to emigration, it will be found to be the wisest policy of Great Britain to set up her happy Constitution-the strict letter of her guardian laws, and the proud condition of equal freedom, which her highest and her lowest subjects ought equally to enjoy it will be her wisest policy to set up these first of human blessings against those charms of change and novelty which the varying condition of the world is hour-tended as subjects, and often with irregularity and ly displaying, and which may deeply affect the population and prosperity of our country. In times when the subordination to authority is said to be every where but little felt, it will be found to be the wisest policy of Great Britain to instill into the governed an almost superstitious reverence for the strict security of the laws; which, from their equality of principle, beget no jealousies or discontent; which, from their equal administration, can seldom work injustice; and which, from the reverence growing out of their mildness and antiquity, acquire a stability in the habits and affections of men far beyond the force of civil obligation-whereas, severe penalties and arbitrary constructions of laws intended for security, lay the foundations of alienation from every human government, and have been the cause of all the calamities that have come, and are coming upon the earth.

Argument against ising violence with the people derived from the Netherlands.

turbulence, for what they felt to be their rights : and oh, gentlemen! that the inspiring and immortal eloquence of that man, whose name I have so often mentioned, had then been heard with effect! What was his language to this country when she sought to lay burdens on America, not to support the dignity of the Crown, or for the increase of national revenue, but to raise a fund for the purpose of corruption; a fund for maintaining those tribes of hireling skip-jacks, which Mr. Tooke so well contrasted with the hereditary nobility of England? Though America would not bear this imposition, she would have borne any useful or constitutional burden to support the parent

state.

"For that service-for all service," said Mr Burke, "whether of revenue, trade, or empire, my trust is in her interest in the British Constitution. My hold of the colonies is in the close Gentlemen, what we read of in books makes affection which grows from common names but a faint impression upon us com- from kindred blood, from similar privileges and pared to what we see passing under equal protection. These are ties which, though our eyes in the living world. I re-light as air, are as strong as links of iron. Let member the people of another coun- the colonies always keep the idea of their civil try, in like manner, contending for a renovation rights associated with your governments, they of their Constitution, sometimes illegally and tur- will eling and grapple to you, and no force under bulently, but still devoted to an honest end. I myself saw the people of Brabant so contending for the ancient Constitution of the good Duke of

64 This refers to the invasion of the Netherlandı by the armies of the French Republic after the bas tle of Jemappe, in 1792

you to hear upon the subject, that the views of the societies were what I have alleged them to be-that whatever irregularities or indiscretions they might have committed, their purposes were honest; and that Mr. Hardy's, above all other men, can be established to have been so. I have, indeed, an honorable gentleman [Mr. Francis] in my eye at this moment, to be called hereafter as a witness, who being desirous, in his place as a member of Parliament, to promote an inquiry into the seditious practices complained of, Mr. Hardy offered himself voluntarily to come forward, proffered a sight of all the papers, which were afterward seized in his custody, and tendered every possible assistance to give satisfaction to the laws of his country, if found to be offend ed. I will show, likewise, his character to be religious, temperate, humane, and moderate, and his uniform conduct all that can belong to a good subject and an honest man. When you have heard this evidence, it will, beyond all doubt, confirm you in coming to the conclusion which, at such great length (for which I entreat your pardon), I have been endeavoring to support.

heaver. will be of power to tear them from their | as it may be found necessary or convenient for allegiance. But let it be once understood that your government may be one thing, and their privileges another; that these two things may exist without any rautual relation; the cement is gone; the cohesion is loosened; and every thing nastens to decay and dissolution. As long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their faces toward you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have; the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their obedience. Slavery they can have any where. It is a weed that grows in every soil. They may have it from Spain, they may have it from Prussia. But until you become lost to all feeling of your true interest and your natural dignity, freedom they can have from none but you. This is the commodity of price, of which you have the monopoly. This is the true act of navigation, which binds to you the commerce of the colonies, and, through them, secures to you the wealth of the world. Is it not the same virtue which does every thing for us here in England? Do you imagine, then, that it is the Land-tax Act which raises your revenue? that it is the annual vote in the Committee of Supply which gives you your army? or that it is the Mutiny Bill which inspires it with bravery and discipline? No! surely no! It is the love of the people, it is their attachment to their government, from the sense of the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution, which gives you your army and your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedience, without which your army would be a base rabble, and your navy nothing but rotten timber."

Peroration.

As Mr. Erskine drew near to the close of this speech, his voice failed him, so that for the last ten minutes he could only speak in a whisper. leaning on the table for support. The impres sion made upon his audience, as they hung with breathless anxiety on his lips, while he stood before them in this exhausted state, is said to have been more thrilling and profound than at any reriod of his long professional career.

The moment he ended, the hall was filled with acclamations, which were taken up and repeated by the vast multitudes that surrounded the building and blocked up the streets. Erskine made a noble use of his popularity. Recovering his voice, he went out and addressed the crowd, exhorting them to maintain order and confide in the justice of their country. He then requested them to disperse and retire to their own homes; and within a few minutes, they were all gone, leaving the streets to a stillness like that of midnight.

On Monday morning, the evidence for the prisoner was received, after which Mr. Gibbs summed up in his defense, and the Solicitor Gen. eral, Sir John Mitford, closed in behalf of the Crown. The jury were out three hours, and returned with a verdict of NOT GUILTY.

Gentlemen, to conclude-my fervent wish is, that we may not conjure up a spirit to destroy ourselves, nor set the example here of what in another country we deplore. Let us cherish the old and venerable laws of our forefathers. Let our judicial administration be strict and pure; and let the jury of the land preserve the life of a fellow-subject, who only asks it from them upon the same terms under which they hold their own lives, and all that is dear to them and their posterity forever. Let me repeat the wish with which I began my address to you, and which proceeds from the very bottom of my heart. May it please God, who is the Author of all mercies to mankind, whose providence, I am persuaded, guides and superintends the transactions of the world, and whose guardian spirit has forever hovered over this prosperous island, to direct and fortify your judgments. I am aware I have not acquitted myself to the unfortunate man who has put his trust in me, in the manner I could have wished; ye' I am unable to proceed any further; exhausted in spirit and in strength, but confidenting that, in addition to this, he was determined to in the expectation of justice. There is one thing more, however, that (if I can) I must state to you, aamely, that I will show, by as many witnesses

As the other cases stood on the same ground, it was supposed the government would stop here. But they determined to make one more effort, by arraigning Horne Tooke, the celebrated philolo gist. Tooke was then nearly sixty years old with a frame broken down by disease, but having all the self-confidence of his early days, when he entered the lists with Junius. Mr. Erskine was his counsel; but he wrote a note from prison, say

speak in his own defense. He had done so three years before, in his suit with Mr. Fox; and he thus began his address to the jury: "Gentlemen