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why did not the Attorney General produce the record of some convictions, and compare it with the list? I thank them, therefore, for the precious compilation, which, though they did not produce, they can not stand up and deny.

have foreseen mischief, but whether he wickedly | in decency, to be silent. I see the effect this cir. and traitorously preconcerted and designed it. cumstance has upon you, and I know I am war But if he be an object of censure for not foresee-ranted in my assertion of the fact. If I am not, ing it, what shall we say to GOVERNMENT, that took no step to prevent it, that issued no proclamation, warning the people of the danger and illegality of such an assembly? If a peaceable multitude, with a petition in their hands, be an army, and if the noise and confusion inseparable from numbers, though without violence or the purpose of violence, constitute war, what shall be said of that GOVERNMENT which remained from Tuesday to Friday, knowing that an army was collecting to levy war by public advertisement, yet had not a single soldier, no, nor even a constable, to protect the state?

Gentlemen, I come forth to do that for gov ernment which its own servant, the Attorney General, has not done. I come forth to rescue it from the eternal infamy which would fall upon its head, if the language of its own advocate were to be believed. But government has an unanswerable defense. It neither did nor could possibly enter into the head of any man in authority to prophesy-human wisdom could not divine that wicked and desperate men, taking advantage of the occasion which, perhaps, an imprudent zeal for religion had produced, would dishonor the cause of all religions, by the disgraceful acts which followed.

Why, then, is it to be said that Lord George Gordon is a traitor, who, without proof of any hostile purpose to the government of his country, only did not foresee what no body else foresaw -what those people whose business it is to foresee every danger that threatens the state, and to avert it by the interference of magistracy, though they could not but read the advertisement, neither did nor could possibly apprehend 219

Solomon [Job] says, "Oh that mine adversary had written a book!" My adversary has writ ten a book, and out of it I am entitled to pro nounce, that it can not again be decently asserted that Lord George Gordon, in exhorting an innocent and unimpeached multitude to be peace. able and quiet, was exciting them to violence against the state.

What is the evidence, then, on which this connection with the mob is to be proved? Only that they had blue cockades.20 Are you or am I answerable for every man who wears a blue cockade? If a man commits murder in my livery or in yours, without command, counsel, or consent, is the murder ours? In all cumulative, constructive treasons, you are to judge from the tenor of a man's behavior, not from crooked and disjointed parts of it. "Nemo repentè fuit turpissimus."21 No man can possibly be guilty of this crime by a sudden impulse of the mind, as he may of some others; and, certainly, Lord George Gordon stands upon the evidence at Coachmakers' Hall as pure and white as snow. He stands so upon the evidence of a man who had differed with him as to the expediency of his conduct, yet who swears that from the time he took the chair till the period which is the subject of inquiry, there was no blame in him.

But still it seems all his behavior at Coachmakers' Hall was color and deceit. Let us see, therefore, whether this body of men, when assembled, answered the description of that which I have stated to be the purpose of him who assembled them. Were they a multitude arrayed for terror or force? On the contrary, you have heard, upon the evidence of men whose veracity is not to be impeached, that they were sober, decent, quiet, peaceable tradesmen; that they were all of the better sort; all well-dressed and well-behaved; and that there was not a man among them who had any one weapon, offensive or defensive. Sir Philip Jennings Clerke tells

You, therefore, are bound as Christian men to believe that, when he came to St. George's Fields that morning, he did not come there with How are these observations attempted to be the hostile purpose of repealing a law by reanswered? Only by asserting, with-bellion. Answer to the pretense of de- out evidence or even reasonable arreption on the Tart of the gument, that all this was color and prisoner. deceit. Gentlemen, I again say that it is scandalous and reproachful, and not to be justified by any duty which can possibly belong o an advocate at the bar of an English court of justice, to declare, without any proof or attempt at proof, that all a man's expressions, however peaceable, however quiet, however constitutional, however loyal, are all fraud and villainy. Look, gentlemen, to the issues of life, which I before called the evidence of Heaven: I call them so still. Truly may I call them so, when, out of a book compiled by the Crown from the petition in the House of Commons, and containing the names of all who signed it, and which was printed in order to prevent any of that num-ing of St. George's Fields, were distinguished by ber being summoned upon the jury to try this wearing cockades, on which were inscribed the words "No Popery!" indictment, not one criminal, or even a suspected name is to be found, among this defamed host of petitioners!

After this, gentlemen, I think the Crown ought, 19 This was the great turning-point of the case, and it would have been impossible to state it in more simple or more powerful terms.

20 The members of the Association, at the meet

21 No one has ever at once reached the extreme

point of wickedness.

22 This gentleman, in giving evidence on behalf of the prisoner, deposed to the peaceable behavior of the members of the Association, who formed the original procession to carry up the petition, and whom he distinguished from the mob which after

Paper given by

you, he went into the Fields; that he drove office, I would not accept of it on the terms of through them, talked to many individuals among being obliged to produce against a fellow-citizen them, who all told him that it was not their wish that which I have been witness to this day. For to persecute the Papists, but that they were Mr. Attorney General perfectly well knew the alarmed at the progress of their religion from innocent and laudable motive with their schools. Sir Philip further told you, that which the protection was given, that the prisoner to he never saw a more peaceable multitude in his he exhibited as an evidence of guilt; from being .25 protect a house burned. life; and it appears upon the oaths of all who yet it was produced to insinuate that were present, that Lord George Gordon went Lord George Gordon, knowing himself to be the ound among them, desiring peace and quietness. ruler of those villains, set himself up as a savior Mark his conduct, when he heard from Mr. from their fury. We called Lord Stormont tc Evans that a low, riotous set of people were explain this matter to you, who told you that assembled in Palace Yard. Mr. Evans, being a Lord George Gordon came to Buckingham member of the Protestant Association, and being House, and begged to see the King, saying, he desirous that nothing bad might happen from might be of great use in quelling the riots; and the assembly, went in his carriage with Mr. can there be on earth a greater proof of conSpinage to St. George's Fields, to inform Lord scious innocence? For if he had been the wickGeorge that there were such people assembled ed mover of them, would he have gone to the (probably Papists), who were determined to do King to have confessed it, by offering to recall mischief. The moment he told him of what he his followers from the mischiefs he had provoked? heard, whatever his original plan might have No! But since, notwithstanding a public protest been, he instantly changed it on seeing the im-issued by himself and the Association, reviling propriety of it. "Do you intend," said Mr. Ev- the authors of mischief, the Protestant cause was ans, "to carry up all these men with the petition still made the pretext, he thought his public exto the House of Commons?" "Oh no! no! notertions might be useful, as they might tend tc by any means; I do not mean to carry them all up." "Will you give me leave," said Mr. Ev"to go round to the different divisions, and tell the people it is not your Lordship's purpose ?" He answered, "By all means." And Mr. Evans accordingly went, but it was impossible to guide such a number of people, peaceable as they were. They were all desirous to go forward; and Lord | George was at last obliged to leave the Fields, exhausted with heat and fatigue, beseeching them to be peaceable and quiet. Mrs. Whitingham set him down at the House of Commons; and at the very time that he thus left them in perfect harmony and good order, it appears, by the evidence of Sir Philip Jennings Clerke, that Palace Yard was in an uproar, filled with mischievous boys and the lowest dregs of the people.

ans,

remove the prejudices which wicked men had diffused. The King thought so likewise, and therefore (as appears by Lord Stormont) refused to see Lord George till he had given the test of his loyalty by such exertions. But sure I am, our gracious sovereign meant no trap for innocence, nor ever recommended it as such to his servants.

Lord George's language was simply this: "The multitude pretend to be perpetrating these acts, under the authority of the Protestant peti. tion; I assure your Majesty they are not the Protestant Association, and I shall be glad to be of any service in suppressing them." I say, BY God, that man is a ruffian who shall, after this, presume to build upon such honest, artless conduct, as an evidence of guilt.26 Gentlemen, if

25 A witness, of the name of Richard Pond, called

Gentlemen, I have all along told you that the in support of the prosecution, had sworn that, hearCrown was aware that it had no case of treason, ing his house was about to be pulled down, he ap without connecting the noble prisoner with con- plied to the prisoner for protection, and in conse sequences, which it was in some luck to find ad-quence received the following document signed by vocates to state, without proof to support it. I can only speak for myself, that, small as my chance is (as times go) of ever arriving at high ward assembled tumultuously about the House of Commons.

23 Sir James Lowther, another of the prisoner's witnesses, proved that Lord George Gordon and Sir Philip Jennings Clerke accompanied him in his carriage from the House, and the former entreated the multitudes collected to disperse quietly to their homes.

24 A surgeon, who also was examined for the defense, and deposed that he saw Lord George Gordon in the midst of one of the companies in St. George's Fields, and that it appeared his wish at that time, from his conduct and expressions, that, to prevent all disorder, he should not be attended by the multitude across Westminster Bridge. This gentleman's evidence was confirmed by that of other witnesses.

him: "All true friends to Protestants, I hope, will be particular, and do no injury to the property of any true Protestant, as I am well assured the proprietor of this house is a staunch and worthy friend to the cause.-G. GORDON."

26 The effect produced on the jury and spectators by this sudden burst of feeling, is represented by eye-witnesses to have been such as to baffle all powers of description. It was wholly unpremeditated, the instantaneous result of that sympathy which exists between a successful speaker and his audience. In uttering this appeal to his Maker, Mr. Erskine's tone was one of awe and deep reverence, without the slightest approach toward the profane use of the words, but giving them all the solemnity of a judicial oath. The magic of his eye, gesture, and countenance beaming with emotion, completed the impression, and made it irresistible. It was a thing which no man could do but once in his life. Mr. Erskine attempted it again in the House of Commons, and utterly failed.

Lord George Gordon had been guilty of high treason (as is assumed to-day) in the face of the whole Parliament, how are all its members to defend themselves from the misprision of suffering such a person to go at large and to approach his sovereign? The man who conceals the perpetration of treason is himself a traitor; but they are all perfectly safe, for nobody thought of treason till fears arising from another quarter bewildered their senses. The King, therefore, and his servants, very wisely accepted his promise of assistance, and he flew with honest zeal to fulfill it. Sir Philip Jennings Clerke tells you that he made use of every expression which it was possible for a man in such circumstances to employ. He begged them, for God's sake, to disperse and go home; declared his hope that the petition would be granted, but that rioting was not the way to effect it. Sir Philip said he felt himself bound, without being particularly asked, to say every thing he could in protection of an injured and innocent man, and repeated again, that there was not an art which the prisoner could possibly make use of, that he did not zealously employ; but that it was all in vain. "I began," says he, "to tremble for myself, when Lord George read the resolution of the House, which was hostile to them, and said their petition would not be taken into consideration till they were quiet." But did he say, "therefore go on to burn and destroy?" On the contrary, he helped to pen that motion, and read it to the multitude, as one which he himself had approved. After this he went into the coach with Sheriff Pugh, in the city; and there it was, in the presence of the very magistrate whom he was assisting to keep the peace, that he publicly signed the protection which has been read in evidence against him; although Mr. Fisher, who now stands in my presence, confessed in the Privy Council that he himself had granted similar protections to various people-yet he was disriissed, as having done nothing but his duty.

This is the plain and simple truth; and for 'nis just obedience to his Majesty's request, do the King's servants come to-day into his court, where he is supposed in person to sit, to turn that obedience into the crime of high treason, and to ask you to put him to death for it.

Gentlemen, you have now heard, upon the solemn oaths of honest, disinterested Recapitulation. men, a faithful history of the conduct of Lord George Gordon, from the day that he became a member of the Protestant Association to the day that he was committed a prisoner to the Tower. And I have no doubt, from the attention with which I have been honored from the beginning, that you have still kept in your minds the principles to which I entreated you would apply it, and that you have measured it by that

standard.

You have, therefore, only to look back to the 27 Misprision of treason consists in the bare knowledge and concealment of treason, without any degree of assent thereto, for any assent makes the party a pracipal traitor.-Blackstone's Comm.. iv., 120.

whole of it together; to reflect on all you have heard concerning him; to trace him in your recollection through every part of the transaction; and, considering it with one manly, liberal view, to ask your own honest hearts, whether you can say that this noble and unfortunate youth is a wicked and deliberate traitor, who deserves by your verdict to suffer a shameful and ignominious death, which will stain the ancient honors of his house forever.

The crime which the Crown would have fixed upon him is, that he assembled the Protestant Association round the House of Commons, not merely to influence and persuade Parliament by the earnestness of their supplications, but actually to coerce it by hostile, rebellious force; that, finding himself disappointed in the success of that coercion, he afterward incited his followers to abolish the legal indulgences to Papists, which the object of the petition was to repeal, by the burning of their houses of worship, and the destruction of their property, which ended, at last, in a general attack on the property of all orders of men, religious and civil, on the public treasures of the nation, and on the very being of the government.23

To support a charge of so atrocious and unnatural a complexion, the laws of the most arbitrary nations would require the most incontrovertible proof. Either the villain must have been taken in the overt act of wickedness, or, if he worked in secret upon others, his guilt must have been brought out by the discovery of a conspiracy, or by the consistent tenor of criminality. The very worst inquisitor that ever dealt in blood would vindicate the torture, by plausibility at least, and by the semblance of truth.

What evidence, then, will a jury of Englishmen expect from the servants of the Crown of England, before they deliver up a brother accused before them to ignominy and death? What proof will their consciences require? What will their plain and manly understandings accept of? What does the immemorial custom of their fathers, and the written law of this land, warrant them in demanding? Nothing less, in any case of blood, than the clearest and most unequivocal conviction of guilt. But in this case the Act has not even trusted to the humanity and justice of our general law, but has said, in plain, rough, expressive terms—provably; that is, says Lord Coke, not upon conjectural presumptions, or inferences, or strains of wit, but upon direct and plain proof. "For the King, Lords, and Commons,'

" continues that great lawyer, "did not use the word probably, for then a common argument might have served, but provably, which signifies the highest force of demonstration." And what evidence, gentlemen of the jury, does the Crown offer to you in compliance with these sound and sacred doctrines of justice? A few

28 At the time of the interference of the military, the mob had attacked the Pay Office, and were at tempting to break into the Bank; and, to aid the work of the incendiaries, a large party had been sent to cut the pipes of the New River

retired to bed, where he lay unconscious that ruffians were ruining him by their disorders in the night-that on Monday he published an ad

and, as the Protestant cause had been wickedly made the pretext for them, solemnly enjoined all who wished well to it to be obedient to the laws (nor has the Crown even attempted to prove that he had either given, or that he afterward gave secret instructions in opposition to that public admonition)—that he afterward begged an audience to receive the King's commands— that he waited on the ministers-that he attended his duty in Parliament—and when the multitude (among whom there was not a man of the associated Protestants) again assembled on the Tuesday, under pretense of the Protestant cause, he offered his services, and read a resolution of the House to them, accompanied with every expostulation which a zeal for peace could possibly inspire-that he afterward, in pursuance of the King's direction, attended the magistrates in their duty; honestly and honorably exerting all his powers to quell the fury of the multitude; a conduct which, to the dishonor of the Crown, has been scandalously turned against him, by criminating him with protections granted publicly in the coach of the Sheriff of London, whom he was assisting in his office of magistracy; although protections of a similar nature were, to the knowledge of the whole Privy Council, granted by Mr. Fisher himself, who now stands in my presence unaccused and unreproved, but who, if the Crown that summoned him durst have called him, would have dispersed to their confusion the slightest imputation of guilt.

broken, interrupted, disjointed words, without context or connection-uttered by the speaker in agitation and heat-heard, by those who relate them to you, in the midst of tumult and confu-vertisement, reviling the authors of the riots, sion and even those words, mutilated as they are, in direct opposition to, and inconsistent with repeated and earnest declarations delivered at the very same time and on the very same occasion, related to you by a much greater number of persons, and absolutely incompatible with the whole tenor of his conduct. Which of us all, gentlemen, would be safe, standing at the bar of God or man, if we were not to be judged by the regular current of our lives and conversations, but by detached and unguarded expressions, picked out by malice, and recorded, without context or circumstances, against us? Yet such is the only evidence on which the Crown asks you to dip your hands, and to stain your consciences, in the innocent blood of the noble and unfortunate youth who stands before you on the single evidence of the words you have heard from their witnesses (for of what but words have you heard?), which, even if they had stood uncontroverted by the proofs that have swallowed them up, or unexplained by circumstances which destroy their malignity, could not, at the very worst, amount in law to more than a breach of the Act against tumultuous petitioning (if such an act still exists); since the worst malice of his enemies has not been able to bring up one single witness to say that he ever directed, countenanced, or approved rebellious force against the Legislature of this country. It is, therefore, a matter of astonishment to me that men can keep the natural color in their cheeks when they ask for human life, even on the Crown's original case, though the prisoner had made no defense. But will they still continue to ask for it after what they have heard? I will just remind the Solicitor General, before he begins his reply, what matter he has to encounter. He has to encounter this: That the going up in a body was not even originated by Lord George, but by others in his absence-that when proposed by him officially as chairman, it was adopted by the whole Association, and consequently was their act as much as his-that it was adopted, not in a conclave, but with open doors, and the resolution published to all the world-that it was known, of course, to the ministers and magistrates of the country, who did not even signify to him, or to any body else, its illegality or danger-that decency and peace were enjoined and commanded that the regularity of the procession, and those badges of distinction, which are now cruelly turned into the charge of an hostile array against him, were expressly and publicly directed for the preservation of peace and the prevention of tumult-that while the House was deliberating, he repeatedly entreated them to behave with decency and peace, and to retire to their houses, though he knew not that he was speaking to the enemies of his cause-that when they at last dispersed, no man thought or imagined that treason had been committed-that he

What, then, has produced this trial for high treason, or given it, when produced, cause of the the seriousness and solemnity it wears? prosecution. What but the inversion of all justice, by judging from consequences, instead of from causes and designs? What but the artful manner in which the Crown has endeavored to blend the petitioning in a body, and the zeal with which an animated disposition conducted it, with the melancholy crimes that followed? crimes which the shameful indolence of our magistrates-which the total extinction of all police and government suffered to be committed in broad day, and in the delirium of drunkenness, by an unarmed banditti, without a head-without plan or object-and without a refuge from the instant gripe of justice: a banditti with whom the associated Protestants and their president had no manner of connection, and whose cause they overturned, dishonored, and ruined.

How unchristian, then, is it to attempt, without evidence, to infect the imaginations of men who are sworn, dispassionately and disinterestedly, to try the trivial offense of assembling a multitude with a petition to repea, a law (which has happened so often in all our memories), by blending it with the fatal catastrophe, on which every man's mind may be supposed to retain some degree of irritation! O fie! O fie! Is the intellectual seat of justice to be thus impious

ly shaken? Are your benevolent propensities to be thus disappointed and abused? Do they wish you, while you are listening to the evidence, to connect it with unforeseen consequences, in spite of reason and truth? Is it their object to hang the millstone of prejudice around his innocent neck to sink him? If there be such men, may Heaven forgive them for the attempt, and inspire you with fortitude and wisdom to discharge your duty with calm, steady, and reflecting minds!

Peroration.

Gentlemen, I have no manner of doubt that you will.29 I am sure you can not but see, notwithstanding my great inability, increased by a perturbation of mind (arising, thank God! from no dishonest cause), that there has been not only no evidence on the part of the Crown to fix the guilt of the late commotions upon the prisoner, but that, on the contrary, we have been able to resist the probability, I might almost say the possibility of the charge, not only by living witnesses, whom we only ceased to call because the trial would never have ended, but by the evidence of all the blood that has paid the forfeit of that guilt already; an evidence that I will take upon me to say is the strongest and most unanswerable which the combination of natural events ever brought together since the beginning of the world for the deliverance of the oppressed since, in the late numerous trials for acts of violence and depredation, though conducted by the ablest servants of the Crown, with a laudable eye to the investigation of the subject which now engages us, no one fact appeared which showed any plan, any object, any leader; since, out of forty-four thousand persons who signed the petition of the Protestants, not one was to be found among those who were convicted, tried, or even apprehended on suspicion; and since, out of all the felons who were let loose rom prisons, and who assisted in the destruction our property, not a single wretch was to be

found who could even attempt to save his own life by the plausible promise of giving evidence to-day.

What can overturn such a proof as this? Surely a good man might, without superstition believe that such a union of events was something more than natural, and that a Divine Providence was watchful for the protection of innocence and truth.

I may now, therefore, relieve you from the pain of hearing me any longer, and be myself relieved from speaking on a subject which agitates and distresses me. Since Lord George Gordon stands clear of every hostile act or purpose against the Legislature of his country, or the properties of his fellow-subjects—since the whole tenor of his conduct repels the belief of the traitorous intention charged by the indictment-my task is finished. I shall make no address to your passions. I will not remind you of the long and rigorous imprisonment he has suffered; I will not speak to you of his great youth, of his illustrious birth, and of his uniformly animated and generous zeal in Parliament for the Constitution of his country. Such topics might be useful in the balance of a doubtful case; yet, even then, I should have trusted to the honest hearts of Englishmen to have felt them without excitation. At present, the plain and rigid rules of justice and truth are sufficient to entitle me to your verdict.

The jury, after being charged by Lord Mans field, wndrew at three o'clock in the morning, and speedily returned with the verdict - Nor GUILTY. The decision was satisfactory, in a high degree, to all reflecting men. Even those who considered his conduct as deeply criminal, felt with Dr. Johnson: "I am glad Lord George Gordon has escaped, rather than a precedent should be established of hanging a man for constructive treason."

SPEECH

OF MR. ERSKINE ON THE RIGHTS OF JURIES, DELIVERED before the COURT OF KING'S BENCH, IN THE CASE OF THE DEAN OF ASAPH, NOVEMBER 15, 1784.

INTRODUCTION.

SIR WILLIAM JONES, just before he went to India in 1783, wrote a small tract in favor of Parliament ary Reform, entitled a "Dialogue between a Gentleman and a Farmer," which was published by his brother-in-law Dr. Shipley, dean of St. Asaph, with an advertisement stating his reasons for so doing. Though harmless in its tendency, it gave umbrage to some high Tories of the neighborhood, and the Dean was indicted, at their instance, for printing a seditious libel. The trial came on at Shrewsbury, August 6th, 1784, and Mr. Bearcroft, counsel for the prosecution, satisfied that no English jury would ever find it a libel (as the court, in fact, afterward declared there was nothing in it illegal) took the

This peroration is remarkable for the quiet and of a perfect understanding between him and the subdued tone which reigns throughout it. A less jury, that the verdict of acquittal was already made skillful advocate would have closed with a powerful up in their minds, so that any appeal to their feelappeal to the feelings of the jury. But Mr. Erskine, ings would be wholly out of place. His allusion to with that quick instinct which enabled him to read the providence of God as watching over the innothe emotions of men in their countenances, saw that cent, beautifully coincides with this sentiment; and his cause was gained. He chose, therefore, to in his closing sentence he does not ask a decision throw ver his concluding remarks the appearance in his favor but takes it as a matter of course.

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