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through the Magistrates of Bow-street. I was accused most wrongfully by a Governor-General in Russia, in a letter from Archangel to Riga, and have sought redress in vain. I am a most unfortunate man, and feel here (placing his hand on his breast) sufficient justification for what I have done."-Being again cautioned by Lord Castlereagh that he was not on his defence, he said, "Since it seems best to you, that I should not now explain the causes of my conduct, I will leave it until the day of my trial, when my country will have an opportnnity of judging whether 1 am right or wrong." He was then hand-cuffed, and conveyed to Newgate.

He

'I he coroner's jury having found a verdict of wilful murder against Bellingham, and the Grand Jury of Middlesex having also found a true bill against him, his trial came on at the Old Bailey on the Friday following, before a full bench of Judges, and a Court crowded beyond all former example. Mr Alley acted as the prisoner's counsel; and having put in a plea of insanity, he moved that his trial be postponed till he should have an opportunity of producing witnesses to this fact. brought forward several affidavits; but the Judges did not consider them sufficient to induce them to grant his request; and the trial accordingly proceeded. The Attorney General after detailing the circumstances of the murder to the Jury, proceeded to examine witnesses for the prosecution, who gave evidence to the facts above mentioned; and the prisoner's confession of the deed was recorded in Court. The prisoner was then called on for his defence, when he replied in the following words:

"Gentlemen of the Jury-I feel under great obligations to the learned Attorney General, for setting aside the objection made by my counsel, in the plea of insanity, because it is far more fortunate for me that such an assertion should be unfounded, than that it should be established. That I am insane, I assure you I am not aware, with the single exception of an instance that took place in Russia."

The prisoner here became much confused and agitated, and expressed his hope that 'indulgence would be granted him, as it was the first time he had ever spoken in public. He continued--" I am a compulsive volunteer, if I may use the expression, at this bar; for it is not to be supposed that I could deliberately take a pistol and shoot Mr Perceval, without very strong inducements; and if I had, I should consider

myself a monster not fit to exist in this world or in the next. Circumstances justify every thing-and I have now to unfold to you a scene of oppression and iniquity, established by original documents laid before Marquis Wellesley, which if not so proved, would have been incredible. The learned Attorney General has candidly stated to you, that up to this time, when the fatal catastrophe took place, which is a matter of sincere regret to no inan more than to myself, not even excepting the family of Mr Perceval, he has no imputation against me. I hope I shall now be able to set the affair in its true light."

The prisoner then proceeded to transac tions commencing in 1804, at which period he went to Russia, for the purpose of conducting mercantile concerns. He stated that he was suspected of having sent intelligence to Lloyd's, that a ship had been unfairly wrecked in the White Sea, in conse quence of which the underwriters refused to pay the insurance; that he was therefore subjected to an unmerited persecution in Russia; that he was imprisoned at Archangel, but being afterwards released, he was sent to Petersburgh, when he made his complaints to the Russian Government, but was again, upon a false charge of debt, thrown into prison; that he applied to Lord Leveson Gower, who afforded him no assistance, but that he was marched past his house daily with common malefactors; that he again represented his distress to his Lordship, but was treated with neglect, though in an affair respecting only two roubles for pilotage, his Lordship four times brought it before the Emperor; that his wife, only 20 years of age, with an infant in arms, and pregnant, was at this time obliged to make the voyage to England unprotected. Here the prisoner burst into tears, exclaiming, "Lord Gower saw and permitted so much misery. Oh, my God, what must his heart have been made of! Gentlemen, I appeal to you as men, as fathers, and as Christians, if I had not cause of complaint!" After he had recovered himself, the prisoner said he was kept. in a miserable condition, for six years, bandied from prison to prison; at length, through the interference of a benevolent Russian, and when he was deserted by his Britannic Majesty's representatives, he obtained a revisal of the corrupt proceedings against him; but could procure no pecunia. ry compensation.

Bellingham then went on to notice his fruitless applications to Mr Perceval, whom he wished to recommend it to Parliament,

but who refused. To whom then was it to be referred? It was a national case; and to the council of the nation he appealed.He afterwards was bandied from one public office to another, was reduced to the utmost distress, and without the means of obtaining a living for a wife and family crying for food. Justice was no where to be obtained. What then must have been his feelings, and what could be his alternative? Before he resolved upon the fatal act, as a last experiment he thought it right to give information at Bow Street, against his Majesty's Government, stating, that the course of justice had been obstructed. His no

tice contained these words :-" If this reasonable request be refused, I shall be oblig. ed to do justice for myself, and shall be prepared to argue that justification wheneyer and wherever it is necessary." Being told by Mr Read that he could not interfere, he again applied to Mr Ryder and Mr Hill, gave him this carte blanche, “That he was at liberty to take such measures as he thought right."

"Gentlemen," said the prisoner, "I am now coming to a conclusion. I have stated to you a history of my case, in the firm hope that it will prove some justification of the crime with which I am charged. Gentlemen, whenever I appear before the tribunal of my God, I shall appear there as innocent of the wilful murder of Mr Perceval, as they, who, after judgment, are admitted among the angels of heaven.

The prisoner then proceeded to read a written defence, in which he contended, that he could not be found guilty of murder, as no malice prepense had been proved, to constitute felony. Justice, and justice only, was his object, and distress had reduced him to despair. He was told that he had no claim upon the public money.He knew that this was false; and his great object was, to try whether Government was not bound to listen to a case of great national importance. Ministers had now to reflect upon the consequences which they had brought upon themselves. He concluded in these words:-

"Gentlemen, my life is in your hands, I rely confidently upon your justice; I know not what your verdict may be; but sooner than suffer what I have done for the last eight years, five hundred deaths would be preferable. If I am destined to sacrifice my life, I shall meet my doom with conscious tranquillity; I shall look forward to it as the weary traveller looks for the promised inn, where he may repose his wearied frame after enduring the pelting of the pis

tiless storm.-Gentlemen, it will now remain between God and your consciences as to what your verdict will be."

The prisoner sat down in great agitation, but soon recovered himself, and refreshed himself by eating an orange, a chair having been given to him by order of the Court.

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The awful sentence of death was then pronounced upon the prisoner, which was carried into execution on the Monday fol lowing, in front of the Old Bailey, at eight o'clock in the morning.

On the morning of the execution, the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs and several other persons went into the room where the prisoner was confined, when the following communication took place.

Mr Sheriff Birch addressed Bellingham in a very appropriate manner upon his aw ful situation, and, after some previous remarks applicable to it, said,--." The pu blic mind, Mr Bellingham, requires to be satisfied upon a most important point, whether any other person was in any de gree connected with you in this dreadful deed, and whether it was perpetrated on any public ground?"

Bellingham who stood very firmly, and who with an unaltered countenance attentively and respectfully listened to what was said, replied in a firm tone of voice," Certainly not."

Sheriff Heygate." Then it was your own affair-it was from personal resentment."-Bellingham appeared hurt at the latter expression; and, after repeating the words" personal resentment," with an indignant, or rather dignified tone, said, "I bore no resentment to Mr Perceval as a man and as a man I am sorry for his fate. I was referred from Minister to Minister, from office to office, and at length refused redress for my grievances. It was my own sufferings that caused the melancholy event, and I hope it will be a warning to future Ministers to attend to the applications and prayers of those who suffer by oppression. Had my petition been

brought

brought inta. Parliament, this catastrophe would not have happened. I am sorry for the sufferings I have caused to Mr Perceval's family and friends."

Mr Sheriff Heygate.. "It would be right they should know you feel so much regret."

Bellingham." You may communicate it-I wish them to know it."

Sheriff Heygate:-"I hope you feel deep contrition for the deed."

Upon which the prisoner (assuming an attitude of considerable dignity) said—“ I hope, Sir, I feel as a man ought to do "

Sheriff Heygate.-You know, that to take away the life of a man unlawfully is a heinous crime.

Bellingham." The Scriptures, you know, Sir, say that."

Sheriff Heygate. I hope you have made your peace with God, and that by your repentance you will meet the Almigh ty with a pure soul."

Bellingham. No one can presume to do that, Sir. No mortal can be pure in his sight; only our Saviour went from this world into his presence with a pure spirit."

In all the conversations he had with Dr Ford, the Ordinary of Newgate, (who was incessant in his endeavours to awaken the miserable man to a sense of the enormity of his crime), Bellingham, so far from exhibiting any thing like contrition, continued to glory in the act for which he was about to suffer. He talked incessantly of the non-redress of his alleged grievances, nor would he listen to any of the suggestions of Dr Ford, on the impossibility of any Government interfering to prevent the regular course of the laws in another country. He constantly wound up his answers by expressing a hope that the fate of Mr Perceval would prove a warning to men in power not to neglect the claims of injured individuals, and he continued to the last to exult in the success of his efforts to revenge his own injuries.

RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS.

The death of Mr Perceval leaving vacant the offices of First Lord of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, overtures were made to the Marquis Wellesley, and Mr Canning, to join in the Administration. After a negociation carried on in writing between them and Lord Liverpool, this expedient failed, and Lord Liverpool was appointed First Lord of the

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Treasury, and Mr Vansittart Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Marquis Wellesley stated, as the grounds of his declining the proposed coalition, the great difference of opinion which existed between him and all the members of the Cabinet on the subject of the Catholic claims, and on the management of the war in the Peninsula ; which war, he contended, was carried on on a scale neither safe nor honest towards this country or its allies.

vir Canning, in his communications with Lord Liverpool, maintained nearly the same principles.

While arrangements were making for completing Lord Liverpool's ministry, Mr Stuart Wortley brought forward a motion in the House of Commons, on the 21st in- ' stant, for an address to the Prince Regent praying, "that he would take such measures as would lead to the formation of a strong and efficient administration;" which motion, after a long debate, was carried by a majority of four; the numbers being 174 to 170. In consequence of this decision the whole of the Cabinet Ministers sent in their resignations to the Prince Regent on the day following.

ORDERS IN COUNCIL.

On the 21st April the British Govern ment published a declaration on this subject, in reply to the report of the French Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Conservative Senate, (inserted in our last Number.) The declaration, after going into a justification of the orders in Council as retaliatory measures, states that, whenever the Berlin and Milan decrees shall, by some authentic act of the French Government, publicly promulgated, be expressly and unconditionally repealed, then the orders in Council shall, without any further order, be wholly and absolutely revoked.

Since the issuing of this document, a decree of the French Government, dated as far back as the 28th of April 1811, has been published, and officially communicated to the British Cabinet, declaring the Berlin and Milan decrees, in as far as regards the commerce of America, to be annulled. Whether this may be deemed satisfactory, will most probably depend upon the views and principles of those who' may, in consequence of the resignation of Lord Liverpool's Administration, be entrusted with the. Government of this country.

SCOTTISH

Scottish Chronicle.

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The Court was opened here yesterday, by the Right Hon. Lords Justice Clerk and Hermand, when the Court proceeded to the trial of Helen Kennedy, daughter of James Kennedy, farmer in Burnsworklees, accused of poisoning Thomas Stothart, farmer in Burnswork, and Sarah Murray, his temporary servant, by infus ing arsenic into the water of which the porridge was made for breakfast, on the 'morning of the 9th Dec. last. The jury having been chosen, and the examination of the witnesses on the part of the Crown having been gone through, Mr Horne, the `depute advocate, addressed the Jury, and Mr Jeffrey, counsel for the pannel, having also done so, the Lord Justice Clerk summed up the evidence in a very clear, impartial, and masterly stile. The Jury then retired, for the purpose of considering their verdiet, which they delivered

this day, finding the libel not proven, by a plurality of voices.

The trial lasted upwards of thirteen hours, and the Court was extremely crowded. A number of ladies were present for a considerable time.

David Weir, accused of stealing a sheep. The libel was restricted, and Weir being found guilty, was sentenced to 14 years transportation.

William Towal was indicted for the murder of Ann Haffie, but the diet against him being deserted pro loco et tempore, he was recommitted on a new warrant.

Ayr, April 25.

The Court was opened this day, by the Right Hon. the Lord Justice Clerk and Lord Herinand.

James Cowan, son of, and residing with, John Cowan, farmer at Enoch, in in the parish of Portpatrick, and county of Wigton, was indicted to stand trial for the crime of culpable homicide, he having fired a gun, charged with gunpowder and flax or paper, among a number of persons assembled at a wedding at Enoch, the contents of which struck and wounded in the head John Macwilliam, who died in the course of a few hours thereafter. The trial proceeded, and the Jury having brought in a verdict of not guilty, James Cowan was assolizied simpliciter, and dismissed from the bar; and there being no other business to come before the Court, this ends the South Circuit.

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Hugh Frazer, wright in Glachran, in the parish of Kiltarlity, and county of Inverness accused of stealing some logs or planks, and pieces of fir timber, from the banks of the river Beauly, the property of John and Sutherland M'Kenzie, merchants in Leith, was found guilty on his own confession, and sentenced to three months imprisonment.

Kenneth Mitchell, cooper at Oldtown of Aigas, in the parish of Kilmarach, indicted for a similar offence, was also convicted on his own confession, and sentenced to two months imprisonment.

John Fraser wright in Dalnamine, also charged with a like crime, was outlawed for not appearing, but afterwards reponed, and committed to prison on a new warrant.

be taken from one of their storehouses,
the said sloop or vessel called the Peggy
of Montrose, then commanded by the said
George Hutcheon, and lying at the port of
Aberdeen, and shipped, with the view of
defrauding the said Company. Guthrie
was found guilty upon his own confession,
and sentenced to four months imprison-
ment; and the diet was deserted with re-
gard to Hutcheon, the principal witnesses
against him being presently at sea, and he
was recommitted to prison on a new war-

rant.

Alexander Lawrence, accused of hame. sucken, with the intention of committing a rape on the wife of Alexander Craib, wright in Keith, was then tried for that crime; but the Jury after a trial of some length, unanimously found the pannel not guilty.

Perth, April 23.

The Court was opened here yestesday by Lords Armadale and Gillies.

Robert Fenton, flesher in Perth, accused of sheep stealing was found guilty on his own confession, and was sentenced to be transported for seven years.

Angus Grant, alias Miller, soldier in the 5th British militia, and Alexander Gunn, shoemaker in Buolochork of Achalibster, in the parish of Halkirk, and county of Caithness, accused of a most violent and cruel assault and deforcement committed on the Collector, Robert Harper, and other Excise officers, while in the execution of their duty, in which Mr William M'Leod accused of breaking Harper had nearly lost his life, were, afinto the shop of Donald Munro, shopkeepter a long trial, unanimously found guilty,' er in Crieff, and stealing a pocket book and sentenced to be imprisoned in the tol-containing a number of bank notes; he booth of Inverness for one year, and thereafter to be banished from Scotland for seven years.

John M'Bain, shoemaker in Campbeltown, near Fort George, for an assault rpon a young woman, with an intent to commit a rape, was found guilty by an unanimous verdict, and sentenced to six months imprisonment, and three years banishment from Scotland.

Aberdeen, April 18.

The Court was opened yesterday, by · Lords Armadale and Gillies, when,

John Grant, labourer in Macduff, accused of murder, was outlawed for not appear

ing.

John Guthrie, late cooper and storekeeper to the Union Whale Fishing Company in Aberdeen, and George Hutcheon, -late master of the ship or vessel called the Peggy of Montrose, at present or lately at Aberdeen, were called to the bar; the former accused of having, in his character of cooper and storekeeper, in the month of October last, fraudulently, and in breach of trust, directed and caused two casks, one containing 600 pounds weight of salted beef, and the other from 4 to 500 weight of oil, both the property of said Company,

also pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to be transported for 14 years.

The Court next proceeded to the trial of Gilbert Gray and Anne Williamson, for having stolen clothes from a trunk in the toll-house at Newburgh, and for having also taken from a tan-yard in Perth a number of half-tanned hides, which they sold to different shoemakers in Fife. To the the first of these charges both pleaded guilty, but denied the second. The jury, however, on the confession of the prisoners, brought in the verdict guilty; and Gilbert Gray, received sentence of transportation for seven years, with the usual certification. Anne Williamson was sentenced to three months imprisonment in the tolbooth of Perth, and thereafter to be banished Scotland for one year.

Patrick Keillar, formerly a dissenting clergyman, and afterwards schoolmaster in Perth, charged with the illegal celebration of clandestine marriages was outlawed.

The Court then proceeded to the trial of Pierce Hoskins, shoemaker in Perth, for the murder of his child, a boy of four years of age, on the 17th of September last, by repeated cuts with a knife. The fact of the murder was clearly established by a number

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