is the very reverse: it is, that amidst this continued scene of horror which confounds and overwhelms the human imagination, he reposes a pious confidence, that events, which appear evil on the surface, are, in the contemplation of the wise and benevolent Author of all things, leading on in their consequences to good, the prospect of which Mr Wakefield considers "as a gleam of glory through the mist which now envelopes our horizon." I confess for one, that, amidst all the crimes and horrors which I certainly feel mankind have to commiserate at this moment, perhaps beyond the example of any former period-crimes and horrors which, I trust, my humanity revolts at as much as any other man's-I see nothing to fear for our country or its Government, not only from what I anticipate as their future consequences, but from what they have produced already. I see nothing to fear for England from the destruction of the monarchy and priesthood of France; and I see much to be thankful for in the destruction of papal tyranny and superstition. There has been a dreadful scene of misfortune and of crime, but good has, through all times, been brought out of evil. I think I see something that is rapidly advancing the world to a higher state of civilisation and happiness, by the destruction of systems which retarded both. The means have been, and will be, terrible, but they have been, and will continue to be, in the hand of God. I think I see the awful arm of Providence, not stopping short here, but stretched out to the destruction of the Mohammedan tyranny and superstition also. I think I see the freedom of the whole world maturing through it; and so far from the evils anticipated by many men, acting for the best, but groping in the dark, and running against one another, I think I see future peace and happiness arising out of the disorder and confusion that now exists, as the sun emerges from the clouds; nor can I possibly conceive how all this ruin, falling upon tyrannous and blasphemous establishments, has the remotest bearing against the noble and enlightened system of our beloved country. On the contrary, she has been the day-star of the world, purifying herself from age to age, as the earliest light of heaven shone in upon her; and spreading with her triumphant sails the influence of a reformed religion and a well-balanced liberty throughout the world. If England, then, is only true to the principles of her own excellent constitution, the revolt of other nations against their own systems cannot disturb her Government. But what, after all, is my opinion, or the judgment of the Court, or the collective judgment of all human beings upon the scenes now before us? We are like a swarm of ants upon an ant-hill, looking only at the surface we stand on; yet affecting to dispose of the universe, and to prescribe its course, when we cannot see an inch beyond the little compass of our transient existence. I cannot, therefore, bring myself to compre

hend how the author's opinion, that Providence will bring, in the end, all the evils which afflict surrounding nations to a happy and glorious consummation, can be tortured into a wish to subvert the Government of his country.

The Attorney-General has admitted-I notice it to his honour, because all attorney-generals have not been so manly and liberal -the Attorney-General has admitted that he cannot seek, in this land of liberty, to deny the right of every subject to discuss, with freedom, the principles of our constitution-to examine its component parts, and to reason upon its imperfections, if, in his opinion, imperfections are to be found in it. Now this just admission cannot be qualified by a harsh and rigorous scrutiny into the language employed in the exercise of this high and useful privilege. It never can be said that you may tickle corruption with a straw, but that you must not shake it at its root. The true criterion, therefore, comes round again, at last, to the MIND and INTENTION, which, by taking the whole work together, and the character of its author, into consideration, it is your office to determine; and the concluding sentence of this publication, in which Mr Wakefield must candidly be supposed to have summed up the purpose and application of his work, is quite decisive of its spirit and purpose-viz., that instead of looking to new sources of taxation to support the continuance of war, the safety of our country would better be consulted in making an effort towards peace, which, if defeated by the fraud or ambition of our enemy, would unite every heart and hand in our defence. Hear his own concluding words:" RESTORE the spirit of your constitution, correct your abuses, and calm your temper; THEN (and surely they who have been successful in their predictions through all this conflict have more reason to expect attention to their opinions than those who have been invariably wrong), THEN, I say, solicit peace; and, take my word for it, the French Republic, so far from insisting on any concessions of humiliation and disgrace, will come forward to embrace you, will eagerly accept your friendship, and be proud of a connexion WITH THE FIRST PEOPLE IN THE UNIVERSE. Should I be mistaken in this event, and have formed a wrong judgment of their temper and designs, still the good effect of this advice will be an inestimable acquisition-a vigorous and generous UNANIMITY among ourselves."

In the defence I have made, there are but few passages I have noticed. Respecting those, I am entitled to the protection of your candour; but you are not to conclude that the others are indefensible because I do not defend them-the defence of the book (as I before observed to you) being placed in other hands more fit to manage it; and it would have been out of my province, in Mr Cuthell's case, to have entered more at large into the subject.

VOL. II.

Ꮓ

THE PROCEEDINGS against SACKVILLE, EARL OF THANET, AND OTHERS, for a Misdemeanour. Tried at the Bar of the Court of King's Bench, on the 25th of April 1799.

THE SUBJECT.

THE following proceedings against the Earl of Thanet and others, as taken in shorthand by Mr William Ramsay, an eminent shorthand writer, and published after the trial by Robert Fergusson, Esq., one of the defendants, requires no preface. Lord Erskine's speech for that nobleman, and for Mr Fergusson and Mr O'Brien, would have lost all its force and interest if any part of the trial had been abridged, because it is entirely a speech upon vivâ voce evidence, and upon a subject, too, which was a constant appeal to a variety of facts and minute circumstances related by a great number of witnesses; a species of forensic eloquence, as was most justly observed in the brilliant and interesting criticism of the former volumes in the Edinburgh Review, of which we have no examples in the ancient world, but of which every day, or rather every hour, in the British courts of justice, might furnish instances worthy of preservation and admiration.

To relieve the reader from attending to the precise form of the indictment, which is prefixed to the proceedings, we cannot better or more correctly state the substance of it than in Lord Erskine's own words in the prefatory part of his address to the jury.

"In adverting to what the charge is, I need not have recourse to the abstract I have made of this information. The substance and common sense of it is this: That Mr Arthur O'Connor had been brought by legal process into the custody of the Sheriff of Kent; that a special commission had assembled at Maidstone to try him and others for high treason; that upon the opening of the commission he had been again committed by the Court to the same custody; that he was afterwards again brought up to the bar and found not guilty; and that after he was so acquitted, but before he was in strict form discharged by the order of the Court, the defendants conspired together to rescue him. This is the essence of the charge. The disturbance of the Court, and the assaults stated in the different counts of the information, are only the overt acts charged to have been done in pursuance of the purpose to rescue the prisoner."

This trial was at the time a great subject of political animosity; but, faithful to the plan of this work, we refrain from all observations. We present the proceedings to the public, leaving the result to every man's own opinion, assisted, as we have already said in our original preface, by the public voice and judgment.

INFORMATION AGAINST THE EARL OF THANET, ETC.

355

THE INFORMATION.

The information was opened by Mr Abbott, and is as follows:Kent, to wit.-Be it remembered that Sir John Scott, Knight, Attorney-General of our present sovereign lord the King, who for our said lord the King in this behalf prosecuteth, in his proper person cometh here into the court of our said lord the King, before the King himself at Westminster, on Wednesday next, after three weeks of the Holy Trinity in this same term; and for our said lord the King giveth the Court here to understand and be informed, that heretofore, to wit, on Monday the twenty-first day of May, in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of our sovereign lord, George the Third, now King of Great Britain, and so forth, a special session of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery was holden by adjournment in and for the county of Kent, at Maidstone, in the said county, before Sir Francis Buller, Baronet, one of the Justices of our said lord the King of his Court of Common Pleas, John Heath, Esq., one other of the Justices of our said lord the King of his Court of Common Pleas, Sir Soulden Lawrence, Knight, one of the Justices of our said lord the King assigned to hold pleas before the King himself, Samuel Shepherd, Esquire, one of the Serjeants of our said lord the King, learned in the law, and others their fellows, Justices and Commissioners of our said lord the King, assigned, by letters-patent of our said lord the King under the great seal of Great Britain, to inquire, by the oath of good and lawful men of the said county of Kent, of all high treasons, and misprisions of high treason, other than such as relate to the coin of our said lord the King, within the county aforesaid done, committed, or perpetrated; and the said treasons, and misprisions of treason, according to the laws and customs of England, for that time to hear and determine; and also assigned and constituted, by the letters-patent of our said lord the King, under the great seal of Great Britain, to deliver the gaol of our said lord the King of the said county of Kent of the prisoners therein being and detained on the nineteenth day of March, in the thirty-eighth year aforesaid, or who should be therein detained before the tenth day of April in the same year, for or on account of any high treasons, or misprisions. of high treason, other than such as relate to the coin of our said lord the King. At which said session so then and there holden as aforesaid before the Justices and Commissioners above named, and others their fellows aforesaid, came Arthur O'Connor, Esquire, in the custody of John Plumptre, Esquire, Sheriff of the said county of Kent, and which said Arthur O'Connor was, and had been, detained in the gaol of our said lord the King of the said county of Kent before the tenth day of April in the year aforesaid, to wit, on the seventh day of April in the same year, for and on account

of high treason, to wit, at Maidstone aforesaid: and the said Arthur O'Connor being then and there, to wit, at the said session so holden as aforesaid, brought to the bar in his own proper person, was then and there committed by the Justices and Commissioners above named, and others their fellows aforesaid, to the custody of the same Sheriff; and so being in the custody of the said Sheriff, was then and there, at the same session so holden as aforesaid, tried by the jurors of a certain jury of the county of Kent in that behalf duly impannelled and returned, and chosen, tried, and sworn, for and upon certain high treasons not relating to the coin of our said lord the King, specified and charged upon him in and by a certain indictment heretofore, to wit, at a previous holding of the same session before the said Sir Francis Buller and John Heath, and others their fellows, Justices and Commissioners assigned as aforesaid, duly found, returned, and presented against him by the jurors of a certain other jury of the said county of Kent duly sworn and charged to inquire for our said lord the King for the body of the same county, and to which said indictment he had theretofore pleaded that he was not guilty of the premises therein specified and charged upon him: and the said Arthur O'Connor then being in the custody of the said Sheriff as aforesaid, was then and there, at the same session, by the jurors by whom he was so tried as aforesaid, found not guilty of the premises in and by the said indictment specified and charged upon him, as by the record and proceedings thereof more fully appears. And the said Attorney-General for our said lord the King further giveth the Court here to understand and be informed, that the Right Hon. Sackville, Earl of Thanet, late of Maidstone, in the county of Kent; Robert Fergusson, late of the same place, barrister-at-law; Thomas Gunter Browne, late of the same place, Esquire; Dennis O'Brien, late of the same place, Esquire; and Thomas Thompson, late of the same place, Esquire, well knowing the premises aforesaid, but unlawfully and maliciously devising and intending to impede the course of public justice, and to break the peace of our said lord the King, and to interrupt and disturb the Justices and Commissioners of our said lord the King above named, and others their fellows aforesaid, in the execution of their said office, and to prevent and hinder the due and peaceable holding of the same session, did, together with divers other riotous and ill-disposed persons, whose names are to the said AttorneyGeneral as yet unknown, in open court, at the same session so then and there holden, and at which the said trial was so had as aforesaid, to wit, at Maidstone aforesaid, in the presence of the Justices a nd Commissioners of our said lord the King above named, and others their fellows aforesaid, and before any order or direction had been made or given by the same Justices and Commissioners above named, and others their fellows aforesaid, or any or either of