ing the present prosecution, was ac tuated solely by motives of public feeling, and that duty which he owed to the character of his high situation.

Henry Lord Viscount Sidmouth was first examined. He stated that on the 3d of February last he received a letter from the hands of his servant. (This letter appeared at the time when the noble lord first exhibited articles of the peace against Thistlewood, as given above.)

Thomas Page said he was butler to Lord Viscount Sidmouth. On the 3d of February last he received the letter produced by the twopenny post, and he delivered it to his lordship.

Mr Burton, one of the keepers in the King's Bench Prison, said that he was acquainted with the hand-writing of the defendant. He had inspected three of his letters to Lord Sidmouth; the first was an application for clothes, the next a request to be permitted to take the air, and the third was more general, and he only knew the substance. From these and other circumstances, he was enabled to swear that the letter produced was in the hand writing of the prisoner.

Mr Justice Bayley having inquired whether the defendant had any questions to put to the witness, the former replied that "it is of no use the whole proceedings are illegal-I could have summoned numerous witnesses to shew that his testimony is false, and I could even have summoned the Solicitor-General in my behalf, but the Crown Office was closed against me."

Mr Justice Bayley.-"That, I presume, cannot be the fact; but if you can prove any part of your objection, you can state them by affidavit to the Court hereafter. You can even in the event of conviction, if you think you have been unjustly dealt with, move a Writ of Error to the proceedings."

The case for the prosecution being closed, the defendant was called upon

to rebut the charge, but he merely repeated his former assertion, that he was taken by surprise, and that the proceedings were illegal.

Mr Justice Bayley then addressed the Jury, and in a clear and emphatic manner, laid down the law, as applicable to three several counts contained in the indictment. His Lordship commented upon each of the counts of the indictment, at considerable length, and left it to the Jury to say, whether the defendant was guilty of any or either of the charges they contained.

The Jury having consulted for a very few minutes, pronounced a verdict of Guilty upon all the counts in the indictment.

During the morning Thistlewood frequently laughed at the proceedings, and upon hearing the verdict he shook his head, and evinced strong symptoms of anger. These increased rather loudly while he was being conveyed from the Court by the tipstaff of the King's Bench.

Dr Watson, who sat beside the defendant during the trial, of which he took copious notes, and occasionally advised the defendant, accompanied him from the Court. Preston, and others of the same party, were in waiting outside to learn the fate of their friend.

He will be brought up for judgment next Term.

Court of King's Bench, May 23.

The defendant in this case, attended the Court this morning to apply for a new trial, on the grounds that, having been taken by surprise, and brought to trial suddenly, he had not been able to prepare for his defence, nor had he had an opportunity of suppoenaing his witnesses, of whom he had sixteen all necessary to his defence.

might be open when discharging the important functions of his situation, if a proper example were not made. He, however, only asked for that punishment which justice called for, and the public peace demanded."

Their Lordships then consulted for a short time, and Mr Justice Bayley delivered the sentence of the Court in these terms:-"Arthur Thistlewood, you are here to receive the sentence of the Court, after a conviction upon an indictment for sending a challenge to the Right Hon. Lord Viscount Sidmouth, and upon the propriety of such a conviction there can be no doubt. You have complained that you were unable to procure witnesses, from not getting the subpoenas from the Crown Office; but upon a full examination of all the circumstances of the case, the Court have not been enabled to find out any just cause of complaint. When you were first brought up, you exerted the option you were entitled to of pleading either guilty or not guilty, and you thought fit to plead guilty. When you were brought up to receive the sentence of the Court, the Attorney-General permitted you to withdraw that plea, because, as you stated, (without any affidavit) you would be entitled to the consideration of the Jury as to your intent when you wrote that letter, and you did not for a moment dispute that it was your's. When the trial came on, you made no complaint whatever until after Lord Sidmouth was examined, and then for the first time you stated that you had been unable to procure your witnesses, as the Crown Office had been shut for the three preceding days, Every one knows that at such a time it would be shut, and as you received notice of your trial in the last term, you had plenty of time to prepare yourself.

"The Court having taken into its consideration all the facts of the case, cannot perceive your motive for having

thus acted; if you had any legal injury to complain of, the laws of the country would have given you a remedy; and, thank Heaven, we live in a country where justice is equally and impartially administered to the high and the low. For this offence, the Court doth order and adjudge that you be imprisoned in his Majesty's gaol at Horsham, in the county of Sussex, for the term of twelve calendar months, and that at the expiration of that period you do find security for your good conduct, yourself in the sum of 3001. and two sureties in the sum of 1501. each, and that you be further imprisoned until such securities are made.”

LIEUT. DAVID DAVIS FOR SHOOTING AT LORD PALMERSTON.

Old Bailey, May 8.

Lieutenant David Davis was brought to the bar to be arraigned, and it was not without considerable difficulty that he complied in pleading" Not guilty to the charge against him." He said that his sufferings were so great, that they must be known before he was put upon his trial. He had been turned from his regiment like a madman, and all the world knew it. He added, "If I am acquitted of this charge, I must put an end to my existence."The whole address was incoherent, and it was almost impossible to collect its meaning.

The prisoner was then put upon his trial, and the indictment charged him with having on the 8th of April last, wilfully shot at Henry John Temple, Lord Viscount Palmerston, with a certain pistol, loaded with a bullet and gunpowder, with intent to murder him.

Lord Viscount Palmerston, Secretary at War, proved that, on the 8th

of April last, he attended at the WarOffice at about one o'clock. As he was ascending the stair-case, a pistol was fired at him. He did not observe who it was that fired it, but he felt himself wounded in the back. He continued to ascend the staircase, and sent for a surgeon. He had never seen the prisoner until the transaction alluded

to.

Cross-examined.-InJune, 1816, he heard that there was a person in the 62d regiment, of the name of Davis, who was insane. He had only ascended a few steps, and some one behind him fired a pistol. Had the pistol being loaded with powder and ball, and had it taken the proper direction, it must have gone through his body. The distance between the prisoner and himself was very inconsiderable. The ball struck the middle of the back obliquely. When the surgeon arrived, he did not immediately examine the wound, his lordship being particularly engaged in business. He received a contusion from the ball on his body, but soon recovered from the blow.

Re-examined. The ball only perforated his clothes, and grazed his skin. It penetrated his braces and his shirt. This was his only reason to conceive that the direction the ball took was oblique.

William Hoare was a messenger on the 8th of April last at the War-Office, and at almost one o'clock saw Lord Palmerston come up the steps through a glass-door. He followed Lord Palmerston up the steps, and immediately saw upon the staircase a flash of fire, and heard the report of a pistol. He heard Lord Palmerston give a heavy groan. Witness immediately rushed forward, and caught hold of the prisoner, who immediately exclaimed, with an air and a grin of satisfaction upon his countenance," I have killed him." The prisoner had

a pistol in his right hand, and afterwards said, "You know me, and you know my wrongs;" witness said, "I do not. Who are you, and what have you done?" The prisoner immediately exclaimed, pointing upwards, "Is not that Lord Palmerston ?" Witness replied that it was; and the prisoner said, "Then I have shot him, I have killed him." Witness took hold of the prisoner's arms, and the latter let the pistol fall upon the ground; witness took it up, and the barrel was very warm, as if it had been recently fired. He asked the prisoner if he had a second pistol, and he replied, "No, upon my honour, I have not !" Witness here produced the pistol. It was a small screw pistol.

Thomas Scowcroft, a private in the 2d regiment of Life Guards, was on duty on the 8th of April last. He recollected seeing the prisoner go through the gateway of the Horse Guards, and go into the War-Office. He saw Lord Palmerston go in afterwards, and at that moment he saw the prisoner's arm raised, and the pistol go off.

Thomas Birr, Lieutenant-Colonel of the West Middlesex Militia, was, on the 8th of April last, in company with Mr Hoare. He corroborated the statements of the previous witnesscs. He heard his lordship utter an exclamation the moment after the report of the pistol, as if he had been badly wounded. Witness said afterwards to the prisoner, "How could you commit such an act?" and his answer was," He has killed me."

Henry Emmet, a clerk in the WarOffice, upon the alarm being given, immediately went out upon the first landing-place, and found a small bullet; witness produced the bullet in Court. Two or three minutes had elapsed, after the report, before he found the bullet. It was not warın

then. He sent the bullet in to Lord Palmerston by one of the messengers; that messenger was not in Court; the ball was not returned to witness immediately.

Mr Astley Cooper was called in to see his lordship on the day in question. When he entered the office, he found his lordship writing, and he begged him to take a chair until he had finished. After having finished what he was about, witness proceeded to examine. There was a large hole in his coat, a smaller in the waistcoat, one in the brace, the shirt was torn, and there was a bruise upon the right side of the back bone, about as large as the extremity of the little finger, and was surrounded by the appearance of a larger bruise about the size of half-a-crown. At first he could not be sure whether a bullet had not entered, but afterwards he discovered that it was only a contusion. He was decidedly of opinion that the smaller bruise was owing to a ball.

William Gilmore, an officer of Queensquare, went to the prisoner's lodgings, at 32, George-street, Chelsea. The room door was open, and he found a box, which was locked. The next day he obtained the prisoner's key, which opened the trunk. It contain. ed various papers, a pistol, some gun. powder, and bullets. Among the papers was a copy of the trial of Bellingham, for the murder of Mr Perceval.

Wm. Lamb, a pawn-broker, at Grosvenor row, Chelsea, proved that, on the 16th March, prisoner pledged two pistols at his shop, and redeemed them on the morning of the 8th April. They were two small screw pistols.

The prisoner was called upon for his defence. He said that he wished to communicate what he intended to be known to his Counsel.

Being told by Mr Justice Bayley

that that was not allowed, the prisoner observed that he had been dismissed from his regiment being unfit for any thing, and witnesses would be produced who would tell the Court his sufferings, and prove his insanity.-With respect to the present transaction, he had been refused a personal communication with his lordship, and had written many letters to Lord Palmerston, to which he had received no answer. He had suffered, and was now suffering great torture. He was an innocent man, and did not deserve this treatment. He should have wished the circumstance to have been inquired into in a private manner. He had no friends to substantiate the charge he had against Lord Palmerston. He was himself descended of a good family, and he had secret motives which induced him not to explain himself on the present occasion.

Mr Justice Bayley.-" Have you any thing more to say?"

The Prisoner." Why should I be crucified in this manner, when the business might be settled at once? I knew I should not kill his lordship by firing at him."

The witnesses on the part of the prisoner were then called, and the ladies were requested to go out of Court.

Francis Rogers Pasloe was a surgeon, and knew the prisoner when he lived at Pimlico, in 1816, and was called up to visit him. Witness proceeded to examine him, and found that he had committed a dreadful mutilation on a part of his body with a razor. He was then decidedly insane.

Cross-examined.-The prisoner was much exhausted by loss of blood. He proceeded to dress the wound. The prisoner was very sullen during all this time. On the following day witness asked him whether his family should not be informed of it, or his friends. The prisoner said he had none, and did