and I shall continue, therefore, to state the facts as they occurred. Finding myself the dupe of the ministers, and not likely to obtain any redress through their hands, I resolved to take justice in my own. I did so. I gave notice at Bow-street against his Majesty's ministers, for not doing me justice. I wrote a letter to Mr. Read, the magis trate, in which I stated that the door of justice had been shut against me; and I added, "if this reasonable request of justice be refused, I shall be obliged to do justice for myself, in which case I shall be prepared to argue the matter before his Majesty's attorney-general, whenever and whereever it may be necessary." To this letter. I received an answer that Mr. Read could not interfere; but, as was his duty, especially as was proved by the subsequent melancholy catastrophe, he communicated the matter to his Majesty's mi nisters. I then went to Mr. Ryder again, by him I was referred to the Treasury for a final decision upon my claims; that final decision I at length received from Mr. Hill, who told me that nothing could be done, and added, that I was at liberty to take any measures I thought proper, and to do in short, whatever I chose.

森

"Gentlemen, 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. I shall only

further trouble you with a defence which, at a late

hour last night, and at an early hour this morning, I drew up. [Here the prisoner read from a written paper, in substance to the following effect:]-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. That my arm destroyed him, I allow; that he perished by my hand, I admit ; but to constitute felony, there must be malice prepense, there must be the wilful intention, and I deny that that has been proved. Unless proved, however, the felony cannot be made out; this you will shortly hear from the bench, and in that case you must acquit me. Recollect, gentlemen, what was my situation; recollect that my family was ruined, and myself destroyed, merely because it was Mr. Perceval's pleasure that justice should not be granted; sheltering himself behind the imagined security of his station, and trampling. upon law and right, in the belief that no retribution could reach him. Of that departed gentleman I do not wish to speak with disrespect; I do not wish to say any thing in disparagement of the virtues which he was allowed to possess; and when I speak of him, I speak of him only in reference to myself. In a case so strong as mine, when I demand justice, I demand only my right, and not a favour; I demand what is the birthright and privilege of every Englishman. Gen

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tlemen, when a minister sets himself above the laws, as Mr. Perceval did, he does it at his own personal risk. If this were not so, the mere will of the Minister would become the law, and what would then become of your liberties? As to any malicious intention towards Mr. Perceval, or any desire to injure him, I solemnly avow that it was most averse from my heart. Justice, and justice only, was my object. I was driven to despair, to agony, to ruin, by the conduct of ministers. gave notice at Bow-street, that if my claims were finally rejected, I would do myself the justice, and that solely to ascertain in a criminal court of justice, whether a Minister of England has a right to refuse justice to a subject of the realm. I have done so; and I again repeat, that the direct refusal of justice, on the part of Administration, was the sole cause of this sad catastrophe; and his Majesty's ministers have now to reflect on their own impure conduct, for an act which has deprived the country of the talents of Mr. Perceval. It is a melancholy fact, that to warp justice on any pretext, or under any circumstances, is the cause of all moral evil: if this position needs any proof, the unfortunate event upon which you are now assembled to decide affords that proof. The cruelty of my case must be obvious to you. If a poor but unfortunate man stops another upon the highway, and robs him of a few shillings, he is deprived of life; but I have

been robbed of thousands by the government; I have been deprived of every thing: I have been imprisoned for years; my wife, my family, have been ruined; and I am now called to answer for my life, because Mr. Perceval chose to patronize iniquity. What must then be the crime of the government towards me? and yet it goes unpunished. Is there any comparison between the two cases? It is a mite to a mountain. I had no alternative but to sink into utter ruin, or to take the melancholy step which I have adopted. I was prompted to it by no malice prepense: I was incited by the hope of bringing into court my unfortunate case, without which I knew it never could be promulgated; and I was incited by the desire of afterwards returning to the bosom of my family with comfort and honour. I trust that this serious lesson will operate as a warning to all future ministers, and that they will henceforth do the thing that is right; for if the upper ranks of society are permitted to act wrong with impunity, the inferior ramifications will soon become wholly corrupt.

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

Sir J. Mansfield shortly summed up. The prisoner was indicted for the murder of Mr. Perceval, a name dear to every Englishman, (here his lordship seemed much affected,) but the jury were to consider it as a case of the meanest subject. The law knew no distinction of persons. They had to decide whether Mr. Perceval died by a pistol shot,—whether the prisoner fired that shot,-and whether he was in a sane mind, so as to know what he was about when he fired?-His lordship concluded by telling the jury, that if the prisoner, at the time he fired the pistol, knew right from wrong, he was a fit object for criminal justice.

The jury withdrew for a quarter of an hour, and returned with a verdict of guilty.

The Recorder then, in impressive language, pronounced sentence of death on the prisoner, who was ordered to be hanged on Monday, and his body to be anatomized ;