There is
hardly any one act of the prisoner's corruption in which there is not
presumptive violence, nor any acts of his violence in which there are
not presumptive proofs of corruption. These practices are so intimately
blended with each other, that we thought the distribution which we have
adopted would best bring before you the spirit and genius of his
government; and we were convinced, that, if upon these four great heads
of charge your Lordships should not find him guilty, nothing could be
added to them which would persuade you so to do.
In this way and in this state the matter now comes before your
Lordships. I need not tread over the ground which has been trod with
such extraordinary abilities by my brother Managers, of whom I shall say
nothing more than that the cause has been supported by abilities equal
to it; and, my Lords, no abilities are beyond it. As to the part which I
have sustained in this procedure, a sense of my own abilities, weighed
with the importance of the cause, would have made me desirous of being
left out of it; but I had a duty to perform which superseded every
personal consideration, and that duty was obedience to the House of
which I have the honor of being a member. This is all the apology I
shall make.
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