We are the Commons of Great Britain, and therefore cannot
make apologies. I can make none for my obedience; they want none for
their commands. They gave me this office, not from any confidence in my
ability, but from a confidence in the abilities of those who were to
assist me, and from a confidence in my zeal,--a quality, my Lords, which
oftentimes supplies the want of great abilities.
In considering what relates to the prisoner and to his defence, I find
the whole resolves itself into four heads: first, his demeanor, and his
defence in general; secondly, the principles of his defence; thirdly,
the means of that defence; and, fourthly, the testimonies which he
brings forward to fortify those means, to support those principles, and
to justify that demeanor.
As to his demeanor, my Lords, I will venture to say, that, if we fully
examine the conduct of all prisoners brought before this high tribunal,
from the time that the Duke of Suffolk appeared before it down to the
time of the appearance of my Lord Macclesfield, if we fully examine the
conduct of prisoners in every station of life, from my Lord Bacon, down
to the smugglers who were impeached in the reign of King William, I say,
my Lords, that we shall not, in the whole history of Parliamentary
trials, find anything similar to the demeanor of the prisoner at your
bar.
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