Do you adhere to your opinion that “the mode in which they will affect the person accused,” that is, lead him to the scaffold, “is of minor importance, compared with their probable influence on society?”—I have never suggested that they should lead him to the scaffold. I hope that, if innocent, he will be acquitted.
What do you mean by “the mode in which they will affect the person accused being of minor importance?”—The lives of 16,000,000 of people are, in my opinion, of greater importance than that of one man.
That is your opinion?—Yes. As you appear to put that as an objection to my evidence, allow me to state that in two dead bodies I find antimony. In one case death occurred suddenly, and in the other the body was saturated with antimony, which I never found before in the examination of 300 bodies. I say these were circumstances which demanded explanation.
You adhere to the opinion that, as a medical man and a member of an honourable profession, you were right in publishing this letter before the trial of the person accused?—I think I had a right to state that opinion in answer to the comments which had been made upon my evidence.
Had any comments been made by the prisoner?—No.
Or by any of his family?—Mr. Smith, the solicitor for the defence, circulated in every paper statements of “Dr. Taylor’s inaccuracy.” I had no wish or motive to charge the prisoner with this crime. My duty concerns the lives of all.
Do you know Mr. Augustus Mayhew, the editor of the Illustrated Times?—I have seen him once or twice.
Did you allow pictures of yourself and Dr. Rees to be taken for publication?—Be so good as to call them caricatures. No; I did not.
Mr. Serjeant Shee: There may be a difference of opinion as to that. I think it is very like.
Did you receive Mr. Mayhew at your house?—He came to me with a letter of introduction from Professor Faraday. I never received him in my laboratory.