His counsel then addressed the Court, but only on the question of the postponement of his trial for piracy.
“Dr. Oldish. My lord, he moves that his trial for piracy may be put off for several reasons. It is very fit that it should be put off for some time, because he wants some papers very necessary for his defence. It is very true he is charged with piracy in several ships. But they had French passes, when the seizure was made. Now if there were French passes, it was a lawful seizure.
“Justice Powel. Have you those passes?
“Kidd. They were taken from me by my Lord Bellamont, and those passes would be my defence.
“Mr. Lemmon. My lord, I desire one word as to this circumstance. He was doing his King and country service instead of being a pirate. For in this very ship, there was a French pass, and it was shown to Mr. Davies and carried to my Lord Bellamont, and he made a seizure of it. And there was a letter[13] writ to testify it, which was produced before the Parliament” (apparently neither Kidd nor his counsel were aware that the passes themselves had been laid before Parliament and delivered over to the Admiralty for production at the trial), “and that letter has been transmitted from hand to hand, so that we cannot at present come by it. There are several other letters and papers that we cannot get, and therefore we desire the trial may be put off till we can procure them.
“Lord Chief Baron Ward. Where are they?
“Mr. Lemmon. We cannot yet tell whether they are in the Admiralty, or whether Mr. Jodrell hath them.
“Justice Powel. Let us see on what you go. What ship was it that had the French passes?
“Mr. Lemmon. The same we were in. The same he is indicted for.
“The Solicitor General. They have had a fortnight’s notice to prepare for the trial.