enquire certainly in a virtuous and laudable Manner, even after the Tryal. The Enquiry has answered all his Lordship's Expectations; the Evidence is clear, and the Proof is full. But for this his impartial Enquiry, made for the sake of Justice only, he is attacked by Calumny and private Prejudice: The envious Hint he must be interested in it; while others, whose Honour is as far beneath his, as their Abilities are inferior, wish the Convict guilty, that he may sink into an Equality. That Magistrate is too well informed of the Respect due to his Sovereign, not to lay all the Evidences first before him; afterwards the whole World will see them: And it is on Certainty and Knowledge I speak, who now tell them, that, when they do see them, they will be convinced at full.
In the mean time, it is not necessary that others should be blamed. Those who are of the contrary Opinion maintain it, because they are ignorant what are the Proofs on which the Innocence of the Convict is supported. Every Magistrate who has enquired into the Story has a Right to Praise from the World for that Enquiry: he has a Right to this, and in Proportion, not to the Success, for that was not in his
Hands, but to the Pains which he has taken, and the Impartiality by which he has been governed, in the Endeavour.
Those who set on foot the Contribution, engaged in it beyond a Doubt as an Act of Justice and of Virtue; it is most certain that they have had no other Motive: that they have been imposed on is as certain; but for that others must be answerable. If it were Justice to establish the Subscription, all was Charity and Benevolence in those who encouraged and promoted it; nor is their Generosity, the Motive to which is so palpable and so noble, at all affected by the ill Use to which it might have been applied.
But while these all stand not only excused but applauded, there certainly is one to whom that Tribute is due in a superior Degree; and it shall never be my Crime to mention the Transaction, and omit to pay it. While I see the Lord Mayor in this just and honourable Light, it gives me Pain to find those who are, in all Senses of the Word so vastly his Inferiors, and you, Sir! most of all, placing themselves as it were on an Equality with him: and when I consider, for I know it is so, that his
Lordship has, from no other Principle but Humanity and a Love of Justice, undertaken one of the most arduous Tasks that could have been imposed on Man; and this at his own private Expence, and by his own Labour and inconceivable Trouble: when I see him compleating what so good a Heart had designed, by a Discernment equal to his Candour, I own, and, as I am a Stranger and disinterested, I glory in owning it, I see, with all that Indignation which Honesty conceives at the low Cunning of the Base and Wicked, Insinuations, for there are such Insinuations spread, that foul and unjustifiable Practices have been used since the Tryal. You, Mr. Fielding, among others, say this: But I must tell those who invent, and those who can give Credit to it, that the Discernment of this honourable Magistrate is as much above being imposed on by such Artifices, as his Honour would be above encouraging them.
It gives me Pain, when I hear Men talk of this Side as their own, and of some other as his Lordship's. He is of no Side or Party; nor has (so I have heard him often say, and so I am convinced) the least Concern which way the Truth shall be determined. His sole Endeavour has been to
discover it; be it what, or where, or how it will: Nor can I hear, without Concern, you, of whose Understanding I would, for the Sake of the Public, wish to think favourably; expressing a Desire that the Government would appoint Persons, capable and indifferent, such are your Terms, to enquire into the Matter. Who, Sir, are you, that are thus dictating unto the Government? Retire into yourself and know your Station! Who is more capable, or who more indifferent, than this generous Magistrate? Or has there been among the most violent and misguided of this Creature's Friends, any Man, for I will not suppose you could, but has there been any Man, who has dared to whisper to his own Heart a Thought that it were otherwise?
To this 'tis fit to add, that his Lordship, as Supreme Magistrate of that Court in which the Cause was tried, is the proper Person for this Examination: and that he has already finished it. Why should it then be supposed necessary, or why proper, to take the Cognizance of an Affair of this Importance, out of his Hands who has a Right to examine into it: or what would be the Justice, or what the Gratitude, of
appointing others to do that which he has done already; and for which he deserves, and for which he will receive, the universal Applause of Mankind!