But, at all events, gentlemen, it is sufficiently known and acknowledged, and it was even admitted—at least, it was not denied by the Lord Advocate himself—that the extrajudicial declaration of a pannel is not legal evidence against him. It is undoubtedly a circumstance in evidence, but not of weight to convict unless it be adminicled by other proof. This will be admitted, on all hands, to be the law of Scotland, and I shall make no comment on it.
If, therefore, it is shown to your satisfaction that the parole and circumstantiate evidence is either contradictory, inconsistent, or incredible, you will lay very little stress on the extrajudicial confessions of the prisoner.
And this leads me to the second branch of the evidence, or the attempt at a direct proof of the accession of the pannel, Smith, to the crime charged.
The first witness after those to the declarations, whose deposition affects the pannel Smith, is M‘Lean, Mr. Drysdale’s waiter. He is the nineteenth witness. I need not enter into the particulars of his evidence, since all of you must recollect that he could say nothing more than that Smith bought a ticket in the mail-coach for his wife; gave him in payment a five-pound bank-note, battered on the back, and received the change. It does not appear from whence the pannel had the note which he gave to M‘Lean, nor whether it was among the money which was stolen from the Excise Office or not.
John Clerk, Mr. Drysdale’s cashier, the twentieth witness, could not even say so much as M‘Lean. It does not appear from either of these depositions whether the paper on the table was that which was presented to them or not, as the Court determined that it is not properly described in the indictment, and on that account it cannot be used in evidence against the pannel.
I may therefore leave these witnesses, gentlemen; and I am persuaded that none of you will think that they said anything which militates against my client in the smallest degree.
Grahame Campbell, the seventeenth witness, was examined as to a variety of particulars, but her whole deposition, in so far as it regards the pannel Smith, amounts to no more than that he was in company with Brodie, Ainslie, and Brown that evening on which the Excise Office was broken into; that they supped together, ate herrings or a fowl, whilst she was in a back cellar; and upon her coming out of this back cellar the company had left the house, and Smith, her master, had likewise gone out; but there is no evidence of their having gone out together, and although they had, it does not follow that they went to the Excise Office together.
It would be very hard if a man should be suspected of a robbery merely because he leaves his house about the time that the robbery is committed, and in this case—there is little more; for it was by no means extraordinary that Brown and Ainslie should be with Mr. Brodie in Mr. Smith’s house that night, as they were there every night, always playing at cards and dice, and amusing themselves in company together.
And further, gentlemen, although they had not been drawn together by constant habits and the love of similar amusements, a good reason was given why Brown and Ainslie were constantly at the house of Smith. You were informed that these two men dined and supped there every day, that is, were day boarders in his house.
Putting all this together, I may dismiss this witness with the same observation which I applied to the former ones. As far as I understand her evidence, she said nothing which has a tendency to criminate my client.