Witness—I opened them and delivered them to the Sheriff for the good of my country.
The Dean of Faculty—And would it not have been as much for the good of the country to have delivered them without opening them?
Witness—I just opened them, and that’s all; I can give no other reason.
The Dean of Faculty—Did you inform any person that you had such letters?
Witness—I did; I informed John Tweddle, my brother-in-law, who advised me to deliver them to the persons for whom they were intended. I afterwards showed them to a gentleman named Mr. Learmonth in Linlithgow, who wrote a letter by me to a gentleman of this place.[2] By him I was carried to Mr. Erskine, but he would give me no advice, and therefore I returned home to Mid-Calder. That same evening, or early next morning, Mr. Scott, Procurator-Fiscal, and Mr. Williamson, messenger, called upon me, and I accompanied them to Edinburgh and delivered the letters to the Sheriff.
The Dean of Faculty—My Lords, as the witness has mentioned his having called upon me, I beg leave to state to the Court what passed upon the occasion. He was brought to my house by a gentleman, and he showed me the letters. I informed him that I was counsel for Mr. Brodie; that he himself knew best the directions that he had received from the person who committed these letters to his charge; and that I could give him no other advice than this, that he ought to do in the matter that which his own conscience should point out to him as most proper.
The Lord Justice-Clerk—That was a very proper advice, and was just what I would have expected from the Dean of Faculty.
The Lord Advocate—My Lords, you will have observed that there were three letters from the prisoner delivered up. It was only judged necessary to libel on two of them; but if the prisoner thinks that the other letter, or any of his other papers in my possession, will be of the least service to him in supporting his defence, I have no objection to produce them.
Margaret Tweddle
5. Margaret Tweddle, spouse of the said John Geddes, called in and sworn.