is seen, the day but one after, laying out L.7 in the purchase of a cow, and in possession of both bank-notes and gold-having been, up to a very short time before, in the most abject poverty, and even destitution; and, moreover, in possession of a large quantity of clothes belonging, unquestionably, to the missing man. This of itself, unexplained, is sufficient to raise a violent presumption of the prisoner's guilt. But here also great caution is necessary. If a horse be stolen from A,» says Lord Hale, and the same day B be found on him, it is a strong presumption that B stole him. Yet I do recollect that, before a very learned and wary judge, in such an instance B was condemned, and executed, at Oxford assizes and yet, within two assizes afterwards, C being apprehended for another robbery, upon his judgment and execution confessed that he had been the man who stole the horse, and that, being closely pursued, he desired B, a stranger, to walk his horse for him, while he turned aside, as he said, for a necessary occasion, and escaped, and B was apprehended with the horse, and died innocently.

Now, in the present case, here is a man suddenly missing, known to have been possessed of a considerable sum of money--the prisoner to have been seen in his company up to almost the last moment before his disappearance to become suddenly enriched, having previously been á pauper-and in possession of very many articles of clothing belonging to the missing man. All these circumstances point one way; but then, on the other hand, no attempt is made to conceal his possession of either money or clothes, nor to escape or quit the neighbourhood during the time when suspicion was hottest. Then he gives certainly contradictory answers concerning the way in which he became possessed of these mattersbut all may be reconciled with the story he tells, that the missing man has gone to America, and that he (the prisoner) assisted him, and still seeks to baffle the pursuit of his absent friend. But if the latter story be true, is it probable, is it credible, that Huntley, meditating such an expedition, would first strip himself of all his newly-purchased clothes, leave them behind him, and never afterwards come or send to claim

them ? But all the facts of the case, as fairly and as accurately stated as I know, are now laid before you; and is not this indeed a striking specimen of the importance of, and the difficulties attending, circumstantial evidence? I shall proceed to propose several hypotheses for your consideration, in order to see whether any of them will reconcile all the circumstances, or which of them will reconcile most of them, and in the most natural manner. The force of circumstantial evidence, being exclusive in its nature, and the mere coincidence of the hypothesis with the circumstances being, in the abstract, insufficient, unless they exclude every other supposition, it is essential to enquire, with the most scrupulous attention, what other hypotheses there may be agreeing wholly or partially with the facts in evidence. Those which agree even partially with the circumstances are not unworthy of examination, because they lead to a more accurate examination of those facts with which, at first, they might appear to be inconsistent; and it is possible that on a more accurate examination of these facts, their authenticity may be rendered doubtful, or even altogether disproved. The same able writer from whom this passage is quoted, Mr. Starkie, has another observation, which also I wish you to take along with you in dealing with the facts of this case.

To acquit, on light, trivial, and fanciful suppositions, and remote conjectures, is a virtual violation of the juror's oath; while, on the other hand, he ought not to condemn, unless the evidence exclude from his mind all reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused, and unless he be so convinced by the evidence, that he would venture to act upon that conviction, in matters of the highest concern and importance to his own interest..

First Hypothesis.-Huntley really did go off in the way alleged, to America or elsewhere, to avoid his creditors, and also his wife, and be relieved from the burden of supporting her. He may have since died a natural-an accidental-or a violent death, under circumstances depriving him of the opportunity of disposing by will of what he knew was coming to him; and this death may have happened very shortly after

his departure. He left the more valuable portions of his clothes and property, and a great portion of his money, in Goldsborough's hands, to be forwarded to him; and Goldsborough acted dishonestly by him, in disposing of the clothes and spending the money. Huntley may be now alive, and meditating a return home.

Second Hypothesis.-Huntley is dead, and was murdered by Garbutt, in whose company he had been left by Goldsborough.-Garbutt being also pursued by the officers of justice for other offences, hastily absconded, and may now be dead, or abroad.

Third Hypothesis.-Groundy was the actual murderer, possibly instigated by Goldsborough; or Goldsborough only subsequently informed by Groundy of the murder, and insisting on receiving a great portion of the money, as the price of his silence. - He committed suicide from fear lest his guilt should come out in court, at the trial-through his being unable to stand solemn and public questioning upon the subject. He may have been also partly influenced by remorse at having wrongfully sworn away the life of Goldsborough.

Fourth Hypothesis.-Groundy, Garbutt, and Goldsborough, or Groundy and Goldsborough, were all concerned as principals in the murder. The second gun was Groundy's, who joined them in the wood.

Lastly. With reference to the prisoner at the bar, let us enquire more fully, whether his guilt or innocence is more consistent with the proved facts of the case.

If innocent, he must stand or fall by his story of Huntley's having left him on his way to America, after in vain pressing Goldsborough to accompany him. It certainly does appear that Huntley had contemplated such a step, and there are other circumstances favouring the notion that Goldsborough and Huntley had been busily concerting a scheme for Huntley's going off privately to America. He was, during the whole of the time between the 22d and 30th July, incessantly coming over to Goldsborough, and remaining in his company. At five o'clock in the morning of the day of his disappearance, he was seen coming to Goldsborough's house, where he

was immediately admitted. They may have arranged that Goldsborough should go and fetch Huntley's things, the same day, from Huntley's to Goldsborough's house, to keep for, or send after, Huntley; in pursuance of which Goldsborough went, and returned with the articles in question in a sack, during the afternoon of the same day. It may have been a part of the arrangement, that Huntley should leave a considerable portion of his money in Goldsborough's hands, for safety's sake to be remitted as Huntley might want it. Or Goldsborough might have promised and intended to follow. him shortly afterwards; but fondness for his children may have kept him back-and he may have determined on playing Huntley false, and appropriating the money and property left with him to his own use, relying on Huntley's not venturing to return, lest he should be saddled with the support of his wife; but if he should return, then resolving to impose on him as much difficulty as possible in claiming his own, by converting his money into articles of furniture, and farming purchases. His contradictory accounts of Huntley's movements are consistent with his wish to baffle the pursuers of Huntley, by putting them on false scents; and this may serve to explain his light jocular tone in speaking of Huntley's absence: You'll all see, by and by, whether he's murdered In this view of the case, the blood on the road, the gun-shot in the wood, and the burning of clothes soon afterwards, if such facts really happened, have no true connexion with each other; and the skull and bones produced, were not the skull and bones of Huntley. Let it, moreover, be borne in mind, that Goldsborough did not attempt any concealment of property or money, or escape neither after nor before suspicion had settled on him-not even when set at liberty after his arrest in the month of July 1841.

But if the prisoner be guilty, let us imagine that, from the time of learning that Huntley had become possessed of so considerable a sum of money, the prisoner had conceived the idea of destroying him in order to obtain that money, and in such a manner as to warrant the belief of the neighbourhood that he had only carried into effect his previously expressed

intention of going off to America. That in pursuance of such an intention, Huntley had sent his clothes, &c., on the Friday, to the prisoner's house that, in short, they formed the contents of the bag, or sack, which he, prisoner, was seen carrying into his house on the Friday afternoon. That, either alone, or in company with Garbutt or Groundy, he allured Huntley into Crathorne Wood, under the pretext of shooting a hare, and enjoying a pleasant supper together; which Huntley, who might have become loquacious through previous drinking with the prisoner, and possibly Garbutt and Groundy, or one of them-mentioned to Maw, in a merry humour, on meeting him on the road, as described by Maw. That he may have been shot, either in the wood, or on the high-road, where the blood was found; and his body buried for a while, or concealed in the wood till it could be permanently disposed of That the prisoner then returned to his own house, and having been, possibly, alarmed by some noise into the suspicion that his motions had been watched, slipped out, shortly afterwards, to ascertain whether there were any grounds for his fears. That he then cleansed himself from any marks of the deed in which he had been engaged, and resolved on the course he should pursue-namely, to give out that he had set Huntley on his way to America. That, finding the current of suspicion setting in more strongly against him than he had anticipated, he resolved, on due deliberation, distrusting the chance of escaping by flight, to stay and brave it out by a bold and consistent adherence to the fiction of Huntley's having gone off secretly to America. That if neither Garbutt nor Groundy had been originally parties to the murder, the prisoner may have taken both, or either, subsequently, into his confidence,, to secure his or their assistance in successfully disposing of the body: 'rewarding him or them by a sum of money, which he might have represented as being the greater portion of what he had found on the person of Huntley. That the prisoner, either alone, or assisted by one or both of these men, afterwards disinterred the body, if temporarily buried, or removed it from any place where it had lain hid, and carried it to Stokesley Beck, at night-time, and thrust it,