are :

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tution of this kingdom; and with force and pality of such offences as those with which arms did unlawfully and wickedly conspire, they stand charged; especially as I under

I combine, coofederate, and agree together to stand that they are to be their own advocates, escape and go at large out of the Fleet prison; not having employed any person on their beand to excite and stir up divers other prisoners

half. I shall therefore rest the prosecution to break open the said prison, and also to upon the evidence of two or three witnesses; escape and go at large out of the said prison ; by their testimony you will find the charges

---in pursuance of the said unlawful and sedia well supported. It will be found, that Duffin tious conspiracy, combination, confederacy, and Lloyd were lawfully confined in the Fleet and agreement, and with intent to carry the prison; and it will be in proof, that Lloyd same into effect, afterward did, unlawfully was seen writing the libel, which was seen and wickedly, fix and put up, and caused to afterwards pasted up in the prison. And it be fixed and put up, on the door of the chapel will be further proved, that Duffin was the of the said prison, and thereby published and person who actually pasted the libels up : caused to be published, an infamous, wicked, Lloyd was also heard to read it aloud, and and seditious libel, concerning the said prison, thereby published it to many bystanders.

, and the government of this kingdom, accord- That upon Lloyd's being interrogated and ing to the tenor and effect following ; viz. charged with the fact, he did not hesitate to This house (meaning the said prison) to let, justity it, but even gloried in the sentiments peaceable possession will be given by the pre- the libel contained; this will also be in proof; sent tenants on or before the 1st day of and if I understand the evidence aright, it will January, 1793, being the commencement of amount at least to this, that the publication the first year of liberty in Great Britain!!! was the joint act of both the defendants. The republic of France having rooted out As to the object of that paper I shall say despotism, thcir glorious example and suc- nothing more, than only to beg you to be so cess against tyrants renders infamous bastiles good as to hear it read, and then see whether (meaning amongst other prisons the said pri- it does not clearly extend to justify the conson of the Fleet) no longer necessary in Eun structions as they are charged. The words rope. In contempt of the king, and open violation of the laws of this kingdom, to the • This house to let; peaceable possession great obstruction of justice, to the evil and will be given by the present tenants, on or pernicious example of all others, in the like before the 1st day of January, 1793, being case offending, and against the peace of the the commencement of the first year of liking, his crown and dignity.

'berty in Great Britain. Second Count.—That being such persons as • The republic of France having routed out aforesaid, they did unlawfully, wickedly, and despotisın, their glorious example and sucseditiously devising, contriving, and intending cess against tyrants, render infamous basto excite and stir up divers prisoners to break | tiles no longer necessary in Europe.' open the said prison, and to escape and go at large with force and arms in the l'leet prison, render it necessary for me to enter into any

The meaning of this paper is too plain to wickedly, maliciously publish and cause to be published, a wicked, infamous, and sedi- explanation thereol, before gentlemen of such tious libel. This house (meaning the said whom I have the honour to address; indeed

respectability and understanding as those prison) to let, &c. as before charged in the it would be utterly impossible to affix to it any first count. Mr. Bearcroft said, that he appeared on the other meaning than that charged in the in

formation. part of the prosecution, in the absence of the attorney-general, against the two defendants,

William Jefferies sworn. Duffin and Lloyd. You know, gentlemen of the jury, that the charges against the defen- He proved that the commitments of the dants are, for conspiring and agreeing to defendants were signed by Mr. Justice Gould. escape out of the Fleet prison, where they Mr. Bearcroft said, this witness proved the were legally confined for debt; and that they legality of their imprisonment; but this eviexcited other prisoners to effect their escape dence was no more than mere matter of likewise. In pursuance of which conspiracy

form. and agreement, and in order to effect the

Thomas Hoskins sworn. same, they pasted up in the prison a seditious libel.

If, gentlemen, there should not appear Mr. Dutin objected to this witness, as Hossufficient evidence to prove that they con- kins was one of the under turnkeys of the spired to escape, and liberate the others, there Fleet prison, and as a servant of Mr. Eyles's, is a second and separate charge, omitting the he might be suspected of partiality. charge of conspiracy, and confining the crime The Judge answered, That the objection to the publication of the libel only, on which was insufficient; servants were admissible point you can have no doubt, after hearing the witnesses; the English law excluded none evidence I shall adduce.

but men's wives and interested persons. If I shall take up very little of your time in the defendant had any other ground of obstating this case, or enlarging on the crimi-jection to take, it should be heard, and every

6

justice done which the peculiarity of the case take notice, that he did not admit the handrequired.

bills were his; but from the conversation I One of the counsel, holding a quarter of a thought he admitted it in so many words, sheet of paper in his hand, said to Hoskins, after having argued on the propriety of the Look at this paper; did you ever see it be- hand-bills, and the doctrine laid down in fore? - Hoskins took it in his hand, and an- them. swered, Yes.

Did you charge him with being concerned When?-I saw it on the 28th of last Octo- in them?—Yes, I did. I told hiin how danber, when Mr. Duffin came down the steps of gerous these things were, and to what consethe north door of the Fleet prison, on Sunday quences they might lead; they might bring afternoon, with that paper in his hand, and about the most horrid scenes of plunder, he went from there up the steps to the chapel bloodshed, and murder. He said that he . door, which is at that end of the prison that thought otherwise, that a reform might be he came from; when he got to the door of the brought about without them. It was in prichapel he stuck that paper upon it.

vate that I said this. He said he could not Did you take it down ?-Yes; it appeared be convinced, and that his ideas were different to be stuck on with size or paste. I kept the from mine. I told him then, that he must paper in my possession till the evening, and go to the place called the strong room, as a then I gave it to the warden.

punishment to deter others, that they might The Judge told the defendants they might not be drawn away by his example. Ile said now ask the witness any questions that they he was glad of it, and thought I could not do had to put to him.

otherwise. He said such measures might Mr. Duffin thanked his lordship for the in- bring the contest to a point, or to a crisis, or formation, and proceeded to ask Hoskins, Do some such like expression. He said that we you recollect my being confined in the strong understood one another, but I don't know room ?-Yes, very well.

what he meant. There was a good deal more Do you recollect of any inquiry made either conversation, but I do not recollect it. of the warden or among the turnkeys, from Mr. Lloyd' then said to Mr Eyles, he would the secretary of state's office, or by the attor- endeavour to assist his recollection, which ney-general, in consequence of a leiter I wrote appeared to him to be a very weak one. Perto the secretary of state?-No, sir; I do not haps when I jog your memory, you will reknow of any.

member, said he, that on my coming into the Had you orders to prevent all intercourse room where you were, you told me that you with me, and to let nobody into the room to were convinced I was the writer and publisher me, nor open the door but three times a day? of a paper then lying on your desk, and there-Yes.

fore you did not mean to make of me any inDid you not hear of my loud and frequent quiry whether I wrote it or not, but as a complaints respecting the oppressions of the punishment, ordered me to the strong room. officers of the prison ?-I know of no oppres- That I asked you whether this order was to sions carried on there.

inflict a punishment, and whether I was to Mr. Lloyd asked Hoskins if he knew of two be inhumanly treated on this account? That gentlemen of the law, who called to see him, you answered, No. That I then reminded being refused even admittance into the pri- you, that as I had no friend present to witson, at any time while he was contined in the ness a conversation I wished to have with strong room?-Hoskins. No; I know nothing you, I requested, if you accorded with this of the matter.

wish, that you might order your gang of turnI believe it was not you, it was one Shott, keys out of the place.—Lyles

. I reinember another of the turnkeys. Pray do you know, we were left alone, but I did not refuse to is Mr. Shott in court.-No, I believe not. inquire of you whether you were concerned in

the hand-bills. John Eyles, Warden of the Fleet Prison,

Lloyd. Your memory is too short for me, sworn.

I have therefore done with you. One of the Counsel said, Had you any con- Mr. Duffin. Pray Mr. Eyles did you ever versation with Mr. Lloyd about this trans-hear that either Mr. Lloyd or I intended to action? What was it, and when was it?- escape from the prison ?-No, I never heard I do not recollect the day, but I think it was two or three days after the papers had been Or that we excited others to escape, or pasted up; it was the 31st of October. break the prison ?-No.

Tell that conversation.--I sent for him Did you think yourself that we, or any of down to the lodge, and I told him I wished the prisoners, ever contemplated such a meato talk to him, in order to discourage him sure?-No otherwise than as I interred from from seeking a reform in the government. the hand-bills which had been stuck up; I He then entered into arguments tending to thought the paper might have that tendefend his tenets.

dency. What did he say about the hand-bills?-- Did you ever hear that I complained of imAfter talking about the hand-bills, we went positions and abuses, practised by your serinto a long conversation, and he told me to vants in the Fleet prison ?-I did. VOL. XXII.

Y

And did you not hear I intender to com- was when he saw him writing that paper; plain to the Court of such impositions?-I did whether it was not dark ?-No, it was not not hear that.

dark, for there was no candle alight. Do not you usually commit any person to Was it not late in the evening, and at least the strong room under some Aimsy pretence, three or four hours after the small hand-bills who has spirit enough to resist your imposi- had been stuck up ?-Yes, it was some hours tions?-I never confine any person in the after that one on the chapel door had been strong room without cause.

taken down. Was not a gentleman murdered by your One of the Counsel then put the small confining him in the strong room within these hand-bill, which Hoskins swore he saw Duttin three years, and the cruelty of the treatment put up on the chapel-door, into Mr. Schoole's he received there?

hands, and asked him if he did not think that The Judge told Mr. Duffin his question was was Lloyd's writing !--No; I do no not know; an improper one; that no man would be al-I rather think it is not. lowed by the laws of England to give testi- Mr. Lloyd. It was only a copy then you mony to criminate himself.

saw me taking ?-I do not know; I said I Mr. Duffin said, he did not wish to persist, only believed the other one to be the paper if his lordship thought the question unan- you were writing, and that I cannot be posiswerable.

tive it is the same. Michael Schoole sworn.

Mr. Duffin. Did you not see a great many

other persons take copies of the bills that One of the Counsel said, You were a pri- evening ?-Yes; a great many. soner in the Fleet; you remember Duffin there; he had a part of your room, had he

Mr. Bearcroft observed to the jury, that the not?-Yes.

papers were duplicates, and that the charge Do you know of a club that was established laid in the information contained a verbatim there, and that Duffin and Lloyd belonged to et literatim copy of the same. it? -No, I do not; I heard there was a club. Mr. Duffin being called upon to make his Did you belong to it?- No.

defence, stated the prosecution to be unDo you know who did ?-No, I cannot say founded and malicious; and calculated only I do. Seeing that I am called here, and I to protect and perpetuate the abuses and opnever was in a more disagreeable situation in pressions of one of the officers of a court of my life, I will go on, and state all I know of justice, the warden of the Fleet prison; it was this business : I remember Mr. Lloyd came not instituted, until that officer feared for his into our room, or rather I saw him there.

own safety; nor dare he even then lay the What was he doing when you saw him subject before a grand jury, which at that there?-If the gentlemen please I will go on time was sitting. No, it was managed by the to state all I know of the matter.

attorney-general by way of information, a The Judge then said, do so, Mr. Schoole; relic of the detestable court of Star Chamber, but we know that you have not come here under an impression, as he apprehended, that yoluntarily:

no grand jury could be found base enough to Schoolo. It was on Sunday, the 28th of countenance such a frivolous and vexatious October, I had the misfortune to come into prosecution. my own room, and there I saw Mr. Lloyd The paper charged against him was made writing a paper at my table; the writing was public on the 28th of October, but was not a feignel hand, and out of the common way, noticed by the warden till the 31st of the and therefore made it more noticeable. I saw same month, who then closely confined him it afterwards pasted up in the coffee gallery in for twenty-two days. On the roth of Novemthe prison.

ber, however, he applied to the secretary of One of the Counsel then took up a whole state to inquire into and redress his wrongs; sheet of paper, ornamented with festoons, the it was nothing but the fear of an attack that writing on which was in a large bold round made the warden then come forward. He hand, and handed it to Schoole, asking whe-conjured his lordship. (if in his power) or the ther that was the paper ?

parliament, to restrain the keepers of gaols, Schoole, having it in his hand, said, 'I be- from inflicting punishment on prisoners at lieve this to be the same paper, but I am not their own discretion, a power they greatly positive, but I really think it is the same; / abused; and hoped the jury would this day the paper was not finished when I saw Mr. by their verdict, discountenance for ever, such Loyd writing it; but I saw it afterwards, infamous and oppressive prosecutions as the and I believe it is the same.'

present. To «sliow that the warden was inCounsel. Did not you hear it read aloud duced to act in consequence of his letter, he by Lloydi - Yos; I heard hiin read it when begged of his lordship permission to read it, it was stuck up by the coffee-room door: which was as follows: there were a great number of persons there; and I heard several others as well as Mr.

“ To the SECRETARY of State." Lloyd read it aloud also.

“ When injustice is rendered in the case of Mr. Lloyd asked the witness, What time it an individual, without even the sanction of

6

law, by the officers of a court of judicature, it until Friday evening last, when, at a late is in vain to apply for redress or satisfaction hour, I was removed to a cell, called the to the officers of that court; because (as is strong room, without an opportunity of actoo well known to render particular proof commodating myself (even at my own charge) necessary) all the officers of such court in- with a bed or other conveniency. In that celí cline to support each other, especially if the I found an American gentleman,, who had practice complained of should be one of those then been confined there ten days on the like which their habits have rendered familiar to suspicion. He appeared to be badly accomthem. They are 100 much disposed to coun- modated; potwithstanding, yesterday eventenance a custom, under the idea of its forming an under turnkey stripped the cell of ing part of the common law; but a custom every article he had had therein, not leaving can never become part of the common law of a jug for water, or even an urinal. In this England, if it is a violation of the funda- situation we are now locked up together, and mental principles of ethics; nor can it be so completely excluded from society, that we part of such law if it violates the principles may perish without it ever being known to acknowledged by Magna Charta, or the Bill our friends or relatives what has befallen us. of Rights; nay, even an act of parliament A detail of the cruelties inflicted on us would cannot establish a regulation infringent or pang the heart of humanity, and rouse the insubversive of that principle.

dignation of the community, especially as “ Now, it is a right strictly natural, that such punishments are illegal, and tend to every person have the liberty which consists brand with infamy the nation which permits, in the power of loco-motion, of changing or connives at such enormities. situation, or moving one's self to whatever

“ PATRICK Wrlliam Duffin. place one's inclination may direct; and it is

formerly of the city of Dublin; declared and enacted by Magna Charta, the

now of Piccadilly, London, Petition of Rights, &c. that no man shall be “ Dated from the strong cell in the taken, imprisoned, er detained, by suggestion, Fleet prison, 10th November, or petition, or without cause shown, to which 1792, at night. he may answer according to law. Hence it “ To the Secretary of State for the Home results, that this right can never be abridged Department." at the mere discretion of the magistrate, nay not even the chief executive officer; for if

Mr. Iloyd being now called upon by the once it were left in the power of any, there Judge to make his defence, entered upon it would soon be an end to all other rights and

as follows: immunities. Yet it has so happened,

that the The enormous expense attending the condiscretion of the warden of the prison of the duct of a suit at law in this country, has decourt of Common Pleas has, upon suggestion, terred me, under my present embarrassed' without cause shown, confined me in the circumstances, from attempting to engage strong cell of that gaol, and exposed me to either attorney, solicitor, or counsel in my every inconvenience and hardship incidental behalf: I am therefore left alone to support to such confinement; refusing to furnish any myself against disciplined veterans of the bar, convenience or necessary to preserve life or and to submit the determination of my defeat health, in a dismal vaulted cell, flagged with or victory to the judgment of a Court, perhaps stone; and this not being thought punish- unused to decide upon, or even to listen to, ment enough, I am debarred of all intercourse arguments bottomed solely upon the pure with my friends.

principles of distributive justice, without a “ Thus circumstanced, I call upon you, as particular allusion to municipal regulations: the superintendant of the execution of the standing in this predicament, I enter upon municipal laws, to inquire into, and redress the arduous task with conscious diffidence, the evil; to this end I subjoin a statement of and while I claim the patient indulgence of the case. - About six weeks ago I was com- the Court, I entertain a hope that you will mitted to the Fleet prison for a debt of 500l., rather aid than obstruct, the operation of my charged on the oath of a man I never knew, reasoning on the minds of the gentlemen, nor could I learn where he lives, or if such a who are selected to verify the truth of the man exists, though I applied for that purpose information recently given to the Court, or to to his attorney, George Crossley. Being thus falsify what I am persuaded the attorneydeprived of the dearest blessing, Liberty,-- general is incapable of proving. through the medium of perjury, and contined I am well apprized, that it is the duty of in this mansion of the oppressed, it happened, the judge to state and interpret the law, in that on Sunday the 28th of October last, a cases where it is not clearly understood by the written paper of the following purport, was jury; but I trust a discerning jury will not stuck up on the walls [The same as charged consent implicitly to receive any doctrine as in the information). On the Wednesday fol- the law of England, though pronounced to lowing I was ordered by the warden to be close be such, by magistrates of the most respectabiconfined to my room, on suspicion of having lity, if they find it to be in direct violation of published the above. There I continued the very first principles of natural law and locked up, with an iron bar across my door, English jurisprudence. It is notorious, that