is innocent, till his guilt be proved. Those whose duty it is to conduct the evidence, fearing the cenfure that others have incurred by a contrary treatment of prisoners, are restrained from enforcing it; and, as it is an exercise of compaffion that cofts nothing, and is fure to gain the applaufe of vulgar hearers, every one interests himself on the fide of the prifoner, and hopes, by his zeal in his behalf, to be distinguished as a man of more than ordinary humanity.

The tenderness of our courts of justice, in profecutions that affect the life or liberty of the offender, is acknowledged and celebrated by all writers on the fubjects of jurisprudence and internal policy; but, befide this, the chances of eluding conviction, or, if not that, of punishment, are fo many, that they deter many injured perfons from the profecution of great criminals; and, as it is a fpeculation that has often employed my thoughts, I will endeavour at an enumeration of them. The chances are thefe: 1 That the offender is not difcovered, or, if difcovered, not apprehended. 2 That the perfon injured is not both able and willing to profecute him. 3 That the evidence is not fufficient for the finding of the bill, or if it be, 4 That the indictment is fo framed as that the offender cannot be convicted on it; or, 5 That the witneffes to fupport it may die, or be prevailed upon to abfcond, or to foften their teftimony; or, 6 They may be entangled or made to contradict themselves, or each other, in a cross examination, by the prifoner's council; or, 7 A mild judge; or, 8 An ignorant or perverfe jury: 9 A recommendation to mercy; or, 10 Appeals to the public by states of his cafe in pamphlets, or news-paper pa

ragraphs,

1

ragraphs, which the Newgate folicitors know very well how to get drawn. II Practices with a jury to obtain a declaration, that fome of them were diffatisfied with the verdict. 12 A motion in arreft of judgment. 13 A writ of error grounded on fome defect or miftake on the face of the record. 14 An escape; and lastly, Intereft to procure a pardon *.

But

To this purpose, and as a caveat against seeking redress for injuries by going to law, I recollect a faying of a very fagacious and experienced citizen, Mr. Selwin, who formerly was a candidate for the office of chamberlain, and miffed it only by feven votes out of near seven thousand.-' A man,' fays he, who deliberates about going to law, fhould have, first, a good caufe; fecondly, a good purfe; thirdly, an honest and skilful attorney; fourthly, good evidence; fifthly, able council; fixthly, an upright judge; feventhly, an intelligent jury; and, with all these ⚫ on his fide, if he has not, eighthly, good luck, it is odds but he ⚫ mifcarries in his suit.'

The fame perfon told me the following ftory: He was once requested, by a maf under fentence of death in Newgate, to come and fee him in his cell, and, in pure humanity, he made him a vifit. The man briefly informed him, that he had been tried and convicted of felony, and was in daily expectation of the arrival of the warrant for his execution; but,' faid he, I have zool. and

you are a man of character, and had the court-interest when you • ftood for chamberlain : I should therefore hope, it is in your power 'to get me off.'—Mr. Selwin was ftruck with so strange an application, and, to account for it, asked, if there were any alleviating circumftances in his cafe: the man peevishly answered-No,—but that he had enquired into the history of the place where he was, and could not find, that any one who had two hundred pounds, was ever hanged. Mr. Selwin told him, it was out of his power to help him, and bade him farewell, which,' added he, he did; for he found means to escape punishment.'

The difpofition of the law, and of magiftrates, to be merciful to offenders against it, leads me to remark, that in the people of this country there is a general propenfity to humanity; and that, notwithstanding the cry against merciless creditors,

urged

But Dodd's cafe was fuch as excluded him from the benefit of all the above chances, excepting the last; and of that he laboured with all his might to avail himself. A petition to the throne for a pardon, was an expedient that naturally fuggefted itself, but, as it required the utmoft powers of eloquence to palliate his offence, he found means to interest Dr. Johnfon in his behalf, and eafily procured from him two of the most energetic compofitions of the kind ever feen, the one a petition from himself to the king, the other, a like address from his wife to the queen, feverally conceived in the terms following:

To the King's most excellent Majesty,

SIR,

It is most humbly reprefented to your majefty by William Dodd, the unhappy convict now lying

⚫ under fentence of death:

urged in favour of infolvent acts, fuch a character is hardly now to be found. I have, in my time, discharged great numbers of debtors under fuch acts, and cannot recollect five inftances where their difcharge has been opposed. And, with regard to bankrupts and other infolvents, I am warranted by long experience and much obfervation to fay, that in cafes where their inability to pay their debts has arifen from misfortune, the readiness of creditors to accept a fmall composition, and give them fresh credit, has been fuch as I could not contemplate without calling to remembrance the parable in the Gospel of the lord that was moved with compaffion, and forgave his debtor. And, with respect to injuries, fuch as perfonal affaults or indignities, an Englishman never feeks farther than to humble his adverfary: when that is done, forgiveness and fhaking hands follow of course. If, therefore, it be true, that humanity is the offspring of courage, we have not far to feek for the fource of British bravery.

That

• That William Dodd, acknowledging the juftice of the fentence denounced against him, has no hope or refuge but in your majefty's clemency.

That though to recollect or mention the ufefulnefs of his life, or the efficacy of his ministry, must overwhelm him, in his prefent condition, with fhame and forrow; he yet humbly hopes, that his 'past labours will not wholly be forgotten; and that the zeal with which he has exhorted others to a good life, though it does not extenuate his crime, may mitigate his punishment.

• That debased as he is by ignominy, and distressed as he is by poverty, fcorned by the world, and detested by himself, deprived of all external comforts, ⚫ and afflicted by consciousness of guilt, he can derive no hopes of longer life, but that of repairing the

injury he has done to mankind, by exhibiting an ⚫ example of fhame and fubmiffion, and of expiating ⚫ his fins by prayer and penitence.

That for this end, he humbly implores from the clemency of your majefty, the continuance of a life legally forfeited; and of the days which, by your gracious compaffion, he may yet live, no one fhall pass without a prayer, that your majesty, after a ⚫ long life of happiness and honour, may stand, at the day of final judgment, among the merciful that obtain mercy.

'So fervently prays the moft diftreffed and wretched ' of your majefty's subjects,

'WILLIAM DODD.'

Το

To the Queen's most excellent Majesty.

< MADAM,

It is most humbly reprefented by Mary Dodd, wife of Dr. William Dodd, now lying in prifon ⚫ under fentence of death:

< That she has been the wife of this unhappy man more than twenty-feven years, and has lived with him in the greatest happiness of conjugal union, and the highest state of conjugal confidence.

That he has been a conftant witness of his un• wearied endeavours for public good, and his labo⚫rious attendance on charitable inftitutions. Many C are the families whom his care has delivered from want; many are the hearts which he has freed from pain, and the faces which he has cleared from for

row.

That, therefore, fhe most humbly throws herself at the feet of the queen, earnestly intreating, that the petition of a diftreffed wife asking mercy for a husband, may be confidered as naturally foliciting the compaffion of her majefty; and that, when her wisdom has compared the offender's good actions ⚫ with his crime, fhe will be pleafed to represent his • cafe to our most gracious fovereign, in fuch terms as may difpofe him to mitigate the rigour of the

law.

• So prays your majesty's most dutiful subject and • fupplicant,

'MARY DODD.'

Το