Att. Gen.-"We have proved my Lord privy to the consults; now we go about to prove, that the under-actors did know it." "Here again the witness, without a question, began, ‘They always said, my Lord Russell was the man they most depended upon, because he was a person looked upon as of great sobriety.' Lord Russell.-"Can I hinder people from making use of my name? To hear this brought to influence the gentlemen of the jury, and inflame them against me, is hard.” Rumsey's evidence was elicited by the grossest leading questions. Surely, Colonel Rumsey," said Jeffreys, “you need not be pumped by so many questions." Nothing can be more vague than his statement; "It was discoursed by all the company:" he cites no particular expression of Lord Russell. "Whose were the words?" (about surprising the guards), said the Chief Justice. Rumsey." My Lord, the discourse was that some should." Chief Justice." Who made that discourse?" Rumsey." My Lord, I think Sir Thomas Armstrong began it, and Mr. Ferguson." Att. Gen. (the infamous Sawyer).-"Was it discoursed among all the company?" Rumsey." All the company did debate it." Serjt. Jeffreys." But pray, Colonel Rumsey, this you are very able to know, what the debates were, and need not be pumped with so many questions. Was there a debate about the rising?" Rumsey.-"There was no debate." Serjt. Jeffreys." But did they not take an account of the rising? Give us an account of it." Rumsey." I have done it twice." Att. Gen. (i)" Was the prisoner at the bar present at the debate?" Rumsey.-"Yes." (i) Lord Campbell ascribes this question to Jeffreys. Serjt. Jeffreys.-"Did you find him averse to it, or agreeing to it?" Rumsay." Agreeing to it." The admission of the following evidence was obviously quite unjustifiable : Serjt. Jeffreys." Do you remember any writings or papers read at that time?" Sheppard." None that I saw." Serjt. Jeffreys." Or that you heard of?" Sheppard.—“Yes, now I recollect myself, I do remember one paper was read." Serjt. Jeffreys." To what purpose was it?" Sheppard.-"It was somewhat in the nature of a declaration; it was read by Mr. Ferguson, who was present at the reading; I cannot say whether they were all present or not. The purport of it was setting forth the grievances of the nation, but truly what particulars I can't tell. It was a pretty large paper." Att. Gen." But can you tell the effect of it, when was that to be set out?" Sheppard." It was not discoursed, it was shewn only, I suppose for approbation." Att. Gen." Who was it shewed to?" Sheppard." As I remember, the Duke was present, and, I think, Colonel Rumsay." Col. Rumsay.-"No, I was not; it was done before I came." Serjt. Jeffreys." What was the design of that paper? Recollect yourself; what was the design?" Sheppard. "The design of that paper was in the nature of a declaration, setting forth the grievances of the nation, in order to a rising, I suppose by the purport of the paper; but cannot remember the particular words of it." B B Foreman of the Jury.-." Can you say my Lord Russell was there, when that declaration was read, as you call it ?" Sheppard.-"I can't say that." Att. Gen." But he was there when he talked of seizing the guards ?" Sheppard."Yes, my Lord was there then." Lord Russell.—“ Pray, Mr. Sheppard, do you remember the time these meetings were?" Sheppard." I can't be positive as to the time; I remember it was at the time my Lord Shaftsbury was absent from his own house, and he absented himself from his own house about Michaelmas-day; but I cannot be positive as to the time." Lord Russell.-"I never was but once at your house, and there was no such design as I heard of. I desire that Mr. Sheppard may recollect himself." Sheppard.—" Indeed, my Lord, I can't be positive in the times. My Lord, I am sure, was at one meeting." L. C. J.-" But was he at both ?" Sheppard." I think so; but it was eight or nine months ago, and I can't be positive" (k). That this evidence also was known to be irregular is proved by Sir John Hawles, who remarks upon it thus: "What sort of evidence was that? In all civil matters, a witness shall not be permitted to give evidence of the contents of a deed or writing without producing the deed or writing itself, or a true copy of it, and for a very good reason, as he may make a false construction of it. I remember," he continues, "a witness who swore to the contents of a deed of entail, and being asked whether he knew a deed of entail, and by what he knew the deed he spoke of to be a deed of entail, answered, 'that he knew a tail'd deed very well, and he knew the deed he spoke of to be a tail'd deed because IT HAD A TAIL half as long as his arm,' meaning the label of the deed. And if this be the (k) State Trials, vol. 9, p. 601. practice and reason of the practice in civil matters, shew me any authority or reason anything should be permitted to be given in evidence in the trial of any civil matter" (1). During the trial, intelligence was brought that Essex had destroyed himself in the Tower. That this was done with a deliberate purpose there can be no doubt; that the time of the trial was arranged to coincide with the event there is strong reason to believe;-and if so, it is a conclusive argument to shew that Essex did not, as was asserted, perish by his own hand (m). This circumstance, with a malignity truly fiendish, was immediately turned by the Crown lawyers against the prisoner--and with fatal effect, for the jurymen asserted afterwards that it went farther with them than all the evidence of the witnesses produced by the Crown (n). "Who should think," said Jeffreys, "that my Lord Essex (0) should (1) State Tracts, vol. 2, p. 43. (m) (Julian) Johnson, an honest and vigorous writer, says, after quoting Lord Essex, "I say let his integrity be known, and speak as loud as his blood cries; and I am sure they who would stifle that man's honour would stifle his death." Notes on the Phoenix edition of the Pastoral letter, p. 77. This would hardly have been said unless there had been a very general belief. (n) State Tracts, vol. 2, p. 36. (0) I must say, though with great distrust of my own judgment, as I see Mr. Hallam holds another opinion, that after the most careful examination I have been able to give to the evidence, the conclusion at which I have arrived is, that Essex was murdered in the Tower. Mr. Hallam seems, however, to think, that the only evidence is that of the two children who speak to the bloody razor being flung out of the window, which no doubt is a singular fact; but besides this there is a mass of other evidence. There is the evidence of Richard May, of Adams and his wife, and of Dorothy Smith. Now the evidence of Dorothy Smith is this: "that being servant with one Holmes, in Baldwin's Gardens, she heard several papists discoursing in Holmes's house concerning the taking off of the Earl of Essex; that they had seen the Duke of York, who suggested that he should be poisoned (the reader may recollect the attempt on Colonel Hutchinson); but that at last it was settled his throat should be cut, and the Duke promised to be there when it was done. Three days after this, and six days before the Earl's death, she heard be guilty of such desperate things? which, had he not been guilty of, he would scarcely have brought himself to that them declare that the Earl's throat should be cut, and that they would give out he had done it himself. That she immediately communicated what she heard to Billinger, who exhorted her, if she valued her life to be silent. That on the day of the Earl's death, some of these people came to her master's house, one of whom struck her master on the back, and exclaimed, the feat was done; and added, that he could not but laugh to see how like a fool Lord Essex looked when they came to cut his throat. She said, that afterwards she told this story to Rowden, who advised her to hold her tongue, or she might ruin him and his family, and that she declared she hoped the time might come when she might speak the truth without danger." This latter part of her statement to Rowden, is confirmed by Rowden, by Mrs. Rowden, and by Mrs. Mary Rowden. Adams says, that Dorothy Smith was his servant in James's time, and often declared, in tears, the conversation and account of Lord Essex's death; that it lay on her mind night and day; and that he exhorted her to be silent. May says, that Dorothy Smith made the same statement to him; that he exhorted her to silence; but that on King William's accession, he (May) went to Dorothy Smith, and told her she might safely say what she knew. Now let us see what this evidence amounts to. If Dorothy Smith speaks truth, Essex was murdered,—that is the first step; and, according to all rules of historical evidence, if these six witnesses speak true,-witnesses in no way connected with each other, the probability is, that Dorothy Smith does speak true; for it should be observed, that there was nothing to gain, and no party purpose to serve, by this story. Lady Essex and Bishop Burnet (whose egregious and unreasoning vanity was enlisted on the opposite side), both discouraged the inquiry. The evidence of this Dorothy Smith is quite independent of that which induced Braddon to take up the matter, for he did not know her till afterwards: "I never heard of Dorothy Smith till Mr. Tourney informed me of her, February, 1688." But there is a great deal of evidence besides this. John Lloyd was sentinel on the Earl of Essex. He declared, "that by the special order of Major Hawley, he let in two or three men into the Earl's lodgings just before his death; and, besides this, he was very sure, and could safely swear, that Major Webster (a ruffian who went by that name), was one, and that as soon as he let them in, he heard a noise in my Lord's chamber, and somewhat thrown down like the fall of a man, after which it was said that the Earl of Essex had cut his throat." Is this false? How happens it to correspond with Dorothy Smith's account? There is no suggestion that they were in league together, or had ever seen each other. Let us go on. Martha Bascomb deposed, that a little before Lord Essex's death she was walking before the chamber window. She heard a noise, looked up to the |