caufer of his death. But fome of thefe profecutors we may prefumewe even know-to have themselves been prefent, aiding and affifting, at the perpetration of what they now reprefent to have been a murder: and in ftrictness of law, their reprefentation is a just one. -Some of thefe profecutors we may conceive to have at one time been defirous that their champion fhould inflict the death which he has fuffered; fhould do the very act, for which they now prefer a capital indictment. If abjuring the code of honour, and adhering to the rules of that, which we are here affembled to adminifter, the prifoners or the deceafed had declined to accept a meffage, or been tardy in fending one, we may doubt whether thefe ftrenuous affertors of law would not fcorn to affociate with fuch strict obfervers of it; and reward their pacific conduct with indelible difgrace, Thus, on the object of their blame, a hard alternative might be thrown; -of being pofted as a coward, or indicted for a murder. But when a man of amiable qualities and efimable conduct, as I believe and almost know, mr. Colclough to have been, -a public man, their friend and favourite, has fallen,-bis mourning adherents may think themfelves en titled to have blood for blood; and to make the law an engine of private refentment, or political revenge. In hort, in feeming to demand juftice, they may be only looking for retalia tion. Be this however as it may, my duty remains the fame: my duty is to ftate mercifully what I conceive to be the law. Homicide, committed fuddenly, on fufficient provocation, in the heat of blood, or enfuing on an unpremeditated quarrel, is manilaughter. But of this fpecies of offence there appears to be no evi, dence in the prefent cafe; under any view which you would be likely, or perhaps warranted, to take of it. But if homicide enfue on a deliberate duel, between parties meeting with deadly weapons, by appointment, fuch homicide will be murder; and expofe the flayer to the heaviest penalties of the law. An attempt has been made to diftinguish the prefent from an ordinary duel cafe. But I will not wound the feelings of the prifoner at the bar, nor infult your understanding, by dwelling longer on this topic than while I fay, that the attempt appears to me to have been utterly unfuccefsful; and the profecutors to have more than failed to prove the prifoner an affaffin. If indeed they had fucceeded, his crime would have peculiarly called for the vengeance of thelaw; and in adminif tering its rigours, you would not feel the leaft compunction. But, however fair the duel, the homicide enfuing on it is a murder. I feel fome natural reluctance in ftating this to be the law; and you may feel uneatine's at being reminded that it is fo. However much and juftlyfuch'còmbats are to be blamed, you may more abhor the fanguinary notions which produce them; and pity the victims of a law which you ftrongly with to be repealed. You may have fons, you must have friends and relatives yourfelves; and will be difpofed to afk this question of your confciences and hearts, whether the pride and infirmity of human nature might not lead you to with that these thould rather violate the law, tham endure the fcorn and contumely of (Heaven knows!) an unfparing world; or incur the flightest stain or blemish on their honour. You will wish to give the prifoner the benefit of thefe reflections: but whether you would be warranted to do fo, is what 1 fcarcely dare inquire; otherwise than in fuggefting cafes, which I conceive to be fimilar in their legal nature, for the purpofe of illuftrating and explaining your duties here. If an officer, at the head of his regiment be called a coward, and a fcoundrel, and inflead of cutting the offender down, down, challenge and kill him in a might feem to inculcate the auftere duel, he is a murderer by law; and doctrine of the law; in once ftating if you are bound to find the prifoner it, I conceive that I have fufficiently Alcock guilty, you would be equally difcharged my duty. Nay, even obliged to return a verdict of convic-fitting where I do, I think myself tion against a gallant officer, under warranted in doubting whether this the circumitances which I have def- doctrine be not a fort of anomaly in Eribed. Yet on the other hand, the our code:-exifting in theory;-almilitary punishment and intolerabie moft abrogated in practice ;-by the difgrace, which must inevitably fol- aftutenefs of judges, the humanity low from fubmitting to the affront, it of jurors.-the mercy of the crown: cannot be neceffary for me to dwell ill-afforted to the manners and habits upon. If an aged and intrm, a of thefe times, it feems indeed to have beloved and refpected parent be in- furvived its day; and in the thifting fulted and reviled, or even ftruck and of the focial fcene, to have been in beaten in the prefence of his fon, and advertently behind. this latter happen to kill the aggref for, in a regularly appointed duel, the tranfaction will be murder ;-and if you cannot acquit the prifoner, you could not acquit the child. If a hufband finds his wife in the embraces of another, and kill him, unarmed and unrefifting, on the fpot, this is manflaughter of the lowell and moit venial kind. But if, giving the adulterer farther time for preparation, and a fairer chance for Life, he puts arms in his hands, and meets and kills him in a duel, the offence altering its character, becomes at once a murder; and if you are bound to convict the prifoner here, you would be alfo bound to a conviction in the cafe which I have fuppofed. Not because in morals the criminality is equal; but becaufe both offences are murder in the eye of the law. But let me ask of your confciences and your hearts as men, would you convict the officer, the hufband, or the fon? I have hitherto confined my obfervations to the cafe of Alcock. That of the prifoner Derinzy is fomewhat different in its nature. But I have alTezdy obferved that his interference does not feem to have been either bloody or obtrusive. At all events he cannot have affifted in the commiffion of a murder which was not committed; and an acquittal of the first principal would therefore exculpate him. I will not repeat, left I This, gendemen of the jury, was all I had to fay.. The evidence is before you, if you believe it, you have heard its legal refults from the bench. You have the law of the land, bearing witnefs against the prifoners, on the one hand; the law of opinion on the other, endeavouring to excufe them: the one prefcribing rigour, the other fuggefting mercy. It is for you to pronounce which call you will obey. The trammels of my office forbid me adding more. But there is another, a far better voice than mine, to which, though I be filent, you may liften ftill-I mean that still finall voice of which we read in fcripture, and which addreffes itself to the confciences of good and pious men, in the foft and foothing accents of clemency. and peace. Its dictates may be followed with a confidence the most implicit. It is the voice of him who cannot err; who cannot lead his creatures into error; who to justice without blemish, unites mercy without bounds, who, all criminal as we are, can yet acquit us, and be juft.To the influence of these fecret and divine monitions,-and (as far as infirmity can follow,) of this divine example, furrender you; and commit the cafe of the prifoners at the bar. I wait with fome anxiety and much impatience for your verdict: judge whether I am impatient for a capital. conviction, ORIGINAL. 曹經 Covers a heart that fondly beat for thee; Ah! think in yonder blaze of heav'nly day, My Spirit from thefe earthly fhackles fee j And in foft accents whisper to thy mind, The lofty pine the winds most agitate, The man prepar'd for each defign of fate, Success and happ'nefs when they are his fhare, Excite a greatful joy with pious fear. and warms with fummer's If now deject'd we of our ftate complain, And fhew that if not rich, at least your brave; And when your hark's impell'd by prof perous gales, With prudence furl your too inflated fails. Armagh, March 17; 1808. Retrospection-a Sonnet to the beautiful air Shades of joys for ever dead; Sighing from the troubled breast. Friendship's warm and liberal beam, Streaks of feeble light are spread, Where female charms are brighter feen, Ah no! thofe glorious days are paft, Has conquer'd even your favourite na- Slay the rafh cenfure, Venus cried, A model of myself is born.. You ftart, yet goddess, it is true; Jove fmil'd confpicuous on her birth: Her mother's wit-her father's worth. May no rude storms this flower invade, May ev'ry bower bend her shade, Each funny ray her beauties warm. Contend no more for beauty's worth, To Margaret my power is giv'n: She fhines the lovelieft fair on earth; And I, the brightest star in Heav'n. LONDON, March 29.4. The skill and gallantry of captain Prowse, of the Sirius, in preserving the convoy entrusted to his care, ere eminently conspicuous: he first conIrived to lead the enemy's frigates away from the fleet, and when they separated, and the sternmost tacked and stood after the merchantmen, he unmediately bore down on the other, as if determined to engage, upon which the enemy immediately recalled her consori. This manoeuvre he repeated more than once; nor did he make sail until he perceived the convoy to be in security. At first the enemy's frigates outsailed him; but by throwing two of his anchors overboard and carrying his guns afi, he found he had the advantage. Such was the countenance he shewed, and such the intrepidity of his conduct, that the enemy never dared to encounter him singly. This will appear the more singular and extraordinary, when it is known that the Sirius is a vessel of the smallest size, mounting only twenty eight guns, and the enemy's heary frigates carrying forty-eight and fifty guns. It is with sincere pleasure we Laform our readers that the Lords of the Admiralty have written a letter to Captain Prowse, expressing their high Satisfaction at his able and gallant proseedings, by which a valuable convoy has been saved to his country. It is by liberal and judicious encouragement hke this, that heroes are raised up for the British navy! It should be added, that she only vessel taken was a small brig, which got entangled with the land. should be received first here from Holland. A vessel from the Mediterrantan must be, owing to the preva lence of the casterly winds, a long time bearing up channel. This paragraph was read last night, by Mr. Braham, during the perform ance of the Oratorio, at Covent Garden Theatre-It was hailed with enthusiasm. It also excited a great sensation in the city. Of the correctness of the statement there is no boubt. Monday was the 28th.-The same report is mentioned in letters of the 26th and 27th, and also in letters from Holland, received at the Admiralty. APRIL 1. No further intelligence has yet been received relative to the rumoured victory in the Mediterranean. In seme letters from Holland, the engagement is said to be mentioned in a manner as if the writers supposed we had been fully in possession of the details. We see no reason to depart from the opinion we expressed yesterday, that a battle had been fought, and of course a victory gained. It is to be remarked, that all the rumours upon the subject agree that a British Admiral fell in the action. The first rumour mentioned Sir Sidney Smith, the last Sir Richard Strachan. We trust that this part of the rumour will prove false. 3. Though we are still unable to communicate to our readers an official confirmation of the reports of a Naval victory in the Mediterrancan, yet accounts have been received that tendto corroborate the intelligence, which had previously reached us upon that subject. A letter, we understand, was 81. Private letters from Holland, of yesterday received by a gentleman of so late a date as Monday last, were re, eminence in the city, from his brother, ceived in town this day. They repeat who is on beard the Lavinia frigate, the report of an engagement in the captain Handcock, which states, that, Mediterranean, between the British Sir Rd. Strachan having received inteland the combined French and Spanish ligence that the enemy's squadron was squadreas, in which, it is said, in Falmas Bay, immediately sailed thithe enemy lost 9 sail of the line, ther, and, notwithstanding the superis, and Sir Richard Strachan was killed. ority of their force, they having twelve, The enemy's force consisted of 12 sail sail of the line and he only eight, im of the line, besides frigates, &c. It is mediately attacked them. A most dest got extraordinary that such intelligence •perate 1 |