Paul Clifford — Volume 07Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
General
Paul Clifford — Volume 07
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
Brigands and robbers -- Fiction
vigilance of my learned friend, but to treasure these my errors in your
recollection, and to consider them as so many arguments in favour of the
prisoner. If, gentlemen, I could by any possibility imagine that your
verdict would be favourable to the prisoner, I can, unaffectedly and from
the bottom of my heart, declare to you that I should rejoice; a case
might be lost, but a fellow-creature would be saved! Callous as we of
the legal profession are believed, we have feelings like you; and I ask
any one of you, gentlemen of the jury, any one who has ever felt the
pleasures of social intercourse, the joy of charity, the heart's reward
of benevolence,--I ask any one of you, whether, if he were placed in the
arduous situation I now hold, all the persuasions of vanity would not
vanish at once from his mind, and whether his defeat as an advocate would
not be rendered dear to him by the common and fleshly sympathies of a
man. But, gentlemen" (Mr. Dyebright's voice at once deepened and
faltered), "there is a duty, a painful duty, we owe to our country; and
never, in the long course of my professional experience, do I remember an
instance in which it was more called forth than in the present. Mercy,
gentlemen, is dear, very dear to us all; but it is the deadliest injury
we can inflict on mankind when it is bought at the expense of justice."
The learned gentleman then, after a few further prefatory observations,
proceeded to state how, on the night of ------- last, Lord Mauleverer was
stopped and robbed by three men masked, of a sum of money amounting to
above L350, a diamond snuff-box, rings, watch, and a case of most
valuable jewels,--how Lord Mauleverer, in endeavouring to defend himself,
had passed a bullet through the clothes of one of the robbers,--how it
would be proved that the garments of the prisoner, found in a cave in
Oxfordshire, and positively sworn to by a witness he should produce,
exhibited a rent similar to such a one as a bullet would produce,--how,
moreover, it would be positively sworn to by the same witness, that the
prisoner Lovett had come to the cavern with two accomplices not since
taken up, since their rescue by the prisoner, and boasted of the robbery
he had just committed; that in the clothes and sleeping apartment of the
robber the articles stolen from Lord Mauleverer were found; and that the
purse containing the notes for L300, the only thing the prisoner could
probably have obtained time to carry off with him, on the morning on
which the cave was entered by the policemen, was found on his person on
the day on which be had attempted the rescue of his comrades, and had
been apprehended in that attempt. He stated, moreover, that the dress
found in the cavern, and sworn to by one witness he should produce as
belonging to the prisoner, answered exactly to the description of the
clothes worn by the principal robber, and sworn to by Lord Mauleverer,
his servant, and the postilions. In like manner the colour of one of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account