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The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.Pelham, Camden

History

The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.

Name: The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.
Author: Pelham, Camden

Pelham, Camden

Crime -- Great Britain; Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England)

"As to the circumstances that have been raked together, 1 have nothing
to observe but that all circumstances whatever are precarious, and have
been but too frequently found lamentably fallible; even the strongest
have failed. They may rise to the utmost degree of probability, yet they
are but probability still. Why need I name to your lordship the two
Harrisons recorded by Dr. Howel, who both suffered upon circumstances
because of the sudden disappearance of their lodger, who was in credit,
had contracted debts, borrowed money, and went off unseen, and returned
a great many years after their execution? Why name the intricate affair
of Jacques de Moulin, under King Charles II. related by a gentleman who
was counsel for the crown? And why the unhappy Coleman, who suffered
innocently, though convicted upon positive evidence; and whose children
perished for want, because the world uncharitably believed the father
guilty? Why mention the perjury of Smith, incautiously admitted king's
evidence: who, to screen himself, equally accused Faircloth and Loveday
of the murder of Dun; the first of whom, in 1749, was executed at
Winchester; and Loveday was about to suffer at Reading, had not Smith
been proved perjured, to the satisfaction of the Court, by the governor
of Gosport hospital?

"Now, my lord, having endeavoured to show that the whole of this process
is altogether repugnant to every part of my life; that it is
inconsistent with my condition of health about that time; that no
rational inference can be drawn that a person is dead who suddenly
disappears; that hermitages are the constant depositaries of the bones
of a recluse; that the proofs of this are well authenticated; that the
revolutions in religion, or the fortunes of war, have mangled or buried
the dead;--the conclusion remains, perhaps, no less reasonable than
impatiently wished for. I, at last, after a year's confinement, equal to
either fortune, put myself upon the justice, the candour, and the
humanity of your lordship; and upon yours, my countrymen, gentlemen of
the jury."

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.

Pelham, Camden

Crime -- Great Britain; Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England)

"As to the circumstances that have been raked together, 1 have nothing
to observe but that all circumstances whatever are precarious, and have
been but too frequently found lamentably fallible; even the strongest
have failed. They may rise to the utmost degree of probability, yet they
are but probability still. Why need I name to your lordship the two
Harrisons recorded by Dr. Howel, who both suffered upon circumstances
because of the sudden disappearance of their lodger, who was in credit,
had contracted debts, borrowed money, and went off unseen, and returned
a great many years after their execution? Why name the intricate affair
of Jacques de Moulin, under King Charles II. related by a gentleman who
was counsel for the crown? And why the unhappy Coleman, who suffered
innocently, though convicted upon positive evidence; and whose children
perished for want, because the world uncharitably believed the father
guilty? Why mention the perjury of Smith, incautiously admitted king's
evidence: who, to screen himself, equally accused Faircloth and Loveday
of the murder of Dun; the first of whom, in 1749, was executed at
Winchester; and Loveday was about to suffer at Reading, had not Smith
been proved perjured, to the satisfaction of the Court, by the governor
of Gosport hospital?

"Now, my lord, having endeavoured to show that the whole of this process
is altogether repugnant to every part of my life; that it is
inconsistent with my condition of health about that time; that no
rational inference can be drawn that a person is dead who suddenly
disappears; that hermitages are the constant depositaries of the bones
of a recluse; that the proofs of this are well authenticated; that the
revolutions in religion, or the fortunes of war, have mangled or buried
the dead;--the conclusion remains, perhaps, no less reasonable than
impatiently wished for. I, at last, after a year's confinement, equal to
either fortune, put myself upon the justice, the candour, and the
humanity of your lordship; and upon yours, my countrymen, gentlemen of
the jury."

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.

The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.

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