It is inconceivable that the monstrous miscarriage of justice, which ensued, was the result of mere accident, negligence, or stupidity. It was clearly the duty of the officials of the Admiralty, in whose court Kidd was being tried, to allow him access to the papers, including the passes, which had been delivered to them by the order of the House of Commons for that purpose. It was clearly the duty of Kidd’s two paid counsel to put in an appearance and press for a further postponement of the trial, until these passes had been produced, instead of leaving him, as they did, in the lurch to conduct his own defence, with the disastrous results that might have been anticipated. It is very difficult to avoid the suspicion of foul play on behalf of one or more of the great personages interested in the case. In this connection there are certain facts which it is impossible to ignore. At the time of the trial, impeachments were pending in Parliament against Orford, the late First Lord of the Admiralty, and Somers, for their participation in Kidd’s enterprise. No efforts had been spared by their political opponents to induce Kidd to make damaging disclosures against them. Thus far they had been unsuccessful. Kidd had remained faithful to his employers. But dead men tell no tales; and neither Orford nor Somers could have felt any security against untoward disclosures on his part so long as he remained alive. Coming to the last of the very significant close coincidences of date that abound in this case, we find that Somers deferred putting in his reply to the Articles of Impeachment drawn up against him by the Commons until the day after Kidd’s execution. In order to appease public opinion and the East India Company, some scapegoat was indispensable, if these two great men were to be allowed to go scot free. Can it reasonably be doubted that it was this consideration that induced the officials of the Admiralty to keep back from Kidd and from the Court the two French passes which would have been his salvation and which had been delivered to them by the House of Commons, in order that he might have access to them?