you, gentlemen, that they contain a variety of particulars which have not been read, and have been omitted by the consent of the pannel; and from this, his Lordship observed, an inference might be drawn that the declarations contain many more particulars little to the credit of the pannel. Gentlemen, an inference more candid, or at least more charitable, might, in my opinion, be deduced from the circumstance. It is easy to conceive the state of mind in which the pannel must have been when apprehended. Connected with those infamous men who were supposed to have committed the crime, a partner in their most dissolute scenes, no wonder, gentlemen, that he was struck with terror when seized upon an accusation of being joined in their guilt. After having resisted for some time the impressions arising from his confinement, his panic most naturally increased almost to a delirium; a fit of temporary frenzy, an insanity, seized him, and he accused himself of an atrocious crime as the only means of safety. But this accusation is rejected by his cooler judgment, and accordingly he pleaded not guilty at this bar. In accusing himself in such a manner, the greater variety of crimes he laid to his own charge, the greater is the improbability of their being true, for it was folly to balance the merit of confessing a crime eagerly inquired after by the guilt of other crimes which were out of head. And it was folly of such a sort as to prove that the pannel was incapable of rational conduct; and thus the credit of his declaration, in so far as it injured himself, is in charitable reasoning considerably diminished. But, at all events, gentlemen, it is sufficiently known and acknowledged, and it was even admitted--at least, it was not denied by the Lord Advocate himself--that the extrajudicial declaration of a pannel is not legal evidence against him. It is undoubtedly a circumstance in evidence, but not of weight to convict unless it be adminicled by other proof. This will be admitted, on all hands, to be the law of Scotland, and I shall make no comment on it. If, therefore, it is shown to your satisfaction that the parole and circumstantiate evidence is either contradictory, inconsistent, or incredible, you will lay very little stress on the extrajudicial confessions of the prisoner. And this leads me to the second branch of the evidence, or the attempt at a direct proof of the accession of the pannel, Smith, to the crime charged.