credit, and that all the ablest of the chemists at the trial unanimously repudiated it as a heresy, unworthy of credit, and whose fallacy they had themselves proved by actual experiment; bear in mind, I say, all this, and remember with what a harsh and angry denial you refused to permit such an experiment, though upon it depended the blood of a man. I say deliberately that if these chemists have sworn the truth, and that there is no strychnia discernible in Cook’s body, then will William Palmer be murdered as effectually under the semblance of English law as ever the most innocent was butchered under the worst forms of the Papal Inquisition; and that the most fearful responsibility of blood that ever rested upon human head will be upon those who refuse to concede the test which is now challenged. I ask that that experiment shall be performed, which will set at rest for ever the imputation of judicial murder that will sear your lordship’s character with the present and with the future; an experiment which may probably clear your soul from the stain of blood that it must risk if you oppose this application. What is there unusual, what is there criminal, what is there illegal in only asking for a respite until it be proved--as it can be proved incontrovertibly--whether Cook died of strychnia or not? And if he did not die of strychnia, then is my brother’s innocence made manifest, even to your satisfaction! While, if it is shown that he did so die, then is the voice of accusation silent for ever, and the much-vaunted majesty, the supposed impartiality and purity of English law vindicated in triumph before mankind. The precise mode in which this experiment might be made it is not for me to suggest. I have no objection that it shall be made in any way which may appear satisfactory to the Home Office, provided only that neither Dr. Taylor nor Dr. Rees is entrusted with its management. In this pair of worthies I have no confidence. The first pronounced my brother guilty of poisoning on grounds the most ridiculous that can be imagined, upon which even a Stafford Grand Jury did not think there was sufficient to warrant them in finding even a _prima facie_ case for investigation at the assizes. He wrote letters to the newspapers branding the accused as a most desperate criminal; he largely assisted in getting up the prosecution, and was busily engaged all through the trial in writing notes and making suggestions to the Attorney-General and the other prosecuting counsel; he smiled perceptibly when the case was strong against my brother, and could not conceal his chagrin as it grew weak. As to Rees, he seems to endorse all that Taylor says, and I have no confidence whatever in him. A writer in the papers, who is unknown to me, makes a suggestion which you may bring if you choose before the Home Secretary; but it matters little by whom the experiment is made so that it is done by an honest man. “If it is