112] 
the prisoner ; concluding a very able 
and argumentative speech by ob- 
serving, that the counsel for the 
prisoner might say, that he had 
acted for the interest of England, 
inasmuch as, instead of promoting, 
he had prevented an invasion! 
But how could that be said? for if 
he knew of an intention of invae 
sion, and had not communicated 
his knowledge to those most bound 
and most competent to counteract 
it, he prevented his country from 
gaining a decisive advantage, by 
the loss that would accrue to the 
enemy from their failure; and by 
forewarning them, he proved him- 
self equally their friend, and the 
enemy ef England : if he had been 
for England, the way was very 
short 5. but his conduct clearly 
shewed he had been for France. 
It therefore remained with the de- 
fendant to make his innocence ap- 
pear. His property, his honour, 
and his life, depended now on his 
convictionor his acquittal. The jury 
were invested with avery solemn 
and very important duty. They 
' were called upon to grant equal 
justice to the defendant, and to 
society. As they must guard them~- 
selves against any impressions 
which the misrepresentations. of 
the prosecutors might make upon 
their minds, so must they have an 
equal guard against any false im- 
pressions made by the counsel for 
the defendant. In the deliverance 
they were to make, if the evidence 
was inconclusive, they would rea- 
dily acquit him; but if the proofs 
were satisfactory the country call- 
ed for bis conviction. 
William Smith, esq. M. P. Mr. 
Sheridan, and lord Lauderdale, 
were called as witnesses to relate 
some conversations they had with 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
Stone on the subject of the state 
of this country; the general result 
of which appeared to be, that they 
considered him as a weak enthu- 
siast, who was desirous of bringing 
about a peace, for the sake of fa- 
vouring what he considered prin- 
ciples of freedom. 
Having proved the conspiracy 
between Jackson and Stone, seve- 
ral letters of the former were pro- 
duced, particularly one which 
pointed out the particular parts of 
Ireland most favourable to an in- 
vasion by the French, and Mr. 
Cockayne, the evidence against 
Jackson in Ireland, was called, 
and stated the whole of his connec- 
tion-with Jackson, nearly the same | 
ashe did on that trial. 
At half past ten the court, with 
consent of counsel, adjourned to 
nine o’clock the next day. And at 
nine on Friday morning, the court 
proceeded on the trial. 
The first evidence produced was 
a parcel of letters from the prisoner 
to Mr. Pitt; in which Stone pre- 
tended to make some discoveries, 
as to the designs of the French, by 
garbled extracts from his brother’s 
letters, which were themselves pros 
duced, to shew the unfairness of 
the prisoner’s conduct in this parti-« 
cular. A letter from Mr. Pitt was 
read, expressing his doubts as to the 
authenticity of the prisoner’s in- 
formation. 
The counsel for the crown then 
proved the correspondence be- 
tween the prisoner and Jackson in 
Ireland; which being read, closed 
the evidence for the prosecution. 
Mr. Serjeant Adair then rose to. 
open the: evidence for the prisoner, 
and to observe on that for the pro- 
secution. The former consisted 
only of evidence to pat ne 
the 
