108 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



<hc only excuse were, that the lord 

 advocate was a very warm man, he 

 thought that was a very ample rea- 

 son why he should not be trusted 

 with those extraordinary powers. 

 In the present instance, he conceiv- 

 ed, that those powers were most 

 grossly abused, and he should, there- 

 fore, support Mr. Whilbread's mo- 

 tion. 



The Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 would not undertake to justify the 

 whole of the letter; but he would 

 rontend, that Morrison's ronduft 

 could not be justified at all, either 

 on the ground of humanity, or of 

 common honesty. The lord advo- 

 cate was a man, who, in a high si- 

 tuation, had served the'state with 

 great zeal and ability for a consider- 

 able length of time ; and it', as he 

 had before said, it should appear to 

 the house, that his condn6t, on this 

 occasion, was dictated purely by an 

 ardent zeal for the del'eucc of the 

 rountry, in a critical period, he 

 trusted he would experience some 

 indulgence from the ho\ise. 



The house then divided on the at- 

 torncy-general's motion, for passing 

 to the other orders of the day, and, 

 an a division, Mr. Whitbread's mo- 

 tion was rejected by a majority of 

 77. 



The proceedings respee'ting the 

 Irish judge, Mr. justice Fox, also 

 occupied some time in the discus- 

 sions of this day in the house of 

 commons. 



Colonel Cole, presented a petition 

 to the house from the persons com- 

 posing a petty jury at I']nniskillen, 

 complaining of Mr. justice Fox. 

 The petition stated, that the jurors 

 were impanncUed to try three per- 

 sons on a charge of murder. Very 



high rewards had been offered for 

 the discovery of the murderers, 

 which might have proved a temp- 

 tation to false evidence, and the 

 witnesses not having, by any means, 

 identified the prisoners, they found 

 them — " Not guilty :" upon which, 

 Mr. justice Fox Avas so angry at 

 their vcrdi(^>, that he had their 

 names posted up in the grand jury 

 room, and ordered, that they should 

 be handed down to every succeed- 

 ing judge and sheriff, as persons not 

 M orthy of belief upon their oaths. 

 The petitioners felt extremely hurt 

 at this treatment ; and, therefore, 

 prayed for such satisfaction or re- 

 parati(;n, as might be thought meet. 



The petition was ordered to lie 

 on the table. 



On the 3lst of May, the marquis 

 of Abercorn presented, to the house 

 of lords, a petition from Mr. Hart, 

 similar to that Avhich had been pre- 

 sented to the house of commons. 



On the 21st of June, lord vis- 

 count Carlton presented a petition 

 from Mr. justice Fox, praying, that 

 he might have a copy of this peti- 

 tion of Mr. Hart, in order that he 

 might be able to shape his defence. 



The prayer of this petition was 

 immediately allowed. 



On the 27th, the marquis of 

 Abercorn stated, that he did not 

 think that the business could be 

 fairly brought to a decision that 

 session, as many of the petitions 

 sent over to him, were put in lan- 

 guage so unparliamentary, that he 

 would find it necessary to send them 

 back again, to be altered. He un- 

 derstood also, that the learned judge 

 was not as yet prepared with his 

 defence. 



Lord Moira thought, it was a 

 punishment; 



