066 Kidd V. Royal Agricultural Society of England. 
it recites the case of Mr. Eaton, and the opinion of a veterinary surgeon that 
an animal in his herd died by poison ; it spcalvs of the cake in this instance as 
being, " like Mr. Eaton's, a very bad cake ;" it winds up by suggesting that 
it is " composed of dirty linseed and of the sweepings of warehouses." I will 
only say upon that, that jow have to sweep out of your minds the affirmative 
oaths of the witnesses wliich 1 have called before you can accept the con- 
clusion that any one of those statements is ]iroved. 
Gentlemen, there is one thing they have left out which they ought to have 
put in, because whoever prepared that libel, or that Report, has left out this 
important item — in the original Report of Professor Voelcker, he added this 
very significant paragraph, after giving the result of his analysis and the dis- 
coveries he had made — a most emphatic proviso or protest, if I might call it 
so, against a too sudden determination — he said, " At the same tiuie I am 
bound to add that I have discovered no trace of poison in this food." Why 
was it that all the black names, all the husks and all the sweepings that are 
suggested, are put in and forced into dajdight, and paraded in this newspaiwr, 
and yet this passage which ought surely to have gone out with it, xmless 
indeed some one was clipping and jmring down this Report avIio was animated 
by that spirit which seemed to be afraid there would be unfair dealing on the 
part of Mr. Ayre if he was allowed to manii^ulate the eight tons ; and unless 
sometimes the great name of the Agricultural Society is used by those who 
too rapidlj'- and indiscreetly indulge a .susjoicion, and then find themselves 
committed to a charge. Gentlemen, I am bound to caution you in this case, 
and 1 am sure you will accept my caution with the sincerity with which I 
otfer it, that whatever be the assumed dignity, utility, or importance of this 
great public body, you ought to recollect that it is not the body them.selves 
that have given their own personal attention to this matter, either iu 
reference to the chemical inquiry, or to the preparation of that libel. The 
libel appears in the beginning of March ; the investigation and the interro- 
gatories are commenced, as you have heard from the letters, on the 25th Marcli. 
They first published the libel, and then called upon Mr. Wells to help them in 
making out the justification ; and. Gentlemen, all I ask you to do is to he 
guarded in a case which is supported in that way. We all know that there 
is a disposition in the mind when you start a theory, and perhaps even from 
the very fact that there is novelty in it, to believe that, by giving the sanc- 
tion of your verdict, you may do some possible good. I mean to say there is 
danger of such a thought arising in your minds ; but I will venture to ask 
you to look at the solid and affirmative testimony in this case, to be guided by 
the evidence which we have given you, which is the result of long experience, 
and that whatever respect you may feel for any theory or speculation, how- 
ever ingenious or clever you may think it, you will rather rest your verdict on 
the solid basis which, I venture to liope, you will be of opinion our case 
presents. 1 am entitled to make another observation upon this part of the 
case, and that is, that on those who assert that this was a dirty linseed, com- 
posed of the sweepings of warehouses and so-called j'oisonous materials, lies 
the responsibility of discharging the onvs of proof. If the result of your 
inquiry should even be this, that you could not go the whole way with me, 
and come to the conclusion that I have satisfied you from the body of testi- 
inony I have given that the charge contained in this libel is untrue, and that 
the character of my client is vindicated in that respect, still, if the Defendants 
have not succeeded in satisfying you so as to outweigh the evidence we havc 
given as to the truth of the charges contained in this libel, unless j'ou are loft 
in a jiosition in which your minds are without any doubt that that justifi- 
cation is proved, 1 claim, as 1 am entitled to claim, an acquittal at your 
hand.s, which would amount to a verdict in my favour — an acquittal from the 
charges put upon that plea of justification, because I am sure my lord by and 
