SOS LON 
Here colonel O’Kelly, the under-Iheriff, and Mr. New¬ 
man, took their leave, and the prifoner pafTed a confider- 
abie time with Mr. Devereux.—On Monday morning the 
platform was erected as early as five o’clock, with the rail¬ 
ing round it. At fix the circle was formed by the con- 
flables, and the crowd began to afi'emble from all quarters 
of the town; the day was remarkably fine, and every 
window, and all the tops of the houfes that had any view 
of the gallows, were covered with fpeftators. The Rev, 
Mr. Devereux arrived about fix o’clock, and was admitted 
to the unfortunate prifoner, whom he found walking about 
his cell with hurried fteps, clenched hands, and his eyes 
turned up to heaven. Mr. Devereux heard his confefiion, 
adminiftered the facrament to him, and remained with 
him in fecret prayer until half-pad feven. Colonel O’Kel¬ 
ly, Mr. Newman, and the under-fheriff, arrived about fe¬ 
ven, and waited in the yard for half an hour, when the 
prifoner was brought forward. He feemed to look to his 
fate with firmnefs and refignation. He kept his colour as 
ufual, but the tears ftood full in his eyes. He was pinioned, 
and both his wrifts tied clofe. Whilft in this date, colo¬ 
nel O’Kelly again addreffed him in the following man¬ 
ner: “Now the fatal hour is arrived, and I underhand 
you have received the facrament, as you have but this 
one moment allowed you to fatisfy jufiice and the public, 
by making a candid declaration, and acquitting the in¬ 
nocent, take advantage of it, by figning this confefiion, 
which I have juft drawn up on this fmall bit of paper. 
Read it over attentively : you will perceive I have left a 
blank, and your own confidence will tell you what to do 
with it.” The following is an exaff copy of the paper 
which O’Kelly handed to him :—“ I, James Leary, having 
received the facrament, and being now on the brink of 
eternity, do hereby molt folemnly declare, that I did 
commit the murder of Clifford.” 
Leary (after reading it over) faid, “ Colonel, I fee you 
do not credit me ; but, as I expeft for mercy, what I now 
declare is true. Give me your pencil.” The colonel 
gave him a pencil; and, although both his wrifts were 
tied, in the prefence of all he interlined the words al¬ 
though / was prefent. In the blank fpace he wrote not , and 
alfo figned the paper ; which then ftood thus :—“ I, James 
Leary, having received the facrament, and being now on 
the brink of eternity, do hereby moft folemnly declare, 
that, although I was prefent, I did not commit the murder 
of Clifford. James Leary.” 
Leary was then led forward to the place of execution ; 
and, as he was mounting the ladder, O’Kelly, who Hill 
ltrove to roufe him to a confefiion, for the laft time ad¬ 
dreffed him thus :—“ Leary, look round ; what an awful 
fight prefents itfelf to you !—in ten minutes more you 
will be before your Judge ; and, if you have committed 
an error in this paper, it is not yet too late to corredl it.” 
Leary, (turning his eyes towards heaven.) I call on my 
great God, in whofe prefence I am fhortly to appear, to 
witnefs, that every fentence of that confefiion is true. 
Colonel. One word more, Leary. Do you mean to fay 
that it was Mrs. Clifford who committed the murder ? 
Leary. I would with not to be prefied more on that 
queftion ; I have made my confefiion, and I hope alfo my 
peace with God. 
Mr. Devereux beckoned to O’Kelly to prefs him no far¬ 
ther ; and, in about feven minutes more, he was launched 
into eternity. The other criminal who was executed 
with him had continued uninterruptedly in prayer with 
the ordinary ; he was penitent, tranquil, and refigned ; 
and his fufferings appeared to be over almoft as foon as he 
was let drop; but Leary, who had been thus kept in agi¬ 
tation to the laft moment, was obferved to be a full quar¬ 
ter of an hour in convulfive agony. 
On the day after Leary received fentence, he wrote a 
very long letter to his mother, in which he moft folemnly 
•declared his innocence of the murder, but that unfor¬ 
tunately and unexpectedly he chanced to be prefent. In 
this letter he moft carneftly requefts that his mother will 
DON. 
go amongft all his friends and acquaintance, and let them: 
fee this letter, in which he fays he calls on God to wit¬ 
nefs his innocence; and that, before fhe reads that he 
will be no more. His bleffing to his children, &c.—Hff 
alfo, after his firft interview (on Sunday evening) with 
colonel O’Kelly, had an appeal to the public drawn up 
by the Rev. Mr. Devereux, to be delivered to Mr. Sheriff 
Hoy after his execution. Mr. D. however, had perfuaded 
him to fupp'refs it, and actually tore it to pieces in his 
prefence ; but the pieces were collected by one of the 
turnkeys, and pafted upon paper. Never did man proteft 
his innocence fo repeatedly and fo folemnly : we Ihall 
therefore prefent this document to the public, with an 
apology for having dwelt fo long upon this moft rriyfte- 
rious and dreadful cafe.—“ Honoured Sir; Before this 
paper can meet the eye of the public, to whom I entreat 
it may be communicated, I fhall be arraigned before the 
tribunal of the Eternal; confronted, perhaps, with him 
for whofe murder I Ihall have undergone the dreadful 
fentence of the law. With all the folemnity of one un¬ 
der circumftances fo appalling to human nature, I atteft 
the Great Arbiter of my Deftiny, who will, I am per¬ 
fuaded, if I make him party to a falfehood, plunge me, 
into eternal perdition : I atteft the fpirit of the murdered 
Clifford, who muff, if I embrued my hands in his blood, 
cry out for vengeance on my guilty foul ; I atteft heaven 
and earth to witnefs—that I did not contribute, either by word 
or by deed, to the perpetration of the crime for which I am going 
tofijfer. I acknowledge, however, the juftice of my pu- 
nilhment; becaufe I ought, as I had it in my power, to 
have prevented its perpetration. For this, and for every 
other offence of which I ftand culpable in the fight of the 
Almighty, I am moft heartily lorry, and moft earneftly 
implore pardon of him, of my country, and of my fellow- 
citizens. I throw myfelf upon the mercy of my crucified 
Redeemer; and, through his merits alone, humbly, but 
firmly, hope for theremifiion of my manifold tranfgrefiions. 
I have, with the moft undoubting confidence in his all- 
merciful goodnefs, endeavoured to prepare for the awful 
moment which is to uftier me into his immediate prefence. 
I, in imitation of his divine example, moft cordially for¬ 
give my profecutors, and die in fentiments of the moft: 
perfect charity with all mankind. Newgate, Sept, zo, 1813.” 
The fettlements at Port Jackfon, &c. in New South 
Wales, were at this time in a iatisfafrory ftate of improve¬ 
ment. The Sydney Gazettes, from January to July, af¬ 
ford a view of the ftate of the different fettlements, which, 
notwithftanding the lcarcity of lpecie, and fome other lo¬ 
cal inconveniences, that were likely to be remedied by 
the prudent regulations of governor Macquarrie, w'ere ad¬ 
vancing fait to profperity and comparative opulence. 
The great objeft of the merchants and inhabitants was to 
eftablifh an export-trade with this country ; and for this pur- 
pofe to obtain leave to fhip their furplus grain (which was 
rotting in the barns), fait pork and beef, for his majefty’s 
navy, and wool, faid to be little inferior to that of Spain, 
in return for the cuftomary importations, inftead of making 
remittances in money, which drained the lettlement of 
fpecie, and impoverilhed the coionifts. Another objeft 
was, to obtain permiilion to diltil fpirits in fhe colony, 
which would greatly benefit the cultivator, and retain the 
money generally paid for fpirits obtained from America, 
the Eaft Indies, and other places. Memorials on thefe 
topics had been prefented to governor Macquarrie, figned 
by the principal inhabitants of the different fettlements, 
and tranfmitted for the confideration of his majefty’s mi- 
nifters. 
On the 5th of July, the firft ftone of a new prifon was 
laid, in Whitecrofs-ftreet, nearly oppofite Cripplegate 
church. This prifon, when completed, is to be appropri¬ 
ated folely to the confinement of London and Middlefex 
debtors, inftead of Newgate and the Compters, to which 
fuch unhappy perfons have hitherto been configned. This 
is one of the beneficial rcfults of the Letter addreffed by Sir 
Richard Phillips (ftieriff in 1807-8) to the Livery of Lon- 
