That is numbers of those upon whose attendance her justification must depend. The witnesses against her are not her neighbours; their characters are not known. They may be persons who care not what they say at home, and who care still less what they say in a remote part of the world. What conscious innocence then must support this illustrious woman, who, under all those cireumstances, says to us, "Go on, ask no delay." But it is my duty, and if I neglect it, is your duty, my lords, as her judges, to see that she does not suffer from her own fearlessness, and that the innocence of an accused party shall not be brought by its natural magnanimity into danger. precisely the object of this application. for an opportunity to know more of the witnesses. What I have already discovered of some, makes me more anxious to know more of the rest. Now I will pray any lawyer to tell me I will beseech any one who has ever witnessed a trial, to tell me, how can I proceed to cross-examine a single witness without knowing something of his neighbourhood, his habits, or his character? To put the case of one who has come to my knowledge. Amongst those who appear against her majesty, is one who has been discharged from her service for having robbed her of four hundred Napoleons. This can be proved by two witnesses: one of them is at Rouen, in France, and he is an English أن " naval officer-no Italian spy-no Hanoverian baron--but an English officer who has bled in the cause of his country. Should not the instance of this individual render me cautious of all the rest, and especially as I have reason to know that the other witnesses can be treated in the same manner, if time is given for inquiry? I ask no favor of your lordships, but justice. I ask you, as the queen's judges, into which you have erected yourselves, wifether you will drive me to defend her majesty under the disadvantages I have described? If I demanded any thing which could lead to the suspension of the proceedings, or to delay the result of the inquiry for a single hour, I should immediately abandon that demand, for I should have her majesty's directions to do so. But I only ask you to pause at the commencement, without protracting the conclusion; for, after the secret tribunal has reported, you must give time for the production of this evidence; so that whether you agree to it in one stage or in the other, the ultimate result must come when the same hour strikes, in both cases. I am presuming, perhaps I ought not, that after you have determined on a parliamentary inquiry, and sent the echo of the charges all over the land, with greater or less accuracy, according as the proceeding is public or private (if public with greater, and if private with less)--I have presumed, that her majesty's character being thus blackened by uncontradicted statements and reports, you will, out of the exuberance of your justice, allow some delay to enable her to bring forward the evidence on which she relies for her acquittal. I have assumed this, because there is no court of justice, whether in England or Milan, in which such an application could be resisted. If If you are can refuse British judges, it is impossible that you it. If you refuse it I am bound to say that you cannot deserve the character. I submit to your lordships, whether you will now permit the delay required, or whether you will delay the permission until it is too late to answer the purpose for which it is intended, as it must be if you postpone it, till the preliminary investigation has taken place. All I ask is, that you will not proceed to hear the cause in a manner which must lead to the condemnation of any individual, however innocent. I ask for that which every British court of justice must grant, where no one can be put upon his trial without being allowed time to bring forward his witnesses, and the refusal of which, the most innocent man who hears me, must feel to operate as a sentence of outlawry from his country. I have a right to assume from the votes of Parliament, and to cite the authority of one branch of the legislature, as at least worthy of attention, that we are now about to enter on J an investigation, which one branch of the legislature has pronounced "distressing to the feelings of her majesty, disappointing to the hopes of parliament, derogatory from the dignity of the crown, and injurious to the best interests of the empire." I fell the more confident, when I reflect on this, that in an investigation which the house of commons has so described, the delay of two little months will not be considered too great an indulgence for the purpose of furthering the ends of justice, and providing that a legal murder should not be committed on the character of the first subject in the realm. Mr. Denman. My lords, perhaps I should best consult the interests of my illustrious client, if I were to leave her cause to the powerful impression already made; but there are some circumstances which, perhaps, require one or two observations from me. As I happened to be the person who brought down the petition, in the absence of my learned friend, I may be permitted to express my confidence that I was not guilty of any aberration from the forms of the house, or the principles of justice, in the course which I adopted. I did not suppose that any considerations of a personal nature could exist, to render it unfit for me to ask, as a favor, from any peer of parliament, that he would present the petition with which I was intrusted. It did not appear to me, from |