The unfortunate
Highlander stood his trial at Carlisle. I was myself
present, and as a young Scottish lawyer, or
barrister at least, and reputed a man of some quality,
the politeness of the Sheriff of Cumberland
offered me a place on the bench. The facts of the
case were proved in the manner I have related
them; and whatever might be at first the prejudice
of the audience against a crime so un-English
as that of assassination from revenge, yet when the
rooted national prejudices of the prisoner had been
explained, which made him consider himself as
stained with indelible dishonour, when subjected
to personal violence; when his previous patience,
moderation, and endurance, were considered, the
generosity of the English audience was inclined
to regard his crime as the wayward aberration of
a false idea of honour rather than as flowing from
a heart naturally savage, or perverted by habitual
vice. I shall never forget the charge of the venerable
Judge to the jury, although not at that time
liable to be much affected either by that which was
eloquent or pathetic.
``We have had,'' he said, ``in the previous part
of our duty,'' (alluding to some former trials,) ``to
discuss crimes which infer disgust and abhorrence,
while they call down the well-merited vengeance
of the law.
Pages:
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386