646. Proceedings on the Trial of JAMES HADFIELD, at the Bar of the Court of Kings Bench, for High Treason, June 26 : 40 GEORGE III. A. D. 1800.* COURT OF KINGS BENCH June 26th 1800. Present.---Lord Kenyon Chief Justice ; Mr. Justice rose; Mr. Justice Lawrence ; Mr. Justice Le Blanc. Counsel for the Crown. Mr. Attorney General, sir John Mitford, afterwards lord Redesdale ; successively Speaker of the House of Commons and lord chancellor of Ireland]. Mr. Solicitor General [sir William Grant, afterwards Master of the Rolls]. Mr. Law [afterwards lord Ellenborough and Chief Justice of the Kings-bench]. Mr. Garrow [afterwards a Baron of the Exchequer]. Mr. Wood [afterwards a Baron of the Exchequer]. Mr. Abbott (afterwards Chief Justice of the Kings-bench]. Solicitor. Joseph White, esq. solicitor for the affairs of his Majestys Treasury. Counsel assigned for the Prisoner. The Ifon. Thomas Erskine [afterwards Lord Chancellor Erskine]. Mr. Serjeant Best [afterwards a Judge of the Kings-bench]. Assistant Counsel. Mr. Knapp. Solicitor. Mr. Charles Humphries. The Court beingopened, andJames Hadfield set to the bar, the jurors returned by the she- riff were called j d over : Rice Davis, esq. challenged by the prisoner. Samuel David Liptrap, esq. challenged by the crown. Major Rhode, esq. challenged by the prisoner. Castin Rhode, esq. challenged by the prisoner. Jesse Russel, esq. challenged by the prisoner. Luke Flood esq. sworn. Thomas 13aldock, gent. sworn. Peter Adams, cooper, sworn. William Windsor, pawnbroker, challenged by the prisoner. Daniel Williams, esq., challenged by the prisoner. James Green, esq., excused on account of deafness. John Grant, esq., sworn. John Hanson, tea dealer, challenged by the prisoner. Now first published from the MS. notes of Mr. Gurney. VOL. XXVII. Edward Pryce, gent., challenged by the prisoner. Joseph Wigg, builder, challenged by the prisoner. Thomas Druce, stationer not a freeholder. Thomas, Bingham, cutler, sworn. Richard Meux, esq., challenged by the prisoner. John Blue, baker, challenged by the prisoner, Benjamin Banks, shoemaker, not a freeholder. Webb Marryat, esq., sworn. John Scott, coal merchant, challenged by the prisoner. Alexander Brodie, esq., challenged by the prisoner. Matthew Oliver, linen draper, sworn. Stephen Maberly, esq., challenged by the prisoner. Thomas Windle, esq., sworn. John Perry, esq. challenged by the prisoner. Charles Rich, esq., sworn. John Warren, esq., sworn. Joseph Bird, esq., challenged by the prisoner. Arthur Shakespear, esq. challenged by the crown. Peter Mellish, esq., challenged by the prisoner. Thomas Gutterson, brewer, not a freeholder. Joseph Ainslie, esq., challenged by the prisoner. William Blackmoor, esq. sworn. Andrew Burt, esq., challenged by the crown. William Clapperson, esq. challenged by the prisoner. Samuel Jackson, esq., challenged by the prisoner. Thomas Turner Weatherhead, esq., not a freeholder. William Watson esq. sworn. THE JURY. Luke Flood Matthew Oliver Thomas Baldock Thomas Windie Peter Adams Charles Rich John Grant John Warren Thomas Bingham William Blackmoor Webb Marryat William Watson. The Jury were charged with the prisoner in the usual form. 4N 1283] 10 GEORGE III. Mr. Abbott opened the Indictment which was as follows: Middleseal 11-1E jurors for our lord the to wit I king upon their oath present that James Hadfield late of Westminster in the county of Middlesex labourer being a sub- ject of our said lord the king not having the fear of God in his heart nor weighing the duty of his allegiance but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devilas a false traitor against our said lord the king his supreme true lawful and undoubted lord and wholly withdrawing the cordial love and true and due obedience fidelity and allegiance which every true and faithful subject of our said lord the king should and of right ought to bear towards our said lord the king on the fifteenth day of May in the fortieth year of the reign of our said sovereign lord George the Third by the grace of God king of Great Britain France and Ireland defender of the faith and so forth at the parish of Saint Martin in the Fields in the county of Middlesex maliciously and traitorously with force and arms &c did compass imagine and intend to bring and put our said lord theking to death. 1st Overt ilet.---And to fulfil perfect and bring to effect his most evil and wicked treason and treasonable compassing and imagination aforesaid he the said James Hadfield as such false traitor as aforesaid on the fifteenth day of May in the fortieth year of the reign aforesaid at the parish of Saint Martin in the Fields in the county of Middlesex with force and arms maliciously and traitorously did buy obtain and procure and in his custody and possession did have and keep a certain pistol and a large quantity of gunpowder and divers leaden shot slugs and bullets with intent thereby and therewith maliciously and traitorously to shoot at assassinate kill and put to death our said lord the king. 2nd Overt Act. And farther to fulfil perfect and bring to effect his most evil and wicked treason and treasonable compassing and imagination aforesaid he the said James Hadfield as such false traitor as aforesaid on the fifteenth day of May in the fortieth year of the reign aforesaid at the parish of Saint Martin in the Fields in the county of Middlesex with force and arms maliciously and traitorously did secretly and clandestinely arm himself with a certain pistol charged and loaded with gunpowder and certain leaden shot bullets and slugs and did go and repair so armed as aforesaid to a certain theatre called Drury-lane theatre with intent at and in the same theatre be and with the said pistol so loaded as aforesaid arid with which he the said James Hadfield had so armed himself as aforesaid maliciously and traitorously to shoot at assassinate kill and put to death our said lord the king. 3rd Overt Act.---And farther to fulfil perfect and bring to effect his most evil and wicked treason and treasonable compassing and imagination aforesaid lie the said James Hadfield Trial of James Hadfield E 1281 as such false traitor as aforesaid on the fifteenth day of May in the fortieth year of the reign aforesaid at the parish of Saint Martin in the Fields in the county of Middlesex with force and arms maliciously and traitorously did shoot off and discharge a certain pistol then and there being loaded with gunpowder and divers leaden shots slugs and bullets which he the said James Hadfield then and there had and held in his right hand at the person of our said lord the king with intent thereby and therewith maliciously and traitorously to shoot assassinate kill and put to death our said lord the king against the duty of the allegiance of him the said James Ikd- ,e, - field against the form of the statute in that case made and provided and against the peace of our said lord the king his crown and dignity. Mr. Attorney General. Gentlemen of the Jury; The prisoner at the bar, James Hadfield, stands indicted for high treason ; and that high treason is the compassing and imagining the death of the king a crime which you must all feel to be one of the highest and of the most heinous nature, involving in its probable consequences every thing which can affect the peace and happiness of the country. Gentlemen, the overt acts of this treason, which, according to the law, are to be alleged in the indictment, are all directly aimed at the person of the king; the prisonerlis charged with procuring and keeping in his custody a pistol for that purpose ; he is charged with going to the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane armed with that pistol loaded for the purpose ; and, finally he is charged with having fired that pistol at the person of the king. Gentlemen, upon this subject, which has much engrossed conversation, you probably have heard many things : it will be your duty to discharge from your minds every thing which you have heard upon the subject, to attend solely to the evidence which will now be given to you upon oath, and upon that evidence to decide. If, in stating to you that evidence, I should err, you will be able to correct me by the observations which you will make upon that evidence. I shall endeavour to state it to you shortly, but truly, for no purpose but to lead you to the right understanding of the evidence as it shall be delivered to you, and to enable you to embrace within your view the tendency of the different parts of it as they shall be given to you. Gentlemen, the facts, I think, will be proved distinctly and plainly, ; namely, that on the 15th of May last, when his majesty went to the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, at the moment of his entering into the theatre and advancing to the front of that box in which his majesty sits, the prisoner at the bar, who was then in the pit, a little removed from the centre of the pit, farther from the box where his majesty stood (in a position, therefore, which enabled him to take a very direct view of that box which you will recollect is a little 1285] fur High Treason. elevated), got upon the bench upon which he had been sitting, drew a pistol which he had before concealed, and discharged it at the person of the king : Providence warded off the blow, and it so happened that the slugs with which it will appear the pistol was loaded struck different parts of the box very near the person of his majesty, but happily hurt no one. Gentlemen, the crime with which the prisoner stands charged is the compassing and imagining the death of the king; for the law has made that imagination of the mind a crime in the case of the king when it is demonstrated by any overt act ; but even in the case of maliciously firing a pistol at any person the law has thought fit to make that demonstration of a wicked intent a capital offence, whoever shall be the object of it. The evidence that will be given to you, will prove to you clearly and distinctly the facts...
