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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c65b33 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #51334 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51334) diff --git a/old/51334-0.txt b/old/51334-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 358de88..0000000 --- a/old/51334-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1437 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Story of Elizabeth Canning Considered, by -John Hill - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: The Story of Elizabeth Canning Considered - - -Author: John Hill - - - -Release Date: February 29, 2016 [eBook #51334] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF ELIZABETH CANNING -CONSIDERED*** - - -E-text prepared by Lisa Reigel and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by -Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/storyofelizabeth00hill - - -Transcriber's note: - - Text in italics in the original are surrounded - by underscores (_italics_). - - A complete list of corrections follows the text. - - - - - - THE - STORY - OF - _ELIZABETH CANNING_ - CONSIDERED. - - By Dr. HILL. - - - - THE - STORY - OF - _ELIZABETH CANNING_ - CONSIDERED - - By Dr. HILL. - - With REMARKS on what has been called, _A Clear State - of her Case_, by Mr. FIELDING; and Answers to the - several Arguments and Suppositions of that Writer. - - - - [Illustration] - - _LONDON_: - - Printed for M. COOPER, at the _Globe_ in - _Pater-Noster-Row_. 1753. - - [Price One Shilling.] - - - - -THE -STORY -OF -_ELIZABETH CANNING_ -CONSIDERED. - - -Before I speak any thing in support of that Truth, on the Evidence of -which the Life of a most injur'd Person depends; I think it necessary, -that I may not seem, under the Colour of public Information, to be -acting an interested Part, and defending my own Conduct, to say, that -I am convinced it needs no Defence. Whatsoever the Malice of little -Adversaries may wish to propagate on this Head, I shall be at Ease in -my own Mind, while conscious of the Honesty of my Intention; and I have -Reason to be satisfied, with Regard to the Opinion of the World, while -I have the Honour to be told, that he who is certainly the best Judge, -and perhaps the best Person in it, says, that I have done as became a -prudent Man. - -No one will call it a Bad Action, that I have endeavoured to obtain the -Truth, in a Case, where Humanity must have engaged any, who had the -least Suspicion of Falshood, to wish the Secret known; it would have -been a very imprudent one for him, who had no Authority to have taken -that Confession which discovered it; and it has appeared to those who -are better Judges, that it was most right, when the Preparation was -made for that Confession, to apply to the supreme Magistrate of the -Court, in which the Cause had been tried, to receive it. This is all I -have done in the Matter. - -I claim no Praise from it; that belongs to another; but neither can I -regard those who shall think, that which I have done merits Censure. - -Being disinterested, I may expect Credit; but there is yet a Reason why -I shall speak less freely. 'Tis an unfortunate Circumstance, that with -the Innocence of this Person, there is connected the Crime of another; -if not the intentional, at least the effectual Crime: The Evidence that -absolves the one accuses the other; and it is one of those Incidents, -under which Humanity is wounded by the Means, while it glories in the -End. - -It will be found, however romantic, or however absurd, such Conduct -may appear to many, that I have acted in this only on the Principle -of real Honesty and public Utility; and as I have acted, I would wish -to see others also act. But while I shall plead yet farther in the -Cause of a Person who is innocent, whom I have not seen, nor do know -that I ever shall see; and in whose Favour, I do avow in the Face of -Almighty God, no Application whatsoever has been made to me; it will -give me Pain to reflect that in every Argument I am wounding another; -concerning whom I know nothing of Certainty, more than appears from -this Evidence; nor can judge how far what so appears to be her Guilt, -may admit of Palliation. - -I know how improper, nay, how dishonest, it is in many Cases to -prepossess the Public against those whom their Country has not yet -found guilty of any Crime: No History can produce a greater Instance -of it than is before us in the present Story; and I shall think the -Obligation sacred that restrains my Hand upon every other Occasion: But -here the Life of a Person, certainly innocent, is concern'd on the one -Part; and not so much as the Life, even should the worst be proved, and -the Laws put in their fullest Execution, of one, as certainly a Cause -of the greatest Distress, and almost of Death to that Innocent, on the -other. As this is the Case in the present Enquiry, the Particularity of -the Circumstance may dispense with what would be faulty on a different -Occasion. - -I must the more think the doing of this necessary, and therefore -justifiable, as mean Sophistry, and the Parade of Argument, have -been employed on the other Side; and the Attempt of vindicating the -Accuser, though but a secondary Consideration, has, with some Persons, -altho' I hope with none of Consequence, prevailed against that Proof -of Innocence on the Part of the Accused, which alone can prevent the -Execution of a Sentence procured by a confess'd Perjury. - -I had read the Pamphlet in which these are us'd, as a Justification -only of the Conduct of a Man, against whom I have no Resentment; and, -as such, I could not desire to invalidate any thing that it contained: -But though I had no Wish against its Success on that Account, I cannot -see it aiming to overthrow that Justice and Compassion, which were -growing up in the Minds of all Men, with Respect to the Object whom I -had proposed to them as so worthy of those Emotions, without treating -it with that Severity, and condemning it to that Ignominy which it -deserves; without detecting its Misrepresentations, refuting its -imagined Arguments, and pointing out to those, who have not already -seen it, where they are to smile upon its Puerility. - -If it be possible that I should by this Piece of Justice make that -Man more my Enemy, than he is at present; I tell him, no Part of this -is written with that immediate Design: But I shall also add, that the -Importance of the Cause will compensate all that his pointless Arms can -return upon the Occasion; and that, if I shall become conscious, I have -been instrumental, tho' in ever so small a Degree, in saving the Life -of an innocent Person, the Remembrance will make me enjoy the Outrages -of all his little Followers. - -But with the same Warmth, under which I shall feel this Pleasure, I -must be sensible of the Pain which will attend the Consciousness, -that what I say, may be so construed as to hurt the other. I beg to -be believed that I have no Intent, for most assuredly I have none, to -injure her: Perhaps I look upon what she has done, with less Severity -than others. She may be able to prove that she was somewhere confined, -though she was not at this Place: I hope she will prove it: But as -many other Accounts may be given how a Person, less innocent, might -have been employed, I must have leave to name some of these: I must -have leave, till such a Fact is proved, to doubt the Truth of all; and -to build the Testimony of the Convict's Innocence, in part, upon the -Improbability of what at this Time appears her Story. - -Whatsoever I shall advance on this Head, is alledg'd only as what -might have happen'd, and I desire it may be understood as meaning no -otherwise. I have no particular Knowledge of the Truth with Respect -to _Canning_; and therefore can be positive only with Regard to those -Proofs that appear of the Convict's Innocence. As this is the true -Case, I beg that whatsoever I conjecture, may be received only as -Conjecture, and may not hurt her in the Eye of the World. - -When Truth is to be decided, Sophistry is impertinent; and when the -Proofs are at hand, and are such that all may judge by them, they -use a Freedom to which they have little Right, who attempt to guide -and to direct Mankind in their Determination. Whatsoever lies within -our Knowledge more than others have had Opportunities of acquainting -themselves withal, it becomes a Duty to impart; but when that is done, -by what Claim is it that we dictate? these or these Sirs! must be the -Conclusions: We are to state the Case, the World is to determine. - -'Tis hard for him who has engag'd, be it no more than his Opinion -on one Part, to be disinterested with respect to the other; nay, if -he were unbiass'd, such an one is still but a single Person; and he -has little Candour, and less Modesty, if he supposes every Individual -of the Publick is not as able as himself to judge upon that which he -allows to be, or which he affects to call, clear Evidence. - -As many things have come to my Knowledge in this strange Affair, with -which the Public cannot have been acquainted; it may be indulged me -to speak of them, without the Censure of Officiousness; and as I have -already delivered something concerning an Enquiry into the Truth, -which, as it appeared the Concern, so it has been the Study of some -Persons to invalidate, it may be esteem'd a Duty in me to support that -which has already so appeared; and to do this the more fully, I shall -add to it what farther the Time, the Nature of the Proceedings, and -the Respect to those under whose Cognizance the Whole now remains, may -warrant me in disclosing. - -I have ordered my Name to be put to this Pamphlet, that I may not be -supposed the Writer of those many other Pieces, which Ingenuity, or -its Parent Hunger, may hereafter obtrude upon the World; or of some -Things that have already offer'd themselves to its Notice; the Motives -to which, seem rather to lie in personal Resentment, than an Attachment -to Justice. As the Original Papers will hereafter appear, what I shall -now propose may stand as an Introduction to them: and it will answer -also another Purpose; in that it will, I hope, prevent the imbibing of -unjust Prejudices, and false Opinions, whether from the Deluded or the -Designing, the Interested or the Ignorant. - -The truth is of Importance; and it will be laid open: Till that -shall be fully effected, the same Principle which influenc'd me, as -unconcerned as any Man could be in the whole Matter, and of all Men -the least inclined to enter into Disputes and Quarrels, to undertake -the Protection, so far as it lay in my scanty Power, of the Innocent, -pleads with me, so far as my Opportunities may permit, and so far as -may be consistent with that Character which every Man ought to hold -sacred, to prevent farther Error. - -There will be those who think me wrong from the Beginning; and were I -actuated by their Sentiments only, I should agree with them. It was not -prudent to engage unnecessarily, in a Cause that must become a Subject -of Debate; but there are Motives superior even to Prudence, and these -had, in the present Case, a Right to Attention; Honesty, Humanity, and -Love of Justice: These, I hope, I shall always, although it be at the -Expence of some Scandal, prefer to that cold Principle; inasmuch as I -think it a greater Character to be an honest, than to be a wise Man. - -Thus much it may have been necessary, though very unpleasing, to say, -with Respect to those Motives which induced an unconcerned Person at -all to meddle in this intricate Discovery; since those whose own Hearts -do not acknowledge any Thought that has not Self for its Centre, may -not (uninformed of the Difference) suppose it possible any others -should have Place in the Breast of a Stranger. The Persons are all -unknown to me, but the Story was interesting; and Humanity must have -been unknown to him, who should have been let into so much of it, as -had come to my Knowledge, and not have enquired farther. I could have -no Interest in the Event farther than as one Creature of the same -Species is concerned in the Welfare of another; nor was I of any Part, -unless inclined to pity the miserable Convict; because she was poor, -and a Stranger, and oppress'd, and innocent. Such, at least, I was, at -that Time, inclin'd to believe her, and I am, by all that has pass'd -since, the more confirm'd in that Opinion. - -It will appear, that I have weighty, nay, that I have unanswerable and -incontrovertible Evidence, that I ought to be so; whenever those sacred -Proofs, which at this Time are in the Hands of that generous Magistrate -who has obtained them, shall appear, and untill that Time come, perhaps -it may not be thought singular in me to be persuaded of the Innocence -of this Woman, from the very Attempts which have been made by those who -espouse her Prosecutors, to prove they are not guilty. - -I have proposed to consider the whole Story; and to preserve a Conduct -answerable to that Intention, I shall begin with it somewhat earlier -than those have thought it prudent to do, who have hitherto treated of -the Matter. To judge truly of People's Actions, we should enquire into -the Designs of them; and this is best done by attending to the earliest -Notices. - -Some few Days after that _first_ of _January_, on which this _little -Child_, as those who despairing to convince the Judgment, attempt the -Passions of Mankind, affect to call her, is said to have been carried -away, I find the following Advertisement in the most Universal of the -Daily Papers. - - "_Whereas _Elizabeth Cannon_ went from her Friends between - _Hounsditch_ and _Bishopsgate_, on _Monday_ last, the 1st - Instant, between Nine and Ten o'Clock: Whoever can give any - Account where she is, shall have Two Guineas Reward; to be - paid by Mrs. _Cannon_, a Sawyer, in _Aldermanbury_ Postern, - which will be a great Satisfaction to her Mother. She is - fresh-colour'd, pitted with the Small-Pox, has a high Forehead, - light Eye-brows, about five Foot high, eighteen Years of Age, - well set, had on a Masquerade Purple Stuff Gown, a black - Petticoat, a white Chip Hat, bound round with Green, a white - Apron and Handkerchief, blue Stockings, and Leather Shoes._ - - "_Note, It is _supposed_ she was _forcibly taken away_ by - some evil-disposed Person, as she was _heard to shriek out - in a Hackney-Coach_ in _Bishopsgate-street_. If the Coachman - remembers any thing of the Affair, by giving an Account as - above, he shall be handsomely rewarded for his Trouble._"[15:A] - - [15:A] Daily Advertiser, January 6. - -This is a Circumstance, forgot by the disinterested; and pass'd over, -not imprudently, by those who espouse the Girl; but I must declare, -that with me it has great Weight. Why supposed to be taken forcibly -away? Are these Transactions common? or was there any Thing in the -present Case to authorise such an Imagination? To what Purpose should -she be forced away! She is not handsome; so that the Design could -not be upon her Person; and certainly the Dress that is described so -largely, could not tempt any one to carry her off to rob her; nor was -it necessary, for that might have been done where she was seized; nay, -and in the latter Accounts we are told it was done there. - -Who heard her shriek! or what is become of the Hackney-Coach Part of -the Story, no Syllable has been since uttered of it. Who should know -the Voice of a Servant of no Consideration, calling in a strange Part -of the Town from a Coach? What must the Ruffians have been doing who -suffer'd her to shriek! or who that heard such a Voice, and did, or -that did not know the Person, would not have stopped the Carriage! How -came he who heard so much not to call Persons to assist him? there are -enough in the Streets at Ten o'Clock; or, where's the Coachman, for -Coaches do not drive themselves, and certainly he might be found to -justify the Story. - -If a Coach carried her, where therefore is the Driver of it? or, if -she was dragged along, how did the People, who were taking all this -Pains, and running all this Hazard, to no Sort of Purpose, get her -undiscovered through the Turnpikes? The Public will judge of this early -Advertisement as they think proper; to me the Determination that should -be grounded on it appears too obvious; and, perhaps, in due time it -will be found supported. - -From the Day of this Publication, by which the World was informed -that such a Girl was carried off by Ruffians, (a fine Preparative for -what has follow'd!) we hear no more of her till her Return at the End -of Eight-and-twenty Days; when she tells her absurd, incredible, and -most ridiculous Story. A Piece of contradictory Incidents, and most -improbable Events; a waking Dream; the Reverie of an Idiot: A Relation -that could not be allowed a Face of Likelihood; and that would have -taken no hold on any, but as it pleaded to their Compassion. - -It was not on the Credit of this Story that the unhappy Creature, in -whose Case all these Endeavours have been us'd, was condemn'd. Let us -not imagine Courts of Justice swallow such Relations. 'Twas on the most -full Account, given by one, who declared that she had seen the whole -Transaction of which the Court was concerned to judge. One, who being a -Stranger to the Accuser, and a Friend of the Persons accused, declared -she saw the Robbery. This was an Evidence which must have been allowed -by any Jury of judicious and unbiass'd Men. Now that we are convinced -of the Innocence of the Persons who were condemned upon the Credit paid -to this Evidence, we must acknowledge, that human Wisdom could not, -at that Time, have discovered, nay scarce could have suspected it was -false; and that while unsuspected, it had been Injustice not to have -done exactly as was done upon the Trial. - -We are now reviewing that Account in a very different Light: we have -now been let into the Secret of its Origin; we have seen her since -voluntarily declare, that it was false and forg'd: not in part false, -but in the Whole, and that it was the Off-spring only of her Terrors: -and tho' actuated from the Influence of the same Apprehensions, she -confirmed it at the Trial, she now declares it, freely and voluntarily -declares it, to have been all a Perjury. - -She has confessed her Motive to the doing this, and that is it was -such an one, as might well have Effect upon an ignorant Creature: -This I shall consider at large when I come presently to treat of her -Informations. She has declared this to have been her only Motive; -and those who are most concerned, do acknowledge, that she was very -unwilling to give it; and was very difficultly brought to it. What -Reason could she have to contradict it? None! To this no one can speak -with more Authority than I: and I declare she had none. It was to -myself she promis'd the Confession. I had no Advantages to offer to -her, nor any Power to terrify: nor was this done privately; so that -there are Witnesses who know how free and perfectly 'twas voluntary. -I applied to the Lord Mayor, whom, 'till that Time, I never saw, -to receive her Confession: She was sent for; she made it; and the -Consequences are natural. - -The Lord Mayor had at that Time Proofs in his own Hands, as strong -as even this Confession, of the perfect Innocence of the miserable -Convict; and he has since received innumerable more; all more precise, -and punctual; more firm and more convincing. It can be no Reflection -on a Court, in which the Determination is made from Evidence, to plead -the Cause of that Innocency, which is proved by the after-discover'd -Falsity of such Evidence: Shame on the Folly or Malice that pretends -it can, even though you, _Fielding_, have pretended it: nor has any -thing been yet publish'd, more than what passed publickly; for the -Examinations before the Lord-Mayor have not been made in Corners. - -This is a Digression, but the Insinuations of bad Men have made it -necessary. I shall return to the Relation. The pretty Innocent, such -we should take her to be from the Story, tells us she was tempted -strongly: she was promis'd _fine Cloaths_, if she would _go their Way_. -This is the Account; and in the Name of Reason let us consider it. The -Phrase is an odd and unnatural one; and the fine Cloaths were to be -given. By whom? By one who hardly had a Covering for herself, and in -a Place where every thing spoke Beggary: Unnatural, ridiculous, and -absurd! - -There can be no Cause assigned, why Men should drag her many Miles, or -why Women lock her up to perish, without the least Advantage, or the -least Prospect of Advantage. I wish it could be said there appears no -End for which all this might be pretended; although there could be none -for which it should be done. - -Did the prophetic Spirit of her Virtue foresee exactly the Length -of her Confinement? How came she else to proportion, for it's plain -she did proportion, her Eating to it? There is, indeed, no Reason why -she should not have foreseen it, since the Duration was at her own -Pleasure. There appears no Cause why she did not make that Escape -the first Night, which she effected on the last Day at Four in the -Afternoon: and as it has been thought strange that no one opposed the -Persons in the Night in carrying her thither; I shall add, that I think -it still more strange no one was let into the Story on her Return. Her -Weakness might have made her complain; her Terror speak, and even her -Countenance must have occasioned Question. People could not be wanting -to this Purpose; for she that could set out in the Afternoon to walk -from _Enfield-Wash_ to _London_, must be met, over-taken, or seen, by -many Hundred Persons: her Figure was singular enough to have drawn the -Attention of some of these, her Aspect (as you describe it) of them -All: The Story has been enough spoken of to bring such People to attest -it, had there been any such; but if any have appeared, it has not come -to my Knowledge. - -Acts of Cruelty have been practis'd by Ruffians: I grant you so much, -mighty Reasoner! but there has been a Motive, the worst of them have -never done it otherwise: Their own Safety is the Common Cause, and -Cowards are to a Proverb cruel. But here Men endanger'd, and not -secur'd their Safety, by the doing it; and had no End to answer when it -was done. On the same Principle, before we can believe the Women (who -has been condemned) would have run the Hazard of her Confinement, when -they knew an Escape so practicable, we must expect to find some Motives -to their doing it. - -The Cant of the Subscription was her _Virtue_, but there must have -been a Face to stamp the Price on That: without it the Commodity's not -marketable: Naked Virtue is of no Value unto the Sort of People these -have been represented. Besides, had there been even this Temptation, -the Gipsey, who is charged with the Crime, could not have any Intent -to answer in the obtaining of the Sacrifice. She did not keep the -House; and it could not be in Friendship to Mrs. _Wells_, for they were -Strangers. - -The poor Girl left her Mother plump: This, Sir, is your Account, and -this the Partridge-Phrase by which you express it. She returned you say -emaciated and black; this was on the 29th of _Jan._ and, on the 1st of -_February_, she went down to _Enfield_ again: as you say, again. Never -were Transitions so quick, as have been those of this miraculous Girl; -for she was not black at this Time, upon this 1st of _February_. A Day -or two had made an amazing Change; for those who were present tell me, -she was at that Time red and white like other People. - -There was a Time, when even the warmest Advocates for the pretended -Injur'd, gave up all Expectation of Credit from the Nature of the -Story, and rested it upon the Weight of Evidence. I think, Sir, you was -of the Number, and, for the Credit of your Understanding, I hope you -were: That Weight is taken off: that Evidence, it is confess'd, was -Perjury. The Story now, therefore, stands on the Footing of its own -Credibility; and those who are the most violent in its Favour, have, -in Effect, if not in Words, given it up as false: I hope they will do -this in every Sense. Humanity, tho' mistaken in its Object, was a Plea -sufficient in her Favour when they first countenanc'd her; but Humanity -now changes Sides, and the Wretch, who pines under the Sentence, claims -its Offices. - -Let not the once deluded, and since obstinate Men, conceive they -will be supported by the Testimony of the Girl's coming Home in this -emaciated Condition, of this black Colour, and with this Aspect of a -putrid Carcase: Let them enquire, whether this was the Condition in -which she was first seen, and they will find it false: Let them ask -themselves, and their own Reason, if a Creature, in such a State, could -have walked Home; they will find it as absurd as the rest of the wild -Story: and there is as much Moral Certainty that it is false; invented -by bad Men to serve Purposes; and countenanc'd by weak ones who -believ'd it. - -It does not appear, (unless her own contemptible Story can be believ'd) -that she was confin'd any where, otherwise than by her own Consent: It -is not true that she returned in this dreadful Condition; nor can it be -true, that she could have supported Life till she arrived at it, and -after that have walked ten Miles immediately, or have been carried as -far so very soon after it. That she was not confin'd where she says, -is clear beyond all Possibility of Doubting, and there will remain -not the least Thought of it, even among her best Friends, as soon as -the Proofs, now in the Lord Mayor's Hands, shall appear: In the mean -Time, I, who have seen them, say it; and have, I hope, some Right to be -believ'd. - -Where a Girl, like this, could be; and how employed during the time; -is not difficult to imagine. Not with a Lover certainly, say you! You -would be happy, Sir, if all you beg should be allowed you. Not with a -Lover, Sir! Eighteen, let me remind you, is a critical Age; and what -would not a Woman do, that had made an Escape, to recover her own -Credit, and screen her Lover. I pretend to no Knowledge of this, as -having been the Case with Respect to the Girl of whom I speak; but, if -we are to reason, let us do it freely; and what appears so likely? - -The Description she gave of the Room in which she had been confined, -is urged by you to justify; but, Sir, that Circumstance alone ought to -condemn her. Let me not be understood to speak of that Description, -which she gave after she had seen it: That Subterfuge may serve for the -Excuse of those who will be found to want it. But let us now enquire -with better Judgment: Let us, Sir, appeal to that Account she gave -before the sitting Alderman, by whom she was first examined; and we -shall find it countenance the worst that can be thought against her. -Observe the Articles. - -She described it to be a _dark_ Room; in which she lay upon the -_Boards_; in which there was nothing except _a Grate_ with a Gown in -it; and a _few Pictures_ over the Chimney; from which she made her -Escape by _forcing down some Boards_, and out of which she had before -discovered the Face of a Coachman, through certain _Cracks_ in the Side. - -Let those who have seen the Room speak whether this was a Description -of it. They will answer No. No, not in any one Particular. Far from -being _dark_, there are _two Windows_ in it. These have Casements which -were unfastened, out at which she might have _escaped_, had she been -confined in it; so that pulling down of Boards to that Purpose could -not be necessary: Out at these also, I suppose, the might have _seen -this Coachman_, so that she needed not to peep through Cracks. There -was no Grate in the Chimney: so that no body could have been guilty of -this most housewifely Trick of putting a Gown in one: Nor were there -any Pictures over it. Of the latter there was no Probability to be any, -because the House had no Profusion of Furniture, and this was a Room -of Lumber: And it is palpable there could have been no Grate in the -Chimney of a long Time; for the whole Expanse of it was found covered -and overspread with Cobwebs, the Work of many Generations of unmolested -Spiders. Oh Providence that assists in these Discoveries! - -But though there was not what she said she saw in the Chimney, there -was about it, Sir, that which she must have seen, had she been there, -and which, had she been there twenty-eight Days, she must have seen -often enough to have remembered it; there was a Casement, put up over -the Chimney to be out of the Way: and this not newly laid there, for it -was also fixed to the Wall by Cobwebs of long Standing. - -If this were all, Sir, is not this enough to prove she never was in -the Place? But this is little to the rest. There was a Quantity of -Hay, near half a Load, there: Surely too large a Matter to have been -overlooked, and too important to have been forgotten: And there were -a multitude of Things besides; some if not all of which she must have -remembered; but not any one of all which she mentioned. - -Some who went first down, Neighbours and Men of Credit, who went to -countenance and to support her, had heard her Account of the Room, and -when they saw it, were convinced that her Description did not at all -belong to it: they gave her up, and they are to be found to say so. -Some who were too officious, eager to have the Story true, because -themselves believed it, got there before her also; these, when they -had heard the Objections, rode back Part of the Way to meet her, and -after some Conversation with her; after, for, if I may have Leave -to conjecture from the Circumstance, that is the least that can be -supposed, asking her if there was not Hay there; that is, in Effect, -after telling her there was, and that she should have said so; rode -back, and, with _Huzza's_ of Triumph, cried they were all right yet; -for she said now there was Hay in the Room. Was this or could it be an -Evidence of Weight with the Impartial? The best Way to determine is to -ask one's self the Question. What would it have been to you who are now -reading of it? - -But let me call up fairly the rest of your Arguments: You shall not say -I deal partially with you, by omitting any that seem to yourself of -Importance; and you shall hear the World say, so much I'll answer for -them, that they are one as important and as conclusive as the other. - -You have supposed the Girl not _wicked_ enough to have devised such a -Deceit: That, God and her own Heart alone can tell; and neither you nor -I have Right to judge of it. But you add, and this we both may judge -of, That you do not suppose her _witty_ enough to have invented the -Story. I give you Joy, Sir, of your own Wit, for thinking so! I am very -far from entertaining an high Opinion of the Girl's Intellects; but -such as they are, I think the Story tallies with them: none but a Fool -could have devised so bad a one. - -You say 'tis worthy of some Writer of Romances. I love to hear Men talk -in Character: no one knows better how much Wit is necessary to the -writing of such Books; and, to do Justice to your last Performance, no -Man has proved more fully, with how small a Share of it, they may be -written. - -But I shall follow you through some more of these your supposed -Improbabilities; and shew you they are all as probable as these. That -she should fix upon a Place _so far from home_, is one of them. That -may have been the very Reason why she fixed upon it: To me it would -have seemed much more strange, if she had fixed on one that was nearer. -The farther off, the farther from Detection. - -That Mrs. _Wells_'s House should be particularly hit upon seems -strange to you. But Mrs. _Wells_'s was a House of evil Fame, and there -was no other such about the Neighbourhood: The Improbability must needs -be, therefore, that of their fixing upon any other. - -We are asked, How should she know this House, as she approached it? No -body ever heard that she did know it, as she approached: And for the -famous Question, How she could, among a Number of People, fix upon the -_Gipsy_ whom she had particularly described before, as the Person that -had robbed her? The Answer is a very fatal and severe one; it is that -she _had not particularly described her before_. It is palpable she -never spoke of her even as a _Gipsy_, though no Woman ever possessed -the Colour and the Character of that singular People so strongly: Nor -had she given any particular Account of her Face; which, had she ever -seen it before, must have been remembered; for it is like that of no -human Creature. The lower Part of it affected most remarkably by the -Evil: The under Lip of an enormous Thickness; and the Nose such as -never before stood in a mortal Countenance. - -But these are Trifles: You'll give me up all these: I know you will; -for you'll do every Thing you must. You'll give all this and laugh at -the Advantage. The Strength is yet behind: These are the Outworks; -but I shall overthrow your Citadel. This Evidence of _Hall_, you have -reserved to the End; and I have reserved it too. Let us now state it -fairly. I'll give it all the Strength you can desire; and when I have -done so, I will shew you, but that's unnecessary; I'll explain to the -World, how all its false Strength was derived to it. Let us here take -it in the whole. - -The Account of the Transaction, with respect to the Robbery, you -argue must be true, because _Canning_ and _Hall_ relate it both alike. -But all Men see how weak an Argument that is. I will not suppose Mr. -_Fielding_ can be guilty of designing to impose upon the World in this -or any Part of the Case which he has published; and therefore I will -call it only a weak Argument. Let us consider the Circumstances under -which these Accounts were procured, and we shall see they could not be -otherwise than perfectly alike, even tho' they both were false. - -We, who suppose the Convict innocent, believe the Account of _Canning_ -to be a concerted Plan, long laboured, and well inculcated. That she -should not vary herself in the relating it, will not therefore be -wonderful: And I shall allow you Council! for you are not here acting -in any other Character; that if the Evidence _Hall_ had made a free and -voluntary Confession, without Fear, and without Constraint, and this -Confession had in all Points confirmed the Account of the other; and if -she had before known nothing of her Story; there would have been all -the Argument and all the Weight in it that you would have us grant. - -But let me ask you, Sir, for none know better than you do, were these -the Circumstances of that Confession? I need not ask you: Your Pamphlet -contradicts it. She refused to confess any such thing, you tell us -so yourself, throughout six Hours of strong Sollicitation, and she -consented to do it at last: Why? She says, and you say the same, it was -because she was else to be prosecuted as a Felon. - -Let us suppose the Story as we think it: An innocent and an ignorant -Creature saw Perjury strong against herself: She saw a Prison the -immediate Consequence: She supposed the Oaths that prevailed against -her Liberty, though innocent, might also prevail against her Life, -though innocent; and, to save herself from the Effects of this Perjury, -she submitted to support the Charge it made against others: Against -those whom she supposed condemned without her Crime, and whom she -thought too certain of Destruction to be injured by any thing she added. - -That this was the Case, her own Account, that of the World, and even -yours, concur to prove; nay, and the very Consequences prove it. If she -had sworn the Truth at this Time, is it, or can it be supposed, that, -unawed and untempted (for I had no Authority, and the Lord Mayor has -Testimony that he used none with her) is it to be supposed that she -would have gone back from it to Falshood? and that she would have done -this at a Time when it might have been destructive to herself; and when -it could only tend to let loose upon her those whom she had injured, -and those whom she always affected at least to fear? Certainly she -would not. There could be in Nature no Motive to her doing it; and the -most irrational do not act without some Impulse. - -But let us ask the Question on the other Part! We shall then find it -answered easily. Let us suppose we see, for 'tis most certain we do see -such a one, a Person who had been awed by her Ignorance, and Fears, -into swearing a Falshood; after having first voluntarily declared, in -the same Case, that which was the Truth: we see her conscious that, by -that Oath, she had procured the Sentence of Death against a Person whom -she knew to be innocent; and we shall not wonder at the Consequence. -Who is there lives, so abandoned, that he can say he never felt a Pang -of Conscience? The Ideot, the Atheist would in vain attempt to persuade -Men of it. Suppose what she had thus sworn to be false, as there are -now a Multiplicity of Proofs that it all was false, what are we to -imagine must be the Consequences? Unquestionably, Terror, Anguish, and -Remorse; Wishes to speak, and Eagerness to do it. Where is the Wonder -then that she should snatch at the first Opportunity; that she should -be persuaded to do it, even by the most Uneloquent! Where the Wonder -that she should thus go back into that Truth which she had late denied; -and when she had confessed the Perjury, declare and testify, for she -did much more than declare it, her Heart at Ease from that which had -been a Burden and a Distress intolerable and insupportable. - -This she declares to be the Fact; and what can be more natural? There -is as much Face of Truth in her Recantation seen in this Light, as -there would be Absurdity if it were looked upon in another. - -But their Informations, you repeat, are so alike! Sir, I must tell -you, they are too like: why do not you also see it? Indeed the Term -_like_ is improper; they are not like, for they are in Effect the same: -And farther, which is an Observation that must sting somewhere, though -these their Informations are thus like, their Evidence upon the Tryal -was not so. That we may know whether these could be so like without -having a common Truth for their Foundation, let us examine into the -Circumstances. - -Had _Virtue Hall_ ever heard the Story of _Canning_ before she gave -this Information? For if she had, allowing it all to be false, she -would assuredly make it like hers, by repeating the same Circumstances. -Let us enquire then, whether she had ever heard the Story? Yes, she had -heard it many times. It appears by her Account, and by the Concurrence -of all other Testimonies, that she had heard it from _Canning_'s own -Mouth at _Enfield_ on the 1st of _February_; on the same Day also she -says she heard it, and undoubtedly she did, at Mr. _Tyshmaker_'s: For, -eight Days after this, the Story of this _Canning_, as herself had -repeated it now twice in the Hearing of this _Hall_, was published in -the News-Papers, to raise Subscriptions. _Hall_ can read; or, if she -could not, she had Ears, and she must have heard this from all who came -to her. - -Now let us see when 'twas she gave this weighty Information. 'Twas -after all this Opportunity of knowing what it was _Canning_ said; -'twas on the fourteenth of _February_, and not before, that she was -examined by Mr. _Fielding_. There, as himself informs us, she was under -Examination from six to twelve at Night, and then, after many hard -Struggles and stout Denials, such are his own Words, she did, what? why -she put her Mark to an Information; and swore what it contained was -true. What it contained was the same that contained which had before -been sworn by _Canning_. The same Person drew both; and that not the -Magistrate, no, nor his Clerk: Who then?—why the Attorney who was -engaged to manage the Prosecution. - -Now, Syllogist, where is your Argument! Can two Persons who swear the -same thing agree in all Particulars, and yet that thing be false? Yes -certainly, if one has heard the other's Story. As certainly if the same -Hand drew up both the Informations, and both that swear are perjured. -This is the true State of the Question: You beg too much, as you have -put it. - -But let us see how these, who agreed so well in the written -Informations, agreed in verbal Evidence. We shall find they did not -coincide in that; and we shall find a Court of Justice is not satisfied -with a few Questions. - -Let those who would know this examine the printed Tryal. They will, in -that, find _Canning_ swearing that no body came into the Room all the -time she was there, and that she found the Pitcher there: And they will -find _Hall_ swearing that the Pitcher was put into the Room three Hours -afterward by the Gipsy. They will find tho' both agree in the Fact, yet -a Difference in the Circumstances even of the Robbery: _Canning_ swears -the two Men took her Stays and went out, while she was yet below; but -_Hall_ swears this was done after she was put up into the Room. - -These things, and things like these, I doubt not influenced that -worthy Magistrate first to suspect the Truth, who has now proved the -Falsity of both their Evidences. These things were not hidden, Sir, -from you: How was it that you overlooked them when you wrote this -Pamphlet? All I have urged you know; and knew before. You will find it -will convince the World, why did it not take that Effect on you? Are -you convinced now that you see it here? Speak freely; and answer to the -World this one plain Question, Was it your Head, or what was it that -played you false before? - -None will wonder, Sir, that Informations thus taken, and under these -Circumstances, should agree in all things, even though both were false; -nor was it possible for the Jury, on hearing the Evidence of both -agreeing in general with these Informations, to do other than find the -Accused guilty. None wondered at it, nor will wonder: None were ever -weak enough, or wicked enough, to reflect upon them. But although they -saw nothing to contradict the Truth of all this Swearing, you did, and -you acknowledge it: You acknowledge there came before you something to -contradict it, and it deserved its Weight. - -_Canning_'s Story appeared improbable; all rested upon the Evidence -of _Hall_: And there was given to you, against that Evidence, the Oath -of _Judith Natus_, one not belonging to the Gipsies, and whom you have -not any Reason to apprehend belonging to them; an honest Woman, Wife -of an honest Labourer, who, with her Husband, lay in the very Room, -in which the Girl pretended to have been confined, during the whole -time of that alledged Confinement. Here was the Evidence of a Person -of honest Character, and quite disinterested, against that of _Virtue -Hall_, confessed of bad Character, and deeply interested. This Oath, -Sir, you will find was Truth: It will be seen: It will be proved that -it was so, by Evidence the most incontestible. In the mean time, -let me, in the Name of Virtue and Impartiality, ask the whole World -whether this free Oath of an unconcerned Person, or the hardly-obtained -Information of one who was interested, and had the Alternative only of -that Information or a Prison, deserves the most Respect? - -You ask, Sir, why this Woman, and with her this Husband, were not -produced upon the Tryal? You tell us you can give but one Answer to -this, and that you conceal, Sir, I can give another, and it shall stand -openly. The Reason is a plain, and 'tis a dreadful one. They were -subpœna'd, and they were ready at the Court; but the Mob without-doors -had been so exasperated against all that should appear on the Part of -the Accused, that they were prevented from getting in, and treated -themselves like Criminals. - -This is now known, notoriously and generally known; nor is the Cause a -Secret. The Public were prejudiced in the most unfair Manner: nor the -Public only. Printed Papers were handed about the Court at the time of -the Tryal, calculated to enflame every body against the Accused; even -those on whose Impartiality the public Justice was to depend. I do not -suppose they took such Effect; but that this was the Design is plain. -It was an Insolence unprecedented, and surely will never be again -attempted. - -If Means like these were used within-doors, we cannot doubt enough -were employed without; nor wonder that those who could have proved the -Innocence of the Accused were insulted, terrified, and driven away. -'Tis easy to know what must be the Fate of the Guiltless, when only -those are to appear who accuse them. - -Such is the State, and the exact State, of that Case, into which -a Suspicion of Misinformation at first, a Confession of Perjury -afterwards, and accumulated Proofs in Support of that Confession, have -engaged the Lord Mayor of the City of _London_ to enquire certainly in -a virtuous and laudable Manner, even after the Tryal. The Enquiry has -answered all his Lordship's Expectations; the Evidence is clear, and -the Proof is full. But for this his impartial Enquiry, made for the -sake of Justice only, he is attacked by Calumny and private Prejudice: -The envious Hint he must be interested in it; while others, whose -Honour is as far beneath his, as their Abilities are inferior, wish the -Convict guilty, that he may sink into an Equality. That Magistrate is -too well informed of the Respect due to his Sovereign, not to lay all -the Evidences first before him; afterwards the whole World will see -them: And it is on Certainty and Knowledge I speak, who now tell them, -that, when they do see them, they will be convinced at full. - -In the mean time, it is not necessary that others should be blamed. -Those who are of the contrary Opinion maintain it, because they are -ignorant what are the Proofs on which the Innocence of the Convict is -supported. Every Magistrate who has enquired into the Story has a Right -to Praise from the World for that Enquiry: he has a Right to this, and -in Proportion, not to the Success, for that was not in his Hands, but -to the Pains which he has taken, and the Impartiality by which he has -been governed, in the Endeavour. - -Those who set on foot the Contribution, engaged in it beyond a Doubt -as an Act of Justice and of Virtue; it is most certain that they have -had no other Motive: that they have been imposed on is as certain; but -for that others must be answerable. If it were Justice to establish the -Subscription, all was Charity and Benevolence in those who encouraged -and promoted it; nor is their Generosity, the Motive to which is so -palpable and so noble, at all affected by the ill Use to which it might -have been applied. - -But while these all stand not only excused but applauded, there -certainly is one to whom that Tribute is due in a superior Degree; and -it shall never be my Crime to mention the Transaction, and omit to -pay it. While I see the Lord Mayor in this just and honourable Light, -it gives me Pain to find those who are, in all Senses of the Word so -vastly his Inferiors, and you, Sir! most of all, placing themselves as -it were on an Equality with him: and when I consider, for I know it is -so, that his Lordship has, from no other Principle but Humanity and a -Love of Justice, undertaken one of the most arduous Tasks that could -have been imposed on Man; and this at his own private Expence, and by -his own Labour and inconceivable Trouble: when I see him compleating -what so good a Heart had designed, by a Discernment equal to his -Candour, I own, and, as I am a Stranger and disinterested, I glory in -owning it, I see, with all that Indignation which Honesty conceives at -the low Cunning of the Base and Wicked, Insinuations, for there are -such Insinuations spread, that _foul_ and _unjustifiable_ Practices -have been used since the Tryal. You, Mr. _Fielding_, among others, say -this: But I must tell those who invent, and those who can give Credit -to it, that the Discernment of this honourable Magistrate is as much -above being imposed on by such Artifices, as his Honour would be above -encouraging them. - -It gives me Pain, when I hear Men talk of _this Side_ as their own, -and of some other as his _Lordship_'s. He is of no Side or Party; nor -has (so I have heard him often say, and so I am convinced) the least -Concern which way the Truth shall be determined. His sole Endeavour -has been to discover it; be it what, or where, or how it will: Nor can -I hear, without Concern, you, of whose Understanding I would, for the -Sake of the Public, wish to think favourably; expressing a Desire that -the Government would appoint Persons, _capable_ and _indifferent_, such -are your Terms, to enquire into the Matter. Who, Sir, are you, that -are thus dictating unto the Government? Retire into yourself and know -your Station! Who is more _capable_, or who more _indifferent_, than -this generous Magistrate? Or has there been among the most violent and -misguided of this Creature's Friends, any Man, for I will not suppose -you could, but has there been any Man, who has dared to whisper to his -own Heart a Thought that it were otherwise? - -To this 'tis fit to add, that his Lordship, as _Supreme Magistrate_ of -that Court in which the Cause was tried, is the proper Person for this -Examination: and that he has already finished it. Why should it then be -supposed necessary, or why proper, to take the Cognizance of an Affair -of this Importance, out of his Hands who has a Right to examine into -it: or what would be the Justice, or what the Gratitude, of appointing -others to do that which he has done already; and for which he deserves, -and for which he will receive, the universal Applause of Mankind! - -What is the real Case, with respect to the Girl, Heaven and her own -Conscience only; at least I hope they only, know. I have no Right to -assert any Thing, nor do: and my Opinion cannot hurt her. There does -appear to have been a Conspiracy, and a most foul and black one: It is -possible, at least, there may have been such; this her Friends must -allow; and she who has certainly accused, and persecuted to the utmost, -an innocent Person, whether it hath been ignorantly or designedly, -cannot expect she shall escape the Suspicion. That _Squires_ is -Guiltless is beyond all doubt: That _Canning_ was not confined in the -House of _Wells_ is as much beyond all Possibility of doubting. She -appears to have proceeded wilfully: but there is a Possibility she may -have done it ignorantly; and the World will be glad for her own Sake, -that she could prove it a Mistake; horrible as it will appear even in -that Consideration. - -Thus stands the whole: And upon this Foundation rests the Innocence of -the unhappy Convict. What greater Proof can Innocence require? What -greater can it admit! Who is there among ourselves that might not, -by the same Artifice, have been accused, and by the same Evidence -convicted of the Crime? Or who is there, had he been so accused, that -could have brought a fuller Proof of Innocence? I cannot question, but -that the Impartial will be convinced: But would all were impartial. - -I thought the Public were clear in it before; but what is there so -swift as Misinformation? An Indisposition had shut me from the World a -few Days, and at the End of that little Period, when I mixed among Men -again, what a Change was there in their Opinions! I left them assured, -and they had Right to be assured of it, of the Convict's Innocence: I -find them full in the Belief that she is Guilty: but I do not wonder -at this; nor can I blame the most resolute among them, when I hear -the Foundations of the new Opinion. These Delusions, however, are not -calculated for Duration: They serve the Purpose till they are exploded; -and then who knows the Authors? - -Men hear that all which has been told them, concerning the Convict's -being in another Place at the Time of the alledged Robbery, has been -since discovered to be false. I, who have told them all that related -to the Attestation of her being so, do now assure them, that there has -been no such Discovery. Nothing has happened to take one Grain from the -Weight of any of those Evidences, on which I founded the Opinion; but -many, very many Things, to countenance, support, and prove their Truth. -Falsities innumerable have been, indeed, devised by the Interested, -received by the Credulous, and propagated by the Malicious; but who is -there to be found, that will himself attest any the least Circumstance -that they pretend? - -There are Men, are there not, Mr. _Fielding_? who cannot bear the -Glory this will soon bring, and ought to bring, to the great Magistrate -who has discovered the Conspiracy. And these will swallow greedily all -that they hear against it; and they will propagate that which they -don't believe. There are Men, who have been deceived: Who now know they -have been deceived; but who are ashamed to own it. A foolish Shame: -The seeing the Delusion proved upon them, and it will soon be proved, -will be much greater. These will add to the Numbers that are busy in -spreading every Breath of Falsehood: and I am sorry to add, there may -be some who even on my Account will be as violent to blast the Credit -of all that has been doing. Though not conscious that I deserve to have -one Enemy in the World, I am not ignorant that I have several; and some -of these are of that idle Kind who live in the meaner Coffeehouses, -and spread Reports among the successive Companies. These are a Sort -of Men, who have not, on any other Occasion, appeared considerable -enough to me to justify the slightest Notice; but if their Violence and -officious Malice can take any Thing from the Opinion, which the World -had entertained of the Credibility of what I have published, designing -to be known the Author of it, on this Occasion; I shall for once be -sorry that even such Men were my Enemies. - -To one or other of these Sets of Persons; all of them mean, wicked, or -interested, have been owing the various Reports the World has heard -within these few Days upon this Occasion: And not knowing from what -Source they have sprung, Men have not known with what Contempt to treat -them. The same short Answer serves for all I have heard; and I desire -no other than to stand accountable to all who shall dispute that Answer. - -I have been told, that the Lord Mayor had given up the Cause, finding -all Perjury that had been brought before him: There is no Truth in any -Part of this. The Lord Mayor never altered his Opinion; he is convinced -by Proof of what he first guessed from Reason: And his Lordship will, -as soon as that is proper, convince all the World. - -I have been told the Vicar of _Abbotsbury_ is, or has been, in Town. -There is no Truth in this. That he has contradicted what I have said -concerning him: Neither is there in this: On the contrary, he has -certified it all in a Letter to a noble Lord, a Letter which you Mr. -_Fielding_ know of; and that noble Personage also countenances, by his -Character of this Gentleman, all that his Conduct in the Matter had -before spoken in his Favour. - -It has been said that the Certificates and Affidavits in the Lord -Mayor's Hands, sent up from _Abbotsbury_, and attested by this -Gentleman, and by the Church-wardens and Overseers of the Parish are -forged. There is no Truth in this Report, nor the least Shadow of -Foundation for it: They are confirmed. 'Tis said the Letters from -that Gentleman are forged: They also are authenticated. That the -Church-wardens and Overseers mentioned in those Papers are, or have -been, in Town, and contradict the whole: This also is wholly untrue; -not one of them either has been here, or has contradicted, by Letter, -or any other way, any Part of that Evidence: All stands on the full -Credit that it did. It has been said, that an Exciseman, now in Town, -whose Evidence is in itself sufficient, and is a new Testimony of -Truth in all the other's, had undergone a previous Examination by a -Gentleman, whom they even dare to name, before he was seen by the Lord -Mayor: I have Authority from that Gentleman to declare, that this also -is wholly false. And I, on _Monday_, heard the Man himself say, he -never saw him, till in the Lord Mayor's Presence. It has been lastly -said, that the Recantation of _Virtue Hall_ was not taken in a candid -and fair Manner by the Lord Mayor himself. Where will Slander stop, -when it dares rise to this! All I have seen of that was perfectly fair, -and most particularly candid: And it was a happy Precaution the Lord -Mayor used, never to speak with her alone. - -These are the Stories I have heard; they are related boldly; and they -are enough in Number. They are enough to plead in full Excuse for those -which have been wavering in their Opinion; and they will be found -enough to condemn their Authors, nay, and the busy Propagators of them -too, to everlasting Ignominy. - -No more can be declared at this Time than I have told; but I shall -conclude this, as I have done the other Accounts which I have given -of these Proceedings, with assuring those who pay me the Attention -of reading it, that the Truth will appear, and that soon; under such -Proof, as will do immortal Honour to the Magistrate who has discovered -it; will condemn to Shame and Confusion all who have disingenuously -opposed it; and will at once, astonish, and convince the World. - -For you, Mr. _Fielding_! I have no Right to call your Behaviour as a -Magistrate in Question; nor have I Abilities to judge of it: I have, -therefore, no where alluded to it: But certainly your private Treatment -of this Subject, both before and in your Pamphlet, merits the strongest -Censure. - - -_FINIS._ - -[Illustration] - - - - - * * * * * * - - - - -Transcriber's note: - -Except for changes listed below, variations in spelling and hyphenation -remain as in the original. - -The following corrections have been made to the text: - - Page 5: no Application [original has "App!ication"] whatsoever - has been made to me - - Page 6: No History can produce[original has "propuce"] a - greater Instance - - Page 15: he shall be handsomely rewarded for his - Trouble."[quotation mark missing in original] - - Page 21: but there has been a Motive,[original has a period] - - Page 22: she went down to _Enfield_[original has "Endfield"] - - Page 31: I will not suppose Mr.[period missing in original] - _Fielding_ can be guilty - - Page 40: They were subpœna'd[original has "subpæna'd"] - - Page 46: beyond all Possibility[original has "Possibllity"] of - doubting - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF ELIZABETH CANNING -CONSIDERED*** - - -******* This file should be named 51334-0.txt or 51334-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/1/3/3/51334 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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- padding: 1em; - border: solid black 1px; - } - - h1.pg { font-size: 190%; - padding-top: 0em; - line-height: 1em; } - .center { text-align: center; } - hr.full { width: 100%; - margin-top: 3em; - margin-bottom: 0em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - height: 4px; - border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ - border-style: solid; - border-color: #000000; - clear: both; } - </style> -</head> -<body> -<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Story of Elizabeth Canning Considered, by -John Hill</h1> -<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States -and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no -restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not -located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this ebook.</p> -<p>Title: The Story of Elizabeth Canning Considered</p> -<p>Author: John Hill</p> -<p>Release Date: February 29, 2016 [eBook #51334]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF ELIZABETH CANNING CONSIDERED***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4 class="center">E-text prepared by Lisa Reigel<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> - from page images generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive<br /> - (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - <a href="https://archive.org/details/storyofelizabeth00hill"> - https://archive.org/details/storyofelizabeth00hill</a> - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<p class="firsttitle"><small>THE</small><br /> - -<span class="bigger">STORY</span><br /> - -<small>OF</small><br /> - -<i>ELIZABETH CANNING</i><br /> - -<small>CONSIDERED</small>.</p> - - -<p class="tpauthor">By Dr. HILL.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="newchapter" /> -<p><!-- Page 1 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<div class="title"> -<h1><small>THE</small><br /> - -<span class="tpbigger">STORY</span><br /> - -<small>OF</small><br /> - -<i>ELIZABETH CANNING</i><br /> - -<small>CONSIDERED</small></h1> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="tpauthor">By Dr. HILL.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="hang">With <strong>Remarks</strong> on what has been called, <em>A Clear State -of her Case</em>, by Mr. <strong>Fielding</strong>; and Answers to the -several Arguments and Suppositions of that Writer.</p> -</div> - - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/colophon.jpg" width="160" height="107" alt="dragon on urn surrounded by flowers and vines" /> -</div> - -<p class="tppublisher"><i>LONDON</i>:<br /> - -Printed for <span class="smcap">M. Cooper</span>, at the <i>Globe</i> in<br /> -<i>Pater-Noster-Row</i>. 1753.</p> - -<p class="tpother">[Price One Shilling.]</p> - - -<p><!-- Page 2 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="newchapter" /> -<p><!-- Page 3 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> -<p class="firsttitle"><small>THE</small><br /> - -<span class="bigger">STORY</span><br /> - -<small>OF</small><br /> - -<i>ELIZABETH CANNING</i><br /> - -<small>CONSIDERED</small>.</p> -</div> - - -<p>Before I speak any thing in support of that Truth, on the Evidence of -which the Life of a most injur'd Person depends; I think it necessary, -that I may not seem, under the Colour of public Information, to be -acting an interested Part, and defending my own Conduct, to say, that -I am convinced it needs <!-- Page 4 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>no Defence. Whatsoever the Malice of little -Adversaries may wish to propagate on this Head, I shall be at Ease in -my own Mind, while conscious of the Honesty of my Intention; and I have -Reason to be satisfied, with Regard to the Opinion of the World, while -I have the Honour to be told, that he who is certainly the best Judge, -and perhaps the best Person in it, says, that I have done as became a -prudent Man.</p> - -<p>No one will call it a Bad Action, that I have endeavoured to obtain the -Truth, in a Case, where Humanity must have engaged any, who had the -least Suspicion of Falshood, to wish the Secret known; it would have -been a very imprudent one for him, who had no Authority to have taken -that Confession which discovered it; and it has appeared to those who -are better Judges, that it was most right, when the Preparation was -made for that Confession, to apply to the supreme Magistrate of the -Court, in which the Cause had been tried, to receive it. This is all I -have done in the Matter.</p> - -<p>I claim no Praise from it; that belongs to another; but neither can I -regard those who shall think, that which I have done merits Censure.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 5 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p><p>Being disinterested, I may expect Credit; but there is yet a Reason why -I shall speak less freely. 'Tis an unfortunate Circumstance, that with -the Innocence of this Person, there is connected the Crime of another; -if not the intentional, at least the effectual Crime: The Evidence that -absolves the one accuses the other; and it is one of those Incidents, -under which Humanity is wounded by the Means, while it glories in the -End.</p> - -<p>It will be found, however romantic, or however absurd, such Conduct -may appear to many, that I have acted in this only on the Principle -of real Honesty and public Utility; and as I have acted, I would wish -to see others also act. But while I shall plead yet farther in the -Cause of a Person who is innocent, whom I have not seen, nor do know -that I ever shall see; and in whose Favour, I do avow in the Face of -Almighty God, no Application whatsoever has been made to me; it will -give me Pain to reflect that in every Argument I am wounding another; -concerning whom I know nothing of Certainty, more than appears from -this Evidence; nor can judge how far what so appears to be her Guilt, -may admit of Palliation.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 6 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p><p>I know how improper, nay, how dishonest, it is in many Cases to -prepossess the Public against those whom their Country has not yet -found guilty of any Crime: No History can produce a greater Instance -of it than is before us in the present Story; and I shall think the -Obligation sacred that restrains my Hand upon every other Occasion: But -here the Life of a Person, certainly innocent, is concern'd on the one -Part; and not so much as the Life, even should the worst be proved, and -the Laws put in their fullest Execution, of one, as certainly a Cause -of the greatest Distress, and almost of Death to that Innocent, on the -other. As this is the Case in the present Enquiry, the Particularity of -the Circumstance may dispense with what would be faulty on a different -Occasion.</p> - -<p>I must the more think the doing of this necessary, and therefore -justifiable, as mean Sophistry, and the Parade of Argument, have -been employed on the other Side; and the Attempt of vindicating the -Accuser, though but a secondary Consideration, has, with some Persons, -altho' I hope with none of Consequence, prevailed against that Proof -of Innocence on the Part of the Accused, which alone can <!-- Page 7 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>prevent the -Execution of a Sentence procured by a confess'd Perjury.</p> - -<p>I had read the Pamphlet in which these are us'd, as a Justification -only of the Conduct of a Man, against whom I have no Resentment; and, -as such, I could not desire to invalidate any thing that it contained: -But though I had no Wish against its Success on that Account, I cannot -see it aiming to overthrow that Justice and Compassion, which were -growing up in the Minds of all Men, with Respect to the Object whom I -had proposed to them as so worthy of those Emotions, without treating -it with that Severity, and condemning it to that Ignominy which it -deserves; without detecting its Misrepresentations, refuting its -imagined Arguments, and pointing out to those, who have not already -seen it, where they are to smile upon its Puerility.</p> - -<p>If it be possible that I should by this Piece of Justice make that -Man more my Enemy, than he is at present; I tell him, no Part of this -is written with that immediate Design: But I shall also add, that the -Importance of the Cause will compensate all that his pointless Arms can -return upon the Occasion; and that, if I shall become conscious, I have -been instrumental, tho' <!-- Page 8 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>in ever so small a Degree, in saving the Life -of an innocent Person, the Remembrance will make me enjoy the Outrages -of all his little Followers.</p> - -<p>But with the same Warmth, under which I shall feel this Pleasure, I -must be sensible of the Pain which will attend the Consciousness, -that what I say, may be so construed as to hurt the other. I beg to -be believed that I have no Intent, for most assuredly I have none, to -injure her: Perhaps I look upon what she has done, with less Severity -than others. She may be able to prove that she was somewhere confined, -though she was not at this Place: I hope she will prove it: But as -many other Accounts may be given how a Person, less innocent, might -have been employed, I must have leave to name some of these: I must -have leave, till such a Fact is proved, to doubt the Truth of all; and -to build the Testimony of the Convict's Innocence, in part, upon the -Improbability of what at this Time appears her Story.</p> - -<p>Whatsoever I shall advance on this Head, is alledg'd only as what -might have happen'd, and I desire it may be understood as <!-- Page 9 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>meaning no -otherwise. I have no particular Knowledge of the Truth with Respect -to <em>Canning</em>; and therefore can be positive only with Regard to those -Proofs that appear of the Convict's Innocence. As this is the true -Case, I beg that whatsoever I conjecture, may be received only as -Conjecture, and may not hurt her in the Eye of the World.</p> - -<p>When Truth is to be decided, Sophistry is impertinent; and when the -Proofs are at hand, and are such that all may judge by them, they -use a Freedom to which they have little Right, who attempt to guide -and to direct Mankind in their Determination. Whatsoever lies within -our Knowledge more than others have had Opportunities of acquainting -themselves withal, it becomes a Duty to impart; but when that is done, -by what Claim is it that we dictate? these or these Sirs! must be the -Conclusions: We are to state the Case, the World is to determine.</p> - -<p>'Tis hard for him who has engag'd, be it no more than his Opinion -on one Part, to be disinterested with respect to the other; nay, if -he were unbiass'd, such an one is still but a single Person; and he -has little Candour, <!-- Page 10 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>and less Modesty, if he supposes every Individual -of the Publick is not as able as himself to judge upon that which he -allows to be, or which he affects to call, clear Evidence.</p> - -<p>As many things have come to my Knowledge in this strange Affair, with -which the Public cannot have been acquainted; it may be indulged me -to speak of them, without the Censure of Officiousness; and as I have -already delivered something concerning an Enquiry into the Truth, -which, as it appeared the Concern, so it has been the Study of some -Persons to invalidate, it may be esteem'd a Duty in me to support that -which has already so appeared; and to do this the more fully, I shall -add to it what farther the Time, the Nature of the Proceedings, and -the Respect to those under whose Cognizance the Whole now remains, may -warrant me in disclosing.</p> - -<p>I have ordered my Name to be put to this Pamphlet, that I may not be -supposed the Writer of those many other Pieces, which Ingenuity, or -its Parent Hunger, may hereafter obtrude upon the World; or of some -Things that have <!-- Page 11 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>already offer'd themselves to its Notice; the Motives -to which, seem rather to lie in personal Resentment, than an Attachment -to Justice. As the Original Papers will hereafter appear, what I shall -now propose may stand as an Introduction to them: and it will answer -also another Purpose; in that it will, I hope, prevent the imbibing of -unjust Prejudices, and false Opinions, whether from the Deluded or the -Designing, the Interested or the Ignorant.</p> - -<p>The truth is of Importance; and it will be laid open: Till that -shall be fully effected, the same Principle which influenc'd me, as -unconcerned as any Man could be in the whole Matter, and of all Men -the least inclined to enter into Disputes and Quarrels, to undertake -the Protection, so far as it lay in my scanty Power, of the Innocent, -pleads with me, so far as my Opportunities may permit, and so far as -may be consistent with that Character which every Man ought to hold -sacred, to prevent farther Error.</p> - -<p>There will be those who think me wrong from the Beginning; and were I -actuated by their Sentiments only, I should <!-- Page 12 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>agree with them. It was not -prudent to engage unnecessarily, in a Cause that must become a Subject -of Debate; but there are Motives superior even to Prudence, and these -had, in the present Case, a Right to Attention; Honesty, Humanity, and -Love of Justice: These, I hope, I shall always, although it be at the -Expence of some Scandal, prefer to that cold Principle; inasmuch as I -think it a greater Character to be an honest, than to be a wise Man.</p> - -<p>Thus much it may have been necessary, though very unpleasing, to say, -with Respect to those Motives which induced an unconcerned Person at -all to meddle in this intricate Discovery; since those whose own Hearts -do not acknowledge any Thought that has not Self for its Centre, may -not (uninformed of the Difference) suppose it possible any others -should have Place in the Breast of a Stranger. The Persons are all -unknown to me, but the Story was interesting; and Humanity must have -been unknown to him, who should have been let into so much of it, as -had come to my Knowledge, and not have enquired farther. I could have -no Interest in the Event farther than as one Creature of the same -Species is concerned in the <!-- Page 13 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>Welfare of another; nor was I of any Part, -unless inclined to pity the miserable Convict; because she was poor, -and a Stranger, and oppress'd, and innocent. Such, at least, I was, at -that Time, inclin'd to believe her, and I am, by all that has pass'd -since, the more confirm'd in that Opinion.</p> - -<p>It will appear, that I have weighty, nay, that I have unanswerable and -incontrovertible Evidence, that I ought to be so; whenever those sacred -Proofs, which at this Time are in the Hands of that generous Magistrate -who has obtained them, shall appear, and untill that Time come, perhaps -it may not be thought singular in me to be persuaded of the Innocence -of this Woman, from the very Attempts which have been made by those who -espouse her Prosecutors, to prove they are not guilty.</p> - -<p>I have proposed to consider the whole Story; and to preserve a Conduct -answerable to that Intention, I shall begin with it somewhat earlier -than those have thought it prudent to do, who have hitherto treated of -the Matter. To judge truly of People's Actions, we should enquire into -the Designs of them; and this is best done by attending to the earliest -Notices.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 14 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p><p>Some few Days after that <em>first</em> of <em>January</em>, on which this <em>little -Child</em>, as those who despairing to convince the Judgment, attempt the -Passions of Mankind, affect to call her, is said to have been carried -away, I find the following Advertisement in the most Universal of the -Daily Papers.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>"<i>Whereas <em class="upright">Elizabeth Cannon</em> went from her Friends between -<em class="upright">Hounsditch</em> and <em class="upright">Bishopsgate</em>, on <em class="upright">Monday</em> -last, the 1st Instant, between Nine and Ten o'Clock: Whoever -can give any Account where she is, shall have Two Guineas -Reward; to be paid by Mrs. <em class="upright">Cannon</em>, a Sawyer, in -<em class="upright">Aldermanbury</em> Postern, which will be a great Satisfaction -to her Mother. She is fresh-colour'd, pitted with the -Small-Pox, has a high Forehead, light Eye-brows, about five -Foot high, eighteen Years of Age, well set, had on a Masquerade -Purple Stuff Gown, a black Petticoat, a white Chip Hat, -bound round with Green, a white Apron and Handkerchief, blue -Stockings, and Leather Shoes.</i></p> - -<p>"<i>Note, It is <em class="upright">supposed</em> she was <em class="upright">forcibly taken -away</em> by some evil-disposed Person, as she was <em class="upright">heard to -shriek out in a Hackney-Coach</em> in <em class="upright">Bishopsgate-street</em>. -If the Coachman remembers any thing <!-- Page 15 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>of the Affair, by giving -an Account as above, he shall be handsomely rewarded for his -Trouble.</i>"<a name="FNanchor_15-A_1" id="FNanchor_15-A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_15-A_1" class="fnanchor">[15:A]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p><a name="Footnote_15-A_1" id="Footnote_15-A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15-A_1"><span class="label">[15:A]</span></a> Daily Advertiser, January 6.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This is a Circumstance, forgot by the disinterested; and pass'd over, -not imprudently, by those who espouse the Girl; but I must declare, -that with me it has great Weight. Why supposed to be taken forcibly -away? Are these Transactions common? or was there any Thing in the -present Case to authorise such an Imagination? To what Purpose should -she be forced away! She is not handsome; so that the Design could -not be upon her Person; and certainly the Dress that is described so -largely, could not tempt any one to carry her off to rob her; nor was -it necessary, for that might have been done where she was seized; nay, -and in the latter Accounts we are told it was done there.</p> - -<p>Who heard her shriek! or what is become of the Hackney-Coach Part of -the Story, no Syllable has been since uttered of it. Who should know -the Voice of a Servant of no Consideration, calling in a strange Part -of the Town from a Coach? What must the Ruffians have been doing who -suffer'd her to shriek! or who that heard <!-- Page 16 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>such a Voice, and did, or -that did not know the Person, would not have stopped the Carriage! How -came he who heard so much not to call Persons to assist him? there are -enough in the Streets at Ten o'Clock; or, where's the Coachman, for -Coaches do not drive themselves, and certainly he might be found to -justify the Story.</p> - -<p>If a Coach carried her, where therefore is the Driver of it? or, if -she was dragged along, how did the People, who were taking all this -Pains, and running all this Hazard, to no Sort of Purpose, get her -undiscovered through the Turnpikes? The Public will judge of this early -Advertisement as they think proper; to me the Determination that should -be grounded on it appears too obvious; and, perhaps, in due time it -will be found supported.</p> - -<p>From the Day of this Publication, by which the World was informed -that such a Girl was carried off by Ruffians, (a fine Preparative for -what has follow'd!) we hear no more of her till her Return at the End -of Eight-and-twenty Days; when she tells her absurd, incredible, and -most ridiculous Story. A Piece of contradictory Incidents, and most -improbable Events; <!-- Page 17 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>a waking Dream; the Reverie of an Idiot: A Relation -that could not be allowed a Face of Likelihood; and that would have -taken no hold on any, but as it pleaded to their Compassion.</p> - -<p>It was not on the Credit of this Story that the unhappy Creature, in -whose Case all these Endeavours have been us'd, was condemn'd. Let us -not imagine Courts of Justice swallow such Relations. 'Twas on the most -full Account, given by one, who declared that she had seen the whole -Transaction of which the Court was concerned to judge. One, who being a -Stranger to the Accuser, and a Friend of the Persons accused, declared -she saw the Robbery. This was an Evidence which must have been allowed -by any Jury of judicious and unbiass'd Men. Now that we are convinced -of the Innocence of the Persons who were condemned upon the Credit paid -to this Evidence, we must acknowledge, that human Wisdom could not, -at that Time, have discovered, nay scarce could have suspected it was -false; and that while unsuspected, it had been Injustice not to have -done exactly as was done upon the Trial.</p> - -<p>We are now reviewing that Account in <!-- Page 18 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>a very different Light: we have -now been let into the Secret of its Origin; we have seen her since -voluntarily declare, that it was false and forg'd: not in part false, -but in the Whole, and that it was the Off-spring only of her Terrors: -and tho' actuated from the Influence of the same Apprehensions, she -confirmed it at the Trial, she now declares it, freely and voluntarily -declares it, to have been all a Perjury.</p> - -<p>She has confessed her Motive to the doing this, and that is it was -such an one, as might well have Effect upon an ignorant Creature: -This I shall consider at large when I come presently to treat of her -Informations. She has declared this to have been her only Motive; -and those who are most concerned, do acknowledge, that she was very -unwilling to give it; and was very difficultly brought to it. What -Reason could she have to contradict it? None! To this no one can speak -with more Authority than I: and I declare she had none. It was to -myself she promis'd the Confession. I had no Advantages to offer to -her, nor any Power to terrify: nor was this done privately; so that -there are Witnesses who know how free and perfectly 'twas voluntary. -I applied to the Lord Mayor, whom, 'till that Time, I never saw, -to receive her Confession: She was <!-- Page 19 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>sent for; she made it; and the -Consequences are natural.</p> - -<p>The Lord Mayor had at that Time Proofs in his own Hands, as strong -as even this Confession, of the perfect Innocence of the miserable -Convict; and he has since received innumerable more; all more precise, -and punctual; more firm and more convincing. It can be no Reflection -on a Court, in which the Determination is made from Evidence, to plead -the Cause of that Innocency, which is proved by the after-discover'd -Falsity of such Evidence: Shame on the Folly or Malice that pretends -it can, even though you, <em>Fielding</em>, have pretended it: nor has any -thing been yet publish'd, more than what passed publickly; for the -Examinations before the Lord-Mayor have not been made in Corners.</p> - -<p>This is a Digression, but the Insinuations of bad Men have made it -necessary. I shall return to the Relation. The pretty Innocent, such -we should take her to be from the Story, tells us she was tempted -strongly: she was promis'd <em>fine Cloaths</em>, if she would <em>go their Way</em>. -This is the Account; and in the Name of Reason let us consider it. The -Phrase is an odd and unnatural one; and the fine Cloaths were to be -given. By whom? By one who hardly had a <!-- Page 20 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>Covering for herself, and in -a Place where every thing spoke Beggary: Unnatural, ridiculous, and -absurd!</p> - -<p>There can be no Cause assigned, why Men should drag her many Miles, or -why Women lock her up to perish, without the least Advantage, or the -least Prospect of Advantage. I wish it could be said there appears no -End for which all this might be pretended; although there could be none -for which it should be done.</p> - -<p>Did the prophetic Spirit of her Virtue foresee exactly the Length -of her Confinement? How came she else to proportion, for it's plain -she did proportion, her Eating to it? There is, indeed, no Reason why -she should not have foreseen it, since the Duration was at her own -Pleasure. There appears no Cause why she did not make that Escape -the first Night, which she effected on the last Day at Four in the -Afternoon: and as it has been thought strange that no one opposed the -Persons in the Night in carrying her thither; I shall add, that I think -it still more strange no one was let into the Story on her Return. Her -Weakness might have made her complain; her Terror speak, and even her -Countenance must have occasioned Question. People <!-- Page 21 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>could not be wanting -to this Purpose; for she that could set out in the Afternoon to walk -from <em>Enfield-Wash</em> to <em>London</em>, must be met, over-taken, or seen, by -many Hundred Persons: her Figure was singular enough to have drawn the -Attention of some of these, her Aspect (as you describe it) of them -All: The Story has been enough spoken of to bring such People to attest -it, had there been any such; but if any have appeared, it has not come -to my Knowledge.</p> - -<p>Acts of Cruelty have been practis'd by Ruffians: I grant you so much, -mighty Reasoner! but there has been a Motive, the worst of them have -never done it otherwise: Their own Safety is the Common Cause, and -Cowards are to a Proverb cruel. But here Men endanger'd, and not -secur'd their Safety, by the doing it; and had no End to answer when it -was done. On the same Principle, before we can believe the Women (who -has been condemned) would have run the Hazard of her Confinement, when -they knew an Escape so practicable, we must expect to find some Motives -to their doing it.</p> - -<p>The Cant of the Subscription was her <em>Virtue</em>, but there must have -been a Face to stamp the Price on That: without it the <!-- Page 22 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>Commodity's not -marketable: Naked Virtue is of no Value unto the Sort of People these -have been represented. Besides, had there been even this Temptation, -the Gipsey, who is charged with the Crime, could not have any Intent -to answer in the obtaining of the Sacrifice. She did not keep the -House; and it could not be in Friendship to Mrs. <em>Wells</em>, for they were -Strangers.</p> - -<p>The poor Girl left her Mother plump: This, Sir, is your Account, and -this the Partridge-Phrase by which you express it. She returned you say -emaciated and black; this was on the 29th of <em>Jan.</em> and, on the 1st of -<em>February</em>, she went down to <em>Enfield</em> again: as you say, again. Never -were Transitions so quick, as have been those of this miraculous Girl; -for she was not black at this Time, upon this 1st of <em>February</em>. A Day -or two had made an amazing Change; for those who were present tell me, -she was at that Time red and white like other People.</p> - -<p>There was a Time, when even the warmest Advocates for the pretended -Injur'd, gave up all Expectation of Credit from the Nature of the -Story, and rested it upon the Weight of Evidence. I think, Sir, you was -of the Number, and, for the <!-- Page 23 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>Credit of your Understanding, I hope you -were: That Weight is taken off: that Evidence, it is confess'd, was -Perjury. The Story now, therefore, stands on the Footing of its own -Credibility; and those who are the most violent in its Favour, have, -in Effect, if not in Words, given it up as false: I hope they will do -this in every Sense. Humanity, tho' mistaken in its Object, was a Plea -sufficient in her Favour when they first countenanc'd her; but Humanity -now changes Sides, and the Wretch, who pines under the Sentence, claims -its Offices.</p> - -<p>Let not the once deluded, and since obstinate Men, conceive they -will be supported by the Testimony of the Girl's coming Home in this -emaciated Condition, of this black Colour, and with this Aspect of a -putrid Carcase: Let them enquire, whether this was the Condition in -which she was first seen, and they will find it false: Let them ask -themselves, and their own Reason, if a Creature, in such a State, could -have walked Home; they will find it as absurd as the rest of the wild -Story: and there is as much Moral Certainty that it is false; invented -by bad Men to serve Purposes; and countenanc'd by weak ones who -believ'd it.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 24 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p><p>It does not appear, (unless her own contemptible Story can be believ'd) -that she was confin'd any where, otherwise than by her own Consent: It -is not true that she returned in this dreadful Condition; nor can it be -true, that she could have supported Life till she arrived at it, and -after that have walked ten Miles immediately, or have been carried as -far so very soon after it. That she was not confin'd where she says, -is clear beyond all Possibility of Doubting, and there will remain -not the least Thought of it, even among her best Friends, as soon as -the Proofs, now in the Lord Mayor's Hands, shall appear: In the mean -Time, I, who have seen them, say it; and have, I hope, some Right to be -believ'd.</p> - -<p>Where a Girl, like this, could be; and how employed during the time; -is not difficult to imagine. Not with a Lover certainly, say you! You -would be happy, Sir, if all you beg should be allowed you. Not with a -Lover, Sir! Eighteen, let me remind you, is a critical Age; and what -would not a Woman do, that had made an Escape, to recover her own -Credit, and screen her Lover. I pretend to no Knowledge of this, as -having been the Case with Respect to the Girl of whom I speak; but, if -we are to reason, let us do it freely; and what appears so likely?</p> - -<p><!-- Page 25 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p><p>The Description she gave of the Room in which she had been confined, -is urged by you to justify; but, Sir, that Circumstance alone ought to -condemn her. Let me not be understood to speak of that Description, -which she gave after she had seen it: That Subterfuge may serve for the -Excuse of those who will be found to want it. But let us now enquire -with better Judgment: Let us, Sir, appeal to that Account she gave -before the sitting Alderman, by whom she was first examined; and we -shall find it countenance the worst that can be thought against her. -Observe the Articles.</p> - -<p>She described it to be a <em>dark</em> Room; in which she lay upon the -<em>Boards</em>; in which there was nothing except <em>a Grate</em> with a Gown in -it; and a <em>few Pictures</em> over the Chimney; from which she made her -Escape by <em>forcing down some Boards</em>, and out of which she had before -discovered the Face of a Coachman, through certain <em>Cracks</em> in the Side.</p> - -<p>Let those who have seen the Room speak whether this was a Description -of it. They will answer No. No, not in <!-- Page 26 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>any one Particular. Far from -being <em>dark</em>, there are <em>two Windows</em> in it. These have Casements which -were unfastened, out at which she might have <em>escaped</em>, had she been -confined in it; so that pulling down of Boards to that Purpose could -not be necessary: Out at these also, I suppose, the might have <em>seen -this Coachman</em>, so that she needed not to peep through Cracks. There -was no Grate in the Chimney: so that no body could have been guilty of -this most housewifely Trick of putting a Gown in one: Nor were there -any Pictures over it. Of the latter there was no Probability to be any, -because the House had no Profusion of Furniture, and this was a Room -of Lumber: And it is palpable there could have been no Grate in the -Chimney of a long Time; for the whole Expanse of it was found covered -and overspread with Cobwebs, the Work of many Generations of unmolested -Spiders. Oh Providence that assists in these Discoveries!</p> - -<p>But though there was not what she said she saw in the Chimney, there -was about it, Sir, that which she must have seen, had she been there, -and which, had she been there twenty-eight Days, she must have seen -often enough to have remembered it; there <!-- Page 27 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>was a Casement, put up over -the Chimney to be out of the Way: and this not newly laid there, for it -was also fixed to the Wall by Cobwebs of long Standing.</p> - -<p>If this were all, Sir, is not this enough to prove she never was in -the Place? But this is little to the rest. There was a Quantity of -Hay, near half a Load, there: Surely too large a Matter to have been -overlooked, and too important to have been forgotten: And there were -a multitude of Things besides; some if not all of which she must have -remembered; but not any one of all which she mentioned.</p> - -<p>Some who went first down, Neighbours and Men of Credit, who went to -countenance and to support her, had heard her Account of the Room, and -when they saw it, were convinced that her Description did not at all -belong to it: they gave her up, and they are to be found to say so. -Some who were too officious, eager to have the Story true, because -themselves believed it, got there before her also; these, when they -had heard the Objections, rode back Part of the Way to meet her, and -after some Conversation with her; after, for, if I may have <!-- Page 28 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>Leave -to conjecture from the Circumstance, that is the least that can be -supposed, asking her if there was not Hay there; that is, in Effect, -after telling her there was, and that she should have said so; rode -back, and, with <em>Huzza's</em> of Triumph, cried they were all right yet; -for she said now there was Hay in the Room. Was this or could it be an -Evidence of Weight with the Impartial? The best Way to determine is to -ask one's self the Question. What would it have been to you who are now -reading of it?</p> - -<p>But let me call up fairly the rest of your Arguments: You shall not say -I deal partially with you, by omitting any that seem to yourself of -Importance; and you shall hear the World say, so much I'll answer for -them, that they are one as important and as conclusive as the other.</p> - -<p>You have supposed the Girl not <em>wicked</em> enough to have devised such a -Deceit: That, God and her own Heart alone can tell; and neither you nor -I have Right to judge of it. But you add, and this we both may judge -of, That you do not suppose her <em>witty</em> enough to have invented the -Story. I give you Joy, Sir, of your <!-- Page 29 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>own Wit, for thinking so! I am very -far from entertaining an high Opinion of the Girl's Intellects; but -such as they are, I think the Story tallies with them: none but a Fool -could have devised so bad a one.</p> - -<p>You say 'tis worthy of some Writer of Romances. I love to hear Men talk -in Character: no one knows better how much Wit is necessary to the -writing of such Books; and, to do Justice to your last Performance, no -Man has proved more fully, with how small a Share of it, they may be -written.</p> - -<p>But I shall follow you through some more of these your supposed -Improbabilities; and shew you they are all as probable as these. That -she should fix upon a Place <em>so far from home</em>, is one of them. That -may have been the very Reason why she fixed upon it: To me it would -have seemed much more strange, if she had fixed on one that was nearer. -The farther off, the farther from Detection.</p> - -<p>That Mrs. <em>Wells</em>'s House should be particularly hit upon seems -strange to you. But Mrs. <em>Wells</em>'s was a House of evil Fame, and there -was no other such about the <!-- Page 30 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>Neighbourhood: The Improbability must needs -be, therefore, that of their fixing upon any other.</p> - -<p>We are asked, How should she know this House, as she approached it? No -body ever heard that she did know it, as she approached: And for the -famous Question, How she could, among a Number of People, fix upon the -<em>Gipsy</em> whom she had particularly described before, as the Person that -had robbed her? The Answer is a very fatal and severe one; it is that -she <em>had not particularly described her before</em>. It is palpable she -never spoke of her even as a <em>Gipsy</em>, though no Woman ever possessed -the Colour and the Character of that singular People so strongly: Nor -had she given any particular Account of her Face; which, had she ever -seen it before, must have been remembered; for it is like that of no -human Creature. The lower Part of it affected most remarkably by the -Evil: The under Lip of an enormous Thickness; and the Nose such as -never before stood in a mortal Countenance.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 31 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p><p>But these are Trifles: You'll give me up all these: I know you will; -for you'll do every Thing you must. You'll give all this and laugh at -the Advantage. The Strength is yet behind: These are the Outworks; -but I shall overthrow your Citadel. This Evidence of <em>Hall</em>, you have -reserved to the End; and I have reserved it too. Let us now state it -fairly. I'll give it all the Strength you can desire; and when I have -done so, I will shew you, but that's unnecessary; I'll explain to the -World, how all its false Strength was derived to it. Let us here take -it in the whole.</p> - -<p>The Account of the Transaction, with respect to the Robbery, you -argue must be true, because <em>Canning</em> and <em>Hall</em> relate it both alike. -But all Men see how weak an Argument that is. I will not suppose Mr. -<em>Fielding</em> can be guilty of designing to impose upon the World in this -or any Part of the Case which he has published; and therefore I will -call it only a weak Argument. Let us consider the Circumstances under -which these Accounts were procured, and we shall see they could not be -otherwise than perfectly alike, even tho' they both were false.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 32 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p><p>We, who suppose the Convict innocent, believe the Account of <em>Canning</em> -to be a concerted Plan, long laboured, and well inculcated. That she -should not vary herself in the relating it, will not therefore be -wonderful: And I shall allow you Council! for you are not here acting -in any other Character; that if the Evidence <em>Hall</em> had made a free and -voluntary Confession, without Fear, and without Constraint, and this -Confession had in all Points confirmed the Account of the other; and if -she had before known nothing of her Story; there would have been all -the Argument and all the Weight in it that you would have us grant.</p> - -<p>But let me ask you, Sir, for none know better than you do, were these -the Circumstances of that Confession? I need not ask you: Your Pamphlet -contradicts it. She refused to confess any such thing, you tell us -so yourself, throughout six Hours of strong Sollicitation, and she -consented to do it at last: Why? She says, and you say the same, it was -because she was else to be prosecuted as a Felon.</p> - -<p>Let us suppose the Story as we think it: An innocent and an ignorant -Creature saw <!-- Page 33 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>Perjury strong against herself: She saw a Prison the -immediate Consequence: She supposed the Oaths that prevailed against -her Liberty, though innocent, might also prevail against her Life, -though innocent; and, to save herself from the Effects of this Perjury, -she submitted to support the Charge it made against others: Against -those whom she supposed condemned without her Crime, and whom she -thought too certain of Destruction to be injured by any thing she added.</p> - -<p>That this was the Case, her own Account, that of the World, and even -yours, concur to prove; nay, and the very Consequences prove it. If she -had sworn the Truth at this Time, is it, or can it be supposed, that, -unawed and untempted (for I had no Authority, and the Lord Mayor has -Testimony that he used none with her) is it to be supposed that she -would have gone back from it to Falshood? and that she would have done -this at a Time when it might have been destructive to herself; and when -it could only tend to let loose upon her those whom she had injured, -and those whom she always affected at least to fear? Certainly she -would not. There could be <!-- Page 34 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>in Nature no Motive to her doing it; and the -most irrational do not act without some Impulse.</p> - -<p>But let us ask the Question on the other Part! We shall then find it -answered easily. Let us suppose we see, for 'tis most certain we do see -such a one, a Person who had been awed by her Ignorance, and Fears, -into swearing a Falshood; after having first voluntarily declared, in -the same Case, that which was the Truth: we see her conscious that, by -that Oath, she had procured the Sentence of Death against a Person whom -she knew to be innocent; and we shall not wonder at the Consequence. -Who is there lives, so abandoned, that he can say he never felt a Pang -of Conscience? The Ideot, the Atheist would in vain attempt to persuade -Men of it. Suppose what she had thus sworn to be false, as there are -now a Multiplicity of Proofs that it all was false, what are we to -imagine must be the Consequences? Unquestionably, Terror, Anguish, and -Remorse; Wishes to speak, and Eagerness to do it. Where is the <!-- Page 35 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>Wonder -then that she should snatch at the first Opportunity; that she should -be persuaded to do it, even by the most Uneloquent! Where the Wonder -that she should thus go back into that Truth which she had late denied; -and when she had confessed the Perjury, declare and testify, for she -did much more than declare it, her Heart at Ease from that which had -been a Burden and a Distress intolerable and insupportable.</p> - -<p>This she declares to be the Fact; and what can be more natural? There -is as much Face of Truth in her Recantation seen in this Light, as -there would be Absurdity if it were looked upon in another.</p> - -<p>But their Informations, you repeat, are so alike! Sir, I must tell -you, they are too like: why do not you also see it? Indeed the Term -<em>like</em> is improper; they are not like, for they are in Effect the same: -And farther, which is an Observation that must sting somewhere, though -these their Informations are thus like, their Evidence upon the Tryal -was not so. That we may know whether these could be so like without -having a common Truth for their Foundation, let us examine into the -Circumstances.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 36 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p><p>Had <em>Virtue Hall</em> ever heard the Story of <em>Canning</em> before she gave -this Information? For if she had, allowing it all to be false, she -would assuredly make it like hers, by repeating the same Circumstances. -Let us enquire then, whether she had ever heard the Story? Yes, she had -heard it many times. It appears by her Account, and by the Concurrence -of all other Testimonies, that she had heard it from <em>Canning</em>'s own -Mouth at <em>Enfield</em> on the 1st of <em>February</em>; on the same Day also she -says she heard it, and undoubtedly she did, at Mr. <em>Tyshmaker</em>'s: For, -eight Days after this, the Story of this <em>Canning</em>, as herself had -repeated it now twice in the Hearing of this <em>Hall</em>, was published in -the News-Papers, to raise Subscriptions. <em>Hall</em> can read; or, if she -could not, she had Ears, and she must have heard this from all who came -to her.</p> - -<p>Now let us see when 'twas she gave this weighty Information. 'Twas -after all this Opportunity of knowing what it was <em>Canning</em> said; -'twas on the fourteenth of <em>February</em>, and not before, that she was -examined by Mr. <em>Fielding</em>. There, as himself informs us, she was under -Examination from six to twelve <!-- Page 37 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>at Night, and then, after many hard -Struggles and stout Denials, such are his own Words, she did, what? why -she put her Mark to an Information; and swore what it contained was -true. What it contained was the same that contained which had before -been sworn by <em>Canning</em>. The same Person drew both; and that not the -Magistrate, no, nor his Clerk: Who then?—why the Attorney who was -engaged to manage the Prosecution.</p> - -<p>Now, Syllogist, where is your Argument! Can two Persons who swear the -same thing agree in all Particulars, and yet that thing be false? Yes -certainly, if one has heard the other's Story. As certainly if the same -Hand drew up both the Informations, and both that swear are perjured. -This is the true State of the Question: You beg too much, as you have -put it.</p> - -<p>But let us see how these, who agreed so well in the written -Informations, agreed in verbal Evidence. We shall find they did not -coincide in that; and we shall find a Court of Justice is not satisfied -with a few Questions.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 38 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p><p>Let those who would know this examine the printed Tryal. They will, in -that, find <em>Canning</em> swearing that no body came into the Room all the -time she was there, and that she found the Pitcher there: And they will -find <em>Hall</em> swearing that the Pitcher was put into the Room three Hours -afterward by the Gipsy. They will find tho' both agree in the Fact, yet -a Difference in the Circumstances even of the Robbery: <em>Canning</em> swears -the two Men took her Stays and went out, while she was yet below; but -<em>Hall</em> swears this was done after she was put up into the Room.</p> - -<p>These things, and things like these, I doubt not influenced that -worthy Magistrate first to suspect the Truth, who has now proved the -Falsity of both their Evidences. These things were not hidden, Sir, -from you: How was it that you overlooked them when you wrote this -Pamphlet? All I have urged you know; and knew before. You will find it -will convince the World, why did it not take that Effect on you? Are -you convinced now that you see it here? Speak freely; and answer to the -World this one plain Question, Was it your Head, or what was it that -played you false before?</p> - -<p><!-- Page 39 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p><p>None will wonder, Sir, that Informations thus taken, and under these -Circumstances, should agree in all things, even though both were false; -nor was it possible for the Jury, on hearing the Evidence of both -agreeing in general with these Informations, to do other than find the -Accused guilty. None wondered at it, nor will wonder: None were ever -weak enough, or wicked enough, to reflect upon them. But although they -saw nothing to contradict the Truth of all this Swearing, you did, and -you acknowledge it: You acknowledge there came before you something to -contradict it, and it deserved its Weight.</p> - -<p><em>Canning</em>'s Story appeared improbable; all rested upon the Evidence -of <em>Hall</em>: And there was given to you, against that Evidence, the Oath -of <em>Judith Natus</em>, one not belonging to the Gipsies, and whom you have -not any Reason to apprehend belonging to them; an honest Woman, Wife -of an honest Labourer, who, with her Husband, lay in the very Room, -in which the Girl pretended to have been confined, during the whole -time of that alledged Confinement. Here was the Evidence of <!-- Page 40 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>a Person -of honest Character, and quite disinterested, against that of <em>Virtue -Hall</em>, confessed of bad Character, and deeply interested. This Oath, -Sir, you will find was Truth: It will be seen: It will be proved that -it was so, by Evidence the most incontestible. In the mean time, -let me, in the Name of Virtue and Impartiality, ask the whole World -whether this free Oath of an unconcerned Person, or the hardly-obtained -Information of one who was interested, and had the Alternative only of -that Information or a Prison, deserves the most Respect?</p> - -<p>You ask, Sir, why this Woman, and with her this Husband, were not -produced upon the Tryal? You tell us you can give but one Answer to -this, and that you conceal, Sir, I can give another, and it shall stand -openly. The Reason is a plain, and 'tis a dreadful one. They were -subpœna'd, and they were ready at the Court; but the Mob without-doors -had been so exasperated against all that should appear on the Part of -the Accused, that they were prevented from getting in, and treated -themselves like Criminals.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 41 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p><p>This is now known, notoriously and generally known; nor is the Cause a -Secret. The Public were prejudiced in the most unfair Manner: nor the -Public only. Printed Papers were handed about the Court at the time of -the Tryal, calculated to enflame every body against the Accused; even -those on whose Impartiality the public Justice was to depend. I do not -suppose they took such Effect; but that this was the Design is plain. -It was an Insolence unprecedented, and surely will never be again -attempted.</p> - -<p>If Means like these were used within-doors, we cannot doubt enough -were employed without; nor wonder that those who could have proved the -Innocence of the Accused were insulted, terrified, and driven away. -'Tis easy to know what must be the Fate of the Guiltless, when only -those are to appear who accuse them.</p> - -<p>Such is the State, and the exact State, of that Case, into which -a Suspicion of Misinformation at first, a Confession of Perjury -afterwards, and accumulated Proofs in Support of that Confession, have -engaged the Lord Mayor of the City of <em>London</em> to <!-- Page 42 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>enquire certainly in -a virtuous and laudable Manner, even after the Tryal. The Enquiry has -answered all his Lordship's Expectations; the Evidence is clear, and -the Proof is full. But for this his impartial Enquiry, made for the -sake of Justice only, he is attacked by Calumny and private Prejudice: -The envious Hint he must be interested in it; while others, whose -Honour is as far beneath his, as their Abilities are inferior, wish the -Convict guilty, that he may sink into an Equality. That Magistrate is -too well informed of the Respect due to his Sovereign, not to lay all -the Evidences first before him; afterwards the whole World will see -them: And it is on Certainty and Knowledge I speak, who now tell them, -that, when they do see them, they will be convinced at full.</p> - -<p>In the mean time, it is not necessary that others should be blamed. -Those who are of the contrary Opinion maintain it, because they are -ignorant what are the Proofs on which the Innocence of the Convict is -supported. Every Magistrate who has enquired into the Story has a Right -to Praise from the World for that Enquiry: he has a Right to this, and -in Proportion, not to the Success, for that was not in his <!-- Page 43 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>Hands, but -to the Pains which he has taken, and the Impartiality by which he has -been governed, in the Endeavour.</p> - -<p>Those who set on foot the Contribution, engaged in it beyond a Doubt -as an Act of Justice and of Virtue; it is most certain that they have -had no other Motive: that they have been imposed on is as certain; but -for that others must be answerable. If it were Justice to establish the -Subscription, all was Charity and Benevolence in those who encouraged -and promoted it; nor is their Generosity, the Motive to which is so -palpable and so noble, at all affected by the ill Use to which it might -have been applied.</p> - -<p>But while these all stand not only excused but applauded, there -certainly is one to whom that Tribute is due in a superior Degree; and -it shall never be my Crime to mention the Transaction, and omit to -pay it. While I see the Lord Mayor in this just and honourable Light, -it gives me Pain to find those who are, in all Senses of the Word so -vastly his Inferiors, and you, Sir! most of all, placing themselves as -it were on an Equality with him: and when I consider, for I know it is -so, that his <!-- Page 44 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>Lordship has, from no other Principle but Humanity and a -Love of Justice, undertaken one of the most arduous Tasks that could -have been imposed on Man; and this at his own private Expence, and by -his own Labour and inconceivable Trouble: when I see him compleating -what so good a Heart had designed, by a Discernment equal to his -Candour, I own, and, as I am a Stranger and disinterested, I glory in -owning it, I see, with all that Indignation which Honesty conceives at -the low Cunning of the Base and Wicked, Insinuations, for there are -such Insinuations spread, that <em>foul</em> and <em>unjustifiable</em> Practices -have been used since the Tryal. You, Mr. <em>Fielding</em>, among others, say -this: But I must tell those who invent, and those who can give Credit -to it, that the Discernment of this honourable Magistrate is as much -above being imposed on by such Artifices, as his Honour would be above -encouraging them.</p> - -<p>It gives me Pain, when I hear Men talk of <em>this Side</em> as their own, -and of some other as his <em>Lordship</em>'s. He is of no Side or Party; nor -has (so I have heard him often say, and so I am convinced) the least -Concern which way the Truth shall be determined. His sole Endeavour -has been to <!-- Page 45 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>discover it; be it what, or where, or how it will: Nor can -I hear, without Concern, you, of whose Understanding I would, for the -Sake of the Public, wish to think favourably; expressing a Desire that -the Government would appoint Persons, <em>capable</em> and <em>indifferent</em>, such -are your Terms, to enquire into the Matter. Who, Sir, are you, that -are thus dictating unto the Government? Retire into yourself and know -your Station! Who is more <em>capable</em>, or who more <em>indifferent</em>, than -this generous Magistrate? Or has there been among the most violent and -misguided of this Creature's Friends, any Man, for I will not suppose -you could, but has there been any Man, who has dared to whisper to his -own Heart a Thought that it were otherwise?</p> - -<p>To this 'tis fit to add, that his Lordship, as <em>Supreme Magistrate</em> of -that Court in which the Cause was tried, is the proper Person for this -Examination: and that he has already finished it. Why should it then be -supposed necessary, or why proper, to take the Cognizance of an Affair -of this Importance, out of his Hands who has a Right to examine into -it: or what would be the Justice, or what the Gratitude, of <!-- Page 46 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>appointing -others to do that which he has done already; and for which he deserves, -and for which he will receive, the universal Applause of Mankind!</p> - -<p>What is the real Case, with respect to the Girl, Heaven and her own -Conscience only; at least I hope they only, know. I have no Right to -assert any Thing, nor do: and my Opinion cannot hurt her. There does -appear to have been a Conspiracy, and a most foul and black one: It is -possible, at least, there may have been such; this her Friends must -allow; and she who has certainly accused, and persecuted to the utmost, -an innocent Person, whether it hath been ignorantly or designedly, -cannot expect she shall escape the Suspicion. That <em>Squires</em> is -Guiltless is beyond all doubt: That <em>Canning</em> was not confined in the -House of <em>Wells</em> is as much beyond all Possibility of doubting. She -appears to have proceeded wilfully: but there is a Possibility she may -have done it ignorantly; and the World will be glad for her own Sake, -that she could prove it a Mistake; horrible as it will appear even in -that Consideration.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 47 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p><p>Thus stands the whole: And upon this Foundation rests the Innocence of -the unhappy Convict. What greater Proof can Innocence require? What -greater can it admit! Who is there among ourselves that might not, -by the same Artifice, have been accused, and by the same Evidence -convicted of the Crime? Or who is there, had he been so accused, that -could have brought a fuller Proof of Innocence? I cannot question, but -that the Impartial will be convinced: But would all were impartial.</p> - -<p>I thought the Public were clear in it before; but what is there so -swift as Misinformation? An Indisposition had shut me from the World a -few Days, and at the End of that little Period, when I mixed among Men -again, what a Change was there in their Opinions! I left them assured, -and they had Right to be assured of it, of the Convict's Innocence: I -find them full in the Belief that she is Guilty: but I do not wonder -at this; nor can I blame the most resolute among them, when I hear -the Foundations of the new Opinion. These Delusions, however, are not -calculated for Duration: They serve the Purpose till they <!-- Page 48 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>are exploded; -and then who knows the Authors?</p> - -<p>Men hear that all which has been told them, concerning the Convict's -being in another Place at the Time of the alledged Robbery, has been -since discovered to be false. I, who have told them all that related -to the Attestation of her being so, do now assure them, that there has -been no such Discovery. Nothing has happened to take one Grain from the -Weight of any of those Evidences, on which I founded the Opinion; but -many, very many Things, to countenance, support, and prove their Truth. -Falsities innumerable have been, indeed, devised by the Interested, -received by the Credulous, and propagated by the Malicious; but who is -there to be found, that will himself attest any the least Circumstance -that they pretend?</p> - -<p>There are Men, are there not, Mr. <em>Fielding</em>? who cannot bear the -Glory this will soon bring, and ought to bring, to the great Magistrate -who has discovered the Conspiracy. And these will swallow greedily all -that they hear against it; and they will propagate that which they -don't <!-- Page 49 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>believe. There are Men, who have been deceived: Who now know they -have been deceived; but who are ashamed to own it. A foolish Shame: -The seeing the Delusion proved upon them, and it will soon be proved, -will be much greater. These will add to the Numbers that are busy in -spreading every Breath of Falsehood: and I am sorry to add, there may -be some who even on my Account will be as violent to blast the Credit -of all that has been doing. Though not conscious that I deserve to have -one Enemy in the World, I am not ignorant that I have several; and some -of these are of that idle Kind who live in the meaner Coffeehouses, -and spread Reports among the successive Companies. These are a Sort -of Men, who have not, on any other Occasion, appeared considerable -enough to me to justify the slightest Notice; but if their Violence and -officious Malice can take any Thing from the Opinion, which the World -had entertained of the Credibility of what I have published, designing -to be known the Author of it, on this Occasion; I shall for once be -sorry that even such Men were my Enemies.</p> - -<p><!-- Page 50 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p><p>To one or other of these Sets of Persons; all of them mean, wicked, or -interested, have been owing the various Reports the World has heard -within these few Days upon this Occasion: And not knowing from what -Source they have sprung, Men have not known with what Contempt to treat -them. The same short Answer serves for all I have heard; and I desire -no other than to stand accountable to all who shall dispute that Answer.</p> - -<p>I have been told, that the Lord Mayor had given up the Cause, finding -all Perjury that had been brought before him: There is no Truth in any -Part of this. The Lord Mayor never altered his Opinion; he is convinced -by Proof of what he first guessed from Reason: And his Lordship will, -as soon as that is proper, convince all the World.</p> - -<p>I have been told the Vicar of <em>Abbotsbury</em> is, or has been, in Town. -There is no Truth in this. That he has contradicted what I have said -concerning him: Neither is there in this: On the contrary, he has -certified it all in <!-- Page 51 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>a Letter to a noble Lord, a Letter which you Mr. -<em>Fielding</em> know of; and that noble Personage also countenances, by his -Character of this Gentleman, all that his Conduct in the Matter had -before spoken in his Favour.</p> - -<p>It has been said that the Certificates and Affidavits in the Lord -Mayor's Hands, sent up from <em>Abbotsbury</em>, and attested by this -Gentleman, and by the Church-wardens and Overseers of the Parish are -forged. There is no Truth in this Report, nor the least Shadow of -Foundation for it: They are confirmed. 'Tis said the Letters from -that Gentleman are forged: They also are authenticated. That the -Church-wardens and Overseers mentioned in those Papers are, or have -been, in Town, and contradict the whole: This also is wholly untrue; -not one of them either has been here, or has contradicted, by Letter, -or any other way, any Part of that Evidence: All stands on the full -Credit that it did. It has been said, that an Exciseman, now in Town, -whose Evidence is in itself sufficient, and is a new Testimony of -Truth in all the other's, had undergone a previous Examination by a -Gentleman, whom they even dare to name, before he was seen by the <!-- Page 52 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>Lord -Mayor: I have Authority from that Gentleman to declare, that this also -is wholly false. And I, on <em>Monday</em>, heard the Man himself say, he -never saw him, till in the Lord Mayor's Presence. It has been lastly -said, that the Recantation of <em>Virtue Hall</em> was not taken in a candid -and fair Manner by the Lord Mayor himself. Where will Slander stop, -when it dares rise to this! All I have seen of that was perfectly fair, -and most particularly candid: And it was a happy Precaution the Lord -Mayor used, never to speak with her alone.</p> - -<p>These are the Stories I have heard; they are related boldly; and they -are enough in Number. They are enough to plead in full Excuse for those -which have been wavering in their Opinion; and they will be found -enough to condemn their Authors, nay, and the busy Propagators of them -too, to everlasting Ignominy.</p> - -<p>No more can be declared at this Time than I have told; but I shall -conclude this, as I have done the other Accounts which I have given -of these Proceedings, with assuring those who pay me the Attention -of reading <!-- Page 53 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>it, that the Truth will appear, and that soon; under such -Proof, as will do immortal Honour to the Magistrate who has discovered -it; will condemn to Shame and Confusion all who have disingenuously -opposed it; and will at once, astonish, and convince the World.</p> - -<p>For you, Mr. <em>Fielding</em>! I have no Right to call your Behaviour as a -Magistrate in Question; nor have I Abilities to judge of it: I have, -therefore, no where alluded to it: But certainly your private Treatment -of this Subject, both before and in your Pamphlet, merits the strongest -Censure.</p> - - -<p class="sectctr"><i>FINIS.</i></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i055.jpg" width="170" height="97" alt="decoration of vines and flowers" /> -</div> - - - - -<hr class="newchapter" /> -<div class="notebox"> -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="tnhead">Transcriber's Note</p> -</div> - -<p>Page 2 is blank in the original.</p> - -<p>Except for changes listed below, variations in spelling and hyphenation -remain as in the original.</p> - -<p>The following corrections have been made to the text:</p> - -<div class="tnblock"> -<p>Page 5: no Application [original has "App!ication"] whatsoever -has been made to me</p> - -<p>Page 6: No History can produce[original has "propuce"] a -greater Instance</p> - -<p>Page 15: he shall be handsomely rewarded for his -Trouble."[quotation mark missing in original]</p> - -<p>Page 21: but there has been a Motive,[original has a period]</p> - -<p>Page 22: she went down to <em>Enfield</em>[original has "Endfield"]</p> - -<p>Page 31: I will not suppose Mr.[period missing in original] -<em>Fielding</em> can be guilty</p> - -<p>Page 40: They were subpœna'd[original has "subpæna'd"]</p> - -<p>Page 46: beyond all Possibility[original has "Possibllity"] of -doubting</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF ELIZABETH CANNING CONSIDERED***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 51334-h.htm or 51334-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/1/3/3/51334">http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/3/3/51334</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed.</p> - -<p>Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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