his death. Such, however, was then the state of the 1600 country, that, in a capital trial, no man could build his security on the precepts of law, the principles of justice, and the feelings of humanity. I dismiss this investigation with submitting the following proposition: Whether, if the evidence I ' have presented of the state of parties in Scotland, and of their outrageous attempts; of what passed before such a multitude of witnesses at St. Johnston on the important day; of Sprott's foreknowledge of the conspiracy, which he testified and sealed with •his blood; and of the authenticity of Logan's letters; 'I say, if these united testimonies collected into one • focus do not ascertain the reality of Gowry's conspiracy, I submit, whether there be such a thing as historical or legal evidence.' Francis Tennent, Merchant-Burgess of Edinburgh, for Writing a Seditious Pasquinade against the King. THE prisoner was indicted at the instance of Thomas Hamilton,* his Majesty's Advocate, for writing and dispersing slanderous letters, reproachful of the King, his progenitors, and council. No counsel appeared for the prisoner; but he gave * Afterwards Earl of Haddington, and Secretary of State. w 1600 in defences in writing, which must have been done by a lawyer. His defences were:-That he was not apprehended nor prosecuted on account of a recent crime, but for a fact alledged to have been committed three years before: that he was not allowed the legal induciae, or warning of fifteen days, provided by statute for prisoners to prepare their defences: that no copy of the indictment was given him; but that he was summarily presented in pannell without any citation preceding: that speaking generally, with* out cursing, is no lawful cause for taking a man's life, according to the liberal and humane rescript of the Roman Emperors, Si quis Imperatori maledixerit.‡ 'Quoniam si id ex levitate processerit, contemnen'dum est: Si ex insania, miseratione dignissimum: 'Si ab injuria, remittendum.' The Lord Advocate answered, That the prisoner's pleas of the distance of time at which the offence was committed, of his being furnished with no copy of the indictment, and being denied the usual time for preparing his defences, ought to be repelled, because the crime libelled was sedition against the Prince: that the defence which he founded on the Imperial Code ought also to be repelled by reason of the statute of James VI. parl. 14. c. 205. A statute, in which it must be confessed, that King James exceeded the tyranny of his predecessors, as it extended the pain of death to those who even read, or heard, any slanderous writings or speeches against the King, without lodging informations against the offenders. Records of Justiciary, October 8, 1600 The Court repelled the prisoner's defences, and found 1600 the libel relevant. The Lord Advocate produced before the Court, and the Jury, which consisted of merchants and tradesmen of Edinburgh, two letters. These the prisoner acknowledged to be of his hand-writing; and the Jury, in respect of the act of Parliament cited above, and of the letters produced, unanimously found the prisoner guilty. It may, perhaps, appear surprising that the prisoner should have confessed; but, I apprehend it was both the most natural and most prudent conduct he could pursue: for it is probable the letters could have been proved against him; and he was threatened with the torture in the course of the process. A royal warrant, dated at Linlithgow, Sept. 23, was then produced, ordaining the Court to pronounce the following sentence: That the prisoner be taken to the cross of Edinburgh, and his tongue cut out at the root; that a paper be fixed on his brow, denoting him to be the author of wild and seditious pasquils,* and that he then be taken to a gallows, and hanged till he be dead. But, as the King affected the vain boast of clemency, a second royal warrant was produced, in which the torturing and cutting out the tongue were dispensed with; and his Majesty was graciously pleased to declare, he was content that the prisoner should-only be hanged: a sentence which was accordingly pronounced. Immediately upon the prisoner's being sentenced, the Lord Advocate took away the letters upon which he was convicted, declaring, that he would not have them entered upon the record. * Pasquinades. 1600 Archibald Cornwall, Town-Officer in Edinburgh, for attempting to hang up the King's Picture on the Gallows. As this trial is nonpareil, I present it neat. Archi• bald Cornwall, town-officer, dilaited* of the igno'miniously dishonouring and defaming of his Ma⚫jesty, in taking off his portrait, and laying of the same, and setting thereof to the stoops and up'bearers of the gibbet, pressing to fix up the same thereupon.' 'Pursuer, Mr. Thomas Hamilton,† advocate to our Soveraigne Lord.' Then follow the names of the assize; they are mostly tailors; two of them are designed fruitmen. The assize, by plurality of voices, choose John • Ranken, (tailor, burgess of Edinburgh,) chancellor. The assize, for the most part, file and convict • Archibald Cornwall, officer, of the treasonable set'ting of his Majesty's portrait to the stoops of the gibbet, and putting of the same to be hung forth upon an nail infixt in the said gibbet. "The justice-depute, by the mouth of Robert Gal"braith, dempstert of the said Court, decerned and • ordained the said Archibald Cornwall to forfeit life, lands, and goods, and to be taken to the said gib bet, whereupon he pressed to hang his Majesty's i. e. accused. + Records of Just. 25th April, 1601. Executioner, from the word doom; or perhaps from the Latin verb demo, dempsi. 'portrait, and there to be hanged quhill he be dead, 1600 ' and to hang thereupon by the space of twenty-four hours, with an paper on his forehead, containing that vile crime committed by him, which was pro'nounced for doom!'-A man hanged for attempting to fix up a paultry daubing, or a halfpenny print upon the gallows, or even a halfpenny itself; for it also bears the image and superscription of Cesar.' Dii boni! But this, bad as it is, is not the worst point of light in which this trial must be viewed. For to hang a man on account of transgressing a law, annexing a capital punishment to the knotting of straws, is not so repugnant to liberty and justice, as the hanging him upon no law at all, but merely at the caprice of a tyrant. Now, there is nothing in the Scottish statutes upon which this indictment could have been founded. The idea, indeed, must have been borrowed from the Roman law; yet, even upon the Imperial edicts, this man could not have been legally convicted: for there is hardly an analogy between the images of the Roman Emperors and a modern picture; Emperors, who themselves were deified, and whose consecrated statues were the objects of reli. gious adoration. Nay, were the analogy complete between the Imperial images, and the pictures of a modern prince; and, were the sanguinary edicts that guarded the majesty of Rome, suitable to a limited monarchy, still the prisoner must, by law, have been acquitted; for Non videri contra majestatem fieri ob imaginest Cesaris nondum consecratas venditas. * until. Digest. Lib. 48. Tit. 4. Lex 5. § 2. |