y with candor and fairness. But much at the same time has been
said, which, although it would seem to have no distinct bearing on the
trial, cannot be passed over without some notice.

A tone of complaint so peculiar has been indulged, as would almost lead
us to doubt whether the prisoner at the bar, or the managers of this
prosecution, are now on trial. Great pains have been taken to complain
of the manner of the prosecution. We hear of getting up a case; of
setting in motion trains of machinery; of foul testimony; of
combinations to overwhelm the prisoner; of private prosecutors; that the
prisoner is hunted, persecuted, driven to his trial; that everybody is
against him; and various other complaints, as if those who would bring
to punishment the authors of this murder were almost as bad as they who
committed it.

In the course of my whole life, I have never heard before so much said
about the particular counsel who happen to be employed; as if it were
extraordinary that other counsel than the usual officers of the
government should assist in the management of a case on the part of the
government. In one of the last criminal trials in this county, that of
Jackman for the "Goodridge robbery" (so called), I remember that the
learned head of the Suffolk Bar, Mr. Prescott, came down in aid of the
officers of the government. This was regarded as neither strange nor
improper. The counsel for the prisoner, in that case, contented
themselves with answering his arguments, as far as they were able,
instead of carping at his presence.

Complaint is made that rewards were offered, in this case, and
temptations held out to obtain testimony. Are not rewards always
offered, when great and secret offences are committed? Rewards were
offered in the case to which I have alluded; and every other means taken
to discover the offenders, that ingenuity or the most persevering
vigilance could suggest. The learned counsel have suffered their zeal to
lead them into a strain of complaint at the manner in which the
perpetrators of this crime were detected, almost indicating that they
regard it as a positive injury to them to have found out their guilt.
Since no man witnessed it, since they do not now confess it, attempts to
discover it are half esteemed as officious intermeddling and impertinent
inquiry.

It is said, that here even a Committee of Vigilance was appointed. This
is a subject of reiterated remark. This committee are pointed at, a