The History of England from the Accession of James II

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: older man than Holt or Somers, retained a little?and a little was too much?of the tone of that bad school in which he had been bred. But, though he once or twice forgot the austere decorum of his place, he can not be accused of any violation of substantial justice. The prisoners themselves seem to have...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: older man than Holt or Somers, retained a little?and a little was too much?of the tone of that bad school in which he had been bred. But, though he once or twice forgot the austere decorum of his place, he can not be accused of any violation of substantial justice. The prisoners themselves seem to have been surprised by the fairness and gentleness with which they were treated. I would not mislead the jury, I '11 assure you, said Holt to Preston, nor do your lordship any manner of injury in the world. No, my lord, said Preston; I see it well enough that your lordship would not. Whatever my fate may be, said Ashton, I can not but own that I have had a fair trial for my life. The culprits gained nothing by the moderation of the solicitor-general or by the impartiality of the Court: for the evidence was irresistible. The meaning of the papers seized by Billop was so plain that the dullest juryman could not misunderstand it. Of these papers, part was fully proved to be in Preston's handwriting. Part was in Ashton's handwriting; but this the counsel for the prosecution had not the means of proving. They therefore rested the case against Ashton on the indisputable facts that the treasonable packet had been found in his bosom, and that he had used language which was quite unintelligible except on the supposition that he had a guilty knowledge of the contents. Both Preston and Ashton were convicted and sentenced to death. Ashton was speedily executed. He might have saved his life by making disclosures. But though he declared that if he were spared, he would always be a faithful subject of their majesties, he was fully resolved not to give up the names of his accomplices. In this resolution he was encouraged by the non-juring divines who attended him in his cell. It w...