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462     HISTORICAL CHRONICLE.

house's hat, and lodged in the door post; that then the General reached at another pistol, but Hyde rushing in got it out of his hand, on which he was brought down stairs, and conveyed in a coach to Armstrong, the Bailiff's house. Hyde said, neither he not his assistants had any offensive weapons through the whole of this transaction.

Thomas Hyde, brother to the above witness, corroborated the story of James, as to the General's back being at the door when he fired; said, the Bailiffs had no arms when he fired of any sort, but had five people, beside Lee the Plaintiff, to seize the General, who, he said, was a terrible man, though they were under no apprehensions from him.

Henry Felthouse told partly the same story as the two former; but said that Gansel's face was to the door when he fired, and contradicted the evidence of the Hydes in other particulars.

William Sly and Richard Reeves, the two other followers, contradicted the tenor of the former evidences, but all denied having fire-arms of any kind.

Mrs. Mayo deposed, the gang of catchpoles came to her house of the 20th of August, about two of the clock; that they seemed all in a tremble, and took a double-barrelled pistol, which lay in her parlour, up stairs with them; that she heard two pistols fired, but did not know by whom.

The evidence for the prosecution being gone thro', the General requested leave to read his defense. He said, he had been long unhappily embarrassed in his circumstances, but that he little expected such a proceeding from Lee, whom he had amply paid; that he hoped, he should prove by his evidences, he was by no means guilty of the charge; that he never came out of his door, nor saw a warrant in Hyde's hand, for if he had, as he never meant to oppose the court of Justice, he should not have fired his first pistol; but that he had read, in Blackstone's Commentaries, an Englishman's house, nay his room, was his castle; that he had lived thirty-eight years in the place where he was attacked, and that his apartments were only connected with Mrs. Mayo's house by a common entry, and he had a distinct property in the habitation; that the most cruel means had been taken to oppress him, and exaggerate his offence in the news papers, &c. 

    Henry Afhfield, his servant, swore that Hyde and the other ruffians came to the house while he was cutting bread for his master's dinner; that he ran down with his knife in hand, and finding who they were, returned and told the General, who bid his brother James to lock the door, which he heard him do; that he was met by Hyde on the stairs with a pistol in his hand, whom he never threatened, as he was directly knocked down; that they pushed him into the yard, and bolted him out, but getting over some rails, he came into the house, and ran up stairs, where he saw the officers about his master's door, which was closely shut when both pistols were fired; that they then broke open the door, and took away the General, and he saw the box of the lock broke off directly after, and the bolts shot out.

James Ashfield's testimony agreed principally with his brother's, and he declared, when he went down stairs, the General bid him take notice he locked the door, which he heard his master do.

Mr. Vickars gave a very good reason to the court for believing the door was shut when the first pistol was fired, as the mark on the wall made by the ball, was in a straight line with the orifice in the pannel. Other witnesses not only strengthened the credibility of Vickars, but mentioned several circumstances which evinced the door was fastened when the pistols were fired.

Mr. Justice Nares proceeded to give his charge to the jury. His Lordship observed, that no subject was above the laws; that in their eye all men were equal; and begged, therefore, that the jury would make no personal distinction; that the prisoner was not to be looked on as a General Officer, nor was his situation in life to influence their verdict; the poorest individual found the laws provided to remedy his grievances as readily as those of his superiors; that the General's law, respecting the security of his own house, was indisputably found doctrine; the fact alledged against him was nevertheless of a very enormous nature- a resistance with a deadly weapon to those employed in the execution of a civil process- but in his apprehension, the extent aggravating circumstances, and enormity of any offence, ought ever to influence a jury to be exceedingly cautious in their credit of the sort of evidence brought in support of the prosecution, and encrease the probability of the matters urged on the defensive side; that therefore he thought it his duty to observe to them that, considering the evidence of the two Hydes and Felhouse by itself, without once looking to what the witnesses for the prisoner had sworn, it was altogether so improbable and contradictory, that it deserved little credit; they had all sworn they had no arms, and James Hyde had sworn that he saw the General on the stairs, and deliberately read his writ to him, and yet that he could get no farther into the room than his knee between the door and the door-post; whereas Mr. Hyde very well knew, and he believed that General was not ignorant, that, if he
had

HISTORICAL CHRONICLE     463

had tapped him on the shoulder it would have been a very good arrest. James Hyde also swore, that he saw the General lift up his left arm and fire over his right shoulder; how was it possible he could see this with only his knee in the room? Felthouse had sworn that he never saw the General, till he saw him in his own apartment, and that he fired his pistol directly at his person. On the other hand, when the evidence against the prosecution was looked to, the whole matter against the prisoner must be destroyed, if what was deposed in his defence was credited. In the first place there was, in this evidence for the prisoner, a direct denial of the most material circumstance, viz. whether the door was or was not locked; there was, from Mrs. Mayo, a direct denial of the bailiffs being unarmed, and the General's servant had confirmed this denial; and it was in the highest degree ridiculous to imagine, that General Gansel, who was well aware of his embarrassed circumstances, and knew the necessity of using great caution, should be at large on the stair-case; and, if he was, and the door was open only two inches, the hold made by the pistol could not have been even and direct, but must necessarily have been oblique, wherea sit was fully proved that it was immediately horizontal; nor was it probable that the prisoner, who was a very lusty man, should fire, in the position the evidence for the prosecution had described, directly thro the door, which shot could not possibly be believed to be aimed at the prosecutor's head, he being five feet nine, and the perforation of the door only four feet nine inches from the ground. He farther told the Jury, that firing upon a mixed assembly would, if proved in trying on an indictment for murder, be sufficient to convict; but that the General was now trying on a particular act of Parliament, and that he must be proved to have sinned particularly against the meaning of that act of parliament, before he could be convicted. That, from the evidence for the prosecution, it was evident he had not so sinned; for, if he stood in the position James Hyde described, it was not possible he could tell whom he fired at; and if the evidence for the defence was credited, the door being shut, it was also evident that he could not tell whom he fired at, not having seen the parties behind the door; and two of the witnesses had positively sworn he fired his pistol at each of them. After a number of very humane and well founded observations, he informed the Jury, that they were to judge merely from the evidence before them; that they were to attend to his remarks no farther than they correspond with their own opinion; and if they credited the evidence for the prosecution, and thought his observation unjust, they must necessarily bring the prisoner in guilty; if, on the other hand, they joined in opinion with him, and believed that the matter sworn in evidence for the difference was the truth, they must acquit him. The jury did not go out of court, but after consulting together for a few minutes, brought in their verdict, NOT GUILTY.

It being now become a question, whether General Gansel can be legally kept in custody, after his acquitment at the Old-Bailey, it is necessary to inform them, that although the manner of arresting the General was illegal, yet, as he has been actually in custody of a Sheriff's officer, if he is suffered to go at large, the Sheriffs, to all intents and purposes, would be fixed with the debt. The General has his remedy by law against the Bailiff, for any illegal conduct in the execution of the process.

This day a Sheriff's officer arrested an attorney, at Camberwell, by the following stratagem: he dressed himself exactly like a barber's man that he shaved with, and when he entered the room, the gentleman asked him if he could shave well? His answer was, very well! and immediately shewed his warrant. The attorney said he shaved too close, and paid the money directly.

A melancholy accident happened at Portsmouth, by a person carelessly throwing into the street some gingerbread cakes, in which he had put some arsenic, in order to poison the rats; when three children picked them up, and eating them eagerly, the fatal effects of the poison soon began to operate, and though every means was used to expel it, yet it proved fatal to one of them.

Wednesday 15.
The sessions ended at the Old-Bailey. At this session fifteen prisoners received judgement of death, forty were sentenced to be transported for seven years, six ordered to be privately whipped, two to be publicly whipped, and fifty-five were discharged by proclamation.

The Court of Directors of the East-India Company took up the following ships into their service for the year ensuing, viz. the Stratford, Capt. Lisle, for Bombay and China; the True Briton, Capt. Broadley, the Mora, Capt. Kent, the Verelst, Capt. Nowle, the Bute, Capt. Rendy, the Asia, Capt, Gammage, the Speke, Capt. Jackson, the Dutton, Capt. Rice, the Seahorse, Capt. Anthony, and the Pacific, Capt. Berkeley, for Coast and Bay; the Northumberland, Capt. Rees, the Thames, Capt. Clark, and the Calcutta, Capt. Thompson, for Bombay; and the York, Capt, Hayton, for St. Helena and Bencoolen.

This day Sir John Fielding informed the Bench of Justices, that he had last year written to Mr. Garrick concerning
the