Anonymous

“ Its authenticity thus shewn, he further says: “Of all the monstrous wickedness with which the age abounds, nothing, I will be bound to say, can parallel the scenes of villainy that are here laid open. In all the Histories I have ever read, of all the barbarous stories I have heard related, never did I meet with an instance where cruelty was carried to such an excess as here. We have an instance of two men suffering the most cruel torments that malice itself could invent, without any provocation given, and for no other crime but a duty to serve their king and country.” ”

“ That so we, who are blessed with a wise and well constituted government, administered by a mild and most gracious prince, may testify our sense and worthiness of so great a blessing, by living peaceably and quietly under it. That to the fervency of our prayers we may add our endeavours likewise to preserve an establishment, which is the only means, under God, of preserving us; and, in a word, which is the common dictate both of reason and religion, that all, who share in the benefits, may join in the duties of an obedient people. ”

“ Smuggling is not only highly injurious to trade, a violation of the laws, and the disturber of the peace and quiet of all the maritime counties in the kingdom; but it is a nursery for all sorts of vice and wickedness; a temptation to commit offences at first unthought of; an encouragement to perpetrate the blackest of crimes without provocation or remorse; and is in general productive of cruelty, robbery and murder. ”

“ Now justice is a virtue that not only in the common consideration of it is, as every other virtue is, honorable in itself, and much to be desired for its own sake; but it is a virtue so peculiarly necessary for human society, that it is scarce conceivable how any society can subsist without it; for the want of justice, if it destroys not the very foundations of society, at least it deprives us of all the advantages of it, and renders such political establishments at best but useless and undesirable things. ”

“ But who can think on his tormentors without horror and detestation? Bloody villains! had you thought that his death was absolutely necessary to secure your own lives, could you not have dispatched him at once, without exercising such a variety of merciless cruelties upon him? It is true, even in this case you would not have been excused, because you would have slain him while he was actually discharging his duty to his country, that is, endeavouring to detect and to bring to punishment wretches that live only by rapine and the plunder of the public. ”

“ I say, had this been the case, and upon meeting him on the road you had shot him through the head, merely to prevent his bringing you to that righteous judgment which your country has since passed upon you, it might have been some mitigation of your crime; but to torture and to destroy a man by inches, to be constantly afflicting and lacerating his body for so many days together with every cruelty that malice itself could suggest; this surely must convince mankind that some malicious demon had taken possession of your souls, and banished every sentiment of humanity from your hardened hearts. ”

“ Thus, when a course of villainy is once begun, it is impossible to say where it will end; one crime brings on another, and that treads on the heels of a third, till at length both the innocent and the guilty are swept away into the gulf of destruction.
I cannot pass in silence, without making mention of the readiness old Mills shewed when they brought poor Chater first down to his house; for he fetched them [22] victuals and drink, and they all eat and drank, except Chater, who could not eat, but vomited very much. ”

“ Being asked why he did not give poor Galley and Chater a dram, as well as the smugglers, when they all got off their horses; he said he was going to do it, but Richards, Carter and Jackson, all swore they would blow his brains out if he did. He acknowledged going away with them from Old Mills’s in order to hang Chater according to agreement; but seeing Tapner whip the poor man so cruelly, Chater at the same time being all over blood and wounds, his heart relented, and that was the only reason why he did not go with them, and be present at his murder. ”

“ The malice conceived by the prisoners against Chater appears not to have arisen from any injury, or suspicion of injury, done by the deceased to the prisoners. But because Chater dared to give information against a smuggler, and do his duty in assisting to bring a notorious offender to justice, he was to be treated with the utmost cruelty, his person was to be tortured, and his life to be destroyed. What avail the laws of society, where no man dares to carry them into execution? ”

“ This murder in itself was as barbarous as that of Mr. Galley; for they made him go with them upwards of ten miles, all the way whipping him, and beating him with the handles of their whips till they had killed him, and then tied stones to his legs and arms and flung him into the pond, which kept the body under water. ”

“ This indeed was the plea of these vile miscreants; but a very bad plea it was to support as bad a cause. But such is the depravity of human nature, that when a man once abandons himself to all manner of wickedness, he sets no bounds to his passions, his conscience is seared, every tender sentiment is lost, reason is no more, and he has nothing left him of the man but the form.
We forgot to mention in its proper place that in order to make their whipping the more severely felt, they pulled off Galley’s great coat, which was found in the road next morning all bloody. ”

“ A reverend writer says: “In order to deter mankind from the perpetration of notorious crimes, nothing can be so effectual as to represent, in the most striking colours, the punishments that naturally attend them. The fear of shame as often preserves a person from the commission of a crime, as the expectation of a reward for his continuing in the paths of virtue.” ”

“ And when we say that the presence of a person at the commission of a felony will involve him in the guilt of the rest, we must not confine ourselves to a strict, actual presence as would make him an eye or ear witness of what passes. For an accomplice may be involved in the guilt of the rest, though he may happen to be so far distant from the scene of action, as to be utterly out of sight or hearing of what passes. ”

“ They are met by the officers of the revenue; one of the party, in the prosecution of this unlawful design, fires on the King’s officer, and kills him or any of his assistants: the whole party is, in the eye of the law, guilty of murder, though their original intention went no further than smuggling; for that intention being unlawful, the killing in prosecution of that intent is murder, and every man engaged in it partakes of the guilt. The act of one, in prosecution of their common engagement, is considered as the act of all. ”

“ And would we but sometimes consider what manifold inconvenience all societies must feel, where there is either no government at all, or, which is next to none, an ill-established or an ill-administered one; the consideration would certainly be useful, to give us a proper sense and relish of the blessings we ourselves enjoy under one of the best regulated governments in the world: a government adorned with all the advantages which human frailty will allow us to expect, and which the very meanest of its subjects enjoy in common with those who are in the highest stations. ”

“ After the death warrant came down, Kingsmill and Fairall began to consider their unhappy circumstances more than they had done before, and always attending divine service at chapel, and prayed very devoutly, but retained their former behaviour of boldness and intrepidity, shewing no fear, and frequently saying they did not think they had been guilty of any crime in smuggling, or in breaking open Poole custom-house, as the property of the goods they went for was not Captain Johnson’s or anybody else’s, but of the persons who sent their money over to Guernsey for them. ”

“ Villains! not to be won by lenity, despising and rejecting proffered pardons, proceeding from crime to crime, till they arrived at the highest and, until now, unheard-of pitch of wickedness: who, not content with defrauding the King in his customs and revenues; not satisfied with violating the properties and possessions, pursued the lives of his subjects and servants, whose very blood could not satiate their malice—tortures were added to aggravate the pangs of death. ”

“ But on this occasion I thought it not improper to enlarge on some points, that people may see the infinite hazard they run by engaging in the wicked combinations I have mentioned: and how suddenly and fatally they may, being so engaged, be involved in the guilt of murder itself, while perhaps their principal view might fall very short of that crime. ”

“ After they had debated the matter some time among them, Richard Mills, jun., proposed this method: “As Chater is already chained to a post, let us,” said he, “load a gun with two or three bullets, lay it upon a stand, with the muzzle of the piece levelled at his head, and, after having tied a long string to the trigger, we will all go to the butt end, and, each of us taking hold of the string, pull it together; thus we shall be all equally guilty of his death, and it will be impossible for any one of us to charge the rest with his murder, without accusing himself of the same crime ”

“ This prosecution, therefore, is of the utmost importance to the public justice of the nation, and to the safety and security of every person; for if such offenders should escape with impunity, the consequence would be, that no crime could be punished. It would teach highwaymen and all other criminals, to unite in the manner those men have done, and whoever received injuries from them would not dare to take any steps towards bringing them to justice, for fear of exposing themselves to the revenge of their companions. ”

“ To comply with this general demand of justice upon the prisoners, his Majesty, in order to give the prisoners the earliest opportunity of proving their innocence and of wiping off this foul suspicion of murder they now lie under, or if guilty of a breach of the laws of God and man, that they may suffer the punishment due to their guilt, has been pleased, by a special commission, to appoint this trial to be before their lordships, not less knowing in the laws than tender and compassionate in the execution of them. ”