I doubt not that your lordships will easily perceive, that this censure
is equally just in either case; that you will not allow any man to be
prosecuted by methods which he ought not to have used in his own case;
that you will not expose any man to hardships, from which every other
member of the community is exempt; that you will not suffer any man to
be tried by hired evidence; and that you will not condemn him whom the
law acquits.
Lord BATHURST spoke next, in substance as follows:--My lords, the
question under our consideration has been so long and so accurately
debated, that little can be added to the arguments on either side; and
therefore, though I think it necessary on so important an occasion, to
make a solemn declaration of my opinion, I shall endeavour to support
it, not so much by any arguments of my own, as by a recapitulation and
comparison of those which have been already heard by your lordships.
It has not been denied, that the punishment of crimes is absolutely
necessary to the publick security; and as it is evident, that crimes
cannot be punished unless they are detected, it must be allowed, that
the discovery of wicked measures ought to be, in a very great degree,
the care of those who are intrusted with the government of the nation;
nor can they better discharge their trust, than by defeating the
artifices of intrigue, and blocking up the retreats of guilt.
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