This, likewise, my lords, is admitted with such restrictions as seem
intended to preclude any advantage that might be drawn from the
appearance of a concession; for it is urged, that guilt is not to be
detected by any methods which are not just, and that no methods are just
which are not usual.
The first position, my lords, I have no intention to controvert; as it
is not to violate justice, but to preserve it from violation, that this
bill has been projected or defended. But, my lords, it is to be
observed, that they who so warmly recommend the strictest adherence to
justice, seem not fully to understand the duty which they urge. To do
justice, my lords, is to act with impartiality, to banish from the mind
all regard to personal motives, and to consider every question in its
whole extent, without suffering the attention to be restrained to
particular circumstances, or the judgment to be obstructed by partial
affection.
This rule, my lords, seems not to have been very carefully observed, by
the most vehement advocates for justice in the case before us; for they
appear not to be solicitous that any should receive justice, but the
person mentioned in the bill; they do not remember, that the publick has
cried out for justice more than twenty years; for justice, which has not
yet been obtained, and which can be obtained only by the method now
proposed.
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