civil order. But whatever the rank may be, that rank can never stand between a defendant and the proof of the fact, with a jury of Englishmen. They know their duty too well: neither compassion, sympathy, nor any other principle, can possibly affect their minds.-Consider what is the peculiar situation of these Defendants; reflect, that they are set apart by the laws of the land, and the regulations of the Christian religion, for the purpose of preaching the doctrines of Christ. Our law has been so peculiarly cautious with respect to their character, that even when it empowers the civil magistrate to quell a riot by calling to his assistance every other member of the community, it peculiarly excepts, with women and children, the clergy. I have brought before you persons of that description, who, instead of claiming an exemption from being called upon, have themselves been guilty of a riot; for which they are justly amenable to the laws of their country.

After the examination of the witnesses, and the close of the Prosecutor's case, Mr. ERSKINE spoke as follows:

GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY,

My Learned Friend, in opening the case on the part of the Prosecution, has, from personal kindness to me, adverted to some successful exertions in the duties of my profession, and particularly in this place. It is true, that I have been in the practice of the law for very many years, and more than once, upon memorable occasions, in this Court; yet, with all the experience which, in that long lapse of time, the most inattentive man may be supposed to have collected, I feel myself wholly at a loss in what manner to address you. I speak unaffectedly when I say, that I never felt myself in so complete a state of embarrassment in the course of my professional life ;-indeed, I hardly know how to collect my faculties at all, or in what fashion to deal with this most extraordinary subject. When my. Learned Friend, Mr. Adam, spoke from himself, and from the emanations of as honourable a mind as ever was bestowed upon any of the human species, I know that he spoke the truth when he declared his wish to conduct the cause with all charity, and in the true spirit of Christianity.-But his duties were scarcely compatible with his intentions; and we shall, therefore, have, in the sequel, to examine how much of his speech was his own candid address, proceeding from himself; and what part of it may be considered as arrows from the quiver of his CLIENT.

-The cause of the Bishop of Bangor can suffer nothing from this tribute, which is equally due to friendship and to justice on the contrary, I should have thought it material, at any rate, to advert to the advantage which Mr. Grindley might otherwise derive from being so represented.-I should have thought it right to guard you against blending the Client with the Counsel.-It would have been my duty to warn you, not to confound the one with the other, lest, when you hear a liberal and ingenuous man, dealing, as he does, in humane and conciliating expressions, and observe him with an aspect of gentleness and moderation, you might be led by sympathy to imagine that such were the feelings, and that such had been the conduct, of the man whom he represents *.-On the contrary, I have no difficulty in asserting, and I shall call upon his Lordship to pronounce the law upon the subject, That you have before you a prosecution, set on foot without the smallest colour or foundation-a prosecution, hatched in mischief and in malice, by a man, who is, by his own confession, a disturber of the public peace; supported throughout by persons who, upon their own testimony, have been his accom

* No observation can be more just than this. It is the most consummate art of an advocate, when he knows that an attack is likely to be made upon his Client for turbulence and malice, to make the Jury think, by his whole speech and demeanour, that mildness and justice were his characteristics; and Mr. Adam ap-. pears, with great ability, to have fulfilled this duty.

plices, and who are now leagued with him in a conspiracy to turn the tables of justice upon those, who came to remonstrate against their violence, who ho nestly, but vainly, endeavoured to recall them to a sense of their duty, whose only object was to preserve the public peace, and to secure even the sanctuaries of religion from the violation of disorder and tumult.

What then is the cause of my embarrassment ?— It is this. In the extraordinary times in which we live; amidst the vast and portentous changes which have shaken, and are shaking the world; I cannot help imagining, in standing up for a Defendant against such Prosecutors, that the religion and order, under which this country has existed for ages, had been subverted; that anarchy had set up her standard; that misrule had usurped the seat of justice, and that the workers of this confusion and uproar had obtained the power to question their superiors, and to subject them to ignominy and reproach, for venturing only to remonstrate against their violence, and for endeavouring to preserve tranquillity, by means not only hitherto accounted legal, but which the law has immemorially exacted as an INDISPENSABLE DUTY from all the subjects of this realm. Hence, it really is, that my embarrassment arises; and, however this may be considered as a strong figure in speaking, and introduced rather to captivate your imaginations, than gravely to solicit your judgments, yet let me ask you, Whether it is not the most natural train of ideas that can occur to any

man, who has been eighteen years in the profession of the English law?

In the first place, Gentlemen, WHо are the parties prosecuted and prosecuting ?—What are the relations they stand in to each other?-What are the transactions, as they have been proved by themselves? What is the law upon the subject?-and, What is the spirit and temper, the design and purpose of this nefarious prosecution?

The parties prosecuted are, the Right Reverend Prelate, whose name stands first upon the Indictment, and three ministers and members of his church, together with another, who is added (I know not why) as a Defendant.-The person prosecuting is-(how shall 1 describe him?)-For surely my Learned Friend could not be serious, when he stated the relation between this person and the Bishop of Bangor. He told you, most truly, which renders it less necessary for me to take up your time upon the subject ;-that the Bishop is invested with a very large and important jurisdiction-that, by the ancient laws of this kingdom, it extends to many of the most material objects in civil life; that is, has the custody and recording of wills, the granting of administrations, and a jurisdiction over many other rights, of the deepest moment to the personal property of the King's subjects.-He told you, also, that all these complicated authorities, subject only to the appellate jurisdiction of the Metropolitan, are vested in the Bishop.-To which he might have