Where do you live?--In Billiter Street, my house of business.
Are you acquainted with Pedro de Zulueta the prisoner?--I am.
I believe you have known him from his youth?--I have known him for
twelve or fourteen years most intimately. I have the highest possible
opinion of his honour and his integrity, and his moral and religious
character. I have considered it a great blessing that my sons formed a
strict intimacy with him, believing him as incapable of committing an
offence against the law as it is possible for a man to be.
_Christobal de Murrieta_, sworn. Examined by Mr. _Clarkson_.
Are you of the firm of Aguirre Solarte and Murrieta, merchants of
London?--Yes.
Do you know the gentleman who stands in the dock?--Yes.
How long have you known him?--About eighteen years.
What is the reputation which he has borne for honour, veracity,
uprightness of conduct, and humanity, during the whole of the time you
have known him?--The highest in both ways.
You mean the highest in all ways?--Yes.
Mr. _Charles Dodd_, Jun., sworn. Examined by Mr. _Clarkson_.
You are the son of the gentleman who has been just examined?--I am.
Have you formerly been at school with the prisoner at the bar?--No, I
have not been at school with him; I have known him since the year 1831.
What opinion have you formed as to his character for honour, veracity,
and integrity of conduct?--I do not believe a more honourable man
exists. I have felt the greatest pleasure in his acquaintance since when
I first left school; and when I was forming those acquaintances which
would conduct me through life, there is no man whose society I regretted
losing more than Pedro de Zulueta’s when he left Camberwell.
_Hugh Sandeman_, Esq., sworn. Examined by Mr. _Clarkson_.
Are you a stock-broker in this City?--Yes.
Do you know Mr. Zulueta?--Yes, perfectly well, for sixteen years.
What opinion have you formed of him during that time?--Of the very
highest description, and in all my intercourse with houses in the Royal
Exchange, I have never found but the same opinion was expressed by all
of him as a private individual, and as a member.
Has his moral and religious character been perfectly
unexceptionable--Perfectly so.
_William Gibbs_, Esq., sworn. Examined by Mr. _Clarkson_.
Are you of the firm of Anthony Gibbs & Son of this City?--I am.
Do you know the house of Zulueta & Co.?--Perfectly well.
And every one of its members?--Perfectly well.
Have you had an opportunity of ascertaining the reputation which Mr.
Pedro Zulueta has enjoyed in the City; whether it is an unexceptionable
character, morally as well as religiously speaking?--I consider him as
entitled to the highest honourable character. I have always heard him so
described.
Have his transactions been to your knowledge of that
character?--Perfectly; all marked with integrity and honourable conduct.
_Timothy Bevington_, Esq., solemnly affirmed. Examined by Mr.
_Clarkson_.
Are you a member of the Society of Friends?--I am.
The Society has expended much money and labour to put down the traffic
to which reference has been made in the course of this trial?--Yes.
Do you know Mr. Pedro Zulueta?--Yes.
How long have you known him?--The last ten years.
What character has he borne during that time?--Excellent.
Do you know the house of which he is a member?--Very well; they have
been my next door neighbours for many years.
Regard being had to the nature of the charge against him, what can you
say as to his general character for uprightness and honour?--I have been
perfectly satisfied in all the transactions I have had with him.
Have you always heard him spoken of as a man of humane and honourable
conduct and feelings?--Perfectly so.
_William Tindal_, Esq., solemnly affirmed. Examined by Mr. _Clarkson_.
You are a member of the Society of Friends?--I am of that persuasion.
Are you a ship-owner of the City of London?--I am.
Do you know Mr. Pedro de Zulueta?--I know him well.
How long have you known him?--I have known the elder Mr. Zulueta for
fifty years; the younger one ever since he came over.
During that time have you had opportunities of ascertaining the general
character and reputation he has borne in all the relations of
life?--Yes.
What can you say to his Lordship and the Jury in those respects?--He has
been a very exemplary character, both as a merchant and in moral
character in every way.
Do you know a house in the City of London which stands higher than that
house?--There is not one; and also they have the same reputation in
Cadiz.
For humanity and integrity?--Yes, for humanity and integrity, and in
every way as merchants.
_Samuel Jones Loyd_, Esq., sworn. Examined by Mr. _Clarkson_.
You are a banker in the City of London?--I am.
Do you know the house of Zulueta & Co., of which this gentleman is a
partner?--I have no personal knowledge of the gentleman, but I know the
house by character.
What character did the house bear in the City of London for general
honour?--They have a very high reputation in every respect as mercantile
men.
_Frederick Huth_, Esq., sworn. Examined by Mr. _Bodkin_.
Are you a merchant in the City of London?--I am.
I believe you are one of the Directors of the Bank of England?--My son
is.
How long have you known the house of Zulueta & Co.?--For the period of
forty years. I have known them forty years.
Are you acquainted with the member of the firm who is unfortunately
where he is now?--Perfectly so.
How long have you known him?--For twelve years.
As to individual character, how can you speak of him during the time you
have known him with regard to integrity and humanity?--I cannot better
describe him than that I know of no man in the City of London or any
where else, a merchant, of whom I should give a higher character.
Have you ever heard a suggestion against his character as an individual,
or against his regularity as a merchant?--Nothing whatever.
_Abraham Mocatta_, Esq., sworn. Examined by Mr. _Bodkin_.
Are you one of the firm of Mocatta and Goldsmid?--I am.
You are bullion dealers in the City of London I believe?--Bullion
merchants.
How long have you known Mr. Pedro de Zulueta?--I have known him about
sixteen years.
Have you also known the firm of which he is a member?--Yes, I have known
them for that time or longer.
Have you any knowledge of their transactions in the City, the reputation
they bear?--I have always understood them to bear the highest character
that I have known as gentlemen of character. I have known the gentleman
as a neighbour of mine for several years. He was in the habit of
visiting our family, and we have the highest opinion of him; he was
considered particularly humane and considerate of the wants of others.
_Edwin Gower_, Esq., sworn. Examined by Mr. _Bodkin_.
Are you of the firm of Gower & Co.?--I am.
Merchants in this City?--Yes.
How long have you known Mr. Zulueta.--I have known him ever since he has
been connected with the City of London, he and his senior.
And his family I suppose before him?--Yes.
What reputation has he enjoyed during the time you have known him, and
his family, and the house as a mercantile firm?--I should say, as our
connexions and theirs are very similar, we have almost daily more or
less intercourse with him, and I never heard the most distant rumour
against his character; I believe it to be quite unimpeachable: and the
house, as a house of business, stands as high as any house in the City
of London.
_George Rougemont_, Esq., sworn. Examined by Mr. _Bodkin_.
Are you a merchant in the City?--I am.
How long have you known Mr. Pedro de Zulueta?--I have known the house
for a great number of years, and always heard it spoken of in the
highest terms. Mr. Pedro de Zulueta I have been acquainted with and
visited him perhaps six or eight years, and I have had frequent
opportunities of seeing his conduct as a son, as a husband, as a father,
and as a neighbour, and have always found it in the highest degree
unexceptionable in every respect. I consider him an amiable and
kind-hearted man, and quite incapable of any thing of the kind laid to
his charge.
_Joseph Sadler_, Esq., sworn. Examined by Mr. _Bodkin_.
Are you a merchant?--I am.
In the City of London?--Yes, Sadler, Harris, & Co. is my firm.
How long have you known Mr. Pedro de Zulueta?--I have known him ten or
twelve years.
What character has he appeared to bear as a man of integrity and
humanity?--The very first character; I should say he is the last man I
have known that I consider would be guilty of that which is charged.
_F. I. Vanzeller_, Esq., sworn. Examined by Mr. _Clarkson_.
You are the Portuguese consul I believe?--I am.
Do you know the house of Zulueta & Co.?--I have known it well.
Do you know Mr. Pedro de Zulueta?--I have known Mr. Pedro de Zulueta for
ten years.
What character can you give of him, as a general character, to the Jury
for humanity, integrity, and good conduct of every description?--The
very highest character possible.
Is that the reputation which the house of which he is a member has borne
in the city of London?--Certainly.