“May it please your lordships and you gentlemen of the jury, I am of
counsel in this case for the king in the prosecution of the prisoner at
the bar, who is described by the name of James Hill, otherwise James
Hinde, otherwise James Actzen, for setting fire to the rope-house at
Portsmouth dock, belonging to the Crown, the place where the cordage is
made to supply the king’s navy, and which crime is constituted a capital
felony by an Act of Parliament made in the twelfth year of his present
Majesty (12 Geo. III., c. 24), till when it had not entered the
imagination of man that such a crime could be committed at all. It will
be unnecessary for me to expatiate upon the nature of the offence; that
has nothing to do with the prisoner at the bar, any more than as he was
an agent in the commission of it; and it will be necessary for me,
therefore, to mention to you only those particulars that we have to lay
before you in evidence, by which to affix the crime upon the prisoner,
and to submit to you, upon the consideration of those facts, whether he
is or is not guilty of the charge in the indictment.”
The learned serjeant then went through the whole of the evidence he was
about to produce, and concluded thus:—
“The tenth part of these circumstances, which I have opened, would
serve, I should think to decide the fate of any man standing in the
prisoner’s situation; but it is the wish of the public, it is the wish
of the Government, that all the world should know the infamy of this
transaction, and that they should know to whom they are indebted for the
sorrows they have felt, and how much they owe to the Providence of God,
that America has not been able totally to destroy this country, and to
make it bow its neck, not only to the yoke of America, but to the most
petty sovereign in Europe; for let the English navy be destroyed—and
here was a hand ready to effect it;—let but the English navy be
destroyed, and there is an end of all we hold dear and valuable. The
importance of the subject, the magnitude, the extraordinary nature of
the thing calls for a more particular investigation than any other
subject, of what kind soever, could demand; and therefore I need, I
hope, make no apology for having descended so particularly into these
minute, if any of them can be called minute, particulars of this story;
we shall prove all these circumstances to the full, and surely there can
be no doubt what shall be done with the man. I shall be glad to hear
what he has to say for himself; and I shall be glad if he is able to lay
this guilt at any body’s door besides those to whom he has laid it. I
wish Mr. Silas Deane were here; a time may come, perhaps, when he and
Dr. Franklin may be here.”
_Prisoner_: He is the honestest man in the world.
The testimony adduced was overwhelming, but as the prisoner’s subsequent
confession fully relates every incident, it is needless to go here into
the details. Suffice it to state that the lad who made the canister, the
dragoon with whom the prisoner quarrelled at Canterbury, the woman at
whose house he lodged at Portsmouth, the man who let him out of the
rope-house, the persons who saw him in the dockyard, the woman who sold
him the matches, the woman who took him up in her cart in his flight
from Portsmouth, and last of all the bundle in which was his passport
from France, with the identical articles in it, which he had specially
mentioned to Baldwin; all these were produced in addition to and
confirmation of Baldwin, who proved what he had heard from the prisoner
himself.
One incident which occurred, while Baldwin was giving his evidence, is
curious as showing how such statesmen as Silas Deane and Benjamin
Franklin were at that time thought and spoken of in England; it was
this:—
_Baldwin_: I mentioned to him about my family, that I had my son with me
now in London; he was desirous to see him. I told him my wife was very
much indisposed, which he said he was sorry for. I waited upon him from
day to day, till the 15th February; on that day he told me all the
particulars; he asked me if I knew one Mr. Deane. I told him “No;” he
said, “Not Mr. Deane who is employed by the Congress at Paris?”
_Prisoner_: I remark to the witness that there is a righteous Judge, who
also giveth righteous judgment; beware of what you say concerning that
Mr. Deane. Perjure not yourself; you are in the sight of God, and all
this company is.
_Baldwin_: The prisoner said, “What, not Silas Deane?” I told him “No;”
he said “He is a fine clever fellow, and I believe Benjamin Franklin is
employed in the same errand.” He said he had taken a view of most of the
dockyards and fortifications throughout England, and particularly the
number of guns that each ship in the navy had, and likewise the guns in
the fortifications, the weight of their metal, and the number of men;
and he had been at Paris two or three times, to inform Mr. Silas Deane
of the particulars of what he found in examining the dockyards.
_Prisoner_: Consider, in the sight of God, what you say concerning Silas
Deane.
_Counsel for the Crown_: You need not be afraid. Silas Deane is not
here; he will be hanged in due time.
_Prisoner_: I hope not; he is a very honest man.
The only piece of evidence (beyond the prisoner’s own statements) by
which the Crown could throw out an inference that he was tampered with
by a foreign power, was the French passport produced; but as at its date
England was not at war with France, such a document might have been
procured as a matter of course.
The translation of the passport, which was read in court, was as
follows:—
“Exhibited at the Office of Marine, at Calais. By the king. To all
governors and our lieutenant-generals of our provinces and armies,
governors particular, and commanders of our towns, places, and troops;
and to all others our officers justiciary, and subjects to whom it shall
belong—Health. We will and command you very expressly to let pass safely
and freely, Mr. James Actzen, going to England; without giving him or
suffering him to have any hindrance; but on the contrary, every aid and
assistance that he shall want or have occasion for. This present
passport to be valid for one month only, for such is our pleasure. Given
at Fontainbleau, the 13th of November, 1776.
“LOUIS. By the king, DE VERGENNES. Gratis.”
After the accused had made a very rambling defence, impugning Baldwin’s
veracity, the judge summed up clearly and minutely, and the jury almost
immediately found the prisoner _Guilty_.
The prisoner was then asked in the usual form what he had to say why
sentence of death should not be passed upon him, to which he replied, “I
have nothing to say.”