'Do nothing,' said she, 'that you regard as a
sacrifice of principle, or an act of dishonor. Whatever you believe to
be your duty, do it; I am willing to take the consequences.' I answered,
'I believe it my duty to insist on a trial, or on an honorable
discharge,' 'Then insist on it,' said she. That was enough. I returned
to Liverpool at once, and told my solicitor the result of my interview
with my wife, and he communicated the intelligence to the
Attorney-General. The Attorney-General was very much vexed, and, using
an expression which we cannot with propriety repeat, declared that he
would 'make me squeak.'
The result of my refusal was that the Attorney-General put off my case
to the very last. On the eleventh day of the Assizes I was placed in the
dock with a number of prisoners who had agreed to plead guilty, and
enter into bonds. My name was called at length, and I refused either to
plead guilty, or to be bound to keep the peace. 'Can there be any man
so foolish as not to accept the mercy of her Majesty?' said the Judge.
My answer was, that I had committed no crime, and that it was justice
that I wanted, and not mercy. 'I demand a trial,' said I, 'or an
honorable discharge. I have been arrested on a charge of sedition and
conspiracy, and held up before the world as a criminal, and I claim the
right of justifying myself before the public, unless I am honorably
discharged.
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