Mr. Pain for the Crown
It remains for me to close this Cause
on the part of the Crown. it's importance Gentln. is not con-
fined to ye small Circle of a few Individuals, but concerns
ye everything very foundation of Civil Government. In their
Defense every Source of Eloquence & Art has been
exhausted; which I don't mention as a fault in them. but
to guard you against mistaking ye Flowers of Rhetoric
for Reason & Argument. this Prosecution is founded
on one of ye most essential Laws of Nature: Murder
is such a daring Violation of ye first Laws of Society, yt
if suffered with impunity, will not only annihilate every
blessing we derive from Social Compacts, but, cause them
to be reconed among ye greatest Misfortunes yt attend
Mankind. your enquiry Gentn. in this important
Affair will be directed to these two points — did the
Prisoner give Orders to fire, in consequence of which
ensued ye Death of any or all ye Persons named in ye
Indictments? if so, has he offered any thing to reduce
this Crime to a lower Species of homicide than
Murder?
The Evidence from its Nature, must be complicated
& their Wits: as well as ours, vary in their Accounts
but from ye whole taken together, you are to collect
ye facts. Great pains have been taken to convince you
yt we are mistaken in ye Man, yt ye Prisoner never gave
Orders to fire, & if he did, ye Necessity he was drove to, might
justify it: but a little inquiry into ye State of ye
Evidence will rectify all these Mistakes. from ye
Deposition of Colonel Marshal & others it appears, that there
was a Number of Soldiers patroling ye Streets, brandishing
their Weapons of Death & threatening ye innocent
Inhabitants, with Bloodshed & Slaughter: Is it strange
then yt ye People were alarmed that their Fears & even Indig-
-nation were excited, at this clamourous & hostile appearance of ye Sol-
-diers? the Inhabs. undoubtedly had as good a Right to
appear in behalf of their injured Fellow Citizens, as
Capt P. to espouse ye Quarrel of his Centinel: but here's
ye Michief, neither had a right to interfere: was the
Centinel abused, there were peace of ficers at hand, to
protect him; & miserable is ye Situation of yt People,
whose ultima Ratio Legum, is Guns & Bayonets! for
what did we quit our native Savage State; but by
Lawless Ravages of Individuals & establish personal
Security on its' surest Basis? That ye [Pass?] ye Ban,
wantonly assuming ye powers of Goverment,
has exercised a worse than savage Cruelty, in Butchering
a Number of his Fellow Subjects; you have the
Testimony of Numbers: some sware to ye Identity of
his Person, ye words he uttered, ye Station he was placed
in; & some to ye Motion of his Lips, yt accompanied his
Orders to fire: but to invalidate all this positive
proof, they have produced several Witnesses to testify that
ye Prisoner stood in ye front, when some of ours place him
in ye Rear & that if Capt P gave any orders to fire they
did not hear him: a little Attention to Mr Fosdick's
Deposition will cure all this Difficulty: he sais, "at ye
same time ye P gave orders to fire, he retired into ye Rear."
now his thus being both in Front & Rear, within a few seconds, this
apparent Variance is easily reconciled. Mr Palmes is
Mr Palmes (their principal Witness) is a Gent. who
I can by no means suppose would be guilty of a known Falshood; but he is certainly mistaken, either in ye Person
or Situation of ye Prisoner; unless you can discredit ye Testimony
of Many Persons (whose Veracity is equally unimpeacha-
ble) that have sworn directly to ye contrary. I acknow-
ledge there is some little Confusion in ye Evidence in which
which must certainly operate as much to their Disad-
vantage, as ours, [This text appears in the left margin of the page] And at least destroy ye Supposition
of a preconcerted plan to convict
ye Prisoner— but some of their Witnesses, in a
very extraordinary fit of fancy, have given such roman
tic Accounts, that Persons of less extravagance than
themselves, can [give but little?] hardly Credit them. Andrews
Testimony is very curious, he tells you he saw a stout
Fellow run down ye Street, make his way thro' ye People
& rush upon ye Soldiers; as fact, which, unless all ye other
Witnesses were Stone-blind, or deprived of their Senses,
never had existence but in his own brain: but his
Imagination once set on fire, did not stop here; for
upon seeing one Person shot dead, Andrews must think
himself dead too, & for some time Left all Conscious-
-ness even of his own Existence: These unaccountable
Flights of Fancy may be ornamental in a Poet,#
[The following text appears in the left margin of the page] #It was suggested in favour of Andrew's
Understanding, that he had wrote poetry but, will never establish ye Credibility of an Historian.
Now Gent: ye fact being once proved, it is ye priso-
-ner's part to justify or excuse it, for all killing is, prima
facie, Murder. They have attempted to prove, that
ye People were not only ye Aggressors, but attacked ye
Solds: with so much Violence, yt an immediate
Danger of their own Lives, obliged them to fire
upon ye Assailants, as they are pleased to call ym.
Now this violent Attack, turns out to be nothing
more, than a few Snow- Balls, thrown by a parcel
of Boys; ye most of ym: at a considerable distance, & as
likely to hit ye Inhabt: as ye Solds: (all this is but which is a com-
-mon Case in ye Streets of Boston at yt Season of ye Year,
when a Number of People are collected in a Body) & one
stick, yt struck a Grendr, but was not thrown with sufficient
force to wound, or even sally him: whence then this
Outrage, fury & abuse, so much talk'd of? the Inhabitants
collected, Many of ym from ye best of Motives, to make
peace; & some out of mere Curiosity, & what was
ye Situation of Affairs when ye Soldiers begun ye fire?
In addition to ye Testimony of many others, you
may collect it from ye Conduct of Mr Palms, a Witness
on whom they principally build their Defence. Wou'd
he place himself before a party of Soldiers & risque his
Life at ye Muzzels of their Guns, when he thought ym
under a Necessity of firing to defend their Life? 'tis absurd
to suppose it; & it is impossible you shoud ever seriously
believe, that their Situation coud either justify or
excuse their firing Conduct. I woud contend, as much
as any Man, for ye tenderness & Benignity of ye Laws;
but, if upon such triffling & imaginary provocation,
Men may o'erleap ye Barriers of Society, & carry havock
havock & Desolation among their defenceless, Fellow
Subjects; we had better resign an unmeaning
title to protection in Society & range ye Mountains
uncontrol'd.
Upon ye whole Gent: ye facts are
with you, & I doubt not, you will find such a
verdict as ye Laws of God, of Nature & you own
Conscience will ever approve—