pro had their just effect upon the occasion which duced them, the Editor forbears altogether from any observation; the evidence being before the readers, every person has the opportunity of forming an un biassed opinion. This introduction, indeed, of other matter than the Speeches of Lord Erskine, which the Editor originally professed to publish, may, by some, have been objected to, as improperly swelling those Volumes; but he flatters himself, that, upon a candid consideration, it will be found to have been never done but when indispensably necessary, either for the proper understanding of the Speeches themselves, or in cases where the Speeches, standing alone, without the proofs or the arguments of the Counsel for the Crown in great State Prosecutions, might have exposed the Work to the imputation of having been set on foot for party purposes, which the Editor solemnly disavows. The last article in this Volume, viz. Lord Erskine's Declaration of the Friends of the Liberty of the Press, though not a Speech at the Bar, the Editor could not feel himself justified in omitting; first, because if not now preserved by re-printing, it might have been altogether lost: secondly, because it was not merely the argument of Lord Erskine as an advocate, in support of the great principles of the British Government, and indeed of universal liberty, which are the subjects of the whole of this Collection, but was delivered in his own personal character at a most singularly critical period in the history of our country, and in which he was supported by most of the eminent persons with whom he was at that time, and ever since has continued to be, connected in public life. For the occasion of that Declaration, the Reader is referred to the particular Preface prefixed to the subject in the present Volume, page 411. |