The following
is the petition referred to:--
We, the undersigned members of the metropolitan and provincial
Press, having had long experience in courts of justice, and
full opportunity of observing the demeanour of prisoners and
witnesses in cases of criminal procedure, beg humbly to submit
that, having heard the evidence adduced before the Special
Commission, on the capital charge preferred against Thomas
Maguire, private in the Royal Marines, we conscientiously
believe that the said Thomas Maguire is innocent of the crime
of which he has been convicted, and that his conviction has
resulted from mistaken identity. We, therefore, pray that
you will be pleased to advise her Majesty to grant her most
gracious pardon to the said Thomas Maguire.
This was a startling event; it was a proceeding utterly without
precedent. Nothing but the most extraordinary circumstances could have
called it forth. The blunder of the jury must have been open, glaring,
painfully notorious, indeed, when such an astonishing course was
adopted by the whole staff of the English Press.
It was most embarrassing. For what had those newspaper reporters seen
or heard that the jurors had not seen and heard?--and yet the jurors
said Maguire was guilty. What had those reporters seen or heard that
the judges had not seen and heard?--and yet the judges said they
"fully concurred in the verdict of the jury.
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