Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/405

 ATKINS. 369 e; thing more than biin^ barely prcfent, to mike a man guilty st ot treafon, eipecially fince the law requires an overt or open " the ftatute, per ovu t fa,:!. And that there ought to be direct " and manifcft proofs, and not hare fufpicions or ptctump- " fol. in the upper part of it, uuon the word prcveablemcnt. " And the ftatute of the 5th of Jldward VI. cap. xi. re- " quires that there (hould be two witnefils to prove the " crime ; fo that if there be but one witnefs, let him be " there be no other proof, the pnrty ought to be found " ample : " fact, or words tending to that very fort of treafon ; but " if there be two witnefles, and one proves the prifoner " confpired the death of the king, and the other witnefs " proves the confpiring to do fome other fort of treafon, this " treafon upon the teftimony and credit of one witnefs ; it " is fo tender of a man's life, the crime and the forfeitures " are fo great and heavy. " And as there muft be two witnefles, fo by the fta f ute 4 made in the thirteenth year of his now majefty, cap. i. " (intituled, For the Safety of his Majefty's perfon) thofe two " witnefles muft not only be lawful, but alfo credible perfons J ' muft be allowed to object agamft the credit of all or any " of the witnefles ; and if there be but one witnefs of clear " and good credit, and the reft not credible, then the tefti- " mony of thofe who are not creiiib'e muft go for nothing, " by the words and meaning of this ftatute (lee the ftature). '" Now were I juryman, I (houid think no fuch witnefs a " mony, or upon proof made by others agaiuft him, to " have been parttceps cr: minis [A] ; for that proves him to " be a bad, and confequently not fo credible a man) efpe- [A] The perfon here hinted at, is the aSth of June, 1683, and charged lord Howard, who furremlered himJclf lord Ruffd with high treafon. ..I. B b " cially
 * ac~l to be piv-.veil a.^iuft the prifoner accufed. Sec lir Ed-
 * ' ward Coke's Third Inrtitutes, fol. 12. upon thofe w nls of
 * c tions, be they never fo Itron; and violent, fee the fame
 * ' never fo credible a perfon, and never fo pofitive, yet if
 * ' not guilty ; and th^fe two witnefles muft prove the perfon
 * ' guilty of the fame fort or fyecies of treafon. As for cx-
 * ' If" the indiclment be of that fpecies of treafon, of con-
 * fpiring the king's death, both witnefles tnuft prove fome
 * comes not home to prove the prifoner guilty upon that in-
 * dictment ; for the law will not take away a man's life in
 * (fee that ftatute in the fifth paragraph), and the prifoner
 * ' credible witnels, as fhould appear cither by his own tefti-