" My Lord, I am unhappy enough to

"stand here indicted for a Fact, which I perceive

"my Prosecutor is ready to prove

"against me; therefore, from a Consciousness

"of it, and to prevent giving the Court

"any unnecessary Trouble, I do confess my

"Guilt and submissively rely on the Favour

"of the Court to intercede for my Life. -

"My Lord, I have thus much to say in

"Alleviation of my Crime, that this is the

"first Time I ever appeared before a Court

"of Justice in an ignominious Manner;

"that a Case of Necessity urged me to commit

"the Fact I am charged with; and that

"my Heart is full of Sorrow and Contrition

"for it. If therefore, your Lordship, or

"Mr. Recorder, will be pleased to report me

"in this favourable Light to his Majesty,

"or the Lords in Power, it will, I hope,

"be the happy Means of inducing them to

"extend their Clemency towards me. But

"if I am so unfortunate as not to be thought

"an Object worthy their Compassion, I trust

"that the Lord of Heaven and Earth will

"have Mercy on me."

On Wednesday the nineteenth of this Instant September , when William Smith< no role > was called to the Bar to receive Sentence of Death, he spoke as follows.

"My Lord, To what I said on the Day

"of my Trial, I have only on this melancholly

"Occasion to add, That my humble

"Confession then, proceeded from a sincere

"Compunction of Heart in Abhorrence of

"my Crime. I therefore now servently

"pray, that the Almighty, who is the bright

"Fountain of Mercy, will inspire his

"Majesty's Royal Breast with Sentiments of

"Compassion towards me, and that, in

"Consideration of my unseigned Sorrow and

"Penitence, he will be most graciously

"pleased to restore me my forfeited Life; a

"Life sought only to atone for the Erross of

"the past, and to pray for my Preservers."

Immediately after this Speech, a Motion was made by Mr. Davy, that William Smith< no role > , alias Sands< no role > , alias Dawson< no role > , be detained in Custody, on a Charge of Forgery, and Publication of Forgery, in order to be removed by Habeas Carpus, to be try'd at next Events Assizes: The Case is as follows:

Capt . JAMES WEBB< no role > , at that Time, Commander of his Majesty's Ship the Surprize , having received an Order from the LORDS of the Admiralty to discharge three Men, he delivered three Navy Tickets to his Clerk William Dawson< no role > , to be filled up with the Names of the Seamen that were discharged; but, instead of complying with his Captain's Orders, he made out the three Tickets in his own Name, and signed them with the Captain's and the other Officers Names, all forged by the said Dawson, and sold them for more than one Hundred Pounds Sterling.

This William Dawson< no role > carried off, at the same Time, above one hundred Pounds of the poor pressed Seamen's Wages, and robbed the Surgeon's Mate of fifteen or sixteen Pounds worth of Silver Plate.

These Informations being laid before the honourable the Commissioners of his Majesty's Navy, they were pleased to give Directions to their Sollicitor to prosecute she said William Dawson< no role > for the before-mentioned Forgeries.

In the Months of June and July, 1745, William Smith< no role > was Clerk to Mr. William Bull< no role > , an Attorney in Dublin .

Mr. Bull being called into the Country on Business, this William Smith< no role > his Clerk , takeing Advantage of his Absence, forged a Letter in his Master's Name, directed to Messrs. Swift and Co. Bankers in Dublin, desiring those Gentlemen to pay the said Smith one hundred and thirty Pounds, or thereabouts, which they did in two fifty Pound Notes, payable to William Bull< no role > or Bearer, and the remainder in Money; as soon as Smith had these Bills in his Possession, he made all the Haste he could to London , and negotiated them with Messrs. Albert< no role > and Arnold Nesbit< no role > , Bankers , in Coleman-street , and those Gentlemen paid him the Money for them on the sixteenth Day of July, 1745.

The Bills were endorsed with the Name of William Bull< no role > .