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men, would have been his course? Why, to demand of the Govern-
ment to show their proofs
I put it to the consciences of every one of you, if you were seized
by an officer of justice, and were brought up upon the most heinous
and revolting charge that could be made against a man, would you
not turn round, after you had had twenty-four, yea, forty-eight hours
of reflection, and time to recover from the first shock with which it
struck you-powerful, even as the Counsel has represented, though
that first shock may have been -I put it to you, whether you would
not have demanded that the Government should show the proofs upon
which they attempted to charge you, an innocent man, with a crime
like this. Would you have said-I care not whether with the
advice of Counsel or without it- I am content to go into close
confinement, to wait until the Government shall find its convenience
and its pleasure to try me, and to suffer this good name which I
have been building up for sixty years"-as the Counsel have told
you-to be blasted, and the whole civilized world to have that
name upon its lips, in terms of reproach and execration; to leave my
family to suffer the torture, and suspense, and agony, which must
attend a charge upon a parent arttl" a husband, like this, remaining
unexplained, and without an attempt at explanation"?
It has come to be a point of consideration, in this case, that such
a fact as that existed. And, more than that, Gentlemen! The time
has now come when that explanation was to be made-when passion
was to subside-when he was to enter a Court of Justice, and feel
that, before a Jury of his country, he could be secure.
And now, what is that explanation? I call your attention to the
fact, that the evidence which he has put in here applies to but four
propositions. And I call your attention to the further fact, that, upon
that evidence, such as it is, have been founded four hypotheses, put
before you by his Counsel; and it is my purpose, to put those two
things together.
In the first place, in answer to all the evidence which the Govern-
ment has produced here, he has called the witnesses to his character.
That is a point that never was in controversy, namely, that he had
an outside reputation; how well founded in his real character, the
other evidence in this case must determine, to a considerable extent.
The second point has been an attempt to show (I am now speaking
of the evidence he has offered here) that for him to be locked up in
his laboratory is not an unusual thing,-an attempt, from one witness,
which has entirely failed, and which has been met by other testi-
mony, independent entirely of that which has received the harsh
comments of the Counsel.
His evidence then goes to establish a third proposition.
Chief Justice Shaw. What was the first?
Mr. Clifford. The first was the witnesses to the character; second,
the attempt to show that his being locked in his laboratory was not
an unusual thing. One witness only to that-Mr. Eaton, the
painter. The third attempt was to show his own conduct, and his
whereabouts, during the week which intervened between the disap-
pearance of Dr. Parkman and the finding of his remains. That is
the third proposition, as offered to be supported by the proof to which
the evidence applies. And this case is to be tried upon the evidence.
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