Whatever mitigating circumstances
there may be must be considered by the Secretary of State for the Home
Department as representing the Sovereign, and upon his advice alone
the Sovereign acts.
But the Home Secretary never allows a sentence of death to be executed
without the fullest possible inquiry as to mitigating circumstances,
and it is at this stage that the opinion of the Judge is almost
all-powerful.
My judgment in this case was the result of much anxious thought and
consideration. The responsibility cast upon me was great. The case was
as difficult as it was serious; but my line of duty was plain, and it
was to leave the facts as clearly as I could possibly state them, with
such explanation of the law applicable to each case as my ability
would allow, and then leave the jury to find according to their honest
belief. No duty more arduous has ever since been imposed upon me, and
I performed it in my honest conscience, without swerving from what I
believed, and believe still, to be my strict line of duty.
I have had many opportunities of reconsidering the whole
circumstances, but I have never changed or varied my opinion after all
these years, and am certain I never shall--namely, that I did my duty
according to the best of my judgment and ability.
A Judge may go wrong in many ways, and often does in one way or
other, especially if he does not know his own mind--the worst of all
weaknesses, because it usually leads to an attempt to strike a medium
line between innocence and guilt.
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