In the introduction to the former discourse of kidnapping, I fairly stated the case betwixt the Magistrates of Aberdeen and me, without disguising the truth in any the most minute particular. I there- fore appeal to the unbiassed judgment of the candid reader, whether, after the unmerited maltreatment I suffered from the arbitrary proceedings of these magistrates, merely for relating a simple but disagreeable fact, I say, I submit it, whether I was not entitled to sue for redress before a higher tribunal.

The motives or principles upon which they acted in the irregular prosecution against me, in which they were both my accusers and judges, I shall not pretend to determine; but from the proof before inserted, the reader will hardly be at a loss to form a conjecture. In order to ascertain the power of a magistracy, it is necessary to have recourse to the original institution of it. That liberty, which the constitution of this country considers as its favourite object, is the result of the equipoise which cur laws have established between the authority of magistrate! and the rights of the people. As the relative duties of society must be enforced by the magistrate, and compliance with the law exacted from the citizens by means of his authority, all the power that is necessary for these salutary purposes is vested in him; and in the due execution of it he is not only entitled to the protection of the laws, but is an object of its veneration. Yet the same principles that have thus armed him with authority for the benefit of society, have wisely imposed upon him a restraint from abusing it. Sensible that authority improperly used may become the most dreadful instrument of oppression, the law has not only declared willful

malversation [1] in office to be a crime, but to those who have suffered by the proceedings of magistrates, whether through inattention or ignorance (for ignorance is never blameless in a magistrate), it has given an action of oppression and damages for reparation of the injury the private party has suffered.

In this light did I consider the harsh sentence of the Magistrates of Aberdeen against me. Had they acted according to the established forms of all courts of justice, their proceedings would at least have had some colour of regularity, though their sentence would not have been less iniquitous.

Why was not I complained of by a party having interest in the cause? Why was not the complaint served upon me, and I appointed to give in answers? Why were not the legal inducix [?] or days, allowed me to prepare for my defence?

All these forms were neglected or despised. The magistrates themselves instigated the complaint; they proceeded to judge upon it without service: without allowing inducix; and without answers. It is evident, therefore, they acted not as magistrates, but as private oppressors.

Banished from the capital of the county wherein I was born, and strip t of my all, I now bethought myself where or how to apply for redress. In this view I pursued my journey to Edinburgh; but ignorant of the law, and unacquainted with any of its members, equally destitute of money and friends, and labouring under the reflections which the calumnious advertisement published by the magistrates threw on my character, I was utterly at a loss to whom, or in what manner, I should apply to for direction. From this dilemma, however, I was soon relieved by the assistance of kind Providence, who threw me in the way of a gentleman versant in the law, a gentleman of knowledge, character, and integrity, by whose advice I was conducted, and by whose interest I was supported from the infancy to the conclusion of my process. On a fair relation of my grievances, the injuries I suffered appeared to him so flagrant, that he did not hesitate a moment to declare his opinion that I was not only entitled to ample damages from my persecutors, but that the Court of Session would find no difficulty to award these, with full costs of suit.

It is unnecessary here to take up the reader's time in running over minutely the different steps of the process from the beginning; suffice it to say, that a process of oppression and damages was commenced at my instance against the Magistrates of Aberdeen, wherein the Lord Ordinary allowed both parties a proof of the facts alleged on either side. And accordingly a proof was taken, partly at Edinburgh, and partly at Aberdeen, of which the reader has seen a specimen in the preceding pages. I shall only observe here, that my personal presence being necessary on this occasion at the last mentioned place, I set out from Edinburgh for Aberdeen in September 1760, and though I had not the least knowledge of, or connection with any single evidence I might bring, yet the trade of kidnapping was so flagrant in that country, and had left such an impression on the minds of the people, that I was under no difficulty to bring a complete proof of the practice, by a number of persons who had suffered by it, being deprived of their children.

And here I cannot forbear doing justice to the conduct of the gentleman whom I named as com- missioner, to take the depositions of the witnesses on the part of my opponents. During the various steps of procedure in leading the proof, wherein I met with all the obstructions that the malice of my enemies could throw in my way, he acted a most candid and ingenious part.

After a short dependence, the cause at last came to be advised in course before the Court of Session, by memorials on the proof; when, after hearing of parties at the bar at full length, their Lordships were pleased, on the 2d of February 1762, to pronounce the following interlocutor:

“The Lords having advised the state of the process, testimonies of the witnesses adduced, writs produced, with the memorials given in hinc inde, and having heard parties procurators thereon, find the libel relevant and proven; and find the defenders, conjunct and severally, liable to the pursuer in damages, and modify the same to the sum of £100 sterling, and decern; and find the defenders also, conjunctly and severally, liable to the pursuer in the expenses of this process, and of the extract of the decreet [?], as the same shall be certified by the collector of the clerk's fees; for which the Lords declare the defenders to be personally liable, and that the same shall be no burden upon the town of Aberdeen; and ordain an account of the said expenses to be given in; and ordain the account book mentioned in the state, and produced upon oath by Walter Cochran, and signed by the Lord President, of this date, to remain in the hands of the clerk of this process, till further order of the Court.”

Against this interlocutor the magistrates presented a reclaiming petition, craving either to be assoilzied [Scottish, absolve, acquit] from the process; or, at least, that the damages awarded should be modified. To this petition is subjoined the following curious letter:

SIR, Aberdeen, February 4, 1764.

We are very sorry to find by yours of 30th past, that there is a sentence pronounced against us in Williamson's process, whereby we are deemed to pay to him a very large sum out of our private pockets.

We think it necessary to inform you, that our conduct and intentions, with regard to our sentence against him, have been entirely misunderstood. We can with the greatest integrity declare, that at the time of pronouncing this sentence, neither of us knew, directly or indirectly, that Walter Cochran, the depute clerk, was any ways concerned in trans- porting boys to America, or that there ever was in being the book he produced in the proof: that neither of us had never any interest or concern in such trade; that we never knew, and did not believe, that any men and boys were ever transported from Aberdeen to America contrary to law: that we considered the paragraph in Williamson's book respecting the merchants of Aberdeen to be a very calumnious and reproachful aspersion on them, which they did not deserve: that Williamson himself had the appearance of being an idle stroller, and could give no good account of himself, and had procured this pamphlet to be composed for him, of such shocking circumstances, in-order the more easily to impose upon, and draw money from the credulous vulgar: and, upon the whole, we had no motive of interest, either on our own account, or any person whatever, or any prejudice against Williamson (having never before seen or heard of him), to induce us to pronounce the sentence against him: that we did it purely, as what we judged material justice to vindicate the character of those we believed to be innocent, and were unjustly reflected upon: and whatever in the sentence appears to their Lordships to be either oppressive or illegal, proceeded entirely from error in judgment, and not from any sinister design; so that however far the sentence has been wrong, we are ready most freely to make any declaration that may be necessary, that it proceeded from the most innocent intention.

Under these circumstances, you will easily perceive how much we were surprised on reading yours, giving account of the sentence against us; and how hard a thing it is to be decerned to pay a sum of money, as a fine, for doing what we considered to be our duty.

You will therefore lay this before the lawyers, in order they may the better form a reclaiming petition. We must think our case very hard, if their Lordships do not grant us redress in this matter. We are, etc.

W. DAVIDSON-

JAMES JOPP.

This letter, however, did not avail their cause. It was in vain to deny their being in the knowledge that such an illicit species of traffic was carried on by some of the merchants in Aberdeen, when it is done in so public a manner, that the meanest residenter in the city observed it; when the fama clamasa of Kidnapping overspread the whole country, so that the poor people, whose business led them frequently to town, were afraid to carry their children along with them, lest they should be picked up, and transported to the Plantations. In the end, they insinuate that their sentence against me proceeded from an error in judgment, and not from any sinister design; and that they were willing to make any declaration necessary, to evince the innocence of their intentions. But if a sentence calculated for the suppression of truth, and to prevent the detection of a commerce the most illegal and most destructive of society, can be said to proceed from no sinister design, then every sentence that has a tendency to screen the guilty, and encourage those monsters who make a traffic of the persons and liberties of their fellow creatures, must be accounted innocent.

The whole of the procedure of the Magistrates against me appears to have been directed to this single end. From this view, they first caused the whole impression of my book to be seized, and those offensive tell truth leaves to be burnt that they might not revive the memory of this villainous trade, and rise in judgment against their brother merchants. Second, in order to make the surer work of it, they extorted from me the declaration inserted, p. 109 under the terror of imprisonment; and caused publish the same in the newspapers, in order to stigmatize my character, and brand me with the infamy of being an imposter and a liar. And, lastly, they banished me the city, lest I should retract my declaration, and have an opportunity to spread the truth of my former assertions. Their schemes, however, had an effect the very reverse of what they intended. Instead of suppressing the truth, their proceedings have proved the means of bringing it to light, and confirming it by indubitable evidence; and so opening a scene of the grossest impiety, barbarity, and wickedness.

To the above reclaiming petition, answers were given in on my part; and the Lords, after reconsideling the merits of the cause, were pleased to adhere to their former interlocutor. Thus ended this process of oppression, carried on by a poor man, against the Magistracy of one of the most opulent and most respectable boroughs in Scotland.

It is the peculiar happiness of this land of liberty to be blessed with a Supreme Court, wherein is justice dispensed with an equal hand to the poor and rich; wherein the cause of the King and the Beggar is weighed in the balance of equity and law, and decided in favour of him whose scale preponderates. Happy is that nation whose judges are men of integrity, uninfluenced by power, unbiased by party, and untainted by corruption! Such become the Guardians of the liberties and properties of the people, the protectors of the innocent, the scourges of the guilty, the supporters of the weak, and the terrors of the tyrant and oppressor. Such are the members of that honourable tribunal to which I appealed my cause, who redressed my grievances, and allowed me such compensation for those acts of violence and oppression which I had suffered from the tyrannical prosecutors, as they in their wisdom, thought just and equitable. Nor must I omit to pay a tribute of gratitude to those worthy and learned Gentlemen who appeared in my cause at the bar, and who nobly exerted themselves in opening up and displaying that scene of oppression and lawless persecution wherewith I had been harassed, and that without any prospect of fee or reward. In particular I must acknowledge my obligations to that learned Lawyer, who was assigned mine as Counsel by their Lordships, when my circumstances could not afford the price of a consultation, he generously embarked in my cause, and force of argument, law, and eloquence, exposed the injustice done me, and the weakness of my opponents' reasonings, in such a light, that my plea became as clear as noon-day, and obvious to the meanest capacity.

I shall trouble the reader no further on this subject, my chief intent in publishing this narrative of my Process being to warn the Gentlemen in power and station, not to abuse them by a lawless exercise of their authority against the poor and innocent; for they may be assured, that power will not sanctify oppression, nor will justice be hood-winked by riches. On the other hand, the weak and friendless need not despair of obtaining redress, though groaning under the yoke of tyranny: let them have but the resolution to apply to the College of Justice; Providence will throw friends in their way, their oppressors shall hide their heads, and the cruelties they have committed be retaliated upon them.

1. Corrupt behavior on the part of a trusted person