Stirling peerage

274 TRIAL OF ALEXANDER, HUMI'HRYS, OR ALEXANDER,
was spoken to by three witnesses, confirmed by the testimony
of Mr Lizars, who is an engraver himself, all of them affirm-
ing the fact, and that upon it the words of the new title were
engraved, and the other word was erased. It is, therefore,
altogether impracticable, utterly inconsistent, to believe that
this document existed sooner than 1718. It is for you, there-
fore, to consider this point, and to make up your minds about
it. You have your notes, and you will see the credibility
you are to give these witnesses; and taking all this into
consideration, you will take common sense along with you,
and see whether the evidence is perfect and entirely com-
plete.
Now, gentlemen, I think it would be a great waste of your
time to enter upon a minute consideration of these different
documents ; at the same time, they are well worthy of your
consideration, and you will see when you come to look at them,
the result you would have arrived at, supposing there had
been no such conclusive evidence as we have had at all.
I must tell you that Mr Robertson stated the law incorrectly
when he said that you must have decisive, conclusive, and
irrefragable proof on every one part of the case. I say that
you must take all the facts and circumstances together; and
it is your business as a Jury, to weigh these facts and circum-
stances, and see if they amount to that which comes to be
moral proof of the fact. Looking at these documents, there
are some parts of them so extraordinary, that it would not be
right in me if I did not call your attention to them. Take
the first document on this map, dated Lyons, 4th August, 1706.
He says, "during my residence in Acadia in 1702, my curio-
sity was excited by what I was told of an ancient charter,
which is preserved in the archives of that province; it is the
charter of confirmation, of date 7th December, 1639," &c.
Now, the gentleman who is supposed to write this note, de-
scribes this in 1702 as an ancient charter. According to the
evidence itself, the charter was then only sixty years old ; and
I ask you whether you ever heard, or whether any mortal
man ever heard, of "ancient" being applied to a document of
sixty years old. Can you, by any construction or credulity,
believe that such a thing could have taken place ?" Then
the note goes on to state " from this authentic document, —
I am about to present some extracts, (translated into French,
for the benefit of such as do not understand Latin,) in order
that every person who opens this map of our American pos-
sessions, may form an idea of the vast extent of territory which
was granted by the King of England to one of his subjects."