Examination of the claim of John Lindsay Crawfurd

vi PREFACE.
quarters ; but these proved fallacious. I did not know Mr Crawfurd
until after his return from Botany Bay, and was not consulted in any
way whatever by or for him, at any stage of his proceedings prior to
his trial and transportation. At that time I knew nothing of the
merits of his case, farther than was known by all who resided in the
neighbourhood of Kilbirnde. While Mr Crawfurd was in New South
Wales, his wife came repeatedly to me, stating the great hardships
and difficulties of her situation, and the many privations under
which she and her children were struggling. She then put into
my hands the papers which she had collected in relation to her
husband's claims. She stated her firm conviction of the truth and
validity of these claims, and had an appearance of respectability,
which induced me to take an interest in her situation. Accord-
ingly I read over the depositions and declarations of the witnesses,
as she gave them up, with something like a predisposition to believe
their statements. If these depositions, remodelled by a person of
so much genealogical skill as the late Mr Henry Nugent Bell, de-
ceived Mr Brougham, and other eminent persons, so far as to make
them express opinions favourable to the Claimant, I may very
readily admit, that, in their original state, they induced me to think
there was something in the case which seemed not to have been
fairly investigated, and which still called for enquiry. Under this
impression, I wrote the Memoir of the Claimant's Case, which has
been quoted in the " Crawfurd Peerage." It was printed at Paisley,
and sold by Mrs Crawfurd, but to what extent I never enquired. I
took a dozen of copies, and paid her for them ; and my only wish
was, that she might be benefited by it, and that I might not be
known as the author. ; \