The Affecting Case of the Unfortunate Thomas Daniels

Excerpt

The calamitous circumstance of having been condemned to death by the laws of his country, for the most hateful of all crimes; and his most extraordinary deliverance from an ignominious fate, and being restored to liberty unconditionally and free! will naturally render the case of Thomas Daniels a subject of eager curiosity and warm debate. That persons in the superior stations of life should sometimes find means to evade the punishments incurred by infringing the laws of their country, and by disturbing the order of society, does not greatly excite our wonder; an experience of the manners and customs of the world, occasions our hearing such instances as things of course; we make a natural reflection or two on the occasions, and think no more of them. But when a person in one of the lowest classes of mankind, by a fatal accident, appears before a court of justice with apparent evidences of guilt, sufficient to influence a jury of his impartial countrymen to sentence him to the most severe penalty the law can inflict; when this man, meerly from the advantage of a good character in the narrow circle of his acquaintance, and from a re-examination into the probability of the fact, for which he was condemned, shall have the inferences drawn from the depositions on his trial, totally invalidated, so that the sentence passed on him is freely remitted! it is such a sanction of his innocence, that it would be cruel and unjust, in particulars, afterward to retain any suspicions injurious to him.

It ought to be principally attended to in this affair, that his Majesty, whose regal virtues are so generally known and acknowledged, cannot appear in a more amiable view, than in the attention with which he is said to have endeavoured to discover the merits of the intercession made for this poor convict. An instance which, as it may be deemed too trivial to engage any particular share of princely consideration, yet is certainly one of the truly parental duties of a Monarch, and will endear him in the hearts of many of his useful subjects, who are beneath caring for the retention of Guadalupe or Canada. And it is doing justice to the poor fellow, to own, that he seems to retain a grateful, if not a politely expressed, sensibility of the great obligation he owes to the royal parent of this his second period of existence.

But as an imputation of so base a nature, confirmed by a court of justice, would naturally prejudice female minds universally against him, too strongly for any after testimony in his favour easily to efface; and as Mr. Daniels is not yet old enough to relinquish all thoughts of matrimony, and seems to possess too happy a share of vivacity to be totally depressed by his past misfortunes, however severe they have been; it is probable he may be hardy enough yet to venture on a second trial of that state, can he find any good girl candid enough to venture on him: but however this may be, from many important considerations the poor man is willing to give the world all the satisfaction in his power, relating to the unhappy woman who was lately his wife, and on whose account he has gone through so much trouble and anxiety from his first connexion with her: and it is charitably hoped, that, as he has so solemnly authenticated the particulars of it, the same degree of credibility will be allowed him, which would be granted to any other person of fair character and good estimation.

The following particulars concerning this unfortunate couple, were penned by Thomas Daniels himself, since his enlargement; and are faithfully exhibited with no other alterations than what were absolutely necessary, with regard to spelling, style, and disposition, to render the narrative in some measure clear and fit for perusal. This dressing was not intended to give any undue colouring to facts, but simply to supply the deficiencies of the writer; whose laborious situation in life has denied him those literary advantages indispensable to the writing his story with tolerable propriety.

Thus much being premised, it is time to let the principal offer his plea, as candidate for the favourable opinion of his readers.

"It was in the year 1757 that I first became acquainted with Sarah Carridine, by living in the same neighbourhood. She was a very pretty girl; and I had a great affection for her, as I imagined her to be a good industrious person. I made my friends acquainted with my regard for her, but they were entirely against my having her, because of her living in a public-house: but I was obstinate, and told them I loved her and would marry her at all adventures, as I believed she would make a good wife: upon this they said I might have another far preferable to her, but that if I was resolved not to listen to their advice, they would have nothing more to say to me, and I should never come near them more....