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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Rene_R, post: 9483609, member: 81814&quot;]I think that&#039;s a bit harsh. He didn&#039;t have children, but more on point, he tried to take the jewellery and escape to America, starting a new life. He gave poverty as his reason, and the prosecutors believed him, recommending him to mercy. He was sent to jail in the end, but the sentence was relatively light.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are a few quotes from different points in the trial:</p><p><u><br /></u></p><p><u>The prosecution:</u></p><p><i>On this account, and fully believing that up to the present time there was nothing prejudicial attaching to the prisoner&#039;s character, </i>[we are]<i> desirous, with a credible degree of feeling, of recommending the prisoner to mercy. </i></p><p><br /></p><p><u>From his lawyer:</u></p><p>[...] <i>a person of considerable attainments, and appeared to be one of those who endevour less to promote their own personal interest than the general welfare and advancement of mankind; for he had had communications with the government, with reference to the colonisation of distant parts of the world, and other matters of a similar character. (laughter) <i>Up to the present time his character had been that of an honest person. No doubt, he had committed this offence under a sudden impulse, and it was exceedingly kind of the prosecutors to recommend him to mercy in the way they had done. </i></i></p><p><br /></p><p><u>The thief himself:</u></p><p><i>That which has caused me to do this, your worship may learn from what I have to say on that point. I understand, can write, and converse in English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Portuguese, and for the exercise of my abilities in all these languages I received 10s. per week, and on this small sum I had to keep myself in food, clothes, and lodging. I tried to get a better situation, and wrote to Lord Palmerston, who probably thought my letter the production of a madman&#039;s brain, and treated it as such, for I received no answer. I should like the copy of that letter, which is in the possession of the officer, read aloud to the court, as it will then give the magistrate some idea as to my general character, and, together with what I have already stated, may prove something in palliation of my offence.</i></p><p><i><i>The letter was then read. It was very lengthy, and contained a most extravagant proposal for the suppression of the slave trade on the coast of Africa, and offering to perform, single-handed, what the Government had been ineffectually trying for years. All he required was arms and ammunition and a free passage out for any one he required to assist him in the great enterprise.</i></i></p><p><br /></p><p><u>The judge:</u></p><p><i>You appear to be a young man of extraordinary talent and ability, and I very much regret seeing you in your present unhappy position. It is a pity your abilities were not directed in a proper channel, where you would not have been thrown in the way of temptation, and where you also might have fought your way in the world.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Can we take them at face value? I don&#039;t know. This was a trial, and the worst guy in the world would have tried to paint himself as a saint. But it can&#039;t be dismissed either.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I see!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks, I was about to post the link again.</p><p>He was one of the leaders of the Eureka Rebellion of 1854, in which he was killed.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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