on her back in the bed, and quite insensible from drink, and Hare clapped his hand on her mouth and nose, and the declarant laid himself across her body in order to prevent her making any disturbance, and she never stirred, and they took her out of bed and undressed her, and put her into a chest, and they mentioned to Dr. Knox's young men that they had another subject, and Mr. Miller sent a porter to meet them in the evening at the back of the Castle; and declarant and Hare carried the chest till they met the porter, and they accompanied the porter with the chest to Dr. Knox's class-room, and Dr. Knox came in when they were there; the body was cold and stiff. Dr. Knox approved of its being so fresh, but did not ask any questions.

The next was a man named Joseph, a miller, who had been lying badly in the house. That That he got some drink from declarant and Hare, but was not tipsy; he was very ill, lying in bed, and could not speak sometimes, and there was a report on that account that there was fever in the house, which made Hare and his wife uneasy, lest it should keep away lodgers, and they (declarant and Hare) agreed that they should suffocate him for the same purpose, and the declarant got a small pillow and laid it across Joseph's mouth, and Hare lay across the body to keep down the arms and legs, and he was disposed of in the same manner, to the same persons, and the body was carried by the porter who carried the last body.

In May, 1828, as he thinks, an old woman came to the house as a lodger she was the worse for drink, and she got more drink, of

her own accord, and she became very drunk, and declarant suffocated her; and Hare was not in the house at the time; and she was disposed of in the same manner.

Soon afterwards an Englishman lodged there for some nights, and was ill of the jaundice: that he was in bed very unwell, and Hare and declarant got above him and held him down, and by holding his mouth, suffocated him, and disposed of him in the same manner.

Shortly afterwards an old woman named Haldane (but he knows nothing farther of her) lodged in the house, and she had got some drink at the time, and got more to intoxicate her, and he and Hare suffocated her, and disposed of her in the same manner.

Soon afterwards a cinder woman came to the house as a lodger, as he believes, and she got drink from Hare and the declarant, and became tipsy, and she was half asleep, and he and Hare suffocated her, and disposed of her in the same manner.

About Midsummer, 1828, a woman with her son or grandson, about twelve years of age, and who seemed to be weak in his mind, came to the house as lodgers; the woman got a dram, and when in bed asleep, he and Hare suffocated her; and the boy was sitting at the fire in the kitchen, and he and Hare took hold of him, and carried him into the room and suffocated him. They were put into a herring barrel the same night, and carried to Dr. Knox's rooms.

That, soon afterwards, the declarant brought a woman to the house as a lodger, and after some days she got drunk, and was disposed of in the same manner. That declarant and Hare generally tried if lodgers would drink, and, if they

in that manner.

The declarant then went for a few days to the house of Helen M'Dougal's father, and, when he returned, he learned from Hare, that he had disposed of a woman in the declarant's absence, in the same manner, in his own house; but the declarant does not know the woman's name, or any farther particulars of the case, or whether any other person was present or knew of it.

That about this time he went to live in Broggan's house, and a woman, named Margaret Haldane, daughter of the woman Haldane before mentioned, and whose sister is married to Clark, a tinsmith in the High-street, came into the house, but the declarant does not remember for what purpose; and she got drink, and was disposed of in the same manner. That Hare was not present, and neither Broggan nor his son knew the least thing about that or any other case of the same kind.

That, in April, 1828, he fell in with the girl Paterson and her companion in Constantine Burke's house, and they had breakfast together, and he sent for Hare, and he and Hare disposed of her in the same manner; and Mr. Fergusson and a tall lad, who seemed to have known the woman by sight, asked where they had got the body; and the declarant said, he had purchased it from an old woman at the back of the Canongate. The body was disposed of five or six hours after the girl was killed, and it was cold, but not very stiff, but he does not recollect of any remarks being made about the body being warm. One day in September or October, 1828, a washer-woman had been washing in the house for

cated her, and disposed of her in the same manner.

Soon afterwards, a woman, named M'Dougal, who was a distant relation of Helen McDougal's first husband, came to Broggan's house to see M'Dougal; and after she had been coming and going to the house for a few days, she got drunk, and was served in the same manner by the declarant and Hare.

That "Daft Jamie" was then disposed of in the manner mentioned in the indictment, except that Hare was concerned in it. That Hare was lying alongside of Jamie in the bed, and Hare suddenly turned on him, and put his hand on his mouth and nose; and Jamie, who had got drink, but was not drunk, made a terrible resistance, and he and Hare fell from the bed together, Hare still keeping hold of Jamie's mouth and nose; and as they lay on the floor together, declarant lay across Jamie, to prevent him from resisting, and they held him in that state till he was dead, and he was disposed of in the same manner: and Hare took a brass snuff-box and a spoon from Jamie's pocket, and kept the box to himself, and never gave it to the declarant-but he gave him the spoon.

And the last was the old woman Docherty, for whose murder he has been convicted. That she was not put to death in the manner deponed to by Hare on the trial. That, during the scuffle between him and Hare, in the course of which he was nearly strangled by Hare, Docherty had crept among the straw, and after the scuffle was over, they had some drink, and after that they both went forward to where the woman was lying sleeping. Hare went forward

first and seized her by the mouth and nose, as on former occasions; and at the same time the declarant lay across her, and she had no opportunity of making any noise; and before she was dead, one or other of them, he does not recollect which, took hold of her by the throat. That while he and Hare were struggling, which was a real scuffle, McDougal opened the door of the apartment, and went into the inner passage and knocked at the door, and called out police and murder, but soon came back; and at same time Hare's wife called out, never to mind, because the declarant and Hare would not hurt one another. That whenever he and Hare rose and went to wards the straw where Docherty was lying, M'Dougal and Hare's wife, who, he thinks, were lying in bed at the time, or, perhaps, were at the fire, immediately rose and left the house, but did not make any noise, so far as he heard, and he was surprised at their going out at that time, because he did not see how they could have any suspicion of what they (the declarant and Hare) intended doing. That he cannot say whether he and Hare would have killed Docherty or not, if the women had remained, because they were so determined to kill the woman, the drink being in their head ;and he has no knowledge or suspicion of Docherty's body having been offered to any person besides Dr. Knox, and he does not suspect that Paterson would offer the body to any other person than Dr. Knox. Declares, That suffocation was not suggested to them by any person as a mode of killing, but occurred to Hare on the first occasion before mentioned, and was continued afterwards because it was

effectual, and showed no marks; and when they lay across the body at the same time, that was not suggested to them by any person, for they never spoke to any person on such a subject; and it was not done for the purpose of preventing the person from breathing, but was only done for the purpose of keeping down the arms and thighs, to prevent struggling.

Declares, That, with the excep tion of the body of Docherty, they never took persons by the throat, and they never leapt upon them; and declares that there were no marks of violence on any of the subjects, and they were sufficiently cold to prevent any suspicion on the part of the doctors; and, at all events, they might be cold and stiff enough before the box was opened up, and he and Hare always told some story of their having purchased the subjects from some relation or other person who had the means of disposing of them, about different parts of the town, and the statements which they made were such as to prevent the doctors having any suspicions; and no suspicions were expressed by Dr. Knox, or any of his assistants, and no questions asked tending to show that they had suspicion.

Declares, That Helen M'Dougal and Hare's wife were no way concerned in any of the murders, and neither of them knew of any thing of the kind being intended. Even in the case of Docherty, and although these two women may latterly have had some suspicion in their own minds that the declarant and Hare were concerned in lifting dead bodies, he does not think they could have any suspicion that he and Hare were concerned in committing murders.

Declares, That none of the subjects which they had procured, as before-mentioned, were offered to any other person than Dr. Knox's asistants, and he and Hare had very little communication with Dr. Knox himself; and declares, that he has not the smallest suspicion of any other person in this, or in any other country, except Hare and himself, being concerned in killing persons, and offering their bodies for dissection; and he never knew or heard of such a thing having been done before.

WM. BURKE. G. TAIT. Present, Mr. George Tait, Sheriffsubstitute; Mr. Archd. Scott, Procurator-fiscal; Mr. Richard J.Moxey, Assistant-sheriff-clerk; the rev. Wm. Reid, Roman Catholic priest.

Edinburgh, 22nd January, 1829. Compeared, William Burke, at present under sentence of death in the Gaol of Edinburgh, and his declaration, of date the 3rd current, being read over to him, he adheres thereto. Declares further, that he does not know the names and descriptions of any of the persons who were destroyed except as mentioned in his former declaration. Declares, that he never was concerned in any other act of the same kind, nor made any attempt or preparation to commit such, and

all reports of a contrary tendency, some of which he has heard, are groundless. And he does not know of Hare being concerned in any such, except as mentioned in his former declaration; and he does not know of any persons being murdered for the purpose of dissection by any other persons than himself and Hare, and if any persons have disappeared any where in Scotland, England, or Ireland, he knows nothing whatever about it, and never heard of such a thing till he was apprehended. Declares, that he never had any instruments in his house except a common table-knife, or a knife used by him in his trade as a shoemaker, or a small pocketknife, and he never used any of those instruments, or attempted to do so, on any of the persons who were destroyed. Declares, that neither he, nor Hare, so far as he knows, ever were concerned in supplying any subjects for dissection except those before-mentioned; and, in particular, never did so by raising dead bodies from the grave. Declares, that they never allowed Dr. Knox, or any of his assistants, to know exactly where their houses were, but Paterson, Dr. Knox's porter or door-keeper, knew. And this he declares to be truth.

WM BURKE. G. TAIT.

(Copy.)-No. 3.

Downing-street, Sept. 22. SIR,-The act passed by the governor, council, and assembly of Jamaica, in the month of December, 1826, entitled, "An act to alter and amend the Slave-laws of this island," having been referred by his majesty in council to the lords of the committee of privy council for the affairs of trade and foreign plantations, that committee have reported to his majesty in council their opinion that this act ought to be disallowed. The order of his majesty's council, approving that report and disallowing the act, will be transmitted to you by the earliest opportunity.

In obedience to the commands of his majesty in council, I proceed to communicate to you the grounds of his majesty's decision upon this subject.

The privy council did not submit to his majesty their advice that this act should be disallowed without great reluctance. The great import

ance of the subject has been fully estimated, and his majesty has per ceived with much satisfaction the advances which the colonial legis lature have made in many respects, to meet the recommendations conveyed to them in lord Bathurst's despatch of the 11th of May, 1826; but, however much his majesty may have been desirous to sanction these valuable improvements in the slave code of Jamaica, it has been found impossible to overcome the objections to which other enact ments of this law are open. I am commanded to express to you his majesty's earnest hope, that upon a deliberate review of the subject, the legislative council and assem bly will be disposed to present for your assent another bill, divested of those enactments which have prevented the confirmation of the present act.

Among the various subjects which this act presents for consi deration, none is more important in itself, nor more interesting to