became a party to it, and was one of its conductors, from first to last.  One of the most powerful circumstances is Palmer’s letter from Belfast.  The amount of this is a direct charge on the Knapps of the authorship of this murder.  How did they treat this charge; like honest men, or like guilty men?  We have seen how it was treated.  Joseph Knapp fabricated letters, charging another person, and caused them to be put into the post-office.

I shall now proceed on the supposition, that it is proved that there was a conspiracy to murder Mr. White, and that the prisoner was party to it.

The second and the material inquiry is, Was the prisoner present at the murder, aiding and abetting therein?

This leads to the legal question in the case.  What does the law mean, when it says, that, in order to charge him as a principal, “he must be present aiding and abetting in the murder”?

In the language of the late Chief Justice, “It is not required that the abettor shall be actually upon the spot when the murder is committed, or even in sight of the more immediate perpetrator of the victim, to make him a principal.  If he be at a distance, co-operating in the act, by watching to prevent relief, or to give an alarm, or to assist his confederate in escape, having knowledge of the purpose and object of the assassin, this in the eye of the law is being present, aiding and abetting, so as to make him a principal in the murder.”

“If he be at a distance co-operating.”  This is not a distance to be measured by feet or rods; if the intent to lend aid combine with a knowledge that the murder is to be committed, and the person so intending be so situate that he can by any possibility lend this aid in any manner, then he is present in legal contemplation.  He need not lend any actual aid; to be ready to assist is assisting.

There are two sorts of murder; the distinction between them it is of essential importance to bear in mind:  1.  Murder in an affray, or upon sudden and unexpected provocation. 2.  Murder secretly, with a deliberate, predetermined intention to commit the crime.  Under the first class, the question usually is, whether the offence be murder or manslaughter, in the person who commits the deed.  Under the second class, it is often a question whether others than he who actually did the deed were present, aiding and assisting therein.  Offences of this kind ordinarily happen when there is nobody present except those who go on the same design.  If a riot should happen in the court-house, and one should kill another, this may be murder, or it may not, according to the intention with which it was done; which is always matter of fact, to be collected from the circumstances at the time.  But in secret murders, premeditated and determined on, there can be no doubt of the murderous intention; there can be no doubt, if a person be present, knowing a murder is to be done, of his concurring in the act.  His being there is a proof of his intent to aid and abet; else, why is he there?