M'Naughten was examined before Mr. Hall, at Bow Street Police-
office, at ten o'clock this morning. He was for the most part sullen and indifferent in his manner, and gave his name when called upon with a strong Scotch accent. The first witness was James Silver, 63 A, the Policeman who seized the assassin. He described M'Naughten as taking a very deliberate aim at Mr. Drummond ; whose coat-tail was set on fire by the burning wadding of the pistol. M'Naughten put back the pistol into his breast-pocket and drew out another; which he was just about to fire, when the Policeman seized him, and the second pistol went off in the struggle, the ball striking the pavement. The pistols found upon him were a brace of small pocket size ; and he had in his pocket ten pistol copper caps.
The next witness was Robert Hodge, a carpenter, of Kentish Town ; who saw Mr. Drummond shot. He went towards M'Naughten ; but the man looked very hard at him ; and Hodge, thinking that he also was going to be shot, ran half-way across the road, struck against an om- nibus, and fell down.
Benjamin Weston, the office-porter of the Ship Hotel, who was standing at the door of the Salopian Coffeehouse, also witnessed the occurrence, and helped to seize M'Naughten. James Partridge, Policeman 136 A, who had been on duty at White- hall for seventeen or eighteen days, bad frequently seen M'Naughten during that period--
" I have several times seen him near the Treasury, and standing on the of the Council Office. Sometimes I have seen him looking towards the i of Buccleuch's. On the 13th instant, about eleven o'clock in the morning, he was standing on the steps of the Council Office, and I went up and asked him what he wanted there. He said he was ' waiting for a gentleman.' Yesterday morning he again came to the steps of the Council Office, and remained there about an hour. I passed him several times : he looked me full in the face; and at last I said to him, Have you seen your gentleman ?' I think be said ' No,' but I could not distinctly catch the word, for he walked quickly away. I saw him again near Lady Dover's, eating some bread. 1 saw him loitering about from half-past ten in the morning until half-past three in the afternoon., ' Mr. Bransby B. Cooper was examined. He described the circuitous course taken by the ball ; which was first sought in the back, but was- ultimately found slightly protruding just under the skin on the front; having traversed round the left half of the patient's body. Mr. Drum- mond's would be a protracted confinement ; for the danger was yet to come, in the process of suppuration.
Mr. Harvey Drummond described Mr. Edward Drummond's return to the bank.
The prisoner successively declined to put any questions to the wit- nesses ; and at first he said that he did not wish to make any statement ; but afterwards he spoke as follows, "in a wild tone," says one report-
" I wish to say that it is the Tories of my native city who have driven me to this act. They follow, and persecute me, wherever I go; and they have, by their treatment of me, already ruined my health and disordered my mind. I can't sleep at night, and have no rest night nor day. They have followed me to France, to different parts of England, and to other places; in short, wherever I go. The system they have pursued towards me was such that I could go on no longer. I believe I have been driven into a consumption by them. I believe I shall never be the same individual again that I was before. I used to have good health and strength. They have accused me of crimes of which I was never guilty. They have done everything in their power to harass my mind, and to persecute me, and in fact to murder me. That is all I have of say at present, and it can be supported by evidence."
Pausing, Mr. Hall asked him if he had any thing further to say ; and he added-
" Only that they have completely disordered my mind, I am quite a differ- ent man from what I used to be before they commenced their persecutions."
The prisoner was remanded for a fortnight. He asked if he was to be locked up for a fortnight in the cell adjoining the Police-office ; ex- claiming, "Because if I be, I'll not live." He was told, however, that he would be kept in a prison and taken proper care of. The reports say that his appearance indicates insanity, but not at all the want of health of whic2 he complains.
Mr Drummond was bled this morning ; but he passed a tranquil night, and is understood to be going on favourably.
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