Star. — London, England, 1820-03-22 00:00:00

. . * l4 • TRIAL di MR. HUNT AND OTHERS. FOURTH DAT. YORK, MONDAY NIGHT. The Court was as usual crowded ; a greater num ber of Ladies were present than on any former day. The defendants began to make tileir appearance at' nine o'clotk, and at ten minutes after nine the JUDGE arrived, and the proceedings were immediately re sumed. John' Walker, examined by Mr. Scanarrh—Was as Attor nay at Manchester. Ile described the proceedings of the 26th of August, at St. Peter's-field. He saw Wilde heading the division whiCh he commanded, and forming it round the cart am-which the hustings were formed. It was called the Ashton -division. A Cap of Liberty accompanied it. He saw other divisions arrive on the ground from various places in the vici nity of Manchester; and, as they came up, Wilde, and a taller man who was with them in the cart, directed them to form in the rear of those who came first. Most of them had banners and caps of liberty. Wilde addressed them and said, " Stand firm to your post—if you have a leader of ever such strong serve, it is impossible he can do, if you do not stand firm." Wit ness took down these words on the ground. The taller mar. desired them" to link their arms, every man who was staunch to the cause, and by that means they would keep their enemies at a distance from the hustings." Witness took down those ords on the ground. The crowd stood 14 or 16 deep at the time those words were used. Could see distinctly that the arms of those then before him were linked. They were ordered to fall back, and did so a little. The taller man said," The word of command has been given to fall back six yards from the hust ings; unless you obey it, you will give your enemies an oppor tunity of letting in the Cavalry among you." Ile added, "1 do not see any of your enemies among you, if I did I would tell them so, and probably they would wish themselves in another place." They then fell back a little more. At one o'c l ock th e crowd had increased, and Mr. Hunt and Johnson 'sore there.— Mr. Hunt desired them not to call silence, and said, " If their enemies would not keep order, pat them down and keep them down," or words to that effect. The crowd could not be passed through but by absolute force, as the people formed one solid body between the line of constables and the hustings, and he could see no opening; there might be 50,000 persons present; thought that he had seen as many persons assembled at the Races ; the persons assembled were of the labouring classes. The crowd seemed to him calculated to, overawe and intimidate the town of Manchester, and create fear and alarm Witness felt fear and alarm, and thought a disturbance might be expected. ' Cross-examined by Mr. Hunt.—Had always been an At torney at Manchester. Was a special constable on the 16th of August. Had left the held for a short time to take some refreshment. Saw none of the Magistrates during his absence at that time. Saw some of them at Mr. Buxton's in the course of the day. Was not employed by the Magistrates : went there as a special constable to perform his duty to the town. Did not consider himself to be employed by the Magistrates, but acted under the controul of the chief constable of the town. The Magistrates had sworn him in, and they might give the chief constable his directions; did not go as an amateur Re porter ; he took down the words on the back of an old letter, as it struck hint they were very remarkable, addressed to such a Meeting. Did not know Mr. Orton; might have seen the Magistrates at Mr. Buxton's between eleven and twelve o'clock ; saw none of them during his absence, as Mr-Bux ton's house was on the ground ; he saw there dr. Norris, the stipendiary Magistrate of Manchester. Witness communicated his fears to Mr. Norris ; he merely said that he was afraid there would be a disturbance. Had before thought it necessary to snake a deposition of what he saw in the mornirg, and had drawn op an affidavit en the subject. He was thus occupied at ten o'closh or a little earlier. Deposition was not shewn to Mr. ' .isojeant Cross that witness knew of. This was the affidavit he had sworn to when he went to Mr. Norris. There was no con sfrersation between him and Mr. Norris .on the relevancy of the affidavit. It was drawn up at the Police-office. He had been induced to make this affidavit, in the first plate, from a know ledge that large bodies had been training in different townships round Manchester, and from information that those persons were marching thither to overawe the town, and create a dis tiiebanac that he conceived would be productive of riot and con fusion. These were his feelings; and there were thirty or forty gentlemen at the Police-office at the time, who all concurred with him. Twelve or twenty might have joined him in making the affidavit. Might have got considerably more of them to join in it if necessary, but they left the place to go to the Meeting. On roccillectior, more than the number he had mentioned signed the hfildavit. There might be thirty, forty, or filly. His object in making the affidavit was, that the Magistrates might have rower to stop the bodies on their march. This question had discussed at the Police-office on the day before. None of the Magistrates were present on the Sunday or the Monday, that he saw. Half a dozen, or a dozen. of the forty or fifty persons at the Police-office on the Monday, might be there at noon on the Sunday. Witness declined making any affidavit then ; at least he was not asked nor urged to do so, and he made none. Those Gentlemen who were there, and who drew out statements of what was necessary to be done on the Monday, were respectable inhabitants of Manchester. Mr. Hunt desired witness to mention some of their names. The hoots objected to this. Witness was then ordered to withdraw. Mr. Hunt then stated his motive for putting the question. Tile Jutioz allowed the questioa to be put, to ascertain the names of the-persons present on the Sunday. Examination resumed—Witness had no recollection that Mr. Green was at the I'olice-of f ice on the Sunday. He was there on the Monday. Mr. Jonathan Andrew he did not recollect to have seen at the Office on the Sunda;. Thought, but was not sire, that he was there on the Monday. Thought Mr. Francis Phillips was not there on the Sunday. No conversation took place on the subject of the affidavit which he drew up of him self. Mr. Phillips was there on the Monday, but thought he was not present when the deposition was sworn Mr. R. En twistle was not there on the Sunday ur the Monday The dril ling and training, and the way in which the persons coming to Manchester were to come, induced him to make the affidavit. — Was under considerable apprehensions of danger on Monday morning, before ten o'clock, from what he knew of hi:: own knowledge, and from what he had heard from others. He know of the training, not personally, but from those who had seen them. He had seen considerable numbers of persons come into the town that morning, these connected with what he had been told of the training, created the apprehension of which he bad spoken. Saw nothing particular in the manner of those who came towards Manchester that morning to excite alarm.— Those that he had seen (before nine itr the morning) did not march or carry flags, banners, or revolutionary emblems. His adidavit be bad sketched and,left at the Office, that it might be copied, and brought to him to be sworn. Some alterations were made in it afterwards by witness, at his own suggestion. The dozen Gentlemen did not sign it at the Police-office, but after ward-. at Mr. Buxton's house. Ile stopped at Mr. Buxton's house bus a few minutes, and then returned to the field where he had been before. The affidavit Was to this effect : That having bt.-u informed of the trainings in the neighbour hood, and hearing that great bodies of men were marching to Manchester, he was of opinion that if they marched into the town with revolutionary emblems, &c. he thought it would go to overawe the town, and create confusion. This was to put the Magistrates in possession of his opinions, and those of other lentlemen, leaving them to take their own measures, for the purpose of enabling them to prevent them from coming into the town. This he thought might be properly done, but did not suggest it to the Magistrates ; he left them to act on their own sli;cretion. Saw a number of persons standing before bins at the iVleeting, with stick'. One man near him had a bludgeon with a large knob, which he held over his shoulder, till a man nodded and pointed to it, and then he dropped it down. It was net shouldered like a musket. The man that pointed had also a large stick in his hand. Witness was nut insulted or assaulted. Could not say whether the divisions that he saw march to the ground were generally armed with sticks. The words he has mord Mr. Hunt say at that time were, " Boor enemies won't keep order, pat them down, and keep them down." Thought this was beware the military came, but was not Vice sure. Dad net know that any body was particularly pointed at, when the words in question were used. ' Re-examined by Mr. scAßLirr—Mr. Bunt might he ten mi nuteraddressing the people ; did not catch allAhat he said t-- could not see the military from the poaltimaduarhich be stood ; made his depositioos before from information' that Its had re ceived of the character of the inteattrceMeeting, but did rot It . swear to it till after he hat seen the multitude arrive in the wa which he detcribed. Re-exam Med by Mr. Hunt.—Remernhered the placard call ing a Meeting for the 9th, it 'iontalitici a proposition for the 'election of a legislatorial attorney. - .Mr. ScAatarr believed, that It was to elect a legislatorial Member. • , Mr. Hunt said, it was to elect a leggiotorial attorney, and requested the Judge to keep Air. Scarteit decent. The Juno' was not aware that he had permitted anything indecent nn the part of SA frariett. Mr. SIVARLITT hoped Ms Conduct had not been other than decent from the beginnineof the trial, but he had submitted to what he thought was not decent from Mr. Hunt. Mr. Justice BA visv.—l believe other people have submitted to it also; I know I hire Mr. SCARLSTT.-I certainly feel for your Lordship's situation. Mr. Justice BAYLEY.—The better way will l, to have no angry discussion. I will go through the cause as equally as I can; and I will interfere with either side, when I see it lie nessary.—The examination of witnesses then proceeded. John Willis (examined by Mr. &franc Huu.oce).—Knew Johnson ; had conversed with him on the subject of the Meet ing. Johnson had said the beg men of Manchester thought put ting it off from the 9th to the 16th, would do it away entirely ; but they ware under a mistake, for, by the 16th, they (the Reformers) would be ready for any soldiers that could be brought against them ; this was said in a public-house on the tith of August. Talking of the Linking and the shooting of Mr. Horsfall, Johnson bad said that he knew that Mr. Horgan would be shot, for a party of men had determined to go to London and upset the • House of Commons, or something of that sort; but they did not go then, because they were nut yet strong enough to provide for their wives and children, if they should be taken prisoners or come to any harm. Cross-examined by Johnson.—Was a butcher; never acted as a spy in his life. Johnson had conversed with him, as be had previously stated. Never said to the Magistrates, Johnson was going to take the barracks by storm. By Mr. Hunt.—Was not drunk when the conversation in question took place; did not recollect any other particular con versation. Said, after Johnson was gone, that if Nadu), had been there he would have taken him up. Did not know Johnson till he was told by the landlord that that was Johnson, the brush-maker, the great Reformer. Took no measures t have him apprehended. Never bothered his head with any such like. Johnson, though a stranger, told all this to witness and Slater. Part of it was addressed to witness, while Slater was out of the room. It was that part about their " being ready by the 16th for the soldiers." Slater and witness bad talked over this matter. He had heard Slater say that he was out of the room while that assertion was nude. Had wanted to hear what they could get him' (Johnson) to say. Never informed Nadia of this. Believed he did not tell the land lord of it that night. The landlord was waiting on his com pany, and did not tell him of it. Could not say when be first 'told Slater. Re.examined by Mr. Serjeant Hottoce.—Had been sent for by Johnson, when passing Johnson's house one day, after he had been before the Magistrates; went into his (Johnson's) shop, where there were three or four persons, and Johnson said, " What, you've been before the Magistrates?" Witness said, " Yes." Johnson then told him he was a fool for going with the beadle who had been sent for him, before the Magis trates, without making him chew his authority. He then asked what had taken place? witness would not tell hint there, but would tell biro in any private room, or at the York Inn, where they could be by themselves. Johnson s aid he was not shamed of any one hearing about it. Witness said, he thought John son used him very ill, to call him into his shop before people whop he believed to be a lot of spies, and would not tell him anything. Joseph Slater, examined by Mr. Sergeant Caoss.—Remem ben Johnson being 'n his house with last witness on the 6th of August. Witness began by saying, that he understood that Johnson and Nicholas Whitworth were to be returned to Par- Raiment. Tshason said, it was all nonsense. Witness shortly after left the room. Johnson remained with Slater. en his return, they were conversing about the mur der of Mr. Hors- when Johnson said, " Do you know, Mr. Slater, that at that time there was a set of men detetmated to go up to Lon don aad disperse the House of Commons ?" Witness ridiculed the idea. "0, but," said Johnson, " I know it for a fact, and it would have been done, had the subscription been large enough Ito keep their families while they were awa, or in case they ' falied." Witness laughed. " 0 but," says Johnson, "do you recollect when 13ellinihant shot Mr. Perceval, what confusion there was? There was Lord Castlereagh scrambling out of a room, and Mr. Canning out of another, and when Belliogham was taken, they were all ready to tear hint to pieces; and done could frighten them so, he (Johnson) was sure that it could be done." Johnson *hewed by gestures how they (the House of Commons) had acted in their hurry on that occasion. Saw Johnson last Saturday week at his own house in Manchester. — Ile (witness) was coming to York. Johnson said, " You will recollect that I said I heard it for a fact." Witness replied, " No, you said you knew it for a fact." Cross-examined by Mr. Mont.—Witness kept the Bay Horse. Johnson had told witness that there would be a Meet ing on the 16th of August. Willie said, when Johnson was gone, that If Nadin had been there, be would have had him." Had spok en to Willie on the subject repeatedly since, but he never told witness what he (Willie) had to prove that Johnson said while witness was out of the room ; knew nothing about John son's saying, they should be ready for the soldiers by the 16th of August • thought what he had heard from J ohnson a foolish and wicked story; Johnson was certainly speaking in earnest. Witness did not inform the Police of it; if he were to conutru.. nicate every foolish conversation that passes In a public-house, he should do nothing else. Witness and Willie had never coma pared notes. By Mr. Hant.—Johnson went, en that occasion, to witness's house, to look at a.sow that was about to bring soma pigs, one of which Johnson was io have. • Johnson then treated the re port of being about to become a Member of the House of Com mons as being false. On Saturday week, Johnson called on witness again about a p*, and then told him (Witness), that if he said nothing but what he (Johnson) had sald,'hd (Slater) would be a good witness for him. 'Novel- heard Mtn "(Johnson) declare that he would overturn the Heise of Commons, but be said, that he knew something of the kind had beeti intended to be done about the year 1811. ' Witness had been but once or twice to Mr Norris and Mr. Milne since his deposition; went for his deposition, that be might see what he had sworn, but was told that it was gone to London; had never seen it since he signed it. Re-examined by Mr. Serjeant Caoas.—Johnson said. he knew that it had been intended to overturn the House of- Cfam mons ; had no mason to believe that Johnson said there was to be no Election. • John Shawcross, examined by Mr. Lenrcznatit.-'—Had pur chased a Newspaper (produced in Court), at the 'Office of the Manchester Observer, on the 51st of July. Cidss-examined by Mr. Hunt.—Was Clerk of the Police office at Manchester; saw placards advertising the Meeting called for the 9th of August. Believed, in consequence of that Meeting being prohibited by the Magistrates as illegal, that the design was abandoned. The Meeting called for the 16th was not called in exactly the same words as the former ; he believed that some of the bills calling the latter had been taken down. A num -Iber of sticks, stones, pikes, nags, banners, and caps of liberty, bad been brought to York; they were in the care of Mr. Naditi. Michael Fitzpatrick examined by Mr. Scmuszr.—Kttended a Meeting held in Smithfield on the 21st of July. Mr. Hunt yesided. Certain Resolutions passed in the presence of Mr. Hunt. Witness recollected receiving the Resolutions handed to him from Mr. Hunt. Witneu was. a Reporter for the New 'notes; stood on the left of Mr. Hunt ; received them from Mr- Hunt's own hand. lie went with two other Gentlemen, one of whom got so soused in the raud,that he was obliged to retire. Witness was politely accommodated with a place in the waggon, by Mr. Hunt, who said he was very glad to see him, as he thought witness would give a fair report. The Resolutions were passed; the most violent were the most applauded. Cross-examined by Mr. Hunt.—Had considerable difficulty in getting to the hustings. Was so far alarmed that he put on his worst coat, but did not know t hat be felt an y p ersonal alarm. E,aw no violence. Had been at many Meetings where L he (Mr. litint) had presided, and no ac t s of violence bad come within his personal observation. Recollected the arrest of Mr. Hanka& Those on the waggon, or that side of it by which ale Of entered, saw it, but thousands there, lie was of ,opinion, might know nothing about it, it went on so quietly.— Could not. say whether or not Mr. Harrison had previously spoken; believed that he had. Recollected Mr. Hunt had said, " there's Brown or Wontner come to arrest Mr. liarriSon—will you let him go?" and with a good-humoured shrug told Mr. Harrison that be had better gv quietly, or words to that eitett. Recollected that Mr. Hunt had said, lie would go if they sent for hips. Arot the least violence was tiered. Mr. Harrison, Fitness believed, asked advice of Mr. Hunt, and was told to go quietly. Received the Resolutions from Mr. Hunt, who was particularly desirous of aciomtnodadng witness, as Fe came front the New nines. Witness bad no idea of` producing them against him (Mr. Hunt) in a Court of Justice. Thought he had asked for a copy, and that be received theist while they were In the act of being read. Would not say that any of thtm had been put singly. Could not recollect whether or not they I were read from a printed copy. Knew Mr. Orton. Never heard him communicate what be had seen of the proceedings at Manchester. Re-examined by Mr. Sesaterr..—Had often attended Meet ings where Mr. Hunt presided, and retired before they con chided. Violence, might have occurred which ho had not seen. Believed that the Spa-fields Meeting Wis the 'first of them that he had attended. It was impossible for the Resolutions at Smithfield to be heard by more than a tenth part of the Meeting. The Resolutions were thea read from a Newspaper of the 9.3 d July, 1819. Witness had the copy of the Resolutions given to him, while another copy was being read to the Meeting, and found them to correspond exactly. Mr. Hunt objected to the printed paper being received as evidence, as he had been served with no notice to produce the original manuscript. The Jrnos held that they could be received, as no evidence had been given of the existence of the original manuscript; but be noted the objection. New the case for the prosecution closed. Mr. BARROW objected that the evidence did not go to prove, that Jones and Moorhouse had com mitted the offence described in the indictment. — That they had been guilty of the unlawful, malicious, and seditious offence charged against them, was by no means so far borne out by the evidence produced, as to send their case to a Jury. The Judos held, that it would be for the Jury to decide, whether the Meeting was, or was not illegal ; and whether those two defendants were there as in nocent spectators, or as partisans? Though the ma licious and seditious intentions charged in some of the counts might not prove to be borne out, he was I not prepared to say that there was nothing proved against those two persons, that ought to go before a Jury. Mr. BARROW then proceeded to address the Jury on behalf of Jones and Moorhouse. He was proceed ing to notice, in terms of praise, a printed report of part of the trial in a London Newspaper, when, The JUDGE said, he was sorry that this had been brought forward, and that any part of the proceed ings had been published. Mr. BARROW submitted to the Jury, that the evi dence proved the impossibility of Mr. Jones and Mr. Moorhouse having acted as leaders in the proceed ings of last August. He went over the evidence af fecting Mr. Moorhouse, and strongly insisted on the improbability of his having advanced towards Man chester for the purpose imputed to him, when the situation of that person was considered—when it was remembered that he was the father of eleven chil dren, and that he was accompanied by his w;fe far advanced in a state of pregnancy. Mr. Moorhouse was then described as heading the Stockport party on the 16th. The fact was, that he, the proprietor of the stage that runs from Stockport to Manchester, was riding on the box of his own coach from the for mer to the latter place, and arrived at Manchester at the hour when his stage was due, to set down his fare in that town. Mr. Moorhouse had afterwards been accommodated with a seat in an open carriage by the politeness of Mr. Hunt, through circumstances (which the Learned Gentleman explained), but Mr. Moorhouse did not go on the hustings. He had neither done mischief nor intended to do mischief.— He was connected with none of the illegal proceed ings charged to have taken place, but by the acci dental circumstances of his having preceded the Stockport division, and passed along with Mr. Hunt in a coach. The case of poor Jones he considered was one of great hardship. Mr. Orton had seen him at the hustings, and described him to have addressed the people, exhorted them to' be peaceable, and told' them something or the Committee having directed those around to link their arms, and stand six yards back from the stage, otherwise their enemies might come in among them. Where was the Committee? Had the evidence connected him with any Commit tee ?—No ; the ring formed was only intended as a barrier to keep off the crowd. He could not afford to put up a wooden rail, for poor Jones was but to have five and twenty shillings for his job, that of erecting the hustings, and was obliged to borrow the boards of which it was formed, which boards he was in great danger of losing. The money had never been paid. With respect to the character of the Meeting, he could not understand, if the object of it were legal, how number scould make it unlawful ? Wbo, if numbers were to be the guide, would say where order ends, and where disorder begins ? It was fit that the line should be drawn somewhere, and who would take upon himself to say, when the num bers of a Meeting were complete? The part acted by Jones, in addressing a crowd assembled to hear Orator Hunt, he treated as a foolish frolic, for whiCh he had suffered enough to make him respect the old maxim—" Let not the cobbler go beyond his last !" He then read 'a paper from* Moorhouse, addressed to the Jury : "My Lords, and Gentlemen of the Jury—l am charged with combining, conspiring, confederating and agreeing to overthrow the Government of this country by force and threats. Now, Gentlemen, I am persuaded if there be any such combining, conspiracy, confederating and agreeing, it will be found to be by my prosecutors ; it will be them that will be found guilty of that most abominable crime, conspiring to deprive me of my liberty, and for what I know not. Now, Gentlemen, you will be sur prised when I inform you, that five of the persons with whoni I am charged with having conspired, &c. five of them, viz.— Smith, Wilde, Jones, Bamford, and Healy, I never in my life was in company with, until the day on which we were all brought into Court together, which, I believe, was on the 17th , of August last; I shall therefore, I think, be entitled to your acquittal of conspiring along with them. With respect to Mr. Knight, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Saxton, I never exchanged Half a dozen words with any one of them in the whole course of my ' life, previous to our confinemeet in the New Bailey. Now, I Gentlemen, with respect to Mr. Hunt, it Is necessary in this stage of the business to inform you, 1 am what is commonly , called a coach proprietor, that is, I employ coaches to travel be , twee* the towns of Stockport and Manchester; and it some times happens, though not often, that a passenger may want a bed, who, from a variety of circumstances, may prefer a privvtr house to a public. I was applied to by some one to inform him where a bed could be had? to which I replied, I hare a flood bed, provided the room will be approved of, it heini; small The room was seen and approved of, and on the L r.:ll,ng of the Bth of August, Mr. Hunt slept at my hence, :.,,ti left on the 9th for Manchester, in company with nu. Charles Wolseley. From that day until the 16th of August, I never either saw or heard any thing from Mr. Iknt. On the 16th, in the morning, a little after ten o'clock, I left S:ockpart with one of riy coaches, and near the second mire-stone i passed the procession from Stock port, consisting of nearly one thousand men and boys, and nearly one hundred women and young girls, several of them being the wives and daughteta of the men ; their conduct was perfectly peaceable. At the mid-way, while watering my horses, tke procession passed again, and we did not overtake: them till we got into Long Sight, a little on the Manchester side of winch we left them, and got into Manchester ter minutes before them. While the s rec.( sion was passing the White Bear, Pic cadilly, it was proposed by some of ch. passengers that the coach should be taken on to the ground for ;heir accommoda tido, to which I consented, provided they would agr,e to pay me is. each for the accororno.lation of st.eithog on the root.— ' But this was done at the suggestion of my son, who said nth r wise there would be so man;-crowding 00, that the roof woold be broken in, and I should have 110 damage done to the coach, though I might not make one by it ; upon this it was given tp. I went to the ground a little after twelve o'clock, where I ray an immense concourse of people ass-mhled ; after I had been there some time, in conversation with various persons, who all appeared to be delighted with the orderly manner in whkh the various processions came upon the ground, with joy beaming on every countenance, and several I heard declare that it was ti.e most gratifying sight they had ever beheld in the whole course ' of their lives, some one pointed out the Dainstables. fanned in two lines, with a space betwixt them, froth the hustings to the house where I was informed the Magistrates were sitting; and credit was given to the Magistrates for the judicious plan they had adopted to bring before them any one who might be guilty of disturbing the peace of the Meeting. This was actually de opinion I had formed of the purpose tor which the Constables were thus placed. After listening for some time to the music, which was playing a variety of national airs, and, amongst the rest, Gad save the King, I went into Deansgate to get a little re freshment, where I had not been long before Mr. Hunt wee announced; and in going into the street, near the Dog Totem, on the carriage passing where I stood, Mr. Hunt perceived Ite In the crowd ;he called out to me, saying, Mr. Moorhoust, will you get into the carriage ?we will make room for you.' to an instant the door was opened ; I was seized by the arm by John Collier, and instantly -booed into the carriage, but before I bad time to take away my hand from the door, it was hastily shut, and three of my fingers were caught, and most severely bruised, so as to give me very great pain, and immediately co the carriage arriving at the hustings I got out, and went to the public-house to get some brandy to allay the pain. I remained in the public-house until the dispersion had in a great meesere taken plate ; and, on going down stairs to leave the Bosse, I found Mr. Tremlow at the fire door, for the purpose, as .: posed, of preveuting any one from going colt that way. He di rected me to the back-door, and I left the house in starch cf my wife, who was at this time six months advanced in her pregnancy. I was nearly two hours before I met with her, during which I was several times told She was thrown down a cellar, and crushed to death; but, thank Gon, it was not gni— We met at the Flying Horse, and while drinking a glass of wine and water, and returning Goo thanks for delivering her from the perilous situation in which she was in, being between the Constables and the carriage at the time the Cavalry surrounded the hustles s, two Police Officers, Platt and another, came into the room, and told me I was their prisoner. I demanded their authority ; they produced their staves. I observed, that is no authority—you must produce a warrant, and I will go with you. To which Platt replied, if I did not choese to go without a warrant, he would fetch some suit era, who would not he trifled with. I then ruse uo, and went along with them to prison. This took place between four and five o'clock in the afternoon of Monday. I remained in the N. Bailey from that day until the 27th of August, on which day I was admit ted to bail." This was the simple statement of Mr. Moorhouse, and it was now for the Jury to determine on the merits of the case. Mr. Hots then addresed the Court on behalf of Mr. Sax'on. It was not till the third day of this trial, and at noon, that the flame of Saxton wai mentioned. It was then mentioned by a police ofi cer; but the charge made out in evidence, as it af fected him (Saxton), was so extremely slight, that he thought the Counsel for the Crown would only have exercised a laudable discretion if they had ab , stained from calling on him foi his defence. It was not his (Mr. Holes) wish to go into the legality of the Meeting, but it was tempting to any man who recollected what occurred within the last three months, when his Leaved Friend (Mr. Scarlett) had stated in one of the Houses of Parliament, that his mind was not made up as to the legality of the Meeting. Mr. Justice BATLEY—You may discuss the ques• tion of legality on legal grounds, but not by argu nicnium ad hominew. II Ilift._ II Mr. Hots said, he did not intend to urge the pri vate opinion of his Learned Friend—but he only wished to 'hew, that the opinions of many great men were not made up upon this question three months ago.—The Learned Counsel then proceeded to slice, that this case was distinct from that of the other de fendants included in the same indictment. It did not appear that Saxton was acquainted with any cf those with whom he had been huddled in this sup posed conspiracy. Saxton had nothing to do with the Smithfield Meeting ; and when Mr. Hunt went to Bullock Smithy, he was not there. From the Ist of July to the Bth or 9th of August, his name did not occur. Saxton was not connected with the pro ceedings at White Moss, and he was not seen march ing in any of the columns that came into Manchester ou the morning of the pith of August. Till the pass ing of the late Acts, there was no legal check on po pular Meetings, like that which his Learned Friend had supposed, or why had n. it those Meetings which took place in and near the Metropolis been put down, and the parties punished by whom they had been called ? Then it was not proved that the Meeting was illegal ; and all that had been proVed against him (Saxton) was this—that he had been on the hust ings, but he was not shewn to have committed any excess. The Meeting was not proved to have been seditious Meeting by its numbers, and if not b its numbers, he wished to know what else ther-. was to make it so ? What was there in their marching in an orderly and regular way? This had been called " military arrly ;" but what was there in it, that it should not be called civil array Some, indeed, were said to have been armed with sticks, but none had been produced before the Jury. and therefore they had no right to suppose that the parties coining to the Meeting carried anything nn : than common walking sticks. What military cha racter had these persons, but this, that they marched three or four abreast, with something like a rne.:- sured step? Some of the inscriptions he regrette.: ; but, with the exception of the raotto " Equal Re presentation or Death," he saw none that he shoulL have expected would be termed seditious. And it would be somewhat harsh to put such a constructica even on that. In calling for Annual Parliaments and other changes, he shewed that the people of Man chester had done nothing that had not been done repeatedly before. But the alternative equal repre sentation or death might be considered as seditioi;%, but that banner could not be traced home to any e.' the defendants. It might have been sent in by an enemy. Suppose, at the Meeting in the Castle. van', an enemy had sent in such a banner, v ould it . have changed the character of that Meeting? But the words " Equal Representation or Death," merely err.- bodied a strong expression of feeling, and by n.) m eans iudicated a fixed determination, as his Lcarnel Friend (Mr. &Watt) had contended, to have Army parliaments, or to proceed to gain them by acts k violence. There were no outrages committed .1 Manchester as at Sint-fields, and Mr. flukey i 7 I; .1 i J ~j I