Star. — London, England, 1820-03-28 00:00:00

II I II I , 1 IP v. 'v. ; I' ;11 .tll~ .. •,. • • • NINTH DAY. . .1111 . fIDDLESEX ELECTION. The town of Brentford was almost impassable, from the amazing number of carriages and vehiclei of every description, which completely lined the streets. .Sir Rowe ,Wineon led up a large body of Freeholders, ?a the interest of WIHTBREAb, from Stepney ; FRANdiS'BUIIDETT another, from the Crown and Anchor, in. the-Strand ; sand Mr. Al derman Wools headed another detachment of voters for the same Candidate. The Hustings, and the space in front, were much crowded. At the close of the poll, the numbers were as follow: Mr. Boss . . 3,479 Mr. Wurrsaw) - LOGO Mr. MaLLtsti - 2,591 From this it will be seen that Mr. WiIiTBRILAD gined 9.00 on the day's poll. Itir.l3‘tto came forward to return again his grate ail thanks to those Freeholders who had honoured him with their suffrages. Though he had not been favoured with the support of the Electors generally, still he felt conscious of deserving it, and he re gretted that any of them should omit voting for him. He wished for the vote of every honest man ; for by giving him their suffrages they would shew, that as honest men, they approved of his Parliamen tary conduct—(Applause).—When he received a vote as a personal favour, he was much flattered by it.; but he was ten times more pleased when it was given to him as a tribute to his principles, which for thirty years had never deviated from one uniform course—that of serving them and not himself— (Bravo). —If onytLing were wanting to shew how, bsoundless the charge of coalition was. which had een made by Mr. Mellish, it would be found in the -result of this day's poll, which gave to Mr. Whit bread a higher station than he (Mr. Byng) held.— But Mr. Mellish, in his late Address, appeared be fore the Freeholders in a new character ; one, how ever, which he would find some difficulty in sustain ing. He professed himself, in that Address, the friend of Civil and Religious Liberty—( Laughter, mad cries of " he never was" ).—From this novel de- I claration, he expected to do great things ; and know ing lag week that he (Mr. Byng) had expressed a jpeleasy at not being included in the votes that were given, *he sought by such means to create a diver stop in his favour, while endeavouring to divide the Hectors of Westminster, who he knew were to come denvoto-day ; yet it was surprising the Freeholders bad not gieea him credit for his liberality, and raised him higher on the poll— ( A laugh).--It was cer taiu, that according to this recent Address, Mr. Mel. ' lisp bad considerable advantage over him (Mr. Byng), who, after thirty years exertions, *as not able to do more than acquire the character of being a fi lend to civil and Religious Liberty; one which that Gentle. man had gained in the short space of a fortnight— (44ughter).-1-fere, indeed, was a most rapid pro gress ; and it was impossible to say how much more might be done by Mr. Mellish, should the present contest be of much longer duration. In fact, at this rate, it was not too rash a conjecture to hazard, that homight ultimately become a perfect Radical l--(Loud toughter). Mr. Wilerisainto presented himself amidst the tonal demonstrations of applause. They had once more given him a station of still greater security on the poll, and which, he doubted not, would be con tinued till the contest was crowned with success. In contemplating such generous exertion on their part, he never felt more embarrassed, because he found that no language of his could do justice to them, nor eepeess his own profound sense of gratitude—(Ap plause).—lt was truly gratifying to him to observe the spirit of caencord which prevailed upon the present occasion, in uniting to put down those abuses which their opponents would perpetuate—(Cheers).—ln or der to attain this great end, all minor differences i.t politics were entirely forgotten, and Middlesex Seas the standard to which all the true friends of Reform hastened, without any reference to objects of a less important nature than those which a noble patriotism inspired—(Bravo .I—This might be term ed a coalition, but it was one in which he gloried ;I it was one which would lead to an union of interests for measures of the greatest national consequence— the peace, the welfare, and happiness of the country— l (LGuel cheers).—lt was very natural that their enemies should be jealous of such a coalition, and therefore they attempted to create discord between the friends of Reform, by raking up trifling and momentary dif-' terences: but he hoped that the love of country would overcome every partial consideration, and that con ciliatory measures would be the bond of union by which they should be found acting together while arrayed in battle against expiring corruption--(Cheers). ',lbe hireling pints of the Ministers still continued their calumnies against him, and for no other reason than because he had avowed himself a thorough Re forneer—( Great applause.)—But he would ask any man if the House of Commons was what it ought to be ?—(No, no ! )—Most certainly it was not; and it would be the greatest effrontery to answer in the af firmative. But if it was not what it ought to be, who was the man that ought to stop short in apply ing a remedy ?—(Bravo !)—lf by the term Reform er was meant a person who was willing to subvert the Constitution, then he should say that he was not one. But if, on the contrary, it meant a person de sirous of restoring the original freedom and security' of the House of Commons, then be would say, that most assuredly he was ore—( Bravo !J—Hie was for a Constitutional Reform by Constitutional means— such a Reform as would satisfy the greet body of the people. His motto was, the " King and Constitu tion.' He only desired the blessings of a free Go vernment, that the King might be blessed in a free people. His opponent had, or. Saturday,'challenged hires to bring greater numbers than he should to this day's poll; but they had given him an answer more su bstantial than mere words, as would be seen by the deaidgcl majority which he (Mr. Whitbread) had gained by their exertions. For these exertions he once more returned them his sincere thanks, and it would be his earnest endeavour to repay them, by a faithfal discharge of that important trust, which he row had every reason to hope they would repose in biro.—(Cheers.) • Mr. MELLISH now stood fojwaid, but could not obtain a hearing, though Mr. Sheriff Parkins inter posed in his behalf ; upon which . . Mr. WHITZIREAD again presented.himself, and said he had strolls tcascn to believe that a good friend of their's (Sir F. Burdett) intended to address them, but that he certainly would mayio so, if .Mr. Melrtshivas not heard- 7 ( akra, and evses ter. " {cell hear kiln"). Mr i .Mittiso was then allowed to proceed. His kltt, he'said, did not perMit him to strain his voice , if they were even tolerably indulgent, he would l t-• a few words—(Browel hear him). After the at tack which Mr. Byng had made upon him, he needed not be very nice with regard to that Gentleman. If the coalition had not taken place between Mr. Byng and Mr. Whitbread, it was quite certain that he (Mr. !Mellish) should not have been so high on the day's poll ; for many of the Freeholders had. in consequence of it givewhim plumpers, and receded from the in 'tentions they had at first formed of dividing their votes with him and Mr. Byng.—( DisapproNztion.) Itappeared Mr. Byng thought his principles changed, but he was mistaken. As to what his principles were, he should say nothing, because they all knew 1 them—( Yes, we know them too well, as we tad you before).—He could not comprehend how Mr. Byng and Mr. Whitbread could agree upon the question of Reform. One, it would seem, was for short Parlia ments, and the other was for giving the people every thing that they could want, but still the practicability of Reform was not defined by either. If their system of Reform included Universal Suffrage, he promised them he should not concur in it, nor should he turn Radical, as Mr. Byng had facetiously anticipated. He was glad to find that Mr. Whitbread was now satisfied, that so respectable a gentleman as Mr. Gar diner was not capable of acting as he had been repre sented with regard to one of his workmen. But this was only another of those idle electioneering stories of which he could recount a hundred and fifty if he thought them worth notice. Here Mr. Mellish being again loudly interrupted, was obliged to conclude, thanking his friends for their exertions, while he re quested they would persevere to the last. Sir FRANCIS Benham being impatiently called for, came forward amidst eat iusiastic acclamations. It was now' a considerable time since he had first the satisfaction of addressing his brother Freeholders from these hustings, and from that period to the, present, various important events, of a public na ture, had taken place. But it was a sincere gratifi cation to him, to meet the Freeholders of Middlesex still the same—to meet, this day, his , old friends with old faces, and with the same steady principles, still engaged in the cause of Reform—(Applause). Mr. IByng had said justly that no man could find fault, jwith his conduct in Parliament, which had invari ably been upright and . consistent ; nd believing him to be of the same principles w a ith Mr. Whit bread, he gave him.equally his support, and hoped every other Freeholder would do the same—(Bravo ! he deserves it). It was of the greatest importance to recover for the County all it had lost by the return of Mr. Mellish for so long a time previously ; and when this end was to be attained, it was quite puerile and absurd to talk with censure of the term Coa. lition—(Applause). He would ask, what could be mete worthy of freemen—what more honourable, than united exertions for a great public occasion ? (Loud cheers). It was the maxim with their foes'to divide them ; but it ought to be the maxim with free men to unite, and not to be too nice in scrutinizing their s political differences, provided they could ap proach closely enough to establish a grand principle, the recognition of which was so necessary to the li berties of their native country—(Applause). What could possibly be more. worthy of Mr. Byng, than that he should take by the hand a young man of great promise and undoubted integrity, in order that he might thus restore to the County all it had lest by an odious coalition of base and mercenary inte rests ? No man would suffer dust to be thrown' in his eyes with regard to the futile accusation so gravely brought against Mr. Byng and Mr. Whitbread.. He had heard the young Candidate to-day with the highest gratification ; and if all public men should unite on the side of freedom, according to the ex ample so nobly set in Middlesex, they would very soon rescue the County from that scandalous system of Boroughmongering domination. Indeed, it was generally believed, that this intolerable domination now constituted the Government, and he had re cently heard the fact stated in . Leicester—(Cheers). This it was that poisoned the crystal spring, which would otherwise . invigorate and refresh the State— this was the root of that baneful tree, which spread its noxious branches only to extend more widely misery, mischief, and desolation--(Cornieued cheers). But Mr. Mellish would never be Radical enough to cut up the tree of corruption by the roots, after having tasted se much of the fruit.—(Laughter and cheers). But they were radical enough to cut it up ; nor would they be content with pruning its branches, as that would only give it more strength, and render its influence more powerful inci permanent. There was no skilful farmer that would not pluck up his weeds by the roots, if he desired to have a more plentiful crop upon another occasion—(Laughter).— He hoped there would be other coalitions besides that said to be formed between the popular Candi dates, and that he should see one in the cause of Re form, between the Freeholders of Middlesex and the Electors of Westminster. d in a Radical and Consti tutional Reform every one must agree who was not opposed to all effectual Reform—(Loud applarse).— Mr. Whitbread desired a Constitutional Reform by Constitutional means—no man was so mad as to seek it by any other. This, be doubted not, would soon become more apparent, and the friends of Re form would be on their guard against the agents of the vile Boroughmongers, who had established their odious system on the usurped rights of the People— ( Cheers ).—He felt that he was not able to address them at the length he wished, but he hoped he had said enough to convince them that he was the same man standing there in the year 1820, as they had first known him. The only cause which he espoused was' that of his country—one which he should never abandon—(Cheers).—The Hon. Baronet the= briefly referred to Mr. Whitbread's qualtfications as a young man of public spirit and high principles, which, he said, together with the name which he bore, recom mended him more than anything else to the notice of the Freeholders, acrd secured to him such distin guished support as that he had experienced (Cheers). —He (Sir Francis 13urdett) was the more delighted with the exertions made for the young Candidate, because he saw they, were voluntary, and not the consequence of any previous arrangements to esta blish his success. From this it was gratifying to observe that the case of Refsarm was makii.g, its way in Middlesex, while it had been so long taken u. by.'ibe Electors of Westminster. lie hoped a. similareling would very soon pervade the country generally, and stimulatO the people to get rid of an evil, without the removal of which all attempts to secure national freedom and prosperity must prove abortive—(Applause).—He regretted that it was not in his power to do as much as his inclination Would lead him,. in promoting the successful issue of the present contest rbut he was subpcenned on a trial to , Warwick, and, in consequence, would he obliged tol leave London to-morrow. But so far as his influence _could go, no exertion on his part should be wanting in favour of a cause which be had so much at heart. They would, he believed, give him credit far his professions, as he was not an untried man ; and he might say in another sense, that he was not an un tried man !—(Loud acclamations and laughter).--But whatever. the result might be of the affair to which he alluded, and he had reason to think it would not be what some persons expected, still it was quite indifferent to him.; the progress of liberty was on its march, and he had no regard about the personal con sequences to himself, provided that his struggles 1o:- the freedom of his country should terminate in ekta- Wishing it on a firm basis—( You are the.ornament of your country).—He now should take his leave, assu ring them, that no man would ever feel more proud of the exaltation of England as a land of freedom, prosperity, and happiness, than himself—(Loud and reiterated acclamations). Mr. Horsuousc was now loudly called on to ad dress the Meeting; but Mr. Sheriff PARKINS stated, that it was not competent to him to do so, and the Election was adjourned. The Meeting then dispersed in good order. TRIAL OF MR. HUNT AND OTHERS. CONTINUATION OP NINTH DAY. YORK, SATURDAY. Mr. Justice BATLEY commenceJ his charge to the Jury about a quarter before three o'clock, and ob served, that the period was now - arrived, at which it became his duty to lay before them certain observa tions, and those with as much accuracy as possible, as to the law of the case, and to mark out with care the grounds on which they were to give their verdict. He earnestly begged of them to dismiss from their minds all political or party feeling, not to consider what may or may not be the consequence to this or that party, but to do this, and this alone—pronounce such a verdict as the evidence would justify. It was their bounden duty to weigh well every observation he might make, and only adopt that which coincided with . their own opinions. The evidence in the.case should alone decide, and every other consideration be wholly excluded. A great question for them to de cide on was, the conduct of the crowd who were as-. sembled on that occasion; but the questions relative to the Magistracy, the Military, and the Constables, should not have the slightest weight in their consi deration. He (the Learaed Judge) had taken care that the propriety or impropriety of the conduct of these parties should be wholly excluded cn the trial, and that with a view that no prejudice might result from it, either to their minds, or to the issue of the cause. He had prevented the defendant from put ting. a question, which he might legally have done, in furtherance of the same views, and he hoped and trusted - that in doing so, he had not acted inconsist ently with .thi his situation, upon expressing his wish to the defendant, not to put any questions that might bring the conduct of the Magistrates, the Military, or the Constables, into the evidence, he (the defendant) did not press the question, and in so doing acted most becomingly. He was quite sure that in this, as in all other cases, they would give the defendants every advantage resulting from such conduct, and every, fair benefit that the evidencemight justify. If any doubt whatever remained upon their Lmiads, the defendants were entitled to benefit by it, :and to have a verdict of acquittal. But if, on the other hand, he hoped and trusted, and was satisfied if the evidence called for a different verdict, they would come fairly and boldly to it. To give satis factiOn to the defendants in case of their conviction, is one amongst others of the great advantages of a trial in public Court, where they can see they have been fairly dealt with, subject, however, to such re strictions and limitations as men in no state of society. can be free from. The indictment against the de fendants contained charges of riot, conspiracy, and unlawfully assembling. The objects of the conspiracy, as they are stated, are, that the defendants met, and caused others to meet, for the purpose of destroying the peace of the King; and of exciting alarms and jealousy amongst the subjects of the realm. And if eit,her of thest were proved, it would call for the con viction of the defendants. There was included in the charges one for causing disaffection, and an attempt at overturning the Constitution of the country. Then there were three charges against the defendants, one to disturb the public peace ; the second, to raise dis affection in the subjects of the King, and create fears and jealousies amongst them: and the third, to ex cite the subjects of the King to a hatred of the Go vernment of the Realm, as by law established. if any of these charges were satisfactorily made out against the defendants, a verdict of Guilty should necessarily follow. In the count for conspiracy, these things are charged as motives, in the others they are charged as exciting to disaffection. The indictment further adds, .that the defendants met in great trim berg, with inflammatory ensigns and inscriptions ; that they marched in military array, and with offen sive weapons, to the great alarm and terror of the subjects of the King. On the subject of unlawfully assembling, the Learned Judge proceeded to state the opinion of one of the ablest writers on the subject, who said, " that any Meeting whatsoever of such great and numerous bodies, as cannot but endanger the public peace, and create fears and jealousies between the subjects of the King, or . assemblies • armed (for no one can foresee what may be the event of such an assembly), is unlawfid." 1t under all the circumstances of the case, any such Meeting . have a natural tendency to create • alarn, sawn Meeting is unlawful. A merely warlike appear ance, however, in that Meeting, did not n,:cessarily constitute it an illegal one.. One question n o w was for the consideration of the Jury, namely, whether the Meeting of the 16th August was formed of such num ber s , and in such manner and circuthstances, as to endanger the public peace ? A large Meeting might be very innocently assembled, , and yet many i b i l e e r d so , n if s at they e th y at a N d l e t t e h t iengi innocent t t a b t e t en i i d le a g n a t l s l y the a i s r se m i n - - struments for unlawful purposes. In all Public Meetings, the. purposes, the mariner, and the means Used for obtaining arid collecting together such an assemblage, must be considered ; but, for himself, he had no hesitation in saying, that the assembling of 60,000 men did not necessarily . make it an unla-sful r a a s i s se em a b n lng y i fea . rs lt or mi je gl a s l s o, s i o demean siesi nthe it n sf as e el ighixot n n o li t to ood where it met, and therefore could not be considered as illegal. If persons illegallo- introduced them selves into such a Meeting, although 59,000 were innocent, there might be twelve or twenty illegally assembled, and liable to be tried for having assem bled there. Although, as to the bulk cf the people assembled there, it might be a legal Meeting, yet, if some continued there, who, influenced by placards* 'or other means, gave to the body of the people a direction likely to endanger the public peace, such persons would, on conviction, be legally punished for a conspiracy. To constitute the offence as charged, lir:- mediate danger was not necessary; it was quite enough that danger was likely to be its result at some ether time, and in such case the defendants could not be ac , quitted. [f, on the other hand, taking into account the circumstances under WLich the Meeting was assets]. bled,mixeci up as it was with women and children, and if the Jury should be of opinion no piesent, although some future danger was to be appiehcnded from it, then they should give a special ver.iict to that effect. In cases of conspii acv, the acting if oersons tooetner, unless one common 'design he proved against them, cannot be sustained. Meis may act from the dictates of their own mind, and act teaitiouslo, although in such cans they might not be liable to a charge of i conspiracy; but, at the sanse time, it is nut necessary in conspiracy to prove au actual inceolig of many persons, if the circumstances that occurred could not have resulted without oreviotis ',anis between its au thors. In the pre emit case, the evicience of a com mon plan of marching is ant invalianly given, and if the Jury believed the different 1 arties came by acci dent to use a regular step, though ar lying at a com mon place of meeting, that would not constitute a ' conspiracy for that purpons. If one party agreed to march to the Meeting with banners and in a regular stepa others, upon the mere hearing of such an in tention, might have followed the example, and the mere circumstance of so corning did not necessarily imply any previous plan. Those only can be impli cated in a conspiracy who were parties to the to . mation of an original plan, or afterwards had cca. curred in it. You may believe that one, and one alone of the defendants was guilty of a conspiracy, together with others, not n am ed in t h e i n di ctment , or had tbrmed some previous plan with them ; but the individual so connected is the only one who should be found guilty. The case of unlawful as sembling dues not, however stand on the same footings If twelve persons assembled improperly, they would be guilty of unlawfully assembling, although no pre vious concert had been proved or established against them. It would be for cheJury to consider. ail the cir cumstances of the present case. The banners were one thing, the general appearance of the :sleeting ano ther, the drilling a third ; but then the mere act of drilling was not illegal because of hawse: s being seen an i a subsequent Meeting of d r ill e d persons , un l ess i n those who by holding the banners, had give.[ coun tenance to the Meeting by such adoption. Drilling was only illegal when used for illegal purposes, and . those of the present defendants could only he coasi- dered guilty on that head when pi oved to have been ' privy to it, and that for an illegal purpose. On the part of the prosecution no evidence was adduced to shew that any immedi at e te rror w a s f e lt at the Meet ing; on the contrary, it was stated by Counsel, that he did not doubt the then object of the Meeting to have been peaceable, although it might be that the bad seed was then only sown, and they should wait until the harvest time to reap and gather it. (The' I Learned Judge here began to read over the very vo luminous 1, evidence as before detailed, and asked the Jury if they were desirous of. hearing it all read as it appeared in his mutes ? To this no answer was re turned, and he proceeded). The evidence on all sides proved that no illegal act was committed at the Meeting, nor immediate danger contemplated, and that nothing, as far as words went, Wds in culcated but peace and q u iet ness b y M r . H unt .— Then, with regard to the banners, if no concert could be traced to • the defendants respecting them, they could not so far be found guilty; no evidence was offered to shew that Mr. Hunt was aware of the pla card advertising the Meeting for the 16th, although he was aware cf that which preceded it on the 9th ; as to the keeping step, and the banners of " Liberty or Death," these things did net necessarily imply illegality. There was another banner, searing on it OJ i "No Corn Laws ;" but that might have been put on . ; ‘l a flag merely as indicative of the wishes of the people 1„ that the Corn Laws should be altered, tracing, as the people did, to their operation, many of the hard ships they endured. The Cap of Liberty also was .. said to surmount many of the flags; and it would be for the Jury to consider whether it was meant in e It epublican manner or not. He was not well skilled in the uses of these emblems, but he believed the Cap of Liberty was an insignia of loyalty, and carried before the King by an Officer appointed for that pur pose ; what it might import in other local districts, he could hot say. When his Lordship came to that part of the eeidence for the Crown which was given by Mr. Kelton, he observed, that no doubt could be entertained of the great respectability of that Gentle man. It was, however, to he considered, that he leas not in that situation which enab:ed him to ob- , serve so accurately what passed as many of those whose evis ) .encesnegalieed the throwing 'of sticks, ! stones, and brickbats. lie thought it probable that a "Magistrate, knowing the great responsibility en- .. trnsted to him, and that drilling had been carried on, and that his imperious duty called upon him to act si upon a sudden emergency—he thought it prabable that a man so placed might he agitated, and not cool during the time he was considering that he might become highly criminal if he suffered such proceedings to go to suds length as to endan: s er the peace of the town. . That witness states the deposii tious re resting the alarm of the inhabitants; but here those depositions, if there were a million cf them, could be of no avail: for the 111) .weielsouud lalone to attend to rira voce evidence given in open Court. • Nadia 's statement to Alr..iialte= might' J'•!s- q 4 I A