Star. — London, England, 1820-03-29 00:00:00

,1!J 1 ;1 i . , MIDDLESEX ELECTION. TENTH DAT. STATE OF THIS DAY'S TOLL. Mr. WHITBREAD - - lITT. BYTICI - - - Mr. iNILLListi - - - STATE OF .TtlE GROSS rOLL. . . Mr. 131-Nt—, • P.:-. Wurriic LAD - INTr. ,+ The interest which this contest excited in the out set continues unabated. Brentford was crowdedyes terday at an early hour with the friends of the re spective parties ; the bustle and agitation continued to to close of theday. • Before the state of the poll was announced, Mr. Sheriff PARKINS expressed a hope that the people would hear Mr. Mellish to-day, as he understood that that gentleman had something of importance to com municate, and that he had also some very edifying obiervations to make. 243 243 197 3,720 Z,310 - 2,776 Mr. BYNG observed, that although he did not hap pen to find himself at the head of the poll of this day, he had the satisfiction to perceive that the dif ference was very trifling, aid therefore he calculated that \that he said yesterday had made a doe impres- I-Ye hoped and trusted, indeed, that the inde pentlent electors of Middlesex would never declare apinst.an old and tried servant. From the general state of the poll, it was obvious dint the stale cry of g' coalition," which his late colleague had endeavour ed to raise, had produced no effect whatever in that gentleman's favour. But the fact teas, that there was no coalition on his part, as neither he himself (Mr. B.) nor any of his aeents, had ever canvassed for a second t ow, in favour of either of the ether candi dates. 1-k ilaJ, indeed, too high an opinion of the l'iiddlesex Freeholders to offer them any seggestion U pen the sub . ect. They required.no instruction for et hom to vote, end without any suggestion it was iliac natural that the friends of independence in this eountv should vote for the two Candidates whom they thought most likely to supoett that cause in Parliameet— t •" ir , 7 4 " and app:auses)—But the 8 41e, cry of c(e,litioa vas not the telly objection raised against him (Mr. B.) et Eli.; Election. It was said by the friends of the ether cele;hee (Mr. Whitbread), that as that gentleman had declared in favour of a thorough Reform, he (..tlr. 1 was bound to suppct t it. The Meeting had •iesterday heard, and no doubt s' itll gtoet pleasure, an elequeot speech from an Berceet, v. ho ohseet ed, with reference to Re form, that garcleoers would feel it right to tear up weeds by the roots, and that so should Reformers tear to) every oublie eed. For hiro-,elf, he had no Ltoitezien ia saoieg, that he had no objection to tear up the r otos ceery proved evil, such, for instance, • user:o I.llces aed pen-iees, because such places • pe:o.ione fernied no part of car C. mstitution, nor did their existence scree i:4 :Inv degree to add to the s!ebilio.• of the Crowe. He would therefore abeiish sec!' places and peioions for a very plain reason. If he neolit be allowed to compare great things to small, any con :ideotte gentleman who should come into his faerily and find hien with twenty or thirty servants, sonic of whom actually earned their bread. by their ee:vices,- and we:e but imperfe;oiy while those who did nothing at all receieed - the. highest wages, his system could not fail to be con denie d by such . e g entleman. Yoe-, upo:t the same principle, he couldllot hesitate to disapprove of the System, which, the g; eat officers of s t a te we : e by no means overpaid, ththe ho rendered no serrLe whatever to the State were paid beyond all calcula tion. But v.ith regard to Reform, he certainly ob jected to what was termed the Radical system. His only object was, to remove those defects in our re presentation, which had arisen out of the larsc of t•tnte. He wished to restore our ancient Constitu tion, according to which, counties, cities, and popu lens towns, or those places only were allovecd to sead Ilepresentativei to the House of Commons, which seflicient wealth to pay their Repeeeeutatives. l lout several of rho-c place , : had since f dlen into latex decay, becoming quite unable to mike any such pay ment es for med the original ground of their right to send Berresertativro to the !louse of Commons. This, then, vea< an abuser winch on,oht to he remove I. Tioeefore he was an advocate for the a!;olition of all the rotten boroughs, and for the uans!'er of their * feanchiies to the populous towns which at present Lad no Repreeentative at all. 'these, cmohined with rte. aleidemere. of the duration of Paeliament, were id,eas of Reform, and sueli wads- the Reform which Fe lied always suprorted ; such too was the oolv Ite:lneo whieli he should cootinue to support, for he wa: row too old in life to chanyo! his opieioa. Mr. %at eenrer e whose appearance was hailed y. •.:1: more than useally ardeat expressions of regard ;le d respect, ohserved to the people, that if they - had y. iteresed the enthusiasm which he hard seen yester cheo upon his retie r: to town, they would have recog i... zed and eo;oyed the admiration) and applause which the Lot& etihrts made by the Electors of Middlesex had ouiveroally excited. Every one, indeed, whom Le leo! ob erved, evidently felt an interest in the p: calmest ef this great struggle. Tho:e who were not thentwives Blectors naturally looked with anxiety to the proceedings of those who possessed the right of voting, hoping that that right would be so exercised a, to contribute to the security of their freedom, their bees, and their property, all of which wet c subject to the legislation of tl.at body to which the Electors of this County were now , about to return their Repre-, sentatives--(elheinuse). As the success of the cause in which the independent Electors were engaged be came indisputable, he observed that their enemies became more active and virulent in their ;douse. Of this abuse, however, it would eot be worthy of them take any notice, but to consider of seketing such! a Representative as should not prefer the advantage of the few to the welfare of the many—(Applause). Thc...l;:cctors of Middlesex had, he was glad to see, &tt:mined to take their public concerns into their ciesiirelotoels, and to choose only those Representatives ktilio"evonld conform to their wishes and consult their ieO.Oitsts, and thteltepeesentetreo who was not so dis ro.ee. d ought, in his opinion, to abdicate his station— Glyerleu..;e): Many of the friends of his opponent had 1444ay taken re:caSion to ask him what he meant by But this• he.thoUght he had sufficiently ritfitted yesterdly. His friends, he knew, fully un derstood what he meant, and lit must say that those iyho did not. understand him, deserved pity forhaving a more circuitous road to their brains than fell to the lot of many—(Applauses and laughter). Mr.Mellish had, he saw, slated, in his address Of 'this morning' . that;he hid more votes promised tOtirn than were necessary to secure his return-I4 goiter, and cries G"that's . a bouncer 1') He mast . ve the Hon. entleman's statement, because be Id not doubt Ms word, and he should only say, that neither he (Mr. Whitbread) nor .I;tis friends could discover where these promisekLienties were to be found. It. must certainly be in some part of the County 'which, he preiumed, was yet unknown either to Mr. Mellish or himself—(Applause and laughter). If any one would take the trouble of inquiring upon that sub ject, he had no doubt that Mr. Mellish would give no trifling reward to him who should be able to dis cern this new world in Middlesex !—(Laughter and applauses). He was sorry to understand that Mr. Crewe, to whose conduct he had before adverted, had since taken much more arbitrary measures with a view to advance the interest of Mr. Mellish-(Ap plauses, and cries of " ;o no effect"). The proceed-. ings were, however, totally ineffective, and, there fore, he should now take no farther notice of them ; for he regarded no opposition in the power of his op- . honest or his patrons to bring forward, finding, as he did, in this contest, that patriotism was a greater in centive to the exertion of the Electors of Middlesex, than all the wealth of the Bank of England—(Loud plaudits). But if wealth were requisite on this occa sion, he should have felt himself by no means com petent to engage in the contest. Ile found, however,' that money was not required from him. Every man, indeed, spontaneously contributed to promote that object in which every man felt himself interested ; and - the Freeholders gave their votes, receiving no other bribe than that et which he hoped he might be allowed to participate, namely, the smiles of that ex- • quisite beauty for which this great County had al ways beets distinguished —(.4cdarrations sfarplausc). Mr. who, after the usual reception of hissing and hooting, was permitted to speak, observed, that atter the attack of Mr. Byng upon him, he could not bi very delicate in his retort. The charge of coalition. which he fAt himself justified in preferring. against him, and in which so many of the Electors. v;ho had given hint pluinpers entirely concurred, was,. he perceived, a bitter pill to that Gentleman. His hue callea;c?, indeed, was evidently unable to ex !slain away that charge, and the truly independent 'Electors must so fcel.--Tl'aere the clamour became so pelt that the Honourable Gentleman could net p:.oceed. - • Mr. Shen vs imploring the people to hear Lim. silence was re,tored. Mr. Mia.Listi re - sume,l, and observed, as to Mr. Whitbread's allusion to the enthusiasm of yesterday, that he hitnwli had felt no enthusiasm of dirt and alya,e, but he bore it all with good temper, as it was acc(,:npallied with any vi(olence. Some of his lends had been charged with threatening to turn cif persons in their employment, if they did not vote for him ; and similar things had been told Lim about the it icnds. of Mr. Whitbread • bat he snapped his iliv;ers at ttch stcrics, folly believing, Mr.Whitbread quite incapable of sanctiouing such conduct. He, theli;::)rts, had abstained front mentioning stories of thAt nat:!re at those hus..ings, although a similar measure of itbetality had not been dealt out towards him. The letter and alleged conduct of Mr. Crewe, for instatice, was dwelt upon, although he declared,• upon his lionottr, that he knew nothini , of that letter or conduct—(" IVoidd you not lousy at us, if you titon7lll rue tclict!cd gon.i.7 exclaimed a voice in the cro::2).-- - --The assertion of Mr. Whitbread, that he was higher than him on the poll, he did not contra dict, because the state of the poll sheaved it ; but why should his assertion be questioned, that be had votes ceough promised him to raire him above Mr. Whit br;:ad ? lint, notwithstanding the contradiction, he would repeat that assertion, and he would only ask his friends to exert themselves, fully assured that if they would, and - - come to the poll, as they promised, he must ultimately succeed. Mr. Warrtimas, who was received with consi• derable applause, took occa-ion to observe, that the present was one of the few occasions on which Eng lishmen were now allowed to meet in any great number together, to express their sentiments or to' act upon their opinions, yet such rneetinz, expres sion, and action formed the only difference between a free state and an arbirraly despotism—(.4pplause). He congratulated the peeve upon the state of the poll, which formed such a strikingsontrost to wha: he had witnessed elsewhere, as it was decidedly fa vourable to the friends of frecdorn.--(Applause). lle was exceedingly happy that Mr. Mellish had been indulged with a patient hearing for two re :sons, first, becan , .e that hearing evinced the wisdom of the peo ple, and secondly, because it afforded the Honoura ble Gentleman an opportimity of explaining his loi n:el- conduct, or how far he was entitled to fature confidence. It was with great sonow reF.2cted that the same indulgence had not been granted else where to Sir William Cultic, " because," said - 111 r. Wahltimin, " I have no doubt that if the Livery of London had heard the wor t'ty Alderman, he would have talked himself out and talked me in."—(Laiqgi ter and appLuse). Mr. Mellish bad observed that his charge against Mr. I3yng of having entered into a coalition with Mr. Whitbread, had proved a bitter pill to the former, but sure he was, that such a coalition, if it existed, would rather prove a bit ter pill to Mr. Meilish—(Lrpgaz!r and applause).— Much had been urged about the youth, of Mr.-Whit bread, compared to the age of his opponent ; but to this he would say, that although he was as ready as any man to do honour to age, there was a certain time of life when it would be idle to indulge any hope _of improvement, or from previow; conduct, to calcu late upon any change for the better I. The objection to Mr. Whitbread's youth furnished, in fact, no valid objection whatever, especially as lie came forward highly recommended, as he was known to have the' best blood in his veins, and as he at once manfully avowed his resolution to support the best principles —(Applause). Upon the pretensions of youth, in deed, he was much of the opinion of die great Dr. Bentley, who, when he was asked his reason for I al ways saluting the youth, while he passed by the old,i replied, " because I think the young may do good;. while, from my knowledge, I can have no hope of the old"—(Laughter and applause). So' as Mr. Mel.' lish never had, in his view, done good in his political life, he could not think him likely ever to be good for anything in politics; while, independently of many grounds for confidence, there was at lease ground for hope as to Whitbread, and this he thought a 'very material distinEtion . be i►een these tit-o Candidates—(4pplause). Here the Wort;hr.Al=l derman took occasion to dwell upon the duty Electors to exercise. their rights and give their - votes independently, observing, that if they did not, in a case like the present, they could have, no right complain of the, conduct of their Representatives in the House of Commons. But jf they did, they mush complain in vain. This important right had been exercised, in a most extraordinary =tuner elsewhere, Electors having voted for Candidates who had sup ported the laws and taxes against which those very Electors had repeatedly and earnestly protested— pleading the consideration of their own interest or the apprehension of some inconvenience as an apo:ogy for such flagrant inconsistency. When the Electors, however, gave their votes upon such grounds, what right had they to object to the conduct of their Representatives in Parliament in preferring their own interest to the welfare of the country, and consigned their countrymen to a state of shivery ? But he was happy to see that no such pleas or pretences were to be heard - of ha Middlesex, where the Electors really gave independent votes; and this, to his mind, was a source of peculiar gra titication—(.•ipplause).—To Mr. Mellish, personally, he felt no objection whatever. On the contrary, he was well disposed to return the civility which he had experienced fiom that Gentleman as his neighbour; but persolial considerations must give way to the public cause, and he was heartily glad to anticipate the rel of Middlesex from that discreditable state in which it had been involved for the last 20 years. That release was indeed now ce.tain, and he was sorry that Mr. Mellish did not at. once declare . his disinclination to give the County any farther trouble, as his cause was ro completely. hopeless—(Plaudits). Mr. Sheriff PARKINS thanked the people for their general good conduct, and, adverting to a complaint which he understood was made of his conduct on the part of Mr. Mellish 's friends, because sonic Freehol ders had taken occasiera to address the Meeting, ob served, that he had no power (if he even had the wish) to prevent such addresses, as it was the indisputable right of every Freeholder to deliver his sentimeilts, as well as to give his vote at those hustings. The Meeting was adjourned about six o'clock. SURREY LENT ASSIZES, MARCH 27. SEDITIOUS AND BLASPHEMOUS LIBEL THE KING V. PIIILIF FRANCIS. This Was an indictment against the defendant, for publishirig No. 3, of Carlile s Republican, containing alkged seditious and blasphemoas libel, in the form of a letter, addressed to the inhabitants of Mar.- H chester, relating t:) the proceedings which took place' in that town on the ]6th of August last. This was one of the class Of cases, of NI. hi ch a great many were tried at the 3liddleex Sittings after last Term, against diEerent news-venders. The Learned Serjea:A (ONstowl stated the case with great ability. is apcared that ,he defendant, who is an infirm I I elderly man, combines with the business of a shoe ! maker, at No. 13, Bermondsey-street, that of a dealer in political and other pamphljs. The libel lous pamphlet in question was published on the 10th of September last, and sold to a person named George Oddy, who deposed to that fact. The defendant addressed the Jury to the following 'effect :—" I am a poor ailing man, and if 1 have been . guilty of a crime in selling this pamphlet, I do declare most solemnly, that I did not sell it with any wicked intention. I looked to the profits of the sale, as a means of enabling me to get a living, which I found a difficult thing to do, owing to the badness of the times, and my own infirm state of health. As soon as I understood that the number of The Repub lican in question gave offence, I desisted from selling any more. I beg you will not consider me as the author of the work, ler it is impossible for me to read all the works Lsell. Gentlemen, lam anxious to make you believe that I had no badness of inten tion when I sold the pamphlet; and far, very far, was I from thinking that the sale of it would expose me to the displeasure of the Attorney-General. The moment I understood, that I was acting improperly, I desisted ; and I certainly did not sell the book with any malicious or wicked intention. If you believe this, you will acquit me. 111 have broken the law, it was without knowing it ; because I was not aware of the tendency of the publication, and certainly had no disposition to violate the.law." The defendant said he had no witnesses to call. The CIIU.F BARON charged the Jury, that the de fendant's intention was distinctly proved by the libel itself. His Lordship, as well as the Jury, acted under the solemn sanction of an oath, and, laying his hand upon his heart, his Lordship said, " Upon my oath, I never saw a more atrocious' ibel than this is." • The.Jnryammodiately found the defendant Guilty, but recommended him to mercy on account of his poverty, and his ignorance of the nature of the libel. The CHIEF BARON.—" Gentlemen, are you aware how prejudicial such a .recommendation may be?— If such a publication as .this finds it way, it will be productive of the most mischievous consequences.— Recollect yourselves before Ton give such a recom mendation. I certainly shall carry your recommen dation into effect as far as I can, but pray recollect before you give it." The Jury turned round again in the box, and, after five minutes' farther consideration, the foreman, Ben jamin Barnard, Esq. said—" My Lord, the Jurymen are not inclined to alter their opinion." The CHIEF BARON (With some warmth).—" Then you will send all these publications to the most ig norant classes of society." The Juil was composed of half special and half talesmen. TIIE KING V. JOHN CAIWAC. This was an information *filed by the Attorney- General against the defendant, a pamphlet seller,' residing in Blackman -street, in the Borough, fir publishing, on the 3d of September last,' a seditious libel contained in No. 2 of the Republican, in the form of a letter, addressed to his Majesty when Prince Regent, concerning the transactions at Man chester on the 16th of - August, reflecting tipon his. Majesty, and on the Constitution of the country as by law established. Mr. Serjeant Orrstow, in stating the case, adverted to the excuse which had been pleaded by the defen dant in the last case, for publishing the libel, namely, his poverty ; and said, that it was just as good an excuse as that of Romeo's ApotLecary, for sellir poison—that " his povery, and not his will, eon - :sented The Learned Serjeant, speaking of the Meeting at Manchester, said, that no man, however strong his political feelings, bad ever yet been se hardy as to contend that that was a legal Meeting. George - Oddy pr-lred that he had purchased the. pamphlet in question at the defendiint's shop, on the. -.5d of September last.- Cross-examined.—The defendant is a bookseller, in the general way,in 131atkman-street, in the I'o rough.—The libel being read by the" Officer i t the . Court, the case on the part of the Crown was closed. The defendant then read a Written defence to the, Jury, in which he urged his innocence of 'any inten- . tion to publish the libel as charged' in the 4eclaraCon. He had merely sold the paMphlet in qnestion it the' general way of his business as a bookseller, without. ever having read it. Asa hociltAler he sold pim- - phlets zn all questions, whetler oppose,' to or fa votir ,- able to Government. lie conlpla,ned Ova he shonik.b, have been selected - for prosecution as the mere yen- - der of the libel, when the author of it was known,- and had gone unpunished ; and instanced the cases . of• Mr. Hobhouse and Sir Frafeis Burdett, in both of which the publishers of the alleged libels were net prosecuted. In the one Mr. Stodait, the bc•ek seller, was discharged by the flou se of Commons, and in the other, Mr. Brooks, who had sent the libellons letter for which Sir Francis was prosecuted, to the Newspapers, was a witness for the prosecution. Pro fessing himself hostile to the principles contained in the alleged libel, he threw himself on the considera tion of the Jure. The Cater i3AnoN charged the Jury that the libel was a most atrocious one, and, .under his Lordship's direction they found the deferdant Gniky. BANK OF ENGLAND PROSECUTIONS. The twenty-five unhappy . bein . s who sta d clurge'd with uttering forged Bank of England noes hav ing been. arraigned, sixteea of them chose to plead guilty to the minor offence cl knowingly having in possession, and were severally sentenced to fourteea years' transport*ion. The remainder elected to take their trials for the capital offence. It lliqm Womtdd was indicted for fclonlouslv ut tering a forged Bank of England note to 'Nos. Cakbidge, at Epsom, oa the `29111 ci Augrst Guilty—Death. &mad Gotward was next found pailty upon the clearest evidence, of uttering a f.irged note in Southwark, oa the I 2th of February, to o ne Sar a h Matthews.--D a!/ John Warren wi:s capitally convic:cd upon the most satisfactory evidence.—Dcath. Themes Hubbard, upon brig brought to the bar, retracted his plea of " not guilt)" to the capital charge, and was allowed to plead guilty to rile minor charge, and was sentenced to for.rteea years' trans portaion. • . Janes Pen:iingten was tried and actrittal on a capital charge of uttering, it appearing that the wit nesses were mistaken as to his identity, there lwing another man in the gaol so like him, a.: to rei:der it difficult to distinguish the cne from tlie -cthe2r. The prisoner was prored to be •a malt Of irreproa.:ll:6le character. The Bank Solicitor gave the poor fellow £5. George Gilbert was also tried, •and acquitted upon the clearest evidence of his innocence. Thomas Castles was also acquitted under the like circumstances, both he and the last-mentioned pri soner being men of excellent characters. William Wyatt, a waterman, was tried and a . 6quit 7 ted also upon the metst satisfactory evidence of inno cence. The Bank prosecutions lasted the whole day. TRIAL OF MR. nt.;# AND OTHERS. TENTH DAY . YORK, 310NO:tY NIOHT.• The Court met this morning at nine o'clock, and the natoes of the Jury having been called over, hii Lordship proceeded to detail the evidence to them. He had stopped on Saturday with the evidence of Shawcross, which he now continued; and went on to that of the last witness for the prosecution. The prin cipal observation that arose out of this was grounded on the Resolution, which were proposed and adopted at the Smithfield Meeting in• July last ; which, ac cording to Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Hunt produced from his pocket on .that occasion. Ills Lordship would read them to the Jury, in order that they might judge of the feeling and temper of the individual by whom they were proposed. He would make no comment on them, fo; the Jury would see how far they were or were not respectful to the Government, and how far they were calculated to excite discon tent in the minds of those to whom they were ad dressed. His Lordship now came to the evidence for the defence. On the part of Moorhouse and Jones, it had been stated, that their attendance at the Meeting, so near the hustings, was merely acci, dental ; and it was observed, that if the object of the Meeting was legal, and its conduct peaceable, numbers would not make it illegal. In this he con curred. Numbers did not make a Meeting illegal, unless they were such as to excite a terror in the minds of others, 'or to be 'a probable cause of terror. Healey, in his defence, expressed a hope that his case would be judged without any party feelings. His Lordship hoped so too. He trusted the Jury would . dismiss from their minds every feeling which was not excited by the evidence before them. He would do his duty faithfully to the Crown and the People cm the one hand ; and if he did not do it to the de fendants on the other, there was•ONE above him, under whose eye he was acting, and to whom he was responsible. He sincerely hoped and trusted, that that BEING would guide him in the observations which he had to make, and the Jury 'in - Weighing well what he should submit to thein.---Cfhis obser vation was delivered in so impressive a manner as tor affect several persons in Court even to tears]. —It was true, as had been stated by one of the defendants, " that where there was no law, there could be no transgression :" and it the Jury found that, at the time of this Meeting, there was no law against it, they would g i ve the defendants the benefit of it.— Certainly the carrying of sticks or banners in the procession were not in themselyes illegal, and could not be so, unless carried or borne with a bad inten tion. In the address of Mr. Hunt, it was observed by him, that his intentions on this occasion were ia nocent, anal that the whole of his observations were addressed for the preservation of the peace, and that the object of their meeting Wits lawful—circum- II i