Star. — London, England, 1831-07-08 00:00:00

1 r . nod the eitmluct of those men who were engaged in the disturb ances was free from feri.eity tweeds their savage prosecu tors. They had not attempted neither life or limb, except in the case of the two hired overseers, whom they had trundled out of a parish. Had they burned their persecutors in thc!r beds, which it was in their power to have done ? had they beaten them severely, as it was in their power to have done ? Still all except that hellish crew would say that they had no other means of obtaining safety from starvation." The tendency of all this, he thought, was not to be mistaken or resisted. It was endeavouring to place the law in the hands of those who were incapable of acting, except on the principle of revenge ? What, he would ask, would be the result, if such things were not to be treated as crimes?— Those unfortunate persons might be the objects 'of compas sion, as b.ing misled by such v riters as the dyfendant, who, :n the possession of evcty comfort of life, and sitting quietly in his closer, could yet incite them to their ruin. Such a Fuson ' he thought, should be pursued with every severity that the law allowed, tempered, however, with as much of mercy as the public safety would admit of. He had laid the rase before the Jury with as little aggravation as possible. It was for them to say whether it was or was not a libel. and Gon forbid that any motive whatever should induce them to depart from the strict line of their duty. If they should have any doubt upon the subject, there was nothing to take this case out of the general rule, which gave to the defendant the benefit of that doubt. The publication was then proved; after which, at the re quest of the defendant, the indictment was read, and by the desire of Mr. Gurney passages were read from the Register, to show that acts of violence were being at that dine perpe. nested. Mr. Cobbett then addressed the Jury in his defence, and said, that the feeble attempt of the Attorney-General to prove, by his speech, that this was a libel was rendered nu gatory altogether by the agreeable twaddle of Mr. Gurney, who had caused passages of the Register to be read which must convince the Jury that he had no such intention as that imputed to him in writing the article in question. That trial had not beetle that day, but on the 16th of December last. He wished to impress this upon their minds. That trial had been going on every day since the 16th of Decem ber last, when it was commenced by 658 Gentlemen who, with little intermission, had been endeavouring to convict him. The attack did not even cease until the last night but one, when Mr. Bruce had said that until Cobbett and Taylor were put down, there could be no peace in the country. Lod Plunkett had complained the other night of attacks made in the Hotise of Commons, and said that, whether true or fabc, they were generally adhesive. He had been tried twice over by both parties, the Tories and the Whigs, and both were of opinion that this was a most abo minable publication ; and, Ist that should not be sufficient to raise a prejudice against him, what they said in the House of Commons was re-echoed by the hydro mouths of the 300 newspapers which they had in their influence. He would in the first place, endeavour to remove the falsehoods that had been circulated against him in the House of Com mons—which had, in effect, made the whole country a Jury in his case. First, Mr. Trevor brought the case forward in the shape of a resolution, and then it was withdrawn. Then, again, after a time, it was re-produced, and then the whole matter was transferred into the county of Sussex ; after which again the House of Commons wound up the whole by what took place there the night before last. After all this it now came before the Gentlemen of the Jury to deliberate upon, having taken every step to make them, by the prejudices they had excited, the instruments of the vengeance of the prosecutors. With respect to the liberty of the Press, he might have no great reason to complain, if every publication was similarly dealt with. In that case he should not object, for they would all go to gaol together, and the prisons would have to be enlarged under the administration of this Whig Govern ment. The Gentlemen of the Jury had often heard and read of the love which the Whigs bore towards the liberty of the Press, and no one professed a greater regard far it than one Sir Thomas Denman, and yet, within the six months that they had been in office, they had commenced more prosecutions agaiust the Press than the Tories had done for the preceding seven yews. If the Whig Government lasted there could be no question but that the gaols would have to be enlarged. The Acts of 1819, called the Six Acts, had laid some heavy shackles on the Press, insomuch, that no man could begin to print now, until he had given security to the extent of 4001. It was formerly only 3001. but by a b:11 of Sir James Scarlett's it was raised to 4001. Since then, however, a measure of greater se verity had been adopted, by which the judge, if he thought proper, might instantly pass judgment of fine and imprison trent on him, if he should be found guilty, which he did not anticipate, instead of waiting according to ancient practice until the term following his conviction. This law deprived a person of the opportunity of making his domestic arrange ments for the conduct of' his family and business, and was fer more cruel than the other to which he had referred. These arbitrary laws against the Press had been, it was true, mule by the Tories, but they had been enforced by the Whigs, who were so fond of die liberty of the Press; but cone of whom talked of repealing those odious statutes which held the Press in slavery. When they were first pro rosed the Whigs opposed them ; but, coming into office, they thought it advisable to keep them, and a nice use they had made of them. The words of Shakspeare might be ap plied to them in this respect, with a little alteration—" They are no traitors ; but treason lay in their way and they feund it." Sir James Scarlett had prosecuted but two persona, and one of those he had forgiven, though the libel was of such a nature that, had he refrained from prosecuting, the chat:icier of the L ord Chancellor would be mest cruelly destroyed. This proved that there was some lenity—extreme lenity and generosity on the part of the Duke of Wellington's ministry, as compared with that of the Whigs. Where a Whig lays his hands they might rely upon it that he would not let go until he had drawn blood. How mone the Attorney-General to shirr his eyes, while not only the judges of the land, but the parliament also, had been dairy calumniated by other publications. Sir J. Scarlett had relieved the press from the punishment of banishment, and libellers could row be punished only by fine and imprisonment ; but the present Attorney-General. though in sonic cases so lynx-like, could yet be lenient enough in others. He was lenient enough to all chose who a rote in praise of the Whig Government. While the newspapers puffed hint and his colleagues, they might write libels of others as long as they pleased. Why had lie not prosecuted the libel which was published in the Times, of which Sir Robert Irglis had thought it right to complain in Parliament. The Whigs got rid of that mo tion by moving the previous question, and the Attorney- General assigned, as a reason for not prosecuting this ar ticle, calling the members for rotten boroughs hired lacquies, that he could not say that what the Times said was not true. The Times, of course, pranced away quite free from shackles. He admitted, with the Attorney-General, that what the Times said was true ; for it was quite impossible to bring sonic of the Members of the House of Commons into greater contempt than they were in before ; but there was another body which, if it once tell into contempt, away would go the Government of the country—for, as Lord Cla rendon said, if once the people twit up the idea that the Judges were corrupt, and that justice could not be obtained in the Courts of Law, die Government could no longer exist. Clarendon also stated that it was the adoption of that idea which brought Charles the First to the block. Now lie would see what sort of libels the Attorney-General per mitted. A very beautiful poet had said— " When some escape for that which others die, Mercy to those to these is cruelty." The defendant then proceeded to advert to paragraphs con tained in the Times, Chronicle, and Courier papers, which trete notoriously the tools of die Whig Government, setting forth that the Judges were canvassing actively in order to defeat the reform bill, and had thus disgraced their high station. An article in the Times says that, since the bad times of Charles the First, the judges had had a decorous centrality on political sub,recte ; but that now the bad tithes of Charles the 1 list had come back again. It thew went on to ask what interest the judges had in opposing reform ; arti it answered the question by baying that a reformed parliament mi i c ask why, in these hard times, the judges were to have selaries as high as 5,5001. per annum ? thus attributing the !Arent of all motives—tile thy lucre—as the ground of their opposition to referm.— The Courier, which formed an integral part of every minis try, passing like an heir-loon from one to the other, asked the question as to whether a reformer could expect a fair trial if brought before such judges, and almost wished that the judges were again made dependant oe the Crown, in stead of holding office tot life. Tile Chronicle singled out e Mr. Justice J. Parke in pazticu!ar, and intimates that his conduct might be made the subject of impeachment. What isehe inference from the fact that none of these writings have Wei prosecuted, except that the Ado:ln-General gelleves their cootents to be true. lie hoped he had .thesitigh• to show that there must have been malice in selecting WS, or why leave the Judges to defend themselves? Why not prosecute the Republierns, which raised *if cry' of " Down with King, Lords, and "Heats." The Attorney-General said in the House of Commons that he thought It best to leave such things to the good sense of the people; seeking thus to preserve Ma p o pularity—like Balak keeping the profit—(he did not mean pecuniary profit) of iniquity—and at the same time seeking the praise of being righteous. But why, then, had he not left his (Mr. Cobbett's) writings to the good sense of the people ? There was one publ:cation, however, of so wicked a nature, and attended with so many wicked circumstances, that he could scarcely conceive why it had not been prosecuted —it was contained in a pretended report of what passed in the House of Commons, and was a libel upon amen who was now dead. It was a libel which would never be forgotten in the part of the country where he had lived. He alluded to the unfortunate man (Cook) who had been executed in Hampshire. In speaking of this man, in the House of Com mons, it was said that he was a carpenter earning 30s. a week, and yet this was the man who joined in these riots, struck down his benefactor, and on attempting to repeat the blow broke the arm of the servant of that same benefactor, but for whose interference he would have killed him. That was the statement which had been made in the House of Com mons ; and a more savage and cruel libel had never been uttered. He had two affidavits, one from Cook's father, and another of the servant of Mr. Baring , who was sta ted ro have been knocked down. The affidavit of the father stated, 'hat Baring was never a benefactor of any part of Cook's family. The affidavit was dated from the parish of Mitchell Dean, county of Hams, on the 10th of March.— It stated that the unfortunate Cook had worked for several years as a ploughboy or ploughman ; and for six months before the riots as a sawyer, and had never received more than 10s. per week, and was out of work at the time he left his native village, to which he did not return but in his coffin. This was the nature of the libel on this unfortunate young man. lie would say that the Attorney-General, and those by whom he was surrounded, knew nothing of the state of the labouring classes. They could not know it so well as he who had been born and bred among them. They could not know of the effect of those libels on the feelings of those people. Now, what was the real state of the Case with regard to this young man ? There was no arm broken, no second blow aimed, and the poor young man was not earning one farthing. They might judge the effects that the Special Commission had produced on the country peo ple, when they heard that they had been subscribing penny subscriptions to get these lies taken out of the paper—lies which were fabricated for the purpose of giving a colour to the execution of this unfortunate young man. He was exe cuted because he had given a blow to Bingham Baring, who had five relations in parliament, and one a relation of the Prime Minister. The Attorney-General must have given his consent to the execution of this young man before it took place. He must not have known the circumstances of this case; or, if he had, he (Mr. C.) would leave the Jury to characterise such conduct; and if he had not, it was his duty to have done so. The Tinier was tolerated to say whatever it pleased, so that it supported the administration. In 1810, a noble lord showed him a letter from Walter, the father of Anne Brodie, in which he complained of the injustice of Pitt, who had employed him to write libels against the King's sons ; and that, so help him GOD, he had never not but 7001. for it. He had seen the report of a speech which compared the late King to Nero, and designated the present one a royal slanderer; and the person who gave utterance to that speech was never above 100 miles from Sir Thomas Denman. The fact was, however, that neither party, Whigs nor Tories, ever cared a farthing about any thing that was said of the King, but never forgave any attacks on their own faction, or the profits of their places; and this faction of the Whigs, be it observed, was more greedy than any other. You might as well attempt to tear a lamb out of the fangs of a wolf as a victim out of their clutches, if that victim was one who sought to prevent them fr.mt dipping their hands into the pockets of the people.— This was not to be wondered at, they had been so long out of office—(a laugh ;) 24 years lank—absolutely lank ;—and it would be destruction to any man living to attempt to pre vent them. Mr. Gurney had showed enough, in the extracts which he had caused to be read, to upset the charge of the Attorney-General, who had made a very bad speech, be cause he knew his speech would be answered, unlike that of Mr. Trevor, who was one of the six hundred and fifty eight licensed libellers. After Mr. Trevor had uttered, in the House of Commons, all the falsehoods and calumnies upon the writer which his poor stupid head could think of, the Whigs then prevailed upon him to withdraw the motion. It was with sorrow and shame that he was now compelled to detail the trans actions of this Whig Ministry against him. Ile was at Eattel delivering a lecture. About that time a man, named Goodman, who had five times set fire to a farm, from mo tives of private malice, was left, and justly left for execu tion. There was no excuse for him, He was a cooper, earning 15s. per week, and had set the farm on fire, five times with his own hand. They tried to get something out of this man, to see if they could hook it on to Trevor's pro secution of Cobbett. A Curate of Crowburst was urged on by somebody to put up Goodman in the condemned cells, and get him to say that he was instigated to the offence by the lectures of Cobbett. This the parson got him to put in writing. lie (Mr. C.) contradicted it ; for, seeing that It was invented by a parson, he of course disbelieved it. Sub sequently three Magistrates of the county went to Good man, who was taken to Horsham with a person who had been convicted of setting fire to one house. It was little wonder that the man, feeling the halter tickling his neck, should be induced to repeat the confession. But conspirators should be doubly cunning ; and the second confession went so far as to betray the trick. They asked him to commit to paper his confession, which he did in a most extraordi ary mis-spelt and ill-written scrawl. He said that he had once heard Mr. Cobbett at Batted tell the people that they had been imposed upon, and that every man should keep a gun in his house, and that he (Mr. Cobbett) would tell them the proper time to use it. Now the fact was, that he was never at the lecture at all, and yet these three- stupid Magistrates got him to say this, although there were from 200 to 300 people who could, and many did, contradict it. What was the result ? Such was their anxious wish to get hold of Cobbett, that they actually pardoned this Goodman, who had no less than five times set fire to a farm, solely on the pretended ground that he had been deluded by Cobbett; and yet they would not pardon the man at Dlaidstone who had perpetrated one fire, though it was in proof that he was not only instigated to do it, but that the matches were even given hira for the purpose ; and worse still, they hanged him on the evidence of the man who had instigated him.— They had only Goodman's assertion for the truth of what he said. Why did they not go to Battel to ascertain if it were true. If they did not go to Battel, it was.because they knew it was a lie. But it they did go to Band, and they found no proof to corroborate his assertion, or if they did, why not prosecute him for such atrocity ? Out of 300 persons who heard that lecture they could find nobody to corrobo rate the assertion of Goodman. It was then their duty to have prosecuted him (Mr. C.) on the one hand, or on the other hand, it was then' bounden duty to have hanged the man, and to have proclaimed the charge against him (Mr.C.) to be false. But what would the jury say when he told them that he knew the whole to be a fabrication, and that be knew that the mats had never written one of the papers at all. He knew this at the time ; but he said to himself that if he proved it to be all calumny, they would hang the man; and the people of Battel were of the same opinion, as they had prepared affidavits ; but when they saw his Register de clining to prove it a calumny, they desisted from presenting them. So that here was a very extraordinary pardon of a man who had been guilty of five tires from private malice, while they took the life of poor Cook because he had struck smut' on the rim of the hat who had five relatives Members of Parliament. They likewise executed a man at Maidstone on the proof of the man who had instigated him to crime, while they pardoned the greater criminal, merely because he had abused Irian (Mr. C.) so that here was mercy arising from nialigaity, and the brightest prerogative of the Crown prostituted to the worst of passions. (Loud cheers, which Lord Tentarelen checked, and threatened to order the Coot to bee cleared if silence was not preserved.) Mr. Cobbs.. then denied having come into Court with a crowd of persoas, as he had only come in a coach with his two sons and Sir Thomas Beeven. lie was anxious to remove the prejudices that had been raised against him by this constant series of attacks, and therefore it was that he should notice another practice of whispering a man down which existed in the . House elf Commons and the clubs at the west end of the town A noble marquis on the bench (Bhuitiford,) had written a letter to a person in the country that a connection was disco. vered between the fires and Cobbett, and that the latter had absconded. Away bolted this person, delighted, to thy other persons, and the news in a very short time was spread through the whole country. One of those persons bolted to Ms Thomas Beevor, and stated the news of his having bolted; but Sir Thomas knew him (Mr. C.) too well to believe h. From whom was he to run away ? 11'as it from the Greys, the Russells, the Broughams, the Lambs, and such a crew 1) Contempt came to his relief ;hen he though of it. To have produced Goodman, without having ascertained the truth of what he said, was the basest thing that ever Government could be guilty of towards him. He held in his hand a de claration contradicting every word that was uttered by Goodman. He had also a letter front Goodman, written ma board the transport ship at Portsmouth, and add ressed to his brother; and, by comparing the orthography of this with that of the other letter, it was clear that the latter were sheer fabrications. In this letter Goodman also said that what had befallen him was the result of his own evil courses, and he hoed that nonce( his family would follow similar courses and keep bad company, as he had done. It was remarkable that In this, his genuine letter, the spelling was, with few exceptioos, correct, and there was no such thing as a point at all, while in his confessions the spelling was miserable, although they were ungrammatically pointed from beginning to end. He trusted, now that he had done away with an the prejudices that had existed against him, merely because he would not suffer the pockets of the people to be picked by this Whig Government. Mr. Cobbett then contrasted the conduct of Sir Thomas Denman with that of Sir James Searle; saying that the proceedings of the latter were manly in comparison. The Tories also, though inclined to be violent, were open enemies--their violence was to be seen on the face of their proceedings; and you knew that all you had to do was to fight it • but the Whigs concealed their's, as the Attorney . General bad done in the present instance, by taking some garbled extracts from the indictment, f or the purpose of inducing the Grand Jury to find the Bill. If he had inserted the two sentences from the Register immediately preceding that with which he commenced, the Grand Jury would never have found the bill. He traced the malice of the Learned Gentleman, how ever, not to the wig on his bead, but to the Whig in his heart. (Great laughter) The Attorney-General had given him great credit for ingenuity, and in return he felt it was only candid to say of the conduct of the learned gentleman, mat he never met with any thing so stupid, or so fraudulent, in his life—(laughter). He had chosen only part of a paragraph out of thirty ; but Mr. Trevor had had the honesty to take the whole paragraph. When he handed the Register to the Jury they would be astounded at the fraud that had been meorted to in scooping out this paragraph. Defendaut then proceeded to contend. that the whole tenor of the alleged libel was calculated to do away with the out rages that were going forward. It expressly stated that we should not do evil that good might come of it. What was that evil? The fires and outrages to be sure. It was impos sible to conclude from this paragraph that he wished for more fires because those that had occurred had done pod. This trial had done a vast deal of good in wiping away the slander that had been cast upon him • but the result would do more good. Their verdict woul d good; but did his saying that imply that • be; was desirous that the Attorney General should commence more prosecutions ? (Laughter.) They must all admit that the crucifixion of our St boos had done good to the whole Christian world ; but did his saying that imply that the Jews were justified in crucifying our SAV:OUR ? The defendant proceeded to comment on the harsh conduct of country magistrates, hired overseers, and bard-hearted farmers, as tending to produce that spirit of revenge which had recently displayed itself during the past winter in open rebellion, and caused destruction of pro perty in numerous counties. This state of things, if the tanners were asked. the Whig Ministers would find wee likely to be renewed, with increased horror and more ara& ful scenes, the ensuing winter, unless some material altera tion was made in the poor laws, as applied to hired over seers by Sturges Bourne '5 Bill, and the horrible game laws were abolished. He would relate what had taken place at Lingfield, in Sussex, as exhibiting a specimen of the treat. mcnt experienced by the distressed persons seeking relief from the hired overseers. A woman, whose husband had been transported for a breach of the Excise laws, was, with her two children, compelled to apply to the parish for relief, in consequence of her being thus widowed by her hushand being sent out of the country. Immediately they were admitted into the workhouse, this hired over-' seer, with the assistance of two labourers, caused them' to be thrown on the floor • and, with a pair of shears, had all their hair cut off', caused a disgraceful badge to be put on them, and, in a coarse disgraceful manner, ordered them in this state to go to church, to excite the gaze of all their neighbours, or else to turn out of the workhouse to starve, or lead a life of prostitution. He would ask the Jury if they had daughters of their owu, what their feelings would be under such circumstances? But this was not all; it was well known every species of degradation and disgraceful treatment was used towards the unfortunate objects com pelled to seek assistance by the hired overseers. Whilst he lived in this country his tongue should not lie idle, nor his pen remain unemployed, in exposing this barbarous system of oppression; and that, too, in defiance of all the measures of the Greys, the Lambs, and the Broughams, to crush him, lie then proceeded to read further extracts from the Register containing the alleged libel, to show that his observations were directed to protect the farmees against the acts of incendiaries, and ascribing all the evils and difficulties under which the labourers were suffering to the tithe-eaters and tax-gatherers. He had in the same Register inserted the only conciliatory passage, the only just act done during the whig administration—he had inserted the circular of Lord Melbourne; and this he did to mollify, as much as possible the feeling existing amongst the labourer at the time. Withisespect to what had been dwelt upon so much by the Atieswey-General, that the alleged libel was headed " Rural War," he could say that it was no more than the title which had been given to the state of things by all the newspapers. The Morning Chronkle had called it the Western Campaign. His object in writing that article was to draw the attention of the Ministers to the sufferings of the labouring classes, against whom a Special Commission had just been issued, at the suggestion of the Times news. paper, which journal was ever keen in scenting out blood with its nose; who had praised the massacre of the Pro testants at Nismes, and called for the blood of the unfortu nate Cashman. It was this Journal which suggested the issuing of the Special Commission, and in a day or two afterwards out it came. His object was to prevent the shedding of blood. He appealed to the Ministers in every way —he even used the license allowed by Paley, telling lies to soften them in their severe measures. His Lordship would tell the Jury they must consider the whole writing, and not a part of it, and he felt convinced they could not; for a moment believe that be could ever have the intention of exciting those feelings which was attempted on the part of the prosecution to make them believe. In the same Register appeared the address of Lord Sydney, im ploring the labourers to join heart and band in suppressing the fires which were at the time destroying the property of Kent. This must be read with the libellous pat: and it was stated by the Attorney-General that his hegister was exteneiuely read by the labourers who clubbed together to purchase it. lie hoped to GOD it was so ; and it was fairly to be presumed that if they read the beginning they would read the latter part. He would appeal to the sense of the Jury, whether, if his intention bad been of the base and mischievous description attempted by the vile Whig Minis ters to be imputed to him, he shoold have implored the labourers by his own writings, and inserted those of others to the like effect, to desist from their mistaken course. But the Whigs wanted to crush him--it was his destruction they wanted. Paovitonics had given strength to the horse, sod the sting to the viper : bad the strength of the first been combined with the latter, the consequences must have been dreadful—we should not have been able to live. The Whigs, possessed the viper's sting without possessing the strength of men of honesty, or the usual intelligence and undastanding possessed by men in general, or the cor.sequences to t his co untr y must have ban dreadful ; but with the sting they were given a weakness, which would doom them s. to crawl on their bellies on the face of the earth all the days of their life." (Loud laughter.) The defendant proceeded to show, that on his return from America, thitty years ago, he had taken a great inteteat in the welfare of the labouring classes ; he had written several works to encourage them ,to acts of eco nomy and indtatry. Amongst the number was his Cot tage Economy and the Poor illan's Friend; and in the time of the riots in 1816 he bad written his letter to the Luddites akainst the breaking of machinery. This letter was viewed in so favourable a light, that he had been applied to so re. gently as last November, for leave to republish it, by no leas a person than the Lord Chancellor—by Lord Br ougham.— What would the jury think of the present Whig minister coming to Cobbett s seditious shop for something to quiet the labourers ?—(laughter.) He should prove this fact by Lord Brougham himself. And what would the jury further think when he should tell them that the present Attorney- General, his then prosecutor, was the president of the very Society by whom the republication was to be made, the " Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge." He ill. C.) consented to its republication, provided they pub all of lt, not a part because be never wrote to quiet the labourers without telling them their rights. Here then was the Lord Chancellor in November botrowing his book, in the next month prosecuting him fcr libel, and as a false, malicious, and seditious person, to be robbed or his property, and of his life too, if the Whip were to have the power tit causing it. So vilely bad he( Mt. Cobbett) been calusoniMed i : that he dare say the gentlemen of the jury expected to ass him "hoofed and horned ;" a pair of borne on his bead, sad' booth up to his knees—(a laugh.) He proceeded to draw She attention of the jury to his speech delivered at a dinnerof thi farmers at Salisbury in 1822, and also Nab of the " 711 M. , penny "la•ash," to show that his feelings were favourable le! the farmers, and that he upheld their interests. He UMW plalned of the severity of his sentence Gable former comic. Lion for libel. This was the second indictment of this nature which bad been preferred against him, and all emanating ftom Whigs. The first prosecution was by an Attorney-Gene ral who swan apostate Whig. He had lived 21 years under a Tory Administration, and under six Tory Attorney- , Generals, but had never been prosecuted, although, if the , present were conridered a libel, be had written plenty of a similar description ; but there woe no set of men more aping or more tyrannical in their conduct. The country been ruled with rods by the Tales, but the Whip scourged them with scorpions. What was his offence on his former conviction, but holding up to execration military tor ture, in condemning the flogging of local militiamen under a guard of German bayonets. What were the feelings of the country now ? Every paper was expressing its indignation at this species of torture. After some further observations, the defendant concluded by declaring, that whatever might be the verdict of the Jury. if he were doomed to spend his last breath in a dungeon, he would pray GOD to bless his country—he would curse the whip, and leave his revenge to 1 his children and the labourers of Lngland.—[ Mr. Cobbett sat down amidst loud demonstrations of applause by numerous persons in a crowded Court, which the officers with dial. cushy suppressed.]—Mr. Cobbett then proceeded to call his witnesses. The first was Henry Hay, printer of the letter to the Luddites, was then called, but did not answer. Mr. Cobbett—l will thank your Lordship to let Henry Brougham be called (a laugh). Lord Brougham then entered the Court from the Judges' private room, and was sworn by the officer of the Court. Mr. Cobbett—Does your Lordship recollect ever applying to me for a copy of my letter addressed to the Luddites, against the breaking of machinery ? Lord Bronghatn—l recollect making some application, I believe, through the secretary to &society to which I belong, for a copy of a paper, written by you some years ago, the date of which we could not recollect ; and also applying for permission to make use of it by republication. I have no recollection of the mode of application; it is possible I applied, through the medium of your son; but I have but an imperfect recollection, and it Is only within the last few minutes that it has been brought to my mind that it was a Noble Lord. closely connected with Wiltshire, that first drew my attention to the letter In question. I think I had some intercourse with your son, respecting his admission to Lincoln's Inn. Here a letter was handed to his Lordship, who admitted it to be in his hand-writing. It was put in and read : " Dear Sir—Though I could not attend myself at the Bench when you were called, being engaged at the House of Lords, I took care all should be done correctly. I want you to ask your tither about the date of a letter he has written against the breaking of machinery, as a Society with which I am connected are working on the same grounds, and he might, perhaps, on proper terms, give us the benefit of his labour." Examination of Lord Brougham resumed.—This note was written some time about Christmas last. The Society to which he alluded was the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The Society's publications were principally designed for the working classes; but that publication to which his letter bad reference was more particularly directed to the labouring classes, to counteract the bad feeling ex isting among them, from their erroneous ideas respecting the use of machinery. Sir Thomas Denman, the present Attor ney General, was President of the S ociety. He (Lord Brougham) had, however, no communication with him on the subject of this application, and probably this was the first time he (the Attorney-General) had ever heard of it. Recollected that the work was obtained on condition that the whole, and not a part, should be republished. Cross-examined by the AT T MINE Y-G PE ItA L— r.Cob betes letter was rejected, not on account of any thing impro per, bad, or criminal in it, but because it contained observa tions on individuals. Some parts of it were considered useful observations, and likely to allay the existing tumults and outrages. One ground for applying for it was the effect Mr. Cobbett's name had amongst the agricultural labourers. His Lordship then retired. Lord Melbourne was the next witness called and sworn. Mr. Cobbctt—Does your Lordship recollect a man named .. Goodman, who was sentenced to suffer death ? W itness--Yes. Mr. Cobbett—Upon what grounds did he receive his Ma. jesty's pardon ? The ATTORNEY objected to so Irregular an inquiry. The LORD Calif JUSTICE decided that such a question could not be put. Mr. Cobbett said, as that was his Lordship's opinion, he had no further questions to put to the witness . Lord Radnor sworn, and examined by the defendant— Had known him upwards of 30 years, and during that pe riod had been a constant reader of his writings. Vrom what he (witnes►) had seen of him, and read of his works, he did not think he was a person likely to excite the working classes to outrages against their masters, or any one else, but quite the reverse. (Here there was a strong expression of approbation by the numerous friends of the defendant in Court.) The Loan Cater JUSTICK said that, unless proper de corum was observed, he should be under the necessity of ordering the Court to be cleared, for such interruptions were not to be allowed to interfere with the due administration of justice. Lord Radnor now proceeded to add to his evidence, that it was upon his recommendation Lord Brougham made ap plication to Mr. Cobbett to republish the letter alluded to. Some weeks after the publication of the alleged libel I waited on Lord Brougham, pointed it out to his Lordship, and re marked, that perhaps Mr. Cobbett would not be unwilling to republish his letter to the Luddites, which would neutralise its erect; and he believed Lord Brougham acted on his (witness's) suggestion. Mr. Cobbett here observed to the Court that his object in subpeenaing the Noble Leeds then on the bench being to ex amine them as the cause of Goodman being pardoned, and the Court having decided that the enquiry he proposed could not be made, he could have no necessity for longer detaining them. Earl Grey, Lord Palmerston, Lord Melbourne, Lord Goderich, Lord Durham, and Lord Brougham, then left the Court. The Marquis of Blandford and the Earl of Radnor remained. Mr. Cobbett observed that the evidence he was about to adduce would tend to prove that so far from his intention being such as to lead to the excitement of labourers, he went into the counties of Rent and Sussex purposely for putting a stop to the tim, and he wished to know if such evidence would be received. The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE said that it might be so received in the form of general evidence. Mr. John Penn, of Lewisham, examined by the defend ant.--He had known him and his writings full twenty years. Had attended his lecture at Lewisham, in October last, and also at Deptford From his knowledge of him, and of his writings, he did not think he was a person likely to excite the working classes against their em ployers. Major Waite, a land-owner and proprietor of three or four farms near Maidstone.—Had been a reader of the Register since its first publication. Had been present at the lectures. He decidedly concurred in opinion with other witnesses that the defendant was not a person likely to ex cite feelings of labourers to outrage. He thought his lite. wary labours were likely to produce a contrary tendency. Mr. Francis Cousins, of Tonbtidge, Kent, miller, had known defendant since 1817, and concurred in opinion with the preceding witnesses. Sir Thomas Beevor, of Norfolk, had been a reader of the Register 13 or 14 years, and had known defendant intimately for the last live years, and gave a similar opinion with the other witnesses. Mr. JAMES Outsell had been a reader of the Register seven or eight years, and gave similar testimony. Mr. them Palmer, of Rom, Herefordshire ' farmer, had been a reader of the Register 30 years. and had known the defendant intimately for 10 years ; and Mr. Blount, of Netley Abbey, who had been a reader of the Register since 1802, gave evidence concurring in theopi. nion expressed by the other witnesses as to the tendency of the defendant's writings. Here the examination of the witnesses closed, and the printed speech of Mr. Cobbett (delivered at Salisbury) was offered to be put in evidence, but was objected to by the Attorney.GeneraL After some discussion, in which Mr. Cobbett referred to the trial of Home Tooke, and the opinions delivered by the late Lord Ellenborough, in the ease of Perry and Lambert, as bearing on the question. The Court allowed the report of the speech to be put in and read. No. 6, of Coo6sU a Twopenny Trash for Novem ber, 1830. was also put in, and partly read; and also Lord Sydney's Address, copied in the Register of December last. The defendant base intimated that he had dosed his de. fence. The ATTORNIre•GINBIAL replied at some length. The Len Quer Jusrics s saving summed up the evi. dence very minutely, directed the Jury dispassionately, &T,,: free from prejudice au either side, to deliberate on th, ir verdict. The Jury retired at ten minutes past six o'clock ; and after about two hours' deliberation, sent a mes sage to the Judge, to say that they could not ay, , e in their verdict. His Lordship sent back word "that they MUST agree;" and the Jury w ere again confined to their chamber. At eight o'clock this morning, however, the Jury were discharged, without coming to any agreement; and thus the charge against Mr. COBBETT falls to the ground. , t 4 , 14 , 1 ‘i , 4 r 4 ... M .. i: . 4 it " ' , , A i;. ,i 1 , • s • i . 1 , i f 4 , 1 i 1 . 2 1 1 i j i l 1 . ! I .: , i l , 1 ' l 1 ) 1 , , 0 MEETING OF MIDDLESEX 31 A GISTR A TES. A meeting of the Magistrates of the County took plac, yesterday at the Sessions House, Clerkenwell. F. Cover Esq. in the Chair. NON.PAYMEXT Olr COUNTY RavEs.—.Aftes som e em , cessation it was resolved that one month should be allowed to elapse before the unpaid rates should be enforced in they, parishes which were in arrears. The printing a correct list of the Magistrates ws agreed to. Ma. Worms's claim of Mr. Wontner, the Keeper of Newgate, which he objected to. The amount of the bill was 2,0001. The Committee were of opinion that the bum of 1,5001. would have been sufficient. One item of the bill was 251. for the removal of 25 convicts to Chadian , . Another item was 341. for the removal of 34 convicts to Sheerness, which might have been done by water for two shillings each. After some observations from Mr. Sergeant PELL, the Chairman said the claim of Mr. Wormer had been referred to the Committee of the Expenditure of the County the last Court Day. STATE OF THZ House Or COIRECTION,-.The Re. port on this prison stated that it was in a healthy state. The number of convicts at present in it was 632 matey and 224 females. New Palms, CLERKENWELL.—The number of boners in this gaol is —males, 362 ; females, 262 ; the whole of whom are healthy. COUNTY LUNATIC ASYLUm.—In this place there were 97 females and 77 males confined. The Committee ap. proved of the management of them. Mr. H aLLB was unanimously appointed on the Lunatic Asylum Committee, after which the meeting broke up. POLICE REPORTS. MAILBOROVOH-STRElr.—George Alaimo was yester. day charged with violently assaulting a Miss Letitia Ma. lilda Maria Walker, an affected cook, ct fair, fat, and forty," all through the love of Alias Etni/st Ellen Clubshate, a young lady possessing no claims to beauty. Miss Ellen, it appeared, had long been the " chosen ar. bitress" of George's fate, and, on her leaving a situation, George, her inamorato, very kindly undertook to pack up sundry articles of linen, including caps, and all their append. ages. in order to ingratiate himself further into the good graces of his " fair one." On the ensuing evening he was standing at Mrs. Griffith's, a very good sort of woman, who encouraged the interviews of all her female and male friends, and who had been known to give " many a one away," and just as he was deliberating wherehe should escort his intend. ed to, the complainant came up. It so happened that she had a lace collar on, and as he had undergone " a course of lectures on man millinery," he immediately discorend that the collar, which in course of time, by matrimonial influence, would become his, belonged to his lovely Ellen. The latter was forthwith acquainted with this, and Ellen and the coo. plainant exhausted their store of epithets on each other; and the defendant, finding that his wife elect was getting the worst of it, immediately ejected the complainant, bruising her knee considerably. There were two witnesses for the complainant ; and Ellen, the cause of the dispute, gave contradictory evidence for the defendant. liu Walker wanted s sovereign by way of a plainer; and George "had lots of love, but he had got not money ;" and he was fined Ns. to the King, and cominited for 15 days in default. A lad, who had been once before in custody, was charged with attempting to pick the pocket of Lord Westmeath. A constable saw him in the act, and the Magistrate con victed him for three months. SCINTILLA?. Quzcx WOAK.— In the window of a shop keeper in Leather-lane ' is the following announcement " Cholera cured in three hours !" SCARCITY OF CROWNS.— It has been observed of late that crown pieces are gradually becoming exceedingly scarce, which has given rife to a strange paradox—though " not mote strange than true"—that at the present time, a/. though there are more sovereigns than crowns, diem are still roue erotens to a sonereips ORDER Or PRECEDENCE.—A chancellor of One Of our universitief....l know not exactly which—being called upon once to decide which should go first, of Doctors in Law or Physic, asked which preceded at an execution, the thief or the hangman ; and being told that usually the thiet went first, and the executioner second; then, said he, let the Doctors of Law have precedence, and th e Doctors in Medicine go next. I have heard of a dispute between divi. nity and law, curiously managed and settled by a reference to scripture. (I hope I shall not be considered profane in citing such facts and writings.) The dispute was stated to be between a bishop and a judge; and, after some alterca tion, the latter thought he should quite confound his oppo. vent, by quoting the following passage:—" For on throe two hang all the law and the prophets." Do you not see," says the lawyer in triumph, " that even In this passage of scripture we are mentioned first ?" " I grant you; sap the bishop, " you mum first."—Nores to Waverly. HIGHLAND WIT.—Who is there that has tra velled the West Highlands and does not know Rory Nor. the rattling, roaring, ready-witted, warmhearted, big.listed Highlandman, that keeps what her nainsall calls the " Tra velling Emporium ?" Surely none. And who that has ever experienced the comforts to be found under his roof-tree, but feels an ' ardent longing after' a repetition of the enjoy ment? Surely few ; and those who have had the pleasure of cracking a bottle with him, and seen him in his glee. for • muckle glee and fun has he,' will easily believe the follow ing little anecdote :—A cockney. one of the most trouble. some and supercilious of the genus, who, during a tesidence of three days had been the pest and torment of waiters. ceambermaid, hoots, and in fact the whole tail of the inn, having at last made up his mind to depart, he marched up to Rory with his hat set obliquely on his highly.friuled poll, a cigar in his mouth, and his hands doubled upon his haunch bones. I say, landlord, I vents a 'os.' • That's what I can't give,' says Rosy, all the horses are out, and I could not get one for you were it to save your life." Oh! —me, landlotd, that answer von't do for me, I'm goingott and what the -- ant Ito ride on, pray ?' • Just,' replies Rory, cocking his eye sky-ward. ride upon your own pudence, it will carry you farther than any horse in Ar pykshire-'—Scols Times. STATE OF FEMALE SOCIETY Iti PERSIA..-• According to the doctrine inculcated by Mahomet, the wo men in Persia are not only excluded from all society, but ge about so little, that a traveller might pass through the whole country and not see a female face ; as the Persians are, per haps, even more jealous than the Tusks. The Armenian and other Christian women living amongst them, are obliged to conform to Itlahonntan law in this respect, and cow their faces, and wrap up their figures in a large sort of do. adooferadyee, in the same manner as the native women. i ll they would be insulted. So naturalized are the Chrit• thins to this custom, that it was the cause of a great dial" Ipeintment to us upon one occasion. An Italian doctor, who 'hod lately been married to an Armenian, was polite enough $ endeavour to induce his bride to uncover her face for our curiosity and amusement; but his best efforts to persuade her it would not be improper were in vain. The lady eve!. smoked a kaffaus (the Persian hookah) whilst we were m company with her, but kept It under her veil ; it was alv gether a most ludicrous scene. In vain we told her it vu unfair she should have the opportunity of seeing us through the hales of her dress, and that we could not be permitted the advantage of seeing her, even with her husband's con sent. She felt it would be extremely indecent to show her her, and we were obliged to satisfy ourselves with " the as surance of her husband, that she was not worth seeing," and the great probability, that she would accidentally have *tipped aside her veil if she had any hopes of exciting our admiration. The singular state of society among these ;roo f: will be illustrated, perhaps, by another trifling anecdote ; we were not a little amused during a sumptuous enter- tainment given us by a rich Persian,xear Hamudan, having. in the course of amversation, asked our host how many 0-31. dren be had, to perceive him turn round to his scrvant ft): the necessary information.—Aktock's Trawls. 'Nab Lownow : hinted sad ruousosa by .logN kIATN E. at the bras Orrics, Ns 1, Piclutttillace, Temple Bar.