The National Register. — London, England, 1815-10-08 00:00:00

652 Constable (the Chairman's name), has alone been unmentioned in the warrant, nor k lie summoned to attend the return to morrow. " Dyer, Mr. Ellis, in condo:ion, said, he would not make any comment noon this letter, it was impo,sible to add to it , strengli—it was con fi of all he had ventured to offer to their Worships. 111.. Williams said he should not follow the example of Mr. Good enough in entering into a personal contention. If he were so in lined. he esooLl, without difficulty, prove that a part of Mr. Good hotter was not consistent with truth; and Wise proved that, apprehended he should be justified in pronouncing the whole equally undeserving of credit. He was not disposed at that pis iod, however. to enter into the subject; at present he should confine himself to calling upon Wilson to produce Isis sureties. Mr. Kiunaird now stepped forward. •He said, when first he came into that room ? , he had no intention to offeione word upon the pro ceedines of the Renck, relative to the melancholy transaction which formed-the subject of their deliberation, and which had excited inch senssfiona in the public mind. He came there merely for his own infoinustion, and with a view of ascertaining whether the idea which lee had formed of the duty of a Magistrate hitherto, was incorrect or not. The course w hi c h the worthy Chairman seemed determined to pursue. however, induced him reluctantly to step Forward in his character of a blasistrate for that comity, to request he.would fur nish hint with the groin:ids, in point of law, upon which be was pro ceeding? It was stated that a breach of the peace had been COM i!nitted—he apprehended if such had !wool the ease, there was good and substantial evidence to prove it, Where was that evidence? p 941 without it, could it he intended to hold the prisoner to bail? At hest the offence imputed to the prisoner was but au indictable coiffure. and if so, that was nolthe place to try it. Mr. Williams said, he was nut acting from him‘cli alone, No merely aeted in use name of others, as the Senior Mat!ktrate. and lw believed his determination was in conformity with that of his brother Magistrates. Mr. Smith and Mr Mason assented. • . Mr. Kinnaird had no desire to offer Mince to one or any of the Mil & t rates present, hut he would wi•li some one of them to point out the Statute to which the prisoner, in the conduct he pursued, was amena ble? Was it an niTence at common law, or, in fact, what was the character of the oance? Mr. Williams—" Are we to entitider you as asking these ques tions 211_a illa2ixtrate ur ac an individual?" Mr. Kimiaird—As a Magistrate, most certainly, fur it has ex cited the stapi ise both of niysell and fifa brother Maeistrate, who is bete with me, that such a proceeding at that which has taken place should meet the sanction of this flinch." Mr. Harriet being thus alluded to, stepped forward, and said he eenre , sed the motives by which he had been to attend there that day arose in a great trrasure from curiosity ; and he-would not have yenttirel to say a word in a point of - such delicacy, if he had not bet 0 called forward by pia colleague; nor would he even then give an opinion on the very novel preceedina which bad taken place, mile-s called upon so to d o by th ose whotu ?' he conceived to be the presiding Magistrates. He had an opinion certainly, and if called upon to state it, he wou!d speak with candour. Mr. Kinnaird—" This basiness has excited and demands the at tention of the Magistraey of the kingalam at large." Mr. Harriet wished to add, that le certainly was desirous of infor mation, and saon.t. ! ~.e glad to learn any thing from the Magistrates there assembled la inch might throw a tight imon his public duty. in his situation at Magi•trate of the Thames Police, he bad often heard of rowing matches and regattas upon the river Thames ; sonic for wagers, some for remuneration in money, which collecteel upon the river and on its beaks very considerable crowds. He had not hitherto interfered in these, what he em-tired to be, Jandable ex ercises—but he might have been wrong in not so doing, and with the view of enlightening his mind, he had conic to Greenwich. Mr. Smith said, he was but a young Magistrate, and would not he vain enough to put his judgment in competition with that of those who had been hewer in the eammission—hut. on the contrary, hould feel grateful for any information which he might receive through their superior extort ienee.—There were motes, however, of conveying that info! 'nation, different from that chosen by the two Gentlemen oho had that day hoaoured them with their attend ance; and as those modes had not been resorted to, he could not but think those Gentlemen hod been actuated by sonic other motives, not so candid or so well intended as they professed. He was still happy, however, to hear their sentiments. With reference to the subject before them, be begged to state, that he had no personal kanwledge whatever of Wilson, and in the steps he had taken was only desirous of putting a stop to that %Oath be conceived to he THE NATIONAL REGISTER. OCT. 8. a very great nuisance.—The scenes which were exhibited on Black. heath were very different from a boat race on the River Thames; and those who witnessed, as he did. the vices which were there ex. hibited, he was cure would agree with him in deprecating their con tinuance.—As it was probable his conduct, as well as that of his bro ther Magistrates, might become a subject of examination elsewhere hereafter, he by no means meant to shrink from the avowal of that which he had done—and he then, in the face of the respectable per. PIOUS by whom he was surrounded, desired to state, that what he had done was from his own judgment, unbiassed by the opinions °halters, and with the best intentions. Mr. Williams said lie should have expected from the characters of the two gentlemen by whom they were addressed, that if in friend ' ship, as brother Magistrates, they had any advice to offer, 11.0 they would have conveyed it in a more private and less mortifying manner than that which they had chosen. His motives for declining enter ing into the minutiaa of the business then, war founded upon the un derstanding which had gone forth, that his conduct world be made the subject of a fanfare inquiry in a Court of Justice. Ile had b ee n maligned in a variety of ways—his character had 'Jetta aspersed ; an d the greatest falsel n had been detailed of him in the public prints. Those perhaps would be bronght against him at a tiataire period, and he wished to reserve his justification till the pealed. arrived. lie was ;male if be and his brother Magistrates had acted erroneomly, that they could come to no harm ; they might have been guilty of an error in juidemeot, but they had acted from the best intentions, and kith the sole view of preserving the public perm As to the tales which were afloat respecting him, lie regarded them with the con tempt they waited. He despised the paltry threats, sonic even threatening his life, by which he was hourly assailed. Mr. Harriet begged to reply tow hat had fallen from the two G e o. tlemen who had last spoken, by appealing, to a most respectable Magistrate present, whom he had not the homier to know (Mr. Coo. stable) whether he had not declared, on entering the room, that he had come with closed lips, unless called upon to give his opinion, and he was still ready to give that opinion, it desired. Mr. Smith—" Yon might have given us your advice privately, and not in the public manner you have chosen." Mr. Kinnaird —" I only require that one, two, or more of you, Gentlemen, should point•out the grounds of the harsh proceeding yon are about to take." Mr. Williams—•• The grounds may he discussed by Magistrates in private, but ate not to be made the topic of debate thus publicly. Such a discussion, under the circumstances in which we stand, would be premature." Mr. Constable—" Mr Kinnaird has asked a plain question, and deserves a gentlemanlike answer." Mr. Kintutiral—" I again ask, is the offence imputed to the psis aoner an offence at Common Law, or against the statute, and what statute i" Mr. Williams—" I reinse to answer your questions." Mr. Smith—" I consider it extraordinary, after what has pa•se•l, that this business liunhl he pressed further. We have formed our determination, and will abide by it. Ido not see why Gentlemen, who so seldom appear at our Bench, should in this particular in stance render themselves so conspicuous." Mr. Kinnaird—" Mr. Harriet and I do more business for the county of Kent than one-half the Magistrates put together, and I see no indelicacy in our requiring information on this occasion." Mr. Smith—'' If such had been our determination, I should have felt no reluctance in giving you all the information yon require. As I before said. I acted in my own view of the case, and considering the scenes on Blackheath highly reprehensible, I agreed to sign the warrant." Mr. Bicknell, the Clerk, now said be held in hia hand two letters frdin Maoistrates w ho had not attended in pursuance of the summons sent. He wished to know if lie might read them ? If Magistrates do not choose to attend; I am at a trigs to know upon wl n ground their opinions are to be received." Mr. Constable—it Do you object to receiving the official letter of a Magistrate of this Bench?" Mr. %Vali:tins- 46 Do you know that it is an official letter?" Mr. Constable—" I do; I was the bearer of it." The fast letter was then read--jt was from Mr. Goodenough, and directed to the Bench. It was in substance similar to that sent by him to Mr. J. Dyer—declaring he had no connection with the war rant upon which Wilson was taken into custody, and which he de dared to be illegal and unconstitutional. Mr. Constable now begged to look at the warrant, and, after in• specting it, declared that there hail evidently been an alteration in it, subsequent to its being made out, and upon that ground alone, it was illegal. For his own part, be Lad protested against stopping 1