The National Register. — London, England, 1820-08-13 00:00:00

: so WARM ICK ASSIZES, August 3. CONSPIRACY. 2M6 RING V. MAJOR CARTWRIGHT, WOMAN, EDMORpS, A:in tlfirßS. This ease, which has excited vi ry Bide interest in the county where the offence eats Colll4lllitCd, eawr on this morning before the 1.01 41 Chief Baron Richaids and a Special July. At about five minutes after nine o'clock the Judge took his seat, shortly after which Major Cart wright entered •the Court, accompanied by Mr. Fysli Palmer, William Williams, Esq.. M.P., Mr. Prier • Walker, and several other persons. The indictment charges, that the defendants, intending to raise and -excite discontent and disaffection in the ininde.of the liege subjects of the King, and did emispire ' to tense mid procure to be unlawfully nominated, clect ed, appointed a person to be the Rem esentetive et tis•inhabitants of Birmingham, and to claim adinissiou as suoh into the Coinnions House of Parliament as a Member • Iliereof. And in further p..ranance of such conspiracy the said . defendants did with a loud voice say, publish, and litter, is the presence and hearing of the peisona so 10$111111111t11, divers *editions, malicious, aid niflasensatory speeches' resolntions and writings. Setting out the speeches and resolutions made and read at the meeting, &c. ate. .Mr. Seerant Vaughan add . d the Jury and proceed ed to emit with to support the judgment. The case for the prosecution being closed, Mr. Denman addressed the Court and Jury, as Counsel for the defendants Edmonds and Maddocks. The evi dence against Maddocks, said •Mr. Denman, is, for so grave a charge, the emptiest he ever met wills; It is proved that lie went to Major Cartwright's lodgings ou . the Sunday morning; he. walked in through the street eloor, and In broad daylight; the master of the house seeing bins at the time. He is not even charged with having gone there on Monday at all; it is not even hinted at; lie is seen at the moment in New Inn Hall, taking a part in the proceedings, and thus ends the evidence of this monstrous conspiracy as affects Mr. Maddock*. Well, now, what is said of Edmunds?—There is the evidence of Johnson, Dickenson, and Pemberton ; Johnson relates a very long speeclewhich he said was made by Edmunds at the meeting. He certainly goes into very great detail; • bat whea he is questioned whether the words he swears to were those actually used by Edmonds, he tells you they . are the secure of what he said. Nuw, gentlemen, recol lect the manner in which this person gave his evidence; lie teils.yun that he did not maee Isis notes until ten days after the fleeting, and nut emit he had seen Mr. Ed mouds's publication ; and the account he gives happens to agree precisely in every syllable, every word, with the publication itself. There was nothing like violence or turbulence about the meeting, ■ll was quiet mid orderly; the individual elected was merely deputed to wait u; the Speaker of the lisur.e of Commons, and he thought it . hardly worth while to pursue the defendants fur so trifling an offence, if indeed it. he any; but there appeared among some of the law officers a taste fur these prosecutions, which he hoped welted soon be gratified. Mr. Hill then commenced a long and argumentative speech iu deleuet of Major Cartwright. by going into a general review of the particular points of the case, in . doing which he read to the Ji.ry extracts from smarms Miters, which clearly demonstrated, as he conieuiled, the 'emeriti existence of meetings of the nature of which his client had been indicted for engaging in. Mr. Wcoler said. that as lie was likely to occupy the Court fur thaws cor four hours, lie begged his Lordship wouldadjouris, which was accordingly dune at half past tees SECOND DAY, Fa ins V, Accost 4. Tim Court met this morning por•naot to adjournment, •at ten o'clock. The defendants did not, however, arrive .uutil half-past; but Major Cartwright was not with them, .nor were any of the gentlemen who yesterday accompanied him. The blajor,lioweser, soon entered. Tree Jury being called over, Mr. Wouler ruse and said. it might seem rather singular • fur him to assert that the real teams es of the case were not before the Court. The teal question to try was that of principle, and not individuals. The origin of this pro secution was to be traced to a period lung antecedent to the:time when it took place. The principles of Reform have been advocated ter several years, and to pm those priuciples down by force which they could not conquer by reason, has been the indurti ions endeavour of Govern ment for some time past. He commented on the general character of meetings of Reform which had been allowed to be held. If the proper authorities did not interfere with the existence of such meetings, they were privy to their crinduality, if indeed it were so, and ought not to entrap, as it were, individuals into the cominiselots of acts, of whicli they afterwards tock advantage. He challenged the Learned Gentleman opposite to produce any statute that by the must nice construction or interprelation could induce the great body of Englishmen to imagine that these .meetings were illegal. He contended that tie lied a right to maintain the free exercise of any political opinion lie might think proper to adopt, and without being obliged to answer to any one his season for entertainiug such an opinion. With these few remarks he should ',leered to the consideration of the particular case before hint first volley that he or any one else had received of the illegality of such meetings as those complained of, was the proclamation of the King, published shunt twelve months ages He then went into the history of the case, which he detailed with considerable ability, and commented in .strong terms on the unbecoming and unfair manner in which the case had, from its commencement, been so no blushingly p d in by the prosectilors. Major Cartwright addressed a few words to the Court, expressive of the desire that, as Mr. Hill had not bees pesinitted, in addition to his own speech to read the writ ten defence the Major had prepared, he might be per mitted to put in some letters and testimonials of the Duke of Richmond, &ie. when Baum Richards nut only coin plied with the request, but gave I diate perniis.iois to Mr. Pearson to read the whole defence. The Major, however, obviously appears to have been much mute actuated with the desire of vindicating his principles than of warding sr the punisluneat with which be was the mace& The speech of Mr. Lewis, who followed, was still less propitious.—and we would advise those who may !wrestle tall under persecution, to remember that the advantager of self-defense belong only to the discreet the able and THE NATIONAL REGISTER. - - the well informed. Vehement entb es.asin (to give the rest of Mr,. Lewis its boltest nans r) can be but of littl avail. Mr. Serjeant Vaughan replied. Berme - Richards having summed up, the Jury relred for about twenty iniunt( s, and then returned a verdict of Guilty against all the defendants. liefo. e the veritiet wiPi delivered, three bills of excel). lion were tendered to the Judge; the points on which they were founded were-Ist, the manner in which the special Jury had been sit Inds 2d, the failure of sum moning one of the 24 Special Jurors at a proper time : 3d, the not allowing the 24( Special Jurymen who attend ed to answer the question pin to them by Mr. Wo der, at the commene( meat of the trial, as to whether they had or had not expretted any opinion regarding the events which had oecabionrd it. They will be argued in the House of Lords in its judicial capacity. Mr. Vaughan (lid not press the committal of the parties ; and thus, for the present, at kind, reinaiii.i this important cause; and the prisoners are at large her their former recogni zance., with a verdict of Guilty pronounced against them. SURREY. GuiLnranD, JULY 8. William Woodyard was indicted for feloniously killing and slaying George Wilson Stevens. at Clapham, on the Plitt of .llnne• Mr. Adolphus conducted the prosecution. and called witnesses, from whose evidence it appeared that the pri soner was the this , e r of a baggage waggon of the Roy al Artillery, on its way from Essex to Richmond, on the tap of winch were riding the deceased, an infant of tender years, and his mother. The prisoner's waggon, being the last in the line of the train to which it was attached, lied lagged behind,and lie being anxious to /esteem his station, whipped his looses furiously, in consequence of which the vehicle was driven with violence against a lamp-post at Clapham ' and the deceased was thrown from the wag gon upon the grounil, and his brains were dashed out. Tile unhappy mother was oleo so II injured by the tall as to be unable to give her attendance. , The prisoner, in his defence, put in a written paper, which expressed his sorrow for the unhappy cittastroplie, which, as the father of children himself, be lamented with unaffected regret. The Jury, tinder the Learned Judge's direction, found the prisoner Guilty.—He was sentenced to six inorithai' imprisonment in the County John Simpson was indicted on the Coroner's Inquisition, for felonimisly killing and slaying Jane Alorgan, on the 15th of April last, in the parish of St. Thomas, in the Bo rough of Southwark. The prisoner was the driver of a Chatham stage coach, and about eight o'clock in she evening of the day men • turned in the indictment, it being dark. be was driving at the rate of eight miles an hour, through the Borough, when the deceased, a woman tar gone in pregnancy, was crossing the r oad, and belore she was await. of her danger, she was knocked down by the leader, when the ss heels of the carriage went over her body, broke her ribs, sty mied her abdomen, and produced premature parturition. She was taken sip in a lifeless state, and caroled to St. Thomas's Hospital, where she died the next day, her in fent surviving her two days. The 'slimmer, when spoken to open his misconduct, behaved with great itisolence,asid in the most unfeeling manner. 'Fite Jury ininrediately tumid him Guilty, and the Chief Justice, knurling to the but too frequent careleesnesis of persons in his situation in life, expressed a hope that this melancholy catastrophe a mild be a arising to other s against a brutal indifference to the safety of their fellow-creatures, and, taking into consideration the circumstance that lie Iced bcon already confined for sixteen weeks, sentenced him to be further imprisoned iu the County Jail for tour calendar months. Edward Hensell, a young man of superior manners and appearance, was put to the bar, charged with stealing 54 quarters of barley, the property of Mr. Christopher Duncan, late an eminent corn factor and proprietor of Scott's Wharf, Bermondsey. This case, from its very peculiar circumstances, excited an lIIICOIIIIIIOII degree of interest, and the Court was excessively crowded. A great her of Gentlemen from the CUM Market, Lon. don, were in attendance. _ _ Messrs Holland and Tarim" appeared for the prosecu tion. and Mr. Continua Sergeant 411 d Messrs. Andrews and Adolphus conducted the prisoner's defence. It appeared by the evidence for the prosecution, that the prisoner was in the employment of Mr. Duncan tit tile time lathe alleged offence. and had previously served an appren ticeship les that gentleman. It was the custom at Scott's Wharf to receive corn into the granaries fur other person', who afterwards fetched it away ; and it seemed that cola, when it remained any time in bulk, would swell considerably, and on being measured out to the person to te hum it be longed, three often was an overp'us, w bids in the languaAe of the trade, was called crutchells, or cowbells, and was wrifornily considered as the perquisite of the owner of the granary or his servitors. ill October, 16141, about SOO quartets of barley w ere lodged in the granary of Mr. Dan call, fur u Mr. Liostoo, and is hen some time afterwards the barley was measured out to the latter, there remained an overplus of about live quartets and a half. The prisoner observed at lite time to the man whose duty it was to melt suie it, that it bad measured very well, and he would tend a cart to the wharf for the crutcbell. lie did ►u, and the five quarters-and-a-half were fetched away. by his cadet: to a place in Lambeth. It as usual on such occasions to sand " delivery note" to the warehouseman, but this was not done in this instance. The prisoner about the same time sold five-quarters-and-a-huff of bailey to a merchant at the Corn-market, on his own account. When the cit cumstance came to the know ledge of Mr. Duncan some time afterwards, he caused the prisoner to be takeu to Union Halt Polite Other, where the cause underwent a long investigation, and was detailed at great lengih in the newspapers at the time. The result was, that the prisoner was liberated upon proper security being given fur his appearance whenever be should be called upon ; and bills of indictment having been pre leered against him at these Assizes, he now surieudered to take his trial. Mr. Duncan, hi his examinations in chief, (deposed, that the prisoner hod no nutiiiirity from him to dispose of the cure, that he sold it entirely without his knowledge, and that he never arcaaoted to him (Mr. D.) fur the money fur which it was sold. In his cross-examination he said he was now a hanks ups. At the time he made the charge at Union Hall he owed the prisoner 5001. but the debt wits since liquidated. The prisoner put its a written defence, in which he totally disclaimed aay dishonest intention towards Mr. Duncan, and imputed malicious motives to the latter in this prosecutiiii: He further averred, that it was the einnom for a person, named Ball, who was foreman to Mr. Duncan, to make an entry, in a book kept for the purpose, of any grain that was fetched away from the warehunse in the manner described, and at the time he had no doubt that this was done, add that he was rendered accountable fur the amount to l►lr, Duncan Mr. Ball produced the entry• b nok, hut it did not appear that the grain in question was ever entered by him, He, proved that the custom was us the prisoner described. Mr. Hensel', father to the prisoner, was called, and was strongly agitated on entering he witness box. He deposed, that Mr. Duncan was related to bim by marriage, and that he (witness) had advanced hint money. Mr.. Duncan was nt his house fur six months in Mg, and witness often „heart! him Speak of " those crotchet's," and wondered Ned, meaning the prisoner, did mit get rid of them. Heard Mr. D. say that Ned was very clever at buying and selling,•und that he could get rid of the crotchet's. He had more than i once heard his amt and Mr.D. laughing about the croichells, and debating jocularly !tether or nut the money that they would sell for should be given to Mrs. Duncan to buy bonn e ts or ribbons, Of *bat else should be done with it. Never heard Mr. Duncan make • any complai n t of his son's conduct until* after witness sent an exc. cutimt into his house for the money that he owed him. His son had left Mr. Duncan previous to the execution being sent in. Ales•dv. Hunt, Cowell, White, and several other gentlemrn, gave the prisoner the , hest character for liitegrit%, mid des cribed him as having uniformly borne the reputation of an Honest young man io all his transactions. The Chief J ustice summed up the evidence with' reat nil. Haleness and importialry, and (lie Jury. cnusulting fir reboot a minute, Muffled a verdict or Not Guilty. The prisoner bowed respectfully to the Court and Jury, and retired apparently much affected, accompanied by his numerous frier is. Sentence of death wns pas4ed upon the several capital eutivicis found guilty during the Assize. HIGFI TREASON. The Special Commission was opened at Paisley on Tuesday morning, at ten o'clock. James Speirs was brought to the bar, accused of heading a mob, on the 3d of April last, which stopped the cotton-works at Johnstone and neighbourhood. The Court, at twelve at night, adjourned till the next morn. ing, the evidence for the Crown having been closed.— The Court met again on Wednesday morning, and, at four o'clock on Thursday morning the Jury were en closed; about half past five they returned a verdict. finding the prisoner Gaily of the 15th overt act of the first count , and, on account of his former gond characv ter, hoped the Court would recommend him to the clemency of the Crown ; but this not being considered the regular mode of returning the findings by the Jury. they wen: advised to retire again and return a special verdict, finding hint guilty on the first count; and hay. tug been absent about five minutes, they again returned into Court, finding, hint Guilty of that part of the first count laid in the iudictment, viz.—compelling his Ma. jesiy's subjects to strike work, &c. The Lord Justice Clerk, a little unacquainted wi.h this singular verdict, observed, that one of his learned brethren being absent, who was more versant in these matters, he begged the Jury to be seated, till the Lord Chiel 8.11/11 should be sent fur, he having retired at two o'clock, through fatigue. The Lord Chief Baron arrived in about Is minutes, and explained the pint of law to the Jury, but they continued to adhere to their former return ; on which his Lordship said, that guiding the pristmer guilty of a particular overt act, was no finding at all, but that they must find him guilty or not guilty of a count of the indictment, as the fifteenth overt act of the first count was connected with two of the other counts which form the indictment. The Jury again retired, at a quarter past six, and returned again at 25 minutes past seven, when Sir Mi chael Shaw Stewart, the foreman, read the verdict of the Jury front a manuscript copy, finding that the prisoner did strike work, and compel other* to do the same on the 3d of April. The Court found this as insufficient as the former verdicts. The Lord Chief Baron again explained the law, as to the overt act being linked m more counts than one. and the Clerk was ordered to read the several overt acts to the Jury. Sir Michael 3:1111, he understood the point, but the Jury were not agreed in that way. They then retired again, after being informed, that they could nut be separated till they were unanimous. They returned a t ,ain and gave a verdict of Not Guilty, when the audience. rra general, commenced cheerieg. The Lord Chief Baron imn►erliately got his eye on a young man who was clapping . his hands and he was tastaatly wd..red to be taken into custody, and brotOit ucmic tue Court, and he was, alter an aniul" , d brceh by tile) , ord chief Bilfoll, Killetteed to be c tttttttt tiled to gaol: The bowing commenced by Ott crowd out of doors the moment the cheering commenced in the Chiateiis and the Sheriff was ordered to go out and take IlleAllS to preserve the peace. The Lord ChielJustice then, in au impressive speech, dismissed the prisoner from the bar. Mr. Grant came to Speirs, and taking him by the hand, said, lie hoped he.wouttl take care what company he kept in future, and not get into a like scrape again. John Lang was then put to the bar, and the Jury having been sworn in, The Lord Advocate said, he would call no evidence, and the Jury found him hot Guilty. After a suitable admonition limn the Lord Justice Clerk, he was dismissed from the bar. This finished the business its Renfrewshire, and the Court then adjourned till the Ist December. An immense crowd surrounded Mr. Grant and Mr. Sandford (the two Counsel for the prisoners) on their leaving the Court, and accompanied them to their to<lg• ings, after which they returned in a peaceful manner towards the Cross.