The Sun. — London, England, 1820-03-18 00:00:00

TRIAL OF AIR HUNT AND OTHERS. mmicii Ifi, THURSDAY NIGHT. Pursuant to •the atrangtment 11146 e yestenlay, the Get - Ph:men attending to report the proceed ings on the trial of Air. HUNT, and the other Defendants, charged vt , th a conspiracy, were ad mitted at a (patter before seven this morning - by the garden door, near the Fosse Bridge. Mr. STATELY Obligingly conducted them into Court, and aecornmothted them with the front seats in the Att - oineys' and Juries' waiting boxes. Short ly after several persons were admitted into the Gdlery, and a few individuals, principally Soli citors and Conductors of Proviocial Jtoirnals, found seats in the Juries' waiting box, and five or six Ladies took possession of a snptll box it the corner of the Court on the tight of the Bench.— At eight o'clock a more general admission of strangers took place, and the front seats in the two galleries were instantly occupied. A vast Dumber of persons insmediately followed, till not one inch of room in either Gallery was left unoc cupied. The box, which on Wednesday was re served for the Attornies, and which is called the Attornies' box; was on this occasion appropriated to the reception of the Magistrates, with the ex ception of the front seat, which was occupied, as above stated, by the London Reporters. In the rush, however, it was invaded by many who had no claim to sit there. These were forihwith in formed by the officers of the Court that they must retire. The mandate was reluctantly obeyed by Borne, but others obstinately retained their seats. Several of these were finally expelled by the order of the Magistrates on their arrival, The nnmber of witnesses put down for the pro secution exceeded eighty; tor the defence, one hundred and three. It was understood to be the expectation of those concerned in the case, that the evidence for the Crown might close by three o'clock, if the cross- eximin4tions did not extend to an unusual length. At all events ) it was intend ed that the prosecution should close in one day ; and it was conjectured that the whole proceed ings might be brought to a termination in the cout:•-e at Saturday. The Defendants' witnesses, in two bodies, ananuntine to one hundred and forty men, mirched . front Rochdale by the way of Eluddersfield and Hali'lrx. They joined at Leeds, where they slept. They cat ried two banners, inscribed " The TT 11' h, the whole Truth, and nothing Litt the Trinh."— They were well entertained on the road gratui tously by the Reformers. and supplied with 'Mo ney to maintain them in York, and billets are pro vided for them on their return. At a quarter before nine, Messrs. iIuNT, MOOR HOUSE, SAXTON, JONES, WILDE, and EIEALEY entered the Court, and took their seats at the table, They were afterwards joined by all the other Defendants included in the indictment, with the exception of KNIGHT, who is in confifiement at Lancaster. At nine o'clock the Judge (Mr. Justice BAILEY) took his seat on the Bench, and immediately the Cause of the " KING V. HENRY HUNT, JOSEPH JOHNSON, JOHN KNIGHT, JAMES MOORHOUsE, JOSEPH HEALEY, JOHN THACKER SAXTON, Ro. BERT JONES, SAMUEL BAMFORD, GEORGE SWIFT, and ROBERT WILDE" was called on. The names of the Special Jurors were then called over by the proper officer—ten only an swered ; a tales was then prayed, and the follow ing Gentlemen were sworn : Wm. Hall, Esq. Foreman. Thomas Robson, Esq. Wm. Clayton, Esq. of Layton Tim. Hutton, Esq. of Clifton Thomas Barker, Esq. George Atkinson, jun. Esq. Juo. Hutton,Esq.Marske-hall George Keswick, Esq. I Wtn. Selby, Es q . John Chadwick, Esq. MEN. TALES Septimius Brumley. l George Addy. In consequence of the extremely crowded state of the Court, the Judge found it necessary to di rect some of the defendants, who did not conduct their own cases, to retire from the table. This was accomplished with great diffietd-y, Mr. Hum .having declared that be and bis fellow defendants were ready to acquiesce in any arrangements that the Court might suggest. Mr. Hour informed the Court that, be was re tained fur John Thacker Saxton alone and Mr. BARRARD announced hiinself to he retained for the defence of Moorhouse and Jones. Mr. LITTLEDALR opened the pleadings by read ing the indictment. The crowded state of the Court having again created some difficulty, Mr. HUNT said, be had to suggest that which would make some room. He hart to request that all the witnesses for the Crown then in Court might be ordered to withdraw. - The witnesses on both sides were immediately ordered to leave the Court, and retire out of sight and out of hearing. They having with drawn, At the suggestion of Mr. HUNT, it was ordered by the Judge that all witnesses found in Court atter the notice now publicly given by the crier, should be precluded from offering evidence on either side. Messrs. HUNT and NARSON said they wished no exceptions to he made. It was inquired if there were any objections on the part of the Defendants to Mr. Manic, the So lici for the Treasury, being present. Mr. HUNT said, certainly not, and he appre hended, that on the other side there could he no objection to Mr. Pearson's remaining in Court. - The JUDGR remarked, that those professionally concerned in the proceedings might remain. Mr. SCAHLETT said, -it could hardly be hoped that any one of-the Jury was tit - holly unacquainted with some oft he principal features of that ease which it became his duty to bring under their cunsideratioo. VL riot's ruports of the circum stances bad been 'circulated all over the comyry, and it was not to be supposed that some of these bad not Callen into their hands. Though this might be a subject of regret, he had the most per- feet confidence that the Jury be had now to ad dress, as well as from a correct understanding' o 1 the important duty which they had to discharge io deciding between the Defendants and the Crown, throw all that they bad pieviously heard wholly out of their thoughts. He conjured them to dismiss from their minds all prejudices, favour able or onfavourable, that they might have con ceived, and as far as was in their power to forget any such previous conception, and treat the whole case according to its merits, whatever these might appear to he, from the evidence that would be brought before them. For himself he was glad that this question was at length to be tried before a special Jury of Yorkshiremen. He rejoiced in this circumstance, because the Jury before whom it was brought could hardly by possibility be in fluenced by any local or personal considerations that might elsewhere have interfered vvith the due administration of justice. Had the choice been lett to him, he knew not any set of men to whom k! would more cheerfully have referred the case than to a Jury of that County.. On the part of the country, therefore, he for one felt perfectly satisfied with the result of the decision which had been come to on this subject, and it afforded him sincere gratificasion to have the honour of ad dressing a body of men who could not in any way he led aside from their duty by local fears, pre judices, or connex i ons . They must all be aware that the charge preferred against the present De fendants grew out of a meeting which took place in the county of Lancaster, in the month of Au gust last. The Defendants were charged with holding and assisting at an illegal meeting—a meeting, the object of which was to inspire alarm and terror in the minds of their fellow-subjects. It was necessary for hint to detail certain circum stances which had preceded the meeting alluded to, and these would furnish in themselves matter of charge against the Defendants, and, at the some time, reflect light on other parts of their conduct. The Defendants were proved to have planned a number of public meetings : if it should be sheata that to eh age the law of the land by force had been in contemplation, either'in the be ginning or in the progress of these meetings, they would be responsible to their country. It was undoubtedly the right of the people of England, in any particular place, to hold public meetings for the purpose of taking into their consideration alleged grievances, and to ask for the redress of them. The right to hold such local meetings was among the most valued privileges of British sob jec.s. But those meetings were unknown to the Constitution—ooknown to the practice of former times, and unknown to the Law of England, which were called for the purpose of uniting for one common . object all parts of the cation, and which, under pretence of seeking for relief from alleged grievances, went to inspire terror and alarm. If the inhabitants of any county should consider that they were aggrieved by evils that were peculiar to their district, they, had a right to meet for the purpose of petitioning the Throne or one or both of the Houses of Perliamety, for their repeal. But it was not a part of the law and the Constitution of the land; it never had been, and he trusted that it never would be a part of them, that the inhabitants of any particular place should possess the right of calling on all the people of England to meet at one given time, and at one particular place, for discussing the grievances of which they might complain, and of coming to resolutions on the remedy which they, in their wisdom, might think ought to be adopted. .Such, be would repeat it, never had been the law, and such, he would contend, never could be the law, and he would tell. the Jury why it could not. No man could deny that th e physi cal power of a country te sted with the people, and those who, like some of the present defend ants, contended, that all right and all power came originally from the resolutions of the people ; they who, referring back to a very early period of our history, found in such resolutions the grounds of our Constitution—they, contending that the people had thence a right to meet en masse, proved that such meetings must be con trary to law. ;—they, it they Could suppose all the people in England assembled on some important occasion, on one great plain, to put forth their claims, must, in recognising such an assembly, admit as a consequence, that in such a case all Constitutional power, and all the functions of the State would return to the original mass. It fol lowed then that it so vast an assembly --_an as sembly possessed of such mighty' powers, were convened to adopt measures for the general good, that it would resume the functions of the consti tuted authorities, and the whole form of the Go vernment would be dissolved. Hence, then, it followed, that the people meeting of their own free will, or obedient to'ihe call of some aspiring de magogue, to unite for any general purpose, and not for the remedy of .any local or peculiar evil— it followed, he would maintain, that such a meet ing, absorbing all law, never could be a legal as sembly. If a case were supposed of which modern limes afforded no example, like that of Athens, where 30,000 citizens formed the State, and where it was their established rule to meet occasionally for the purpose of re-modelling their laws, then the powers of the Government being constantly with the people themselves, such a proceeding might not he at variance with the Constitution under which they lived. But even at Athens, though such extensive powers were exercised by the citizens, the greater part of the population was doomed to unrelenting slavery, and were al lowed no voice in the public debates. The cha racter of the meeting front which the present charge had sprung be would now invite, the Jury to investigate. The right of the people or Eng land to meet and discuss their peculiar grievances he had already admitted. This was a privilege which from ancient usage' they had a right to claim, and he trusted that no teed OM (his' urber— that no sanguine demagogue, and no public alarm ist would ever be able to shake. that right tor which our ancestors had fought and bled, and which be hoped we should know posy to preserve and to hand down to our posterity. The Jury would presently see how far these wholesome prin ciples of liberty had been acted upou by the de fendabts. Of the course which M r . 'Hunt had taken he need not say much, for tl►e notoriety he had gained left little doubt as to the very prou►i nent part which he had acted. The ethers were 1 more obscure, and he would therefore tell the Jury who they were. He then read over a de scription of the several callings of the defendants, and proceeded to show that they were all con nected in some sort of way in a general scheme for altering the Laws and Constittition of the Country. To commence with Mr. Hunt, it ap peared +hat he had, some time in the month of July, 1819, assisted at a Meeting held in Smith field, by whom assembled it was not now their business to enquire. At that Meeting certain Re solutions were passed, the object of which was to inculcate on the people of England, that the time was now come when some extraordinary and effi cient measures should be taken to remedy the evils which were then the subject. of complaint; when, in fact, something like a Provisional Government should be established, to annul those Laws which were passed with the concur rence of that body at present called the House of Commons. It appeared that Mr. Hunt and the party with him proposed Resolutions that came to that in substance. Among them there were two that went to assert that the people were not bound to obey the laws framed by Par liament as at present constituted. The enlight ened body assembled at Smithfield proceeded to declare that the people of England were not bound to pay the taxes imposed, nor obey the laws at present in force, until such a Parliament should `be procured as :net with the approbation of those by whom the Resolutions just mentioned had been framed: He alluded ao the proceeding in Smith field for no other purpose than to show the Jury the probable cause of Mr. Hunt's being invited to preside over the Meeting held at Manchester. On 1 the 9:11 of August a Meeting was called of the ' people at nanchester, for the purpose of taking into consideration certain public grievances—to discuss the best mode of obtaining a Parliamentary Reform, and to choose a Representative to be re turned by that Meeting to sit in the House of Commons, as their Legislatorial Attorney. This, he thought, must strike every one as a measure that did not fall any thing short of the highest misdemeanour. Acting thus, they at once re nounced all law, and set the authoriy of the King himself at nought, by which alone, in the early periods of our Constitution, all Parliaments were called together. 1, was known that in other times Parliaments were wholly regulated by the will of the Crown. It was only after the lapse of many ages, and favoured by a variety of happy acci dents, that England became possessed of that po pular deliberative assemhly now seen in the Elonse of Commons. On the 8!1, of August, it appeared then, that Mr. Hunt nestle his appearance in the neigirhor►rbood of Manchester. Ile was met at a place nine miles distant from that Town, and con- ducted by Johnsdn, another of the defendants, to Stockport. On the morning of the 9th, it would be found that they were together making progress towards Manchester, with, as he believed, Sir C. Wolseley in their company. He could prove from words used by Hunt himself, as well ss from bills that were posted about the town of Manchester, that the meeting called for the purposes before specified, had been prohibited by the Magistrates as illegal, and the people were forbidden to attend it. It appeared that Mr. Hunt was disappointed, and displeased at the conduct of the people CM that occasion. They had offended him in some measure by the disposition which they had mani fested to yield obedience to the orders of the Ma gistrates. He made a speech on that occasion, couched in very indecorous language, in which he spoke of the Magistrates, nine in number, as being nine taylors, at the same time reproaching the people with having yielded a too ready ac quiescence with their prohibition. He found them disposed to obey those who might be called their Governors (as there was no Corpo. ration or other public body regularly con stituted at Manchester), he found them ready to yield obedience to those entrusted with the ad ministration of the laws,and such conduct he repre hended as unbecoming and pusillanimous. He con sidered the time to have arrived when a different • course ought to be pursued, and he consequently gave notice that he would hold a meeting in Man chester, on the following Monday, Aug. 16, and in cites them to attend him on that day. This notice given, Hunt went to the residence of Johnson, near Manchester, a place called Smedley Cottage. There he remained some days, and while there, he I should be able to show that he was visited by Knight, and another of the defendants. In the mean time he (Hunt) had gained a sort of popular reputation in Manchester, which any man might obtain with little difficulty who could descend to go about, making seditious speeches, and flatter ing the passions of the mob. Apparently in con nexion with the proposed meetings, certain secret drillings at the dead hour of night were known to ' take place at various places within the distance of five, six, seven, or eight miles round Manches ter. These drillings, though decidedly unlawful, were boldly carried on, and. were dangerous to approach. On the morning of the 15th August, a party of men were seen at a place called White Moss, practising military evolutions, in a way that could leave no person who, had ever seen troops exercised in doubt that some ulterior object was in view. Attracted by curiosity, those who saw the party at White Moss ventured to ap proach, when they were pursued, beaten, and treated with great cruelty. One of the two per sons who thus found themselves in the power of the drillers, being recognised as a special con stable of Manchester, to save his life he was obliged to fall on his knees and recant the alle giance which he had sworn to his Sovereign. Mr. HUNT begged to ask if the Learned Gen tleman meant to connect these proceedings with the matter at issue ? The JUDGE apprehended that Mr.Searlett would proceed to connect these with the matter before the Court by evidence. It he did not do so, he should certainly caution the July against suffering a prejudice to be excited against the defendant by the introduc►ion of collateral nutter•. Mr. HUNT remarked, that his Lordship must be aware that tiothing but b a remaik Hour the. Bench would be likely to do away the impres sion that might.thos be created by matters not to be proved in evidence. The 3uDGE certainly thought that Mr. ,Scatlett ‘voulti not iiiiroduce such topics, if it were not his conscientious belief that be be able to establish by evidence their connexion with t he case. If he did not do so, the course he pursuing would he beneficial to the defendat o rather than to the prosecution. Mr. SCARLETT assured the Jury that be would urge nothing to the prejudice of the defendant s that heikel not mean to establish by,evitlerice• — ' He expected to prove, that Mr. Muer .wasr rat's t deerly and criminally connected with the proceed; ings at White Moss. Those who were clothe d with authority in Manchester, having thought it their duty to forbid the meeting called for the 9th , and Mr. Hunt, having taken upon himself: t° preside at another, called for the 16th of AugoS t ' the Magistrates found it necessary to have re' course to those precautions which may belawfallf applied to all large public meetings. They i'v e ' cordingly made those preparations which the 0 1 '‘ tore of the case seemed to demand, and now bad to open to the Jury a scene; which among s' those which had been witnessed in this our satire land, had had no example. He then p roce ed to describe the M ee ti ng o f t h e 16 t h A ugust , a n from a large county map he pointed out to Lb e Jury the situations of the villages in the neje bourhood of Manchester from which the lte formers marched on that morning, to assemble to the area near St. Peter's Church. The majold of the population of Manchester, he described to consist of a poor laborious people. Their nuue bers and their conditions would alone have jali' tified the Magistrates in adopting some extrao r ' dinary precautions to preserve the public peas (, bad the meeting been confined to the inhanitsei i i of Manchester alone, when called at a time ° such general distress. He then showed, that Wi g such, being the case, bodies of men were seen, °` the Itith day of August, marching from all poiti of the compass towards Manchester. At Mio' dleton the defendant Bamford would he shown ° , have beets busy in arran g ing i n m ili tar y or der " body of three thousand men. Though they were not in uniform, th e y h a d ma d e cons id erab l e pf°' gress in their military exercises. Under Barr Lord's directions t h e y d resse d an d ho h formed a 'w; low-square with great regu l ar i ty , an d t hey Pd laurel leaves its their hats, that they might b e distinguished from others. This party was 16 0_ ed by another, two thousand strong, from Rae''' . dale. From Oldham a body of men had ma rch' ed, with which it would be proved that the defendant .Healey was connected. In th e first instance it did not appear that- h,e assuor ed the command of.those with whom be marched; :, but, in their progress towards Manchester, b : e would be proved to have expressed a st r ong oP'' nion on the probable effect of th e m ee ti ng , nedfl „, have declared that he looked forward to a gtoriO e result from the proceedings of that dal. 141 other parts ih the vicinity of Manchester, bodi e s of men were advancing, and he believed [het ° every high road leading to the town a s insil l spectacle was to b e seen . Thi ngs were state up to 11 o'clock on the morning o' the when that party was seen apprirechnig ter, which bad been observed on the p re ceditt day training at Whi te M oss . Ni eto - ay, the us i whom they had so cruelly beaten, was then 41 in hed, unable to m o v e , from the b rn i ss - s b e b' received. When the party tent t White 111° / came opposite his house, tiv-yconduct proved ti 44 a loud huzz' halted, and by their whole they exulted in t h e recollection of t h e p re ee c d; ings of the anteri or d ay , an d ha il e d the soti s er to conKrin hi m i n the oath they had forced him 1° take, or to .give him a w arn i ng o f w h at might re: stilt from his pursuing a difis.-retit course trout 41 / 7 which it was their pl easure t o en j o i n . I t was Is about 11 o'clock that ,Mr. Hunt and his Part were seen entering the town. H e ca me i° open carriage, and Johnson, Moorhouse, Wright, accompanied him on his approach The Middleton and Rochd a l e p ar ti es h a d u nit e ,, Mr. Hunt entered, th ere f ore , as at Lead of an army, of 5000 men. But the, o °, 91 4 ; bers that accompanied him were greater then amount he had stated, as such an army is 05 0 4 much increased by the str agg l ers pi c k e d up 011 1 ", 0 way. He (Mr. Hunt) first approached Mtursle house. Here he stood u p i n t h e carr i age , seelo c o to assume the tone of a commander, the word .r " halt" was given, and the same token ( w itelb lo ' it was to be taken in good or io bad part it W oo for the Jury to consid er ) o f a k now l e d ge o f wl occurred on the preceding day at White Moss,'W'', given, that h a d b een g i ven b y t h e party fr°s White Moss. Thence passing on, Hunt t i e his party arrived at the Star Inn, where the M o t gistrates were then eng age d in the discharge. a most arduous duty. Th e y wer e g re eted W ilo , hisses and groans, and various expressions of O re tempt. They next passed the Polic e Otli ce , the constables were in the same way salutett rvr tb hoots, hisses, and groans ; and thence the 1 0 ,1 40 proceeded to the intended place of meeting. dr had beeh engaged for their reception by Bamfo r d Healey, Aloorhouse, and Knight. Saxton 'l re Knight were empl o y e d i n arrang i n g th e mo b to ,d ceive Hunt. it wou ld b e f oun d t h at the Magist o : o having taken their station in a house on elo. ground,.b a d es t a bli s h e d a line of constables, 0 , tending nearly to the hustings. The mob,epori l° 4 o closed so as t o f or m a t hi c k b o dy of turn rota the hustings, so as to guard against any ett e 7o to approach. It was then announced that jo g Committee desired certain bodies of men fort' tlhe mob to take their pl a c e s a t c e r t a in distal': and when Hunt arrived, to open that he vo l g r o pass, and then immedi a tely c l o s e their " again. They were further .admonished to to i) eir e s pecialen enem i es e e s t o xv admitwer e n n e to h ü b t e their r fr a i t e t i s i t a ls o , tdr e lo , l, These arraegements were made with glte - et 1 4 1 01 . and regularity ; and when the body, at the of which was Mr. Hunt, appr oac hed, it woo` ,c proved that be was escorted by men bearing sticks on their shoulders. They came fou r : je- • six a-breast, bearing banners with differe o `, oe d scriptions, and moved like troops well disciP , : ere d to march. When they dr e w n ear t h e y were oi;_ s o f to wheel off, whi c h th e y did with the precio u s regular troops ; and, inde e d, all their 10° lioe , joir y indicated a considerable proficiency in w ee exercises. Hunt, at the head of the body °' ee d c d who had been de scr ib e d as l ea di ng , t h e n nr° c alet e , to take his place on the hustings, or close to ew e' One banner was inscribed " Eq ua l' Reple 9 re fi e et Lion or Death." He put it to the Jury to . 0 1 e0 what was.meaut by this. It teas not for \pica ti , g; df, w hoe gist► Peri, Viet] the, ai„ ti "'e 1