The Sun. — London, England, 1839-08-17 00:00:00

EVEN ENG EDITION. ...- the witnesses witnesses swears that I said .I had been at Bolton, and some other place. When I put the question to him, he said he could not swear that this was the fact. You perceive, therefore, that ;if the words had been set forth in the indictment, I should have been able-to: have been prepared with evidence to prove, what was the fact; that I never was at Bolton on that day, and that I never was at Bolton during the whole se ries of transactions to which the Attornew- General alluded. This, thoug)i it is a compairatively insignificant portion of the oa.z.-e, will convince you, Gentlemen of the Jury, bow unieirly and unconstitutionally I am treated on the present occasion. This indictment has been carefully drawn, and its contents sedulously put together, for the purpose, as it . . wdSild appear, of putting it entirely out of my tiower to b ring witnesses forward to rebut the allegations of the witnesses for the Crown. One of the witnesses said I was at Wigan and Bury, others said I was at Leigh, another at Bolton, and others deposed to different other towns, and doubtless had you had a few witnesses more it would, 1 suppose, have turned out that I had been in every town in Lanca shire on that one day. ' I ask you then, Gentlemen of the Jury, whether, on an indictment thus vaguely prepared, with evidence produced in Court which it is impossible to antici pate or rebut, a defendant can have a fair trial. But, my Lord, there is a reason why I am tried at Chester. There is , a reason why all those usual forms that guard our constitutional liberties and protect the subject in his rights ban been departed from. It will probably be in your remeenbrince that a fire took place at Ashton-under- Line. That fire it is notorious wee laid to my charge. Three days after the leadeng Whig journal of Manchester said that the factory had been fired at the instigation of persons who were in the habit of addressing the people of Ashton. It was distinctly stated that the fire was burning when ~Kas addressing the people at Bury. The article was belied " Torch-light Meetings and their Conse quences." I need not remind you that this transaction, the fire in question was spoken of in all directions—ac counts of it through the press were circulated throughout all the country, and that it was ascribed to me not only in general charges of this nature, but that it was specifically charged to my account as appears from the public newspapers. A m ember of her Majesty's Government, the Hon. Fox Mettle, in a speech reported to have been delivered by him at Perth in Scotland, distinctly stated that the Govern. ment had not interfered with public meetings, nor had not interrupted the progress of free discussion, until their den gerOus and pernicious doctrines had been realized in prac tice, as in the instance of the burning of factories at Ash ton-limiter-Line ; and that then, so soon as these doctrines had been reduced to practice— so soon as property had I been destroyed by the inflammatory addresses of Mr. Stephens and such mere then the Government had thought I proper to interfere. My Lord, it is notorious that a coin ratnication had been made from Ashton to the Govern meet—the placards had been posted throueheut the dis trict, headed with the Queen's arms, and offering a reward I of 3001., ore hundred from the Secretary of State, one hun dred from the oocupiers of the mills, and one bundled from ., ' the ate/imitated mill-owners of the district, for the offocovery ';of tb incendiary of that factory; and yet up tothis hour, although I have been specifically charged with the firing of rt*lacto:y, although my name has been sent round the country as an incendiary, wishing property to be de , stroyed, the lives of the millowners to be sacrificed, and theenills burned down—up to this hour no further notice hai sfieen taken of this transaction. My Lord, I have on this oecasion subpoenaed as a witness the Secretary of State for the Home Department. I have called upon hiffllay writ to appear in the box, and produce all such documents, information, and other evidence, as may bo in his possession, with reference to the burning of that factory, in order not only that the real author of the fire may be known to the public, and the crime punished as it deserves, but that my name, and the character and tendency of my public exertions, may be rescued from the infamy which is attempted to be attached to it. Whether he will appear I know not, but I have many other ques tions to put to him, eallich may tend to unravel the mys tery in which this case is wrapped. My Lord, I contend J have a right to call for that evidence, in order to dis abetse the,, minds of the jury of statements which have a tendeety to warp their judgments. I have I a right that the Secretary of State, who - is reported to have been my public libeller within a week of the opening of the Assizes at Chester, and to have re hearsed the speech the Attorney- General has just delivered, few the purpose of prejudicing the minds of the Jury—l hi, ve a rigieit thet that distinguished individual should be pre. Rh t, in order to give a reason why he has put forward, and perverted, and distorted from whatevermotives, the language which has been impated to me. In the latter end of Decem ber, shortly after the burning of the factory, I was arrested under the most extraordinary circumstances, by Bow-street , officers, one of whom held in his pocket authority to call out the whole military force of the district. I was hurried away (under the authority of a warrant charging me with a speech tending to destroy life and property) from Ashton to Wortley and Leigh, where the speech was delivered. When I arrived there, it was found that there was no Ma gistrate nor no witnesses. I was then dragged to Manches ter in the dead of the night, escorted by a troop of dra goons, and consigned to the Yew Bailey prison. When I etude before the Court, one of the Magistrates who had endorsed the warrant could with difficulty be obtained, or induced to appear on that occasion. On the second examination he would not appear at all. On my examination, one of the most extraordinary that had ever been witnessed in an English court of justice, the forms of the Court were so far departed from that no cross-examination of the witnesses would be allowed tone pear. All that was stated against me was there—all that was surfed in my favour was omitted. 'Proceedings alto gether so singular, so extraordinary, so irregular, and so evidently of a persecuting rather than of a prosecuting nature, that, before the Magistrates committed me the keened Counsel *ho conducted the case distinctly stated 1 th 6 he might as well Inform the dGfendant that it was his I intention to prosecute him for a conspiracy, along with others, to obstruct the laws, but more especially the Poor -4 law Amendment Act. I went down to Liverpool, bound is the *m of 2,0001.—a most unconstitutional bail in any ( cage of the kind, but more especially in the case of a person situated and circumstanced as I was. I went to Liverpool to appear and answer the charge made against me. A true bill was found, and afterwards a second true trill, of Of?'&41 likewise no previews intimation had been gin nv. The:circumstances said to have transpired in that Bill occurred Ik - , the Month of December, and yet, as in the ogee of the pgh sent indictment, there were no devosi then, no examination, no information laid before the Ma gfistraeas, and no opportunity of meeting my accusers face to face. When the bill was found I applied to the Court foe. a copy of the indictmeut, and was informed that it bad been removed by e.ertiorari into the Court of Queen's Bench. At considerable expense and inconvenience I was obliged to appear and plead to these indictments in ' London, one pf which is the indictment you are called upon to try: Nov: how happens it—waiving all previous objections—that the fit.m. and Learned Attorney-General, who wishes flee Jury to b e lieve that he only appears for the purpose of vindicating the law—how comes it that he has not thapght proper to proceed against me at Liverpool on the indictment which had been first found, and relating Ito facts occurring first in point of time ? W h y , because the cause brUke - down ; it was so evidently a made up case that the Hon. and Learned Gentleman would not venture to proceed upon it. He hag dragged me into a part of the country wheee the strongest prejudices exist against me, ' and in order that the minds of all might be impressed with ' the idea that because there were two other indictments I agafriSt n.e—if there was only one I might be taken to be ' innocent, but because there were two others there must be some ground for the charges—and to save the Liverpool Jury the troebie, and the Attorney- General the disgrace of going into the other case, you ore to give him a verdict, and hand me over to the judgment of the Court. You will ask further why it is that I art tried et all—a man, as the Attorney- Gene, al told you, sustaining the character, and fulfilling the offices of a minister of religion—a man known to advocate nu pTilitical theories whatever—to belong to no political • party—a ratan who has no connexion with any political party in this country--a man who has studiously, and from Chris. t tin p r inciples, s tood aloof from all the questions that agi tate the public mind ? If my life, and my humble talents, which the Attorney-General has been pleased to complio tent, hate been spent and employed in writing and speak inie against the Constitution of this country.—against the Monarchy, b and the Lords and Commons—against the in. stitutions of this country—if I were a meta whose public conduct was of this descripelba, then I might well have been marked cut as a fitting subject for a criminal prosecu tion. Bee it is notorious to the whole country so far as my proceedinge have attracted the notice of the public, that so far from adfocating any system, or laying down any plan to effect political changes, to overthrow the Constitu tion, to subvert the institutions of the country, and substitute new forms and institutions in their place— so far from this one of my principal endeavours has been, by reasons from Scripture, by authorities taken out of the law books of God's own word, to disabuse the public mind cf all, the prejudices which the party to whbm the Attorney-Gencral belongs have mainly contri buted to consign the people of this country. My Lord, I Jive in a district which for seven years has been the scene of infidelity—which has heen overrun with the principles, religious and political, of Carlilc and Paine, and the rest of tiaat school—a district in which the people were imbued wi th the false and \ dang ero us notion of' " the greatest happiness to the greatest number," as if it was not equ all y eridninal and filj-ut to ask for ha p Foss at the expense of of the few a s at t h e expense of many.an . y. For seven years I have lifted up ray . notions—those voice against those false and Benthamite - Les s all oceasionsiTebleral notions—those reforming notions. trio people that h eave te c - inhr4ced the opportunity of show ingeroromeires and doctrines of liberal . nSism and reform are the - taip t :4l, I have shown ther t a th is instead of altering our iestitetious I have been labouring o f nee , And novel institutions, ing to amend them. Instead have looked back to what the wisdom of our forelatla down as the principles of all civil andersoriginally laid religious liberty. as of the Attorney • I have taught, that so tar from the pe so op o l r e o General's party asserts) being the wordall political power, I held, out of the Bible and the God, that " all power is of God—tliat the powers that of b ordaiaed of God." I have taught that there are certain I immeitahle , princ, principles of justice and truth, whi c h no time a n inodify or coan o e. I h ave maintained that these lot route ale and everlasting principles of trutheoannti d a r o i e g d ht i e n o tt „ Jess , and brotherly kindness and charity, , Scriptures, if found any where en earth out of the word 'of God, a re to be found in this country—if w any Con are to be found in the • of the globe, If t heir inspiration is to be ,fution on the face anstitution of England. found in any institutions breathing, in any customs or any . usages, conferring happiness and peac, upon th e people, and they are to be found in Mae y institutions, the customs, M Lord, I scruple not to ,the usages of our forefathers. I % say th a t it is for this—that it i s because am a man of this deteription—because I hate from my heart and my soul (t was bred is me, and has gro wn With my growth, and strengthen e d. wi th my strength, and is if poeetble s!r,ongerf been to-day sin ce I h ave a living wit ness of the ant...us . tbIS prosecution)--.it is because in my . heart and soul i hat.' any thing like an invasion of the institutions of my country-se-ft is because I have said that the law of God, as laid down in the word df God, is the standard of all law tin every man's breast, for 1110 Apostle tells us that the law is written in every man's breast; it is g i v en to us as intelligent , reflective, reasoning creelarcs ; we are not THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY ) AUGUST 17, 1839. ----------- only to understand it, but to put our knowledge into prat- forward to-day, are men of property. But I leave it to you, tice, and taking the great principle as my starting point— whether or not you, under the circumstances of the case, think as the ground work of, all I have ever said or done, I have the statements they have made are to be relied on. (He then gone about-1 have p u t m yself to some trouble—l have proceeded to read an extract from the Globe, of Nov. 27, run some r i s k-1 h ave suffered not a little, my Lord, in last, respecting the Todmorden disturbances, of a similar opposing the party and in opposing the measure—the un-character to that read from the Morning Chronicle, c onstit u tional, and as. Lhold it,-the unscriptural measure, charging them upon Toryism, and denouncing Oastler which the Administration to which the Attorney-General and Stephens for punishment, because by their addresses to belongs lays claim as the brightest gem in the Crown the people they had incited them to riots, and were there that is to glitter, and carry their names down to the latest fore to be considered foremost in the crime.) I say, my posterity: If I had been a m an of another stamp and of Lord, also, let the men who have been foremost in the an opposite character, I should not have stood before you crime be punished—let the men whose teaching an insti this day. It is toler ated and allowed, in the press and on gation have led to any breach of the good old laws d of this the platform, to bring th e Christian religion , as establishe d countr y be visited—l will not sa y w ith the just pu nishment, by law and founded by God himself—it is tolerated and but with the heavy vengeance of the law. Against such men allowed to bring that religion into contempt. It is allowed let the vindicator of the law exercise his powers, for I indeed to revile Christianity—it is allowed to speak disparagingly, hold them to be moral pestilences and nuisances in society. to speak blasphemously of the Son of God. If I were a man of that kind, materials in superabundance Mr. Justice ParTasoN--That is not so—it is not allowed. might have been long ago obtained. Many of myepeeches Mr. S.ephene—l was about to add, my Lord, that it is were published fully in black and white, about which allowed, but not by the genius of our laws. God forbid there could have been no mistake—no calling of witnesses that such should be the case; but it is allowed under the to swear, one that I said I had been at Bolton, and another administration of the, Attorney-General, who tells you be at another place—no calling of witnesses who, though they comes here to vindicate the law. It is allowed to speak of heard me speak for twenty_five minutes, and their atten the House of Lords as a house of incurables—a house of tion was not called to it till months afterwards, can swear imbeciles—an excrescence upon the Constitution, to b e i so positively to what would not occupy three minutes, and cut away by the -- pruning knife of that Lib era l p ar ty t o have no recollection, not the slightest, of anything else which the public proscutor belongs. that I said. No such subterfuges—no such miserable Mr. Justice PATTESON—That is not allowed. Unless expedients would have been resorted to in such a trial you show me a case in which a man has been indicted, and with the present Government of this country, of which I that it has been laid down that the o (fence was not an in- am not the most important, but am one of dictable one. the most determined and deadly enemies. Mr. Stephens Mr. Stephens—lt is allowed in the sense of being le- then read several other extracts from different publications niently passed over. denouncing him, and calling on Government to put him Mr. Justice Perresose—That I don't know. But down, and protect property. It was impossible, therefore, when you said it was allowed, I took it in the sense that under these circumstances, that the object of the Attorney you meant it was legal. General could be to vindicate the law. Hundreds and thou- Mr. Stephens—l am sorry your Lordship so misunder. sands of his speeches had been reported and published stood me, but I should have said it has been suffered to under his own sanction and authority. If these speeches pass unnoticed and unprosecuted. Gentlemen, the news- were seditious, if the doctrines contained in them were as papers of the day, and the press of every town, are filled described, why did not the Attorney-General prosecute with allusions of th e c h arac t er which I described ; and yet, him for these, instead of resorting to this trumpery charge ? of late years at least, we have heard nothing of these I will now read to the Jury a paragraph, out of which this attics being prosecuted. Nay, further, in the case of the prosecution originally sprung. It was published in the Whigs, at th e time of the Reform Bill, I find that meet- Manchester Guardian of the 12th of December, four days ings, precisely o f this description, were held over every after the burning of Mr. Jowett's mill—a paragraph which part of the country, with ensigns , flags, and banners, bear- had been copied by the London Press, and through them ing the inscriptions, " Liberty or Death"—" Reform or had gone the whole round of the Provincial Press of this Vengeance"—. Down with Tyrants"—and there were country. It was headed " Torch-light meetings, and their caps of liberty borne on staves and pike heads, and every Consequences." The defendant then proceeded to read thing of that description. The people were urged and the article, which charged him with inciting the people to advised to pay no more taxes, in order to compel " Old incendiarism, and being in effect the cause of the burning Billy," as these persons styled the rightful Sovereign of Mr. Jowett's mill ; and charging him with holding torch of these realms, to concede the Reform Bill. Three light meetings in defiance of the proclamation, and groans were given for the Queen, the first female of the declassing that the people would be justified in using kingdom ; and there was an effigy of the King, with their torches to burn down the inhuman bastiles. a bloody axe suspended over his head, and a block, in- He was denounced as a devil because he bad advised the tim rating that unless the Bill were passed, he might suffer people to arm by law, for law, and under law. He had the fate of some of his predecessors in this and other given them that advice, and he would give it again and countries. Gentlemen, I now put it to you whether, in again. That if the Poor law was attempted to be carried this country, with these facts passing daily before your out it ought to be physically resisted. The editor then eyes, and having recently passed, you can believe the observed that " another part of Stephens' speech was con. Learned Attorney-General, that the only reason he netted with the burning of Jowett's mill. He had been comes here is "to vindicate the law," by rendering m e threatened by Stephens for having convicted a boy of some amenable to those laws which lam said to have broken ? offence, and that at the time Stephens was addressing the My Lord, why do I mention all this ?—for what purpose people at Bury , Jowett's mill was blazing at Ashton. That d o I trouble your Lordship, and tax that patience and con- he had not the slightest doubt it was the act of an incen descension which has been always by a British Judge diary, instigated by the diabolical and exciting speeches awarded to a defendant standing in the position which I addressed to the working people of Ashton." It was to fill It is for the enunciation of a great principle, for the bring under your notice that paragraph that I read the establishment of a great fact—it is to put it clearly before whole of that article—it was not, I admit, bearing directly your Lordship and the Jury that there is a certain class on the question, but I read it that you might see the charges of speaking and a certain class of writing which is which have been brought against me, and the grounds on suffered to go unrebuked, and without prosecution or which they have been made, and also the spirit in which punishment. Yes, we can have, on occasions, when it the editor comments upon my proceedings, and the language suits the purpose, or contributes to the stability of an Ad- which he puts in my mouth—language which I need not ministration—we can have disturbances of the public tell you I never uttered in the sense ascribed to me, and no peace—we can have incendiaries—men who speak so as man in his senses could. Immediately after this—and this *lead to a subversion of the laws—who propose, not the re- is only one of a hundred similar attacks and statements in peal of a Poor-law, but the Repeal of that Union which con- the newspapers—came another most important article, netts this kingdom with the adjoining kingdom of Ireland which appeared in all the journals, and which was delivered —we can have these men going through the country, by a member of her Majesty's Government, who is now forming affiliating societies, marshalling men, counting prosecuting me. The Hon. Fox Mettle, at a public meet their numbers, and receiving their money—we can have ing at Perth, said that the Government had not interfered these men publicly declaring, that they want some 10,000, with public meetings till the pernicious doctrines of Ste or 500,000, or on some occasions 2,000,000 of fighting phens and others had led to the firing of mills.—[Mr. S. men to go up and petition the throne. The Attorney- here repeated at length the passage he had before alluded to.] General does not consider that illegal, or worthy of his I fully agree with Mr. Fox Maule and the Attorney attention—that is not a matter to be prosecuted—he does General, that where language is employed directly and not then come forward to " vindicate the law"—to assert necessarily, and inevitably leading to acts of violence, it is the majesty, and maintain inviolate the supremacy the duty of her Majesty's Government, and they would be of the laws of this country. The Union may be threatened unworthy of her canfidence if they did not act upon that. —two millions of fighting men may be held up in terrorem It is their duty, under such circumstances, without loss of —merely to give that gentleman the influence and power time, to prosecute the ruffian who had outraged the law, and patronage which be enjoys. But no sooner does an and incited the people to destroy property. It would be humble individual, a poor unbefriended Minister of the culpable in me were I not to bring before you expressions Gospel—a man without talent, save that of telling the truth said to have fallen from the lips—not of an individual in fearlessly, so far as he knows it—a man without family, save the heat of public discussion—not from the lips of an indi that whose poverty is as humble and meritorious as his vidual haranguing the people out of doors—not from an in own—a man without name and character, save the name dividual collecting information and receiving the tincture and character of a firebrand, an incendiary, an assassin, of prejudice and hearing evidence and report, but falling a demon, and a madmen—a man without influence, save from the lips of a gentleman of station equal to that of that of the widow and the poor, and the power of truth,which your own, of intelligence and information, and who at the is great and will yet prevail—no sooner does a man situate period of my first arrest was one of my. Judges, and which and charactered as I am, step forward and plead for his were uttered by him in the interval between my first and fellow- men—l speak on behalf of the widow and the father_ second examination at Manchester, an examination in less—and express his constitutional views on the Poor-law which my liberty and character were deeply involved. Bill, the Factory Bill, and the case of the handloom That gentleman is reported with having given utterance weavers, and the several practical grievances and evils of to the following expressions, and being charged with them the country, for which he proposes a practical and consti- he has taken no steps to deny them. At a public dinner tutional remedy—no sooner does that man appear before at Hyde, on the 31st of December, I having been arreeted the country, although thus humble and without power and on the 27th, and having to appear again at the Old Bailey influence, than her Majesty's Attorney- General comes on the 2d January, at this, to me, most critical period, he is' down to the assizes of Chester to prosecute that individual, reported to have said, in the very town where the proseeu , while he cornes,as he tells you, merely "to indicate the law." tion emanated, and on the Bench of which be presided. In He has no intention—neither the Learned Attorney- Ge- that town Capt. Clarke said " there was in the district a fire• neral, nor the Government, whose servant he is—of putting brand, a demon, going about sowing his poison in the minds down public meetings. He has no intention of restricting of time people he had deceived and was continuing to de liberty, or the opportunity of giving free expression to ceive. That man took in his hands—his accursed hands— opinion. He prides himself on having the honour of ap- the Book of God, and quoted from it passages befitting his peering in this prosecution because it is a prosecution aim- wicked purposes, counselling his deluded followers to des ply intended to vindicate the law. Now, gentlemen, if this troy factories and burn down cottages, as many as they were really the desire of the Attorney- General and the pleased." And then emulating the example of Quintus Government, as it is only professedly so on the present Curtius, Captain Clarke proceeded to say that "if lie occasion, what course ought the Attorney-General to have would only spare life, if he would only spare the mills of pursued ? lam charged in this indictment with raising and the enterprising manufacturers, and spare the cottages of exciting discontent in the minds of the subjects of this land the poor men, if he would only be satisfied with the sacri -with making divers and sundry speeches enci discourses five of one life, and that its sacrifice would restore peace which have a direct and necessary tendency to injure pro • and happiness and comfort, his own could not fail in a perty, and lead to the loss of life by violence—that I ex- better cause." And then the Report states that there was hcrted the people to arm, and procure arms, &c. Now loud cheering. Now where was Captain Clarke and Mr. taking for the moment these facts for granted, what course Howard, who was my intimate friend—where were the ought the Attorney-General to have pursued had his guardians of the public peace and the tranquillity of the object been simply to vindicate the law. Clearly country ? If I had been a man of the description the At he would have taken the defendant in this case, torney-General has pour trayed, no doubt we should have or I should rather say, as the fact is, the prisoner at the had those men in the box to-day to state their opinion of bar, and fought him on another field. He would have my principles and conduct. Gentlemen, Parliament as brought the case before the Court and the country on sembled in the month of February, a month after my ar points about which there could b e no manner of doubt. rest, and her Majesty in the speech from the throne alluded It either is or is not lawful for persons situated as I am to to the persevering efforts that had been made in some e xhort ehe people on the Factory question and on the Po u r- parts of the country to disturb the public peace, law question. My opinions may be wrong on this point, and excite resistance to the laws. I certainly did but if such a course had been pursued they would have been not suppose that so humble an individual as myself clearly and fairly tried. There would have been no ne e d had drawn the solemn anger of the Monarch o f to have had three indictments hanging over the head of a these realms, were it not that allusions were made to the man like myself. There would have been no need to call matter in the debates in both Houses of Parliament ; and cotton witnesses, for with the exception of the two cobsta_ it was then distinctly stated that I was at least one o f t h e bles, it is worthy of remark that all the witnesses are e ith er individuals therein alluded to and pointed out. F o ll ow i ng cotton manufacturers or the brothers or relatives of cotton up this persevering and systematic misrepresentation of my principles and motives, I find in the first Report of th e manufacturers. The Attorney - General reminds me of Mr. Tinker ; but is not Mr. Tinker a surgeon holding an Constabulary Commissioners, most appropriately signed by appointment under the Factory Regulation Act, whose con- Charles Shaw, before the brother of one of the Poor-law duct, together with that of the cotton manufacturers, I Commissioners,' Col. Rowan, the head of the Metropo have had frequent occasion to bring under the notice of time litan Police, and Mr. Chadwick, the Secretary of the country. There would then have been no occasion for Poor law Commissioners, a statement that very great calling witnesses, and bringing i n t o C o urt a family party— alarm was excited by leading agitators who were going the families of the Howards and the Ashtons, and the M-, about the country, and that they were instigating the peo- Tinker who is connected with them. If it had been the plc to the assassination of manufacturers and the destruc- Attorney- General's desire merely to vindicate the law, he tion of property. The Report also alluded to the would have proceeded against me for some speech on torch-light meetings, and the unwillingness of parties even which there was no manner of doubt, or on some of those of the highest respectability to give information, unless publications put forth and authorised by me, which I would their names were withheld. What effect must such state have roost readily a dmitted. How is it, I will ask, m y merits have on the minds of even the most unprejudiced ? Lord, when the Secretary of State for the Home Depart- Why, gentlemen, if even my brother, by whose side I have men= went so far out of his way to malign my motives as stood, or my father, whose principles I have imbibed, were to say a few days since, immediately preceding this trial, in the box, I maintain that neither my father nor my bro.. that a printed sermon of mine inculcates murder and the they, if the were in the habit of reading paragraphs of destruction of property, and that in this sermon I have this description, could refrain from conceiving, a priori, a declared that whilst the New Poor-law Act continues in strong prejudice against me. You have seen no reluctance force, the Divine commands, Thou shalt not steal, and thou on the part of the witnesses to-day to give evidence against shalt not kill, are no longer in force or obligation—bow me, and many of them are gentlemen of influence was it that the Attorney-General did not proceed and station and property. You have had, in fact, against me for this ? Why, for this reason— none but gentlemen of property examined. There were that when read, weighed, and examined, and no labouring men, no shopkeepers, no tradesmen, no per brought to the touchstone of truth, when applied to sons out of the middle ranks of life, to tell you the state of the standard of your books, my Lord, when applied to the town at the period of this meeting. You have had the standard of that book which is part and parcel of the but two families who have represented the cotton interest Common Law of England, it would be found that I have on this occasion, and yet the country has been told by the inculcated no doctrine, nor advanced any opinion but such press that such is the state of dread, and alarm, and appre as are strictly constitutional and Christian. Therefore it is hension, that even gentlemen of property, and persons that all this is passed over; therefore it is you have holding her Majesty's Commission of the Pe ace could brought bet. re you evidence of an assembly of which you only be induced to gYe evidence, on condition that their have heard to-day, and upon which evidence the Attorney- names should be withheld. I don't wonder at all this__ General hopes to obtain that verdict from you which he all that is sought is that the material, the statement dare not invoke on what is the real and true cause of the should go forth to the world without any endorsement, or as- prAtion in which I thi s day stand. If this prosecution surance of its truth, because the mischief is then done, al had begun to-day, if it had began as Mr. Tinker says his though the moment a responsible person appears,that moment evidence began, two months ago—if it nad begun at the all alarm vanishes and disperses even as the witness, when time the meeting took place , nine months ago, I pressed lay me, stated that not one of the m f e lt any alarm should have thought myself very much wanting about the meeting. I shall only trouble your Lordship in due respect to your Lordship and to the time with one more extract for the purpose of removing, if pos.. of the Court in troubling you with what I have sible, from the minds of the jury any prejudices that may done, and with what I shall be obliged to advance in order exist against me, but although it is the last it is by far the to show that there is indeed a conspiracy in this country ; most important, and allow me to add, by far the most ma a conspiracy of certain parties to oppress, overwhelm, and licious. I stand here, gentlemen, prosecuted at the in_ crush me, and on this subject I submit to your Lordship I stance of her Majesty's Government, and communications am entitled, in order to disabuse the Jury of the prejudice on the subject of my prosecution have been w hich has been ins t i lled into their minds, to expose those made to the Home Office, and I am going to show you ujust and malicious proceedings by which it has been the share I have had in what the Attorney-General sought to hold me up as one of the basest of mankind. It has been pleased to term " the agitation," having is impossibl e for t h e various publications which have been for its object the destruction of life and property. You ma de against me to have been circulated without the will be astonished when I tell you that I was going to minds of the Jury being prejudiced against me. I will read an extract from the actual pr osecutor in this case whose character, g it cl . hconfidenceof the of the w hich . this description of character is ap_ Crown (and, lam sorry I cannot add in the confidence of descriptions not casual but general, not the country) ought to have raised him infinitely above any who are attempt to put me down by a side blow of the nature lam o p f lie t d he to day n , w i n ; emanatingl will show you about to show you. Gentlemen, it is not sufficient that rs in the present case. the actual prosecutors is ntiornAe, prosecuting ndeavo ure n t e o , this i prosecution, y should so iost irregular, itoted u a n g c a o i n o s s t t i t t e i n h a u l t , t a h n e d p e o x h t r l ;- from the press l alone, but all from parties thhaast sedulously, l v a e u r s y l y o a vncdr nfora t n which th ru e s and this, combined mind has been saturated usque ad nauseum w ith every species prejudice the public mind a. inst . on for t h ose a lleged offences of malignity and falsehood as affecting my character—it is with the absence of all prosecution have raised the greatest not enough that the ordinary course at this bar should be and proceedings for which t ey have represented me Attorney - General for the county should be passed by as clamour aga i nst me , cons titutes an a priori argument that departed Attorne. from, and that the talents and learning of the I am not the kind of map which they inadequate—that it is not enough her Majesty's Attorney- General, the first law officer of the crown, should come tsoeelauet-eetionhgaottth2ps for r n t o h t e apobronoesefiodfeeprrao9eheicougtiaoons,i dbeusttaroypirao-g Chrontele of the is not sufficient but after you, gentlemen, have received a me on f a l se prete ,,,, , Mr. Stephens then proceeded to down simply as he says "to vindicate the law"—all this read a lengthy extract from the Morning. 10th stimulating mul January, ng e tru yto try, and an honest and con. tio• - scien ue_v ar eldiet to give, ou who are in the habit of s with agency an d that of readit g P h mam of entar _ debates , are to have this passage disturbances in whichandtltoo Tories were charged eu . mmons wll ' and 1 the manufacturing district.; through his e ß re ost r e e l e i d , in an wh e i x e t h rac th t e fr N om ohl a o r L e o c r e d nt st s a p t t h e from a epee: Lord John Russel'. pot before you. The i other persons, and represented the defendant as incising • people to plunder, and recommended persons Of pposition to the law in his neighbourhood to look narrowly after him. I give Y; )4 L had been `said Mr. Stephens) a specimn of the wilful and .110,17 t h e re with great perseverance to excite disaffection to the laws cioe, m oue in which conclusions the most prejudicial to property ling deofredndjaonhto cepse d that t f of this country. Th t t e agitatien had assumed various me have been drar4;. from supposed and invented prerniscg• oee of which . was oppOsition to the peor-laws You have a proof that the eet °station to men of property shapes, to watch me narrowly, has not been without effect, for all which were stated to ne to o contrary to the principl es of n the witnesses (except the two constables), that is to say j ustice, that they wereentitled to obedience. That all the members of the two families who have been brosighe Gentlemen, hit. Oastler, counted h one of these;pielf a Tory ; another was a Mr. Stephens, who termed himself a Dissenting Minister, and without alluding to the dis courses for which he was now under prosecution, that pre tended preacher of the Gospel had told the people that while the Poor-law was in operation the Divine Command ments, " Thou shalt not steal," and " Thou shalt not kill," should be suspended; and of no force, thus di rectly tending to the destruction of property and life ; and also that the attention of the Government had been* called to the prosecution of those speeches, but that re porters could not be called to give evidence in the first instance, and the fears of other persons residing in the neighbourhood, lest they should be marked out for ven geance, had thrown insuperable difficulties in the way. Now, my Lord, I shall add nothing more on this head, than that this is a full admission that it was hopeless on th( part of the Government to expect a verdict in a Court of Justice without resorting to such evidence as has been brought before you this day. For as long as two years ago, up to the present time, not only the public press, but the members of her Majesty's Government, and even that member of her Majesty's Government at whose instance I am now prosecuted, have resorted to every mode in order to prejudice the minds of my coun trymen at large , and m y jury in particular, in order to prevent the moral po ssi bility of my having an impartial trial, by prepossess in g th e Jury to admit evidence and i regard a construct i o ns of evidence, which o th erw i se t h ey wou ld not have listened to. Now, ithimportant, evidence. In all c ases of sedition and using seditious with and in nnnat to cases the es absolutely language, necessary,i highly yat some such e v id ence as L or d was John Russell alluded to ( Reporter's notes) should be given. It was a sine qua non that every means within the compass of a reasonable possibility should be resorted to in order to bring the supposed criminal to justice, and to warrant a verdict of guilty. We are told, indeed, that reporters cannot be called ; who then can ? I would not tell your Lordship and the Jury how exceedingly difficult even in the common affairs of life, in matters of the most trivial and every day concern, to carry away correct and accurate impressions of what has been communicated to us, unless we have recourse to mi nutes or other artificial modes of memory. How much more difficult, then, in a question of seditious language, where it is well known the alteration or substitution of a word, or even a comma or a point, may make a material variation in its effect and tendency ? How much more difficult must it be to rely upon evidence depending on memory alone at the distance of many months after the language was used ? Are the liberties and lives of Englishmen to hang suspended on the slender thread of such evidence as you have heard from that box, from persons prejudiced and interested; from persons, one of whom tells you that he was a little elevated when he went to the meeting, but not drunk, because he could walk upright ? From persons such as those on whom the little government of a great nation rests its only hope of obtaining a verdict against me ? As to the evidence about banners and flags, and banner-knights, and powder-mon keys, and all that rubbish and twaddle—which on re peated examination of the witness, for the purpose of this trial, was drilled into him--and getting money from the clubs to procure arms, that the Jury will remember was given readily enough. But the moment I asked for any thing that had been said intermediately or interlocutorily, the only answer I could get was non rni ricordo, not one single sentiment or expresssion beyond could or would the witness recollect. His mind was a blank, and his lips were sealed the moment I put any thing to him that had not been drilled into him ; nor was it before nine times that he could even remember that I had often visited and been on terms of intimacy with Mr. Howard, where he had seen me frequently, with whom I had been on terms of friendship, as indeed I was with all the magistrates and manufacturers in the neighbour hood, until I took up the cause of those little piecers of 13 years of age—the poor factory labourers—and then, t indeed, their friendship ceased. B ut the moment I asked question of one of the witnesse s who could remember nothing before, whether he had ever heard me say anything which had a tendency to the destruction of property— his memory was miraculously restored, and he could give a speech which he attributed to me , as he would have yo u believe, almost word for word. What did Ido ? To te s t his memory I read slowly and del iberatel y an extract from a speech, stated by Lord Brougham in the Lords to have been one of mine—stated so for the p ur p ose of p re j udicin g me, and containing rubbish similar to that which he had detailed. I asked him to give that speech, or any portion of it word for word. And what did he say ? He said, "It was impossible." Not to be hard on the witness, and to give him the same latitude as I wish to be allowed myself, I asked him to repeat the substance, meaning, or drift of the extract, or its tendency. .You will not forget the memorable answer—" It would be folly to attempt it." I ask you as moral agents, considering the nature of man, his powers and capacities, is that man to be believed—are any of those men to believed, when they say they have given a correct statement of the language used by me, of which they never made any notes, and to which they never had their attention called till two months after the time, and some of them not till seven and eight months after the time ? When the Leigh indictment broke down at that memorable examina tion, all these cases were transferred from Lancashire into Cheshire. The whole evidence then was of the same de scription as that in the present case. Witnesses were brought from the town of Leigh who could remember this and not remember that—who could remember something about arms, and something about other things ; but what the drift, meaning, or tendency of the speech was they knew not. I ask you then, Gentlemen of the Jury, can you - conscientiously give a verdict of guilty upon such evidence ? Depend on it there is something of which you ought to be more fully informed. What this is I have partly endea voured to put you in possession of ; and if the most mate rial witness for the prosecution in this case, the attorney who conducts, the brother of the witness Hibbert, and whose name is on the back of the indictment, had been sailed..— of their labour if they attempted to meet ? Was it when the whole district was under ban, and when it was made the subject of a criminal information against a Magistrate whom I now see in this Court, and on that bench, that he would not enter or engage in a league with the other master manufacturers, and discharge all those from his employment who attended these meetings. When, as an ancient authority has it, the bread of the poor, which is the life of the pooe, was taken away from them, for who so taketh away the bread of the poor taketh away the life of the poor. Gentlemen, I stand here to plead for them—l have comparatively no.case for myself, and I heed not much whether or not you return me to my home, as I believe you wit'. I stand here on behalf of the poor a criminal at your bar—on behalf of those who were deprived of their bread for venturing to attend a public meeting. Gentlemen, in all this array of torch-light meetings, and banners and ensigns, the Learned Attorney-General has not attempted to show you that these meetings were corn mon in the district, nor has there been a tittle of evidence to show that the persons getting it up had any intention to excite terror and alarm in the minds of the people. There has been no proof offered that I had anything to do with the arrangements of the meeting, but that simply as a minister of the neighbourhood, the people did me the ho nour to invite me to attend and deliver my opinions upon certain great Constitutional questions. If there had been any thing really terrific about these torchlight meetings we should perhaps have heard a little more from the Attorney-Gene ral about them, and if he avails himself of the right to reply,. we may hear him stake his reputation that torch light meetings are not illegal—he may stake his reputa tion that there is nothing more a torch than in a farthing candle, that every Englishman has a right to carry arms in his own defence—he may stake his reputa tion that the people have not only a right to carry banners, but effigies and representations of individuals, and that if if there happens to be a Magistrate of the name of Badger, it is no crime to carry an effigy of the animal of that name past the house of the worthy Magistrate. Now, Gentle men, with all this twaddle about banners and torches, with which I have nothing whatever to do—with all this firing of pop-guns and penny cannons some seven or eight days after the sth of November, when every little boy, and some hobbledehoys too, are in possession of these trin kets and toys, and when every one is firing them in com memoration of the salvation of this country from a conspi racy much more deadly than any that has ever been on foot against the Poor-laws—with all this parade and twad dle, there has been nothing alleged either as to the time of the meeting, or the manner of conducting it, so far as I am concerned, which can constitute it an unlawful one. Have any of the witnesses stated that they were alarmed ? Not one; notwithstanding the consummate skill and talent with which that was attempted to be extorted from them. Gentlemen, on my part I have made many mistakes, and got too much from the witnesses, although when I look at the evidence again, it only shows the animus of the party, and shows the great necessity of great caution in receiving it. It is clear, however, that there was nothing in the meeting to excite alarm, for you have the witnesses going from one inn to another, and taking their jovial glass—attending the meeting, and remaining within a few yards 'of the speakers, and when the question was afterwards put to them, " Were you alarmed ?" the answer was, " No." " Had you any ground for sup posing you ought to inform the Magistrates ?"—" No." And even Mr. Howard tells you that he was only afraid of his barn from an accidental spark. No, gentlemen, thank God, no spark of incendiarism of mine has ever assailed the character or property of any man. Nay, so guarded were the people on all occasions, that when a waggon of straw was standing opposite the gate of a factory, the word was sent along the line by fuglemen to carry the torches on the opposite side, and for anything I know the waggon may be still standing there in the hope of another prosecution as vin dictive and malicious as this. Gentlemen, in the annals of this Court there never was a more unfair, a more cowardly, or a more cruel persecution. I have lighted a torch, not literally, but figuratively, which, by God's blessing, shall blaze, and which all the waters in the cistern cannot extin guish. I have taught the people to fear God and honour the Queen; but I have taught them also to hate everything unconstitutional and unchristian—l have told them to take the book of God in their right hands, and the book of the law in their left—to have the fear of God on their side, and the love of God and their neighbours in their hearts, and then to walk abroad fearlessly, in spite of Attorney-Generals and all the array of Poor-law prosecutions. Gentlemen, there was a banner with the inscription—" For children and wife, we will war to the knife." Is there a man in that box who would Dot do the same? That, gentlemen, is "the head and front of my offending." I have told the people of Eng land that by law their children and wives cannot be taken from them. I have told the people that they have a right to their own homesteads, to their own firesides, their own earnings after work honestly and fairly done—that they have a right to the comfort and society of their little ones, and the partners whom they have sworn before God never to desert, but to love and cherish until death do them part. I have taught the people the only law which professes to invalidate or overthrow. This is not law, and ought not to be held to be law in any Court of British Jurisprudence, and cannot be expected to be obeyed by any party. That it is better to obey God than man, and in all things in which the laws of man conform to the laws of God I am willing to obey them. I am brought here, gentlemen, on a mere pretext, and until I am tried and found guilty I cannot believe that the real object of this prosecution has been unfolded to you. The present attempt is worthy of the ma lignity and hatred of the Government, and even upon a legal point, if there be a verdict given against me, 1 shall still contend that I have been unjustly condemned, because I have been found guilty not upon the real charge which these parties have against me. Gentlemen, the Attorney- General did not remind you of the fact, and impress it upon you, that it is the intentions or motive that constitutes the essence or grievance of all crime. Without a criminal motive, there can be be no criminal act. I may be a madman, but until my opinions had gained such head both with the rich and the poor—until my principles began to take root in the minds of the people—until something like an influence arising out of the exten sion and establishment of these principles began to enwrap me, it was thought convenient and necessary to represent me as a madman. If I am a mad man your verdict must be not guilty, for he who has not his mind under full control is incapable of committing a criminal act. I may have said something wrong—l may have used hasty words or strong expressions, hut the At torney-General has omitted the most important part of all —it was his duty to have satisfied you that I was a man having malus animus—that I had in my heart a bad feeling and hatred towards the men against whom I am said to have spoken that I wished and had therefore com passed the destruction of their property and lives. He should have not only shown this, but have satisfied your minds of it, so as to leave no doubt upon your minds. But how stands the case at present? You have a large army of special constables who have been convicted of striking the people, which they do not consi der a crime. There was a great deal about rioters, and flags and banners, but not a word as to the motives of the defendant, or as to his having the intentions set forth in the indictment. The Right Hon. the Secretary of State has stated that I have recommended the assassination of manufacturers and the destruction of property, and that while the Poor Law Act was in force the commandments of God ought to be suspended; but he has not stated how the argument really stands on that point, and I shall give you, by reading that entire, an opportunity of ascertain ing what were my real motives and opinions on the subject, and if after that you in your solemn judgments, and upon your oaths, believe me capable of instigating the destruc tion of property or life, I shall give you the full scope and benefit of all the prejudices that have been excited against me. If you can believe that I have argued in any way other than as a Constitutional Englishman I had a right to do, and as an humble Christian Minister I deemed it my duty to God and my conscience to do, then without putting the Attorney-General to the trouble of a reply, or the Learned Judge to the trouble of summing up, pronounce your verdict of guilty, and let me bear the brunt of having harboured malice against my fellow men, whom I ought to love. Lord Erskine has well observed, that it is the intention and motives that constitute the offsnce ; and hence it is, that in old forms of law a person is charged with not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being insti gated bythe devil. Now, I love those old forms, and wish they had still been adhered to, but the march of intellect and the spirit of Reform has rendered them, I suppose, unfashionable. I am not one of those who set at naught the doctrines of Christians, or who hold that the character amen is formed for him and not by him, and that, therefore, he is not re sponsible for his actions. This may be modern philo sophy, but it is not reason; it may be liberalism, but it is , not Christianity. I take my stand on the word of God, and on Christianity. Christianity explaining and eliciting the principles and structure of - all law, for human law is only good when identical in principles and spirit with the law of Christianity, it is then alone worthy of ad miration, of obedience, of living under, and of fighting for—the law of Christianity, like the law of the land, forbids men to judge hastily and rashly. The law of Christianity with the law of the land, re quires that a man should have criminal intentions in order that his arts should be deemed criminal. The malus animus must be proved—the motive to do wrong must be shown. Now, wherein has any motive to incite to deeds of lawless violence been proved against me? The Attorney- General has neglected this part of his duty, for he has not shown you by any reference to my previous life, con duct, character, or conversation, that I am a man whom, with this doubtful evidence against me, you ought to pro nounce to be a man of such criminal motives and in tentions as will warrant your consciences in return ing a verdict of guilty. I will do that which the Attorney-General has left undone. I will give the prnsecutor in this case every advantage, I will throw my self open and without disguise before you. I take the very worst case against me, and I will read you that ser mon which I preached, on which Lord J. Russell founded his statement that I was a man who incited the people to aggressions upon property and life, and will put it to you on that whether I am a person of those wicked and ma lignant feelings that have been ascribed to me.—( Mr. Stephens here read at great length the sermon preached by him some time wive at Kennington-common, in which he had vehemently denounced the dignitaries I put of the Established Church and the Poor-law Bill.) it to the Attorney- General, whether in the whole course of my life as a public character I have laid down any other principles, or broached any other doctrines than those which contributed to the happiness and well-being of society—than such as are based upon the word of God, 0/3 contained in hia Divine Revelations. If there be anything which may have struck you as particularly strong in what I have just read, I ask you as Englishmen and glasias bans to impute it to my enaiesy to maintain inviolate thg coiumandittenta of god, rather than the orainances of law, and to vindicate me from all improper of unjustifiable motives or intentions. Strong a 4 the strangest of these expressions may he they are not stronger than the assertiona of the ablest writers of the land, than thoso of Milton, Paley, Locke, Grotius, Puffendorf, and every , other writer on moral or political science. The whole of these authorities have again and again stated that the foundation of society is the safety, the security, and the happiness of the poor upon whom all the other orders of The ATTORNEY-GENERAL offered to put him in the box. Mr. Stephens—lf he had been in the box, Gen tlemen, he must have told you that from his office proceeded that document which was intended to fill, and which did fill, the inhabitants of this city of Chester with alarm, and with such prejudice against me that I was not allowed to stop even for a few minutes in the commercial room of one of the principal inns here, because the land lord, not discourteously to me, informed me that in all pro. bability I should find myself m uc h annoyed by the persons- who would frequent it. Nay, t h e d ay before yesterday, whilst sheltering myself fro m t h e rain, in one of t 131.; " rows," as the covered ways of Ch ester are called, I ventured to suggest to a group of gentl emen w h o were looking at the waggons of arms that were pass i ng by, and Perms without J u d ge or J ury , contending that it was a seizure o f arms belonging to that Chartists in all w probability o o ba ug b h i l t i ttyo theyb be hungwere belonging to the Stephens g ether_ Government, my reception was suc h t h at I was soon was oneworse of than t al l th e compelled to leave their comp any ; f or without knowing my person, they im me di ate l y attacked me rest o y f thea m e g gentle men said, if he formed one of the jury, h e wou l d take goodagainstcare that a verdict of guilty should b e b roug h t in against b name, a , said ita t o thatput t o him, at all hazards." To what is this extraordinary ex citement and prejudice to be attributed, but to the false, malicious, and scandalous placard which figures on your walls ? I left Hyde on Monday, and never- was it more peaceable. I have been a regular minister there for flee years, and have known it seven. I constantly visit and officiate in that neighbourhood every Sabbath, and never since I came there has there been any one case in which there has been the remotest shadow of a disturbance—not a single violation of public order— not a single breach of the public peace occurred. My people are amended rather than deteriorated—their habits have become more domestic, their political principles more constitutional, and their religious princ:ples more Chris tian. This is well known in the district from whence I come. It is there well known that lam not the man which, under the legal mask of this prosecution, I ant de scribed to be. It is known that I do not advocate brute force. No Radicalism, nor Chartism, nor National Conven tionalism, and all the rest of the revolutionary dogmas of the present day. It is notorious that I came forward at the meeting at Leigh, and declared my detestation of the • doctrine i on which radicalism is founded, and stated that if the Radicals got into power my head would probably be the first that was brought to the block, and my blood the first that would flow for the restoration of the ancient liberties of the country. If I am to be tried, let. it be in my own person, and not in the person of Chartism—let me be tried on my own opinions, as stated in public speeches, well known and authorised, on which there can be no two opinions as to the facts of the case. I trust your Lordship and the Jury will tell the Attorney-General that whatever were the motives or the views of a particular Government, the liberties of Englishmen are not to be tampered with, their privileges not to be destroyed. A few years ago it was the object of the Government to ef f ect an entire change in all the institutions of the country, and to deprive the poorer classes of their long recognised rights, and place the con trol of their management in the hands of persons appointed by themselves, instead of leaving it in the hands of their neighbours. How did Government wish to accomplish this ? Not openly, not honestly, but by alarming the fears of the men of property for their property. It was only by libelling the character of the poor, and by exciting the fears of the upper classes, that they could hope to crush the freedom of England by that inhuman and unchristian measure, the New Poor-law Amendment Act. Before this Act could be passed, it required that a Reforming Chancellor, Lord Brougham, should rise up in the House of Lords, and, tell the Peers of England, that unless their Lordships consented to that Bill, their Property would be destroyed, and their estates swallowed up. To accomplish this measure, the poor people of England were described as depredators, as persons wanting common honesty—their character was maligned, and the Bill was passed. It is also well know n that the Government —the party to which the Hon. and Learned Attorney-General belongs, has also for some time past been seeking to introduce an other innovation —to gain into their own h ands the whole control over th e police force of this countr y —to de p rive the inhabitants of the various towns and districts of any control over their own police, and to tran sfer it to a cen tral power i n London. And how have they sought to bring about this additional innovation ? In the same man ner as they accomplished the former, by maligning the character of the poor, and by endeavouring to excite the fears of men of property ; by inducing them to believe that there is a lawless combination amongst the poor that renders Property unsafe, lif e insecure, and which denounces assassinations and midnight burnings against the persons, mansions, and factories of the gentry, manufacturers, and employers in the land. All this has been done for the purpose of exciting a pro. Judice against me throuehout the country, and notwith standing the whispers I hear at my side, I contend that have a right te b r i tuese matters wader yaur notice, an 4 to draw the conchtsion, that if this agitation and opposition to the Poor-laNv bad not been going on , you would not have seen me in this place to.day. Gentlemen, you should recollect that in a factory district the labourers who are at work from s unr i se to sunset have no other opportunity of meeting than after their hours of labour. When are they to meet? Was it in the f ace of attempts not only contemplated, but executed, to deprive these people EVENING EDITION.__ society arise. Deprive the poor man of the opportunity I Mr. Stephens then applied to the Court for Permission of employment and earning his bread by attaching to it to have the use of writing materials. such pains and penalti es as render it morally impossible The ATTORNEY. GENERAL had no objection on the . part , for him to do so, an d y ou re d uce hi m to a state of of the Crown, as it was not his wish to make Mr. StepltAe be ns reckless desperation, d e sp a i r , an d revenge . You drive imprisonment more unpleasant or oppressive than cou him as an outcast beyond the pale of society, and I avoided. compel him to be a wanderer on the face of the earth— Mr. Stephens then withdrew in the custody of the you arm him against that property which otherwise it officers. would be his pleasure and pride, as it would be his religious The trial did not terminate till nearly nine o'clock. obligation and duty, to prohibit. Multiply that illustra- Mr. Blundell, who was tried for forgery on Sir Thomas tion until you have the general mass of the population Stanley and acquitted, was this day found guilty of. em existing under such circumstances. Place before your bezzlement and sentenced to fi.teen years' transportatton• mind's eye a population such as we unfortunately have at this day in England, according to all Parliamentary documents, official returns, and authentic records, unable to obtain a sufficiency ~ of food for the reasonable comforts of their families, and recollect that it is simply against this state of things that I have lifted my voice. That it is against the law which takes all power arid control out of the hands of Yourselves and your brother parishioners, and hands it over to three Commissioners, who, as Bacon has well observed have not power at all to declare the mind of the Queen. Blackstone says it is the law makes the King, and not the King the law; and I contend that the Lords and Commons of this empire have no right to transfer the power given them in trust for the people to three Commissioners to make rules and regulations to bind the subjects of this realm. Against that Act, which dissolves the marriage ,tie—which breaks up the homestead of the cottager—which compels him, when obliged to apply for a little temporary relief, to sell the whole of his pro perty and become the inmate tof a :workhouse, against this un-English and anti- Christian law—against this as an Englishman I am bound to protest, and as a Christian Minister lam bound to preach. The Attorney- General has told you that I sustain the office of a Christian Minister —I received this book (a Bible) some thirteen years ago at my ordination according to the formula of the Church of England, and it has been from that day my study to under. stand it aright—to represent its contents fairly arid impartially, and to see its doctrines promulgated and established. I defy any man to show one solitary instance in which I have said one word, or conducted one argu ment, that has not been fairly and faithfully drawn from the precepts and practices of this book. lam hound as a Christian minister to preach these doctrines, and therefore I am to be held guilty of having denounced oppression, injustice, and wrong. You are not to throw the shield of your verdict over that oppression and wrong. For doing this, and nothing more, I am charged in the in dictment with exciting discontent and disaffection in the minds of her Majesty's subjects. You have heard what my opinions are on these subjects, and especially on the right of the people to a maintenance out of the land. These are also the opinions of Black stone, of Paley, of Locke, Lord Coke, Puffendorf, Gro tius, and of the greatest and wisest men England has pro duced. Mr. Stephens here made several well known quo tations from the above and other authorities, on the nature of the social compact—the rights of the poor—the right of resistance to laws violating the law of nature and the fundamental principles of the law of God and nature, and contended that the new Poor Law, n those provisions for separating men from iheir wives and families, and compelling a breach of the marriage laws, under the only other alternative, that of starving, was to compel him by superior might to a breach of a superior law, and was within the category described by Locke as justifying resistance. The only questions of a political nature on which I have taken part are the Factory and the Poor.law questions, and on these I have spoken according to my conscience, to the word of God, and to the laws of the realm. As a Christian Mi nister I am bound to inculcate obedience to the law, and in spite of all that you have heard, I have inculcated it. Mr. Stephens then at considerable length, and with much eloquence, proceeded to contend that on the authority of Locke and others the Poor-law was not a law to command obedience, and that notwithstanding the fa vourable doctrine of the Whig party that Parliament was omnipotent, it was only omnipotent within the limits of the trust confided to it, and could make laws only, but not le gislators ; that the Poor-law Amendment Act made le gislators of the Commissioners, and that, therefore, ac cording to the opinions of the late Lord Eldon, of Lord Wynford, &c., it was an illegal and unconstitutional Act, which had not the authority of law. He also referred to the book published under the name of " Marcus," recom mending the destruction of all children of the poor above two in number, as soon as born, in order to prevent the increase of poverty, as a supplement to and carrying out of the Poor-law Amendment Act, and complained that the Atforney- General, as the vindicator of the law, had not pro secuted the author and publisher of this book, though both were well-known, and the attention of the Secretary of State had been especially called to it. If the Attorney- General had prosecuted the author of that book, then in deed he would appear as the vindicator of the laws, human and divine—then indeed would he have upheld its autho rity. But no. It suited better the purposes of the party to crush a man, whose persevering exertions have raised up something like a spirit of indignation at, and resistance to, this inhuman, unjust, and illegal Act. But he dared nut prosecute me for what is the real ground of complainst against me. He dared not place the question of the lega lity of that Act at issue; but by this species of trumped up charge, and by imputing to him opinions and motives which he never held, and by which he had never been in fluenced, sought to obtain that verdict which was to pre vent him from prosecuting that duty which the law of God, the old books of our law, the customs of our land, from the days of the Druids down to the present time ; and the greatest constitutional, moral, and legal authorities of this country alike asserted and inculcated. The Attorney-General has not prosecuted me in any of my recorded speeches or writings, but has taken the evi dence of witnesses no two of whom agree upon any one point. If I have recommended the use of arms in self-de fence, and that that had been made a charge against me, I could, show our law books, and even Lord J. Russell himself has done the same, and even stepped out of his way to make large promises of supplying the people with arms. If the meeting was of the alarming character which was ascribed to it, why had not some of the inhabitants of Ashton beyond these two families been called into the box ?—has there been any evidence that a single stone was thrown, or a stick brandished, or a blow struck ?—No ! And with regard to my observations, I contend that they were loyal and constitutional. If the Attorney-General had brought competent persons to state what I uttered, he never would have dared to prosecute me. The great char ter of our liberty is that justice shall not be sold or delayed. It has been delayed in my case, and I contend it has been sold. The power of the public purse, and of the public press, and of public opinion, is directed by the Go verment now in office against the humble individual now before you. You, gentlemen, have had a sample . of the reports of the alarm with which the public mind has been filled. It has been stated that armed masses were on their march to Chester to rescue the prisoner. You see the ground of alarm—you see who the quiet and peaceable subjects of her Majesty are, and you may learn from this the feeble foundation on which this prosecution has been raised. Gentlemen, judge of me as you would wish yourselves to be judged. If lam not to obtain justice here, where am Ito seek it ? I know that my character is in the hands of my prosecutor, Lord John Russell, and that he is in possession of information with respect to the burn ing of Jowctt's mill. which would convict the really guilty party. Why, then, has he not come here and rescued my character from the misrepresentations and calumny which has been heaped upon it through the agency of the Poor.law Commissioners ? I stand before you in my conscience and before God guiltless of every crime but that of hating what his book teaches me to . hate —speaking against nothing but what this book teaches me to denounce—guilty of no other crime than endeavouring to reconcile the differences between masters and men ; and, never since I became their minister have the dis tricts of Hyde, and Dunkinfield, and Ashton, and Sta ley-bridge, since their first stone was laid, have the disputes betweon masters and men been less frequent. Can you, Gentlemen, pronounce a verdict of guilty upon an innocent man, who has endeavoured at no inconsider able cost, to promote peace and good will, and which has cost me pretty nearly everything but my life. lam now a poor, broken, emaciated man, as compared with what Iwas five years ago, when, unconnected as I still am with any political party, I had forced upon me the condition of the factory labourers, and then, not intentionally, the condition of the poor as it was affected by the new Poor-law. It is only in connexion with these two questions that I have ever had any 4 thing to do; I am guiltless of any thing else, so help me God. Whatever your verdict may be, I have not attempted, by any eloquence or talent (for I do not possess them) to excite your passions, or raise your sympathies on my behalf If I had any favour to ask, it was a postponement of my trial. If I had not been guilt less I should have no occasion to big here. I might have walked away until the next Assizes, when there would be something like a calm and tranquillity in the country, as there was at the time of my arrest, and as there was at the last assizes when I ought to have been tried. Put all these circumstances together, look at them:singly, and then look at them in their concentrated impression, as they may strike your unsophisticated and unbiassed judgment, your loyal principles, your Christian emotions, as Eng lishmen and Christians, as men who fear God and honour the Queen, and all in authority below her and above us ; take a general view of their character and bearing, and then on your consciences, and before this Court, say whether I am guilty or not guilty of this charge. There was a burst of applause as the Rev. Gentleman concluded his address, which was instantly checked by the officers of the Court. THE MARKETS,(YESTERDA KET, AUGUST 16. . d. Walls !end Hetton ........ .. 0 / ~ Walls End Lainbton .......... 2 3 ' Walls End Vrn ebert.,n ...... 90 Walla End Stewart's ......... 0 ?, Wails .• nd Whitwell ......... `2 2 " Walls End Kelloe ............. 2'3 3 Walls End Adel. ide .......... St Walls End Bai rett . ........... 22 v Writs End Coundon .......... 22 0 21 9 W Ils End Gordon ......... ... Nabs End South Durham.. 'll 9 Walls End Tees ............... .. S' 2 Walls End Victoria Tees .... , " ißlythe .. ........ . ................... 111 g Bapton ........................... IS 0 rn El,icar .............................. IS 0 . 0 Hartley ............................ 20 ast market-diy, 40. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, in reply, after adverting to the liberty which had been allowed to Mr. Stephens in his defence, which would not have been granted to a gentle man of the bar, reprobated the language used toward him self, but more particularly towards a dignitary of the Church, the Bishop of London, whom the defendant had described as a robber of the poor—as an episcopal de vourer of widow's houses—as a wolf in sheep's clothing_. and as a blasphemer of the God whose representative he impiously pretended to be. He then answered the ob jections to the mode of indictment, and to the statements made about the Poor.law, which, he said, had as much reference to the present question as to any subject on political economy, and contended that notwithstanding all the evasions and denials of the defendant, all the state ments which he had made in his opening speech had b een fully proved by the witnesses, The Jury, therefore, had to found their verdict on the evidence that had been laid before them, and the oaths of the witnesses. If they were satisfied with tl'o evidence, they would not, he trusted, hesitate to pronounce a verdict of guilty. If, indeed, Mr. Stephens was guilty—if he had so debased himself and the high character he filled--if he had so far forgotten his duty to his God and his Sovereign, he (the " General) thou ght there would be littl7 o h il "" ne Y" t tattle " c punishment Wo uid a d with him, and that his enter tary warning a n d example, operate as a WOO. salt' and have a most powerful theeOt in restoring t ranqu i llity, and respect for the lu o country. The LEARNS!? ham then proceeded to sum up, and the Jury, after delib erat i ng for a few minutes, returned a verdict of Guilty. The LIMINEU JUDEIE then, after complimenting the de fendant on the talent and ability with which he had con ducted his defence, and regretting the duty which the law imposed upon him, sentenced the Rev. Gentleman to eighteen months' imprisonment in the gaol of Knutsferd. COAL MAR s. d Puddle's West Hartley 0 6 Hebburn Main . Holy well Main 2O 9 Leazei Main Pontop Windsor Picton l7 Wylam. Walls End Brown's .... Walls End Clarke and Co l9 0 Walls End Hetton Walls End Hotspur Walls End Killingworth V Walls End Newmarch ..... 21 0 Walls End Riddell's . "1 9 Walls End Belmont Walls Endßraddyll'sHetton 23 3 Wal!s End Haswell -hips arrived since I (Front the London New Price Current SUGAR -The accounts received from the West Indies this week, not being so favourable as those previously come. to hand regarding the conduct of the Negroes, have caused most of the importers of British Plantation Sugar to re fuse August 16.) fuse to sell it, except at rather higher prices ; brown, lose middling yellow and grey qualities, which have bee most in request, have bronght an advance on previous t quotations of 6d per cwt ; brown Demerara at 63s o 63s 6d, St. Vincents of the same colour but of quality 643, and Jamaica and Antigua middling to fine middling yellow 65s to 67s 6d ; at auction 100 bhds Bar badoes fetched 65s to 69s for middling to fine quality. , REFINED.-The home trade have purchased freely of Refined goods, particularly of brown and standard lumps, for which rather higher prices have been obtained; sales in the former have been made at 82s, and in the latter at 83s to 833 6d. In goods the production of Foreign Sugar there has been more business doing for export, and several parcels of crushed have been sold at 34s 6d ; 101bs. Hamburg better Loaves were disposed of at 41s to 425, and Tittlers at 36s to 375. MAURITIUS.-Buyers have come forward more freely , and very full prices have been paid; at auction, 5,263 bags , principally of bright grocery sorts, sold freely, the lower descriptions went 6d dearer, good and fine yellow sorts maintained their former currency ; low middling yellow fetched 63s to 645, middling 64s 6d to 655, good middling 65s to 65s 6d, good 66s to 66a 6d, fine 67s to 67s 6d, and good middling bright greyish 65s 6d per cwt. This afternoon 4,487 bags at public sale were principal l Y sold at previous rates, fine yellow brought 67s to 678 6d: good 66s to 66d 6d, mid and good mid 64s to 655, low mid 63s 6d, good mid grey 63s 6d to 645, and fine brown 6 25 to 63s per cwt. EAST INDIA.-Bengal has been more sought after! and a fair business has been transacted by private con. tract to supply the wants of the home trade , and rather higher prices have been obtained ; 994 bags at public sale sold readily, establishing an advance on previous rates of 6d per cwt; middling to good middling white fetched 65s 6d to 675, good and fine 68s a 68s 6d, fine dry a grey 65s 6d a 66s 6d, good brown 63s 6d, damps 6 _ 3 % 675, and washed 63s to 65s 6d. Manilla, is to is 6d an the rates of last week • mid. yel. grey 21s 6d to 22s 6d. fine, brown 22s to 22s 6d, damps 21s 6d to 225, 21s, the bulk, however, were of sound quality, and brough t 225. Siam sells more freely, and 901 bags at auction brought full prices, and found ready buyers ; middling yellowish yellowish strong white selling at 26s 6d to 275, 1 2" yellowish white 25s 6d to 265, good middling white Vs 6d, good middling yellow 25s to 25s 6d, fine grey arid washed 20str damps 25s to 26s 6d, and washed 24s to 265. FORRIGN.-The market h as a lt oge th er assumed a more lively appearance. White Havannah at 36s for old ord soft, and 38s a 42s for mid to fine new, 27s has been offered for a cargo of yellow. MOLASSES.-A limited demand for West India; St. Vincents at 33s 6d, fine Barbadoes 365, Dominica 365. good and fine Antigua 35s to 365, and St. Vincents, toe_ remainder of those bought in at p u bli c sa l e on Tuesday, at 33s 6d per cwt. COFFEE.-West India fine fine ordinary sold rather dearer and fetched 115 s, goo d m iddli ng was t a ken in at I 33s to 1455, and low middling and middling 117 s to 1 255 ; Java good ordinary pale fetching 84s, and fine 85 5 eu ' Mocha at 110 s for common green. Ceylon of good ord quality at 103 s to 103 s 6d : 161 bags greenish, rather musty, at auction were taken in at 102 s. TEA.-At the close of last and as the commencement of the present week there was a brisk demand for all kinds 0 ' Tea, and prices rather above those of the sale which cow; eluded on Friday were obtained, but during the last few days there has not been much business doing, exceptin i n common Cougou and Twankay, which are in good roilie st ' the former at Is 5d and the l a tt er at is 8 1d per lb • u°,,,ra:. pany's Congou sells steadily a t i s 7d to is 7 id per lb. F o r aution on the 26th 15,000 packages are declared, the principal part Congou. Rust, BRANDY, AND HOLLANDS.-The demand for both Jamaica and Leewards has been limited, but importers continue to hold for full prices ; the total purchases hav e been 300 puns, 200 consisted of Jamaica, which have brought 6s Id to 6s 2d for 32 to 34 p er cen t over proo f, and 35 to 37 over 6s 3d to as 5d ; the remainder were Leewards proofs to 6 over at 3s 7d to 3s 9d • fine qualities o f the former are scarce : 90 hhds East India 12 over have been sold at 3s 10d. Brandy-no improvement in prices has taken place. Geneva-prices remain firm. British Core Spirits at 108 2d per gallon. TALLOW.-In the early part of the week, 400 casks new P. Y. C. readily brought 52s 3d to 52s 9d for fine quality, principally at 52s 6d ; subsequently it cannot be bought under 52s 6d per cwt. For arrival in the latter part of t'o's year the prices asked are 48s 6d to 48s 9d per cwt. OILS.-For Fish Oils prices are well supported. 10 Linseed Oil no alteration has taken place. Rap.: oil at 36s 6d for pale, and 36s for brown. PRICE OF The highest price of Bread in th Loat. Good Bread may be had at 8 _ _ PRICES OF BREAD. le Metropolis . 4 g 10d . fee the 41b F SEEDS. Per Cwt_ New English Red Clover...7os. 90s. Old Ditto Ditto -5 -S New Foreign Ditto 6os. 70s. 805, Old Ditto Ditto —s. --s. New White Clover sos. 655. 70s. Old Ditto Ditto New Trefoil --s. 17s. 90s. Old Ditto —e. 12s. Trefolium --8. English Carraway —s. 485. 523. Foreign Ditto —s. 465. 50s Coriander —s 10s. 255 Rapeseed, English One (per Ls PRICES OF POTATOE York Reds (from vessel) ......... Scotch Reds ditto .................. PRICES OF Per lb. d. to d Crop H ides,3,' to 40113. each 11 131 ----40 50 l2 16 6 0—" l3 18 B- ull Hides Butts, V triol - Engl sh ...... . - Foreign oreign Hides Dressing Hides ... ... 11 14 ---. —Shaved... 13 17 Best Saddlers' Hides.... 15 16i Horse Hides, English ... 11 Is Calf Skins, if rounded IC Rapeoll,brown, p er ton, 351 R 100 E —ll Linseed Oh Cake at the Mill (1C06) PRICE OF TALLOW Town Tallow sss Od. Yellow Russia s4s. ed. White 4 Soap Ditto ... Melting Stuff' D.tto Rough .. 26s. ed. PRICE CP RAW FAT, per stone of 81 • Price of Tallow (as s t a t e d b y the Tallow Melters) 3s. id. PRICE OF CANDL ES. The psice of good Store Canoies in th e R eta il Shops i s as follows Candles, per dozen, Ss. ; inferior, 7a. Ocl. ; Moulds, Os. 64 Sixpence per doze. discount for cash. A Per quarter. , St. coin • —s --s '" n ' --s 40 3 . 445 , !lye OrAu P.Acey Grass __,,, —.L." '' Lpiirtitso foreied. for feeding ...... —s. 5 . 455. 4 bt b 2 ,, ,,'' Ditto, for crushing —.s. 425. 46 5 ' Canary —.B SOs. 85s. Hemp --s 335. 40 , • Per Bushel White Mustard...los N. lOs. od' Brown Ditto l 7s. Od, 21s. O.' Tares ss. 3d. to• 9 •! 60321. 34/ Foreign 281. 51 ' S AT SPITALFIELDS. • N. Os. to 51 Os. per ton. 21. Os. to Si. Os. ditt• - --- 'LEATHER. - Per lb. cl. to e .a . Horse Hides, Cennan .„ 12 `I: ----- Spanis 02 h 13 2 Calf Skins,3o to 401 h (dos) 15 „i -----40 ..:,0 • IS z -___tt 60 ... 2l ;29 1 & V ---.-- 79 100 Seal Stins, large... 1 ---- ---- mill-- 20 ,t, Kips . ... small . .• . ..... Basils.. .. ... ....... - - 7 gi Bellies Shouli era 2d to 4d per lb. more. . . OF OIL. lefined,37/.es.—T inseedcill,r,6l. l 2 l , ), 121. Inc—Rave Cake, per te,n, , SOAP, &c. per Yeti w Soap_ a ed. . ...... Mottled Curd—a. ;Graves . rood Dreg,' ss. ed. _ meeting was held on Tuesday of the New castle Banking Company, attended by a great number of proprietors, at which a most favourable report was pre.. duced. The net profits of the bank for the last half-} ear amounted to per cent. per annum on the paid-up capi tal, and the premiums received at the sale of shares during the same period amounted to 2 per cent, more, making tog.• hr upwards of 131. per cent.. out of which 8 Per cent. was agreed to be divided, and the surplus carried to the reserved fund.--Newcastle Chronicle. GOLD SIGNET RINGS.—A great Variety of these Useful and Fashionable RINGS, are kept for &loc' tion, with Cornelian, Amethyst, Topaz, and other Real Stones, suitable for eng rav i ng . Armorial bearings may b• referred to, or found, gratis, and can be engraved by an Artist of great talent, at T. COX SAVORY'S, Gold smith, Silversmith, and Watchmaker, 47, Cornhill, London (Seven Doors from Gracechurch-street). FLAT GOLD WATCHES, NINE GUINEA 3 EACH.—Some fine horizontal flat Gold Waistcoat Watches, jewelled in four holes, silver dials, hand to mark the second*, and double-back to the cases, warranted to perform c"' rectly, Nine Guineas each ; or with gold dials, Ten GaiiAso each, A. B. SAVOR and Watchmakers, N o . 9 , Co rnhill,Y Lond SON on, op S, posite the Ba nk of England. BIRTHS. On the sth inst., at Boulogne-Sur-Mer, of a daught er . Mrs. Henry W° °(l, On the 9th inst., at Portsmouth, the lady of Captain Charles Garrett, 9th Regiment Bengal Cavalry a son. On the 11th i nst., at the Grove, Warfi e ld, Berks, the lady the Rev. C. J. Furlong, of a son. John pr On the 13th inst., at Delvediere, F r a n t, Sussex, the lady' of Yee, Esq., of a son. On the 14th inst., Mrs. E. Smallwood, of Chester -r i dece , Regent's -park, of a son. MA R R IED. On the Bth i nst., at Pitmedeon Dyee, Aherderoshire, Mr* W. Aiken, to Jane, eldest daughter of the late Alexander Gig), Esq., of the Medical Board, Calcutta. On the 13th inst., in Fulham Church, George Bramwell, Esq., Paper- buildings, Temple, to Mary Sparke, second &ne e ! . of the l a t e R ev . Francis Hol,gerford Daubeney, Rector of .1 31 well, Norfolk, and ofiT•ydd St. Giles's, Cambridgeshire. es On the 14th inst., at St. John's, Hackney, the Rev. AT Stephens, I\l. A. , Rector of Chesham Bois, Buckinghams hire, to Chae,,Tta, eldest daughter of Alexander Goudge, Esq" of Clapton. DIED. On the 26th ult., at Paris, Catherine, wife of S. N. MAY' Esq., formerly Judge of the Supreme Court at the Island of Mauritius. On the 7th inst., at Spa, Eliza Clarke Rowe, only retnejui n g child of the late Rev. John Rowe, of Bristol. On the 13th inst., at Stockgrove, Buckinghamshire. Sa rah ' wife of Joseph Denison, Esq. London : Printed and Published by 111URDO YOUNG' : ° f No. 112, Strand , at The Suit Offite, No. 112, „ the county of Middlesex. — FAttirday, August 17, 1t,39. A .~