The National Register.
London, England, 1818-05-24 00:00:00

IMPRISONMENT FOR LL F 1;

fluelvnaer said, that to the ease to Whie:l he wished to
call the attention of U..' I ionsedie bad given usecii considera-
tion by instituting nu inquiry into it. it had miens:Heil from
ciree.Lu letter of the :tilde Secretary of the Home Depart
silent, whose memory would nut soon be forgotten. This let
ter was sent in February Ibl7, and in the CAIRO mouth, two
persons; Jonathan Mellor, amid S Yellieg. of Warrington,
were apprehended and their houses searched, lender pretence of their
having vended libellous publications, of which infamous productions
none entertained more horror than he did. They were brought before
the Magistrates, and were ordered to find hail by giving personal se-
curity in the sum-of 1001. Ind two others is: the stun of SOL each, in
default of which they were transmitted to gaol, confined among
felon:, and conderrined to hard labour. If these men had been the
manners of thew publications, they could. not merle= more severe
treatment, for evert the Court of king'. Bench could Lot inflict more
severe punishment. The plea alleged was, that tha gaol was crowded,
hut the crowded gaol did tat oblige their mingling soicly with felons,
their being allow al but feler.s' tare: For these farts, he had the
gaoler's statement, to whem'mo blame could be attributed. Bat the
two Magistrates were not equally blameless. Had the individuals
been tried, the result might have been the same as in the nee of Mr.
Hone. After ace:elm:mere of four I..ontlis, they had been rerneved
in an open car, along with felons, ar.d ire Seateriter, were discluvrgetl,
upon pe.sonal eecutity, as a change of 4 system had taken place. lie
should next advert to the ease of It. Swindells of MaceclesSeld. On
the 10th of March, t 817, at 1e o'clock at night, several people came
to she dcor of his house ar.d demanded admittance. The door being
opened, they rushed in, and asked fur certain persons, who were not
there. They then broke some trunks, and otherwise did considerable
mischief. His wife was then advanced in her pregnancy ; she was
delivered of a child :man the 26th of April, and died upon the 28tli
of the same month. The child also died a short time afterwards.—
Swindells himself had been committed tr. custody for want of hail,
and in the course of five weeks had been liberated witl.out trial. The
man had served for 11 year?: on board the fled, and had always
borne a good character. Ile trusted the House would not allow such
proceedings to pass over without inquiry. The Honourable Member
concluded by snoring, that a Scleat Committee be appointed to inquire
into the Petitions old. B. Mellor and S. Pilling of Warrington, and
It. Swindells, of Macclesfield; the two termer of whom had been
taken into custody on the ad and the last on the 10th of March 1817.
Mr. DAVENPORT observed, that the statement as to the case of
Swindells, was in many respects erroneous. The Hon. Member then
teed a letter; which he had received on the subject, from a Magistrate
of Macclesfield. The letter stated, that on the night in question, a
large party bed set out front Manchester, and had arrived at Maccles-
field, in consequence of which the town was in a state of great con-
fusion and alarm, and the cavalry had been ordered to parade the
streets. Inhumation had been given, that a party was asaenibled at
Swindells, and four of the Magistrates repaired to the piece. No
person had been found there, nor was he himself taken into custody.
His wife went the next day to work as usual, at a manutlictory where
• she was employed, and continued to do so for many weeks.
Mr. BLACKBURN E stated, that no cruelty had bean exercised in
the case of Mellor and Pilling: they had been sent to the workhouse
in an open cart, and secured by a amallthaln. and there was number
way of doing so:
The ATTORNEV•GENERAL contended, that the prosetutions of
the individuals alluded to had been conducted with the greatest
possible lenity, and the men had been discharged on their own re.
cognizance. They had published libels, and had been committed at
the Quarter Sessions. The bill was found, and had the men been at
large, they would have been liable to have been apprehended. But
lie thought it better that a case of that description should be deter-
mined by the Judges, and he accordingly removed it by a writ of
certiorari into the Court of King's Bench. He had not, as lie
had a right to do, kept the individuals in custody, but gave orders
that they should be discharged upon entering into rccognizances, to
appear and plead on the first day of next Term in the Court of
King's Bench. They made their appearance and . were did-
'elitarged, the came recognizancea being taken for their type:a-
ttic when called upon. If any proseentMn at all was to be com-
menced, could lie have done less? As to their commitment,
she Magistrates had a right, by two Statutes, to commit to the House
of Corrective' persons charged with offimcca, and it was usual so to
commit, rand not to the common gaols; and by two other Statutes the
Magistrates he.d been empowered to eoinmit, not only to the nearest
plotter of Correction, but to the House of Correction fur the County.

Sir S. H 4: Si ILLY said the Ho.nouralde and Learned Gentleman
who hut jast sat down, was mistaken in supposing that this was
a question ret.elchno, his einnhict particularly. It was such
thing; for he believed tiler the malt (Swindells) had bees impri-
soned, the treatment he received could not be imputed in any man-
ner as a fault to the Attorney :;cneral. As fa-, thereMre. as related
to him he gave him credit fits his hunhtMty ; but he should observe
by the way, th,lt he sow no ntr:essity for one proceeding—the re-
moval of the trial by :erti9rar;; though even upon that subjea he
had no doubt that the Honourable and Learned Gentleman would
he tide to give c satisfactory explanation. But what he bad to oh-
,iecttoo, and which made .nra think this etvoition nrost important
was, the Irett!hog of men with irons who hafbeen charged only with
a political libel. 'Chia cows a thing so atrocious in itseh, LILA he tea::
eertaio, if me•dioavl a few years back, it would not have been be- ,
lieved. unit were not indicted for a felony, they were only
charged with a pelitissi libel, and though he did not go the length id'
some Members in saying that thesel.hets were blasphemous, yet he
still highly disapromved of them and their tendency. He ten sur-
prised that his I and I,e,..med Friend (the Attorney General),
who had in his earl/ days held such liberal opinions of the liberty of
the press--opinions which, he had no doubt, he still held, he sail lie
was surprised that he could for a moment tjoink it justifiable to have
men sent in irons not only to prison, bra to le cxamiued before the
itflgistrate, and from thence sent back to a prison in an open cart
still filtered. This was what he complained of. that men, for such a
chlrge, should be treated es the comniorest felrns. But besides
the injuries already nLard, there was another, upon which lawyers
(however moth they might differ at different sides of the }louse
t p hit other snniects) would he fully agreed, namely, the usurpation
of the right of searching for papers, in the house of a person only
charged with libel. The Honourable and Learned Gentleman then
went on. contending that, necordiag to the received principles of the
law. no man's house might to have bean searched under such eir-
cumstancas as those of the petitioners. It was also, in his opaion.
contrary to legal practice, to oblige any person committed for trial, to
any noose of Correction, to endure hard labour.
Mr. It. Ilaertuits-r comentled, that the statement of the Peti-
tioners was highly exaggerated. lie would not say, that the search
for papers was justifiable, but did it follow that becouse that was
wrong, that therethre the whole of the proceedings respecting them
was unjust? The Right. 'lmmutable Gentleman then proceeded to
slew. that from the whole of what had amicarcd, th re was nothing
proved which could require a Parliamentary investigation].
Mr. LOCKHART observed, that he was fully satisfied with the ex-
o.
planation of the Attorney General, as far as he was concerned, but

4 • It

at she tante time he thought, that the eircurnstaace of persons .
put in irons merely on a suspicion of a crime, required wise iutau
:Mr. Brx:err replied It sortie length, observing, that this w•a.a
the last tqpurttinity they would have of giving their opinions, or of
offering a check to such conduct as that which hod been detailed to
the

The House then divided—For the MotioA 17—Against 73—Ma .
mit), Sti—Ntijuut ma.

Enimty.
DUTIES ON flocK S %LT.

Mr. CALCRAFT rose to move fur leave to bring in a NH, to lower
the duties on Rook Salt, as applied to agricultural pilepw.ege He
stated, that he believed the Commute,' had no objection to this Bill,
although the Members of it had taken other points of great inon:ent
into consideration, which the late period of the Session would, he
feared, prevent them from bringing benne the Honk. By the prvFalt
Bill it was inttuded to lower the Unties on Rock Solt from tel. prr
ton, which had last year been arranged as the duty, 31. Ile tl-.e?e-
fore moved that the !louse should go into a Committer., to take into
consideration the Act of toe 57th of his present Majesty.
Mr. Wat.f.tcr. fully concurred with the Motion of the llono.:r-
-able Member. The House went into a Committee,. and lee f• 14:411
granted to bring in the Bill.