The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-03 00:00:00

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magistrate was not to be trusted, or as if the magistrates
in this court were not as competent to deal with tie
charges as any magistrate in the metropolis. The previa
was no trifling matter, and the deep ignorance exhiliiird
that day would hardly induce the public to give credit to
the police for haying conducted themselves prop rly
during the occurrences of Sunday. ,He would prove, ea-
Fording to his instfuctions, that the police had interfered
Improperly in the case of the boy now charged. fie
would prove that what took place on the part of the
people was not calculated to create terror, but that it •
was owing to the insulting manner of the police, that
any violence or disorder took place. No magistrate was
ever placed in a more important position than the magis-
trate he t.va.s then addressing was at that moment.
A great national calamity had occurred, owing to the
i nproper exi rcise of authority. It would be wise if
tho;'e in power Profited by what had occurred and put
an and t, discontent by concession. The masses re-
quired iadub!ei2ce, the masses underwent great sacrifices
and great harctsliips, and the least Government could
do was t ) make allowances for
excitement, and not to
oppress them by interfering with their pleasures and.
comforts. The struggles and the disorder that had oc-
curred were solely ()King to the stupidity of those who
wished to int-rfere with the poor man's enjoyments. He
was anxious for the well-being of the people, and that
outrages should not occur, and he therefore asked the
favourable attention of the Court to the cases about to
be brought before it. There was hardly a person in
Hyde Park on Sunday who had not either a friend or a
relation shedding his blood elsewhere for their country.
It ought to be the duty of those in station and autho-
rity to conciliate that class, for it was by that class the
country was principally protected and maintained. The
present was not a time to make that class believe that
the upper classes, for whom they suffered so much,
were their enetritr. He wished those who assembled in .
Hyde-park to understand clearly that neither the middle
nor the upper classes were parties to the injuries inflict'
on them. He believed in the upper ranks of society
there was but one opinion entertained of the folly and
the scandal of the proceedings that had called forth the
recent public dertionatrations: He hoped the offence
that .had occurred would be leniently dealt with. He
hoped the youth at the bar would not be subjected to
fine, or sent home to his friends and family disgraced.
He hoped the Court would, by its wise d:ccision, let the
people know that the law would be dispensed leniently
and in a spirit of conciliation. The public peace would
bo kept unbroken, and it would then be for our
rulers to see the expediency of- withriraw:ng the ob-
noxious bill. Let the people feel that the poor man's
errors were dealt with leniently ar d kindly, and he
therefore addressed the magistrate on the bench
—one of the oldest magistrates—a magistrate whom
he had known for years and respected—he might
even use a warmer term—and whose opinions on
this matter he believed he knew—with the view of call-
ing his attention to the importance of so adenini -ter;nz
the law that it should have a good effect not only on
the defendants, but on the country.
Mr. Hardwick said, he would adjourn his decision
until more of the evidence was brought before him. If
the case was a mere isolated case of stone throwing, he
should not be disposed to deal with it otherwise than
leniently ; but, if it turned out that the case was of a
riotous character, it would require severe treatment.
Mr. Clarkson said he was instructed by Mr. Reynolds,
on the part of the Government, to say that all persons
who had not been engaged in committing an act of vio-
lence, and now in custody, might be set at liberty.
Mr. Ballantine thought that all parties might he re-
leased on their own recognisance to appear on a future
day.

Mr. Hardwick could not agree to that.
Mr. Francis Henry Mair was then'put to the bar.
From the evidence of A 370, it appeared that Mr.
Mair was close to the railings at a time when the police
were ordered to clear the people from them ; that Mr.
Mair called out to the people tot t 3 go back ; that wit-
ness told him he was obeying orders ; that Mr. Mair
replied " - your orders, I shall not go back ;" that
a crowd was collecting about them, that he went round
the railings to take Mr. Mair into custody ; that Mr.
Mair put up his stick, that he struck the stick down,
that he received a push from.the stick. that he took Mr.
Mair into custody, and that Mr. Mair said to him he
was sorry for having assaulted him, as he did not mean
to do so. D.d not strike Mr. Mair with his truncheon.
Constable A 337, heard Mr. Mair Fay be did not like
to be mixed up with such a lot of " roughs," and that
he was sorry he had assaulted the police. The defendant
said that on Sunday, and repeated it to-day.
Mr. Balla,utine said, the defendant was a highly
respectable gentleman, a clerical agent, and editor
of a periodical. He was elderly a•nd ailing, and
had been treated with great brutality by the police.
He should prove that the police rushed among
the people with their truncheons, striking old
and young, men, women, and children. He should,
after the evidence, ask the Court to dismiss the charge,
and to place the constables making it at the bar for per.
jury.

- A. gentleman named Bruce said he saw the defendant
dragged away by several policemen. The defendant was
doing nothing, and be believed saying nothing, though
he was too far off to hear the defendant had he spoken.
The police acted with the greatest brutality, sparing
neither man, woman, nor child. Did not see the de-
fendant commit any assault. The defendant only held
up his stick to guard himself from blows.
Mr. Hay thought the police behaved very roughly.
The defendant denied the assault and the admission of
the assault to the police.
Mr. Hardwick would only require the defendant to
enter into his own recognisance.
Mr. Ballantine wished to know if the charge against
the policeman would be taken.
Mr. Hardwick said, not then ; and, as it was past six
o'clock, adjourned the proceedings till this day.

THE EXCAVATIONS AT FOUNTAINS
ABBEY.

It will be remembered that the excavations at Foun-
tains Abbey terminated last year, a few feet down the
north exterior wall of the nave of the church. The ope-
rations were resumed as soon as the winter of 1854.5
set in, and an extensive staff of workmen have been
employed from November last up to the present time in
clearing the whole of the soil (in many parts from 7
to 12 feet deep) from the north face of the base of
the Abbey, viz :—the nave, the great tower and tran-
sept, the choir, and the nine altars' chapel. This has
been one of the heaviest jobs yet accomplished. As
was anticipated very few curiosities or relics have been
discovered ; but the wonderfully fine effect gained must
be seen to be appreciated ; and visitants now gaze in
astonishment again and again on the immense im-
provement achieved, and marvel how the beautiful and
natural slope from the Abbey to the rocks has
been attained so beautiful, so natural, and so
green has that space become which was so recently
blurred with railway waggons, rails, picks, spades, and
navvy-barrows. From the face of the rocks—whence
the monks quarried the Stine for the building—a quan-
tity of rohbish has also been removed. By order of
Lord de Gre-, too, an angle of the beautiful Galilee, or
western porch of the nave, discovered in 1853-4, has
been restored. The whole of the materials were tumbled
in a heap, and so easily put together that his lordship
considered that he was fully authorsed in venturing on
this' slight restoration. The Galilee at fountains has
been a very curious and interesting appendage to the
nave ; and the present restoration is a good sample of
this open arcade work, which the recent excavations
ha ,e proved has been somewhat ext nsively u-ed in and
about the muna-tery. When the workmen reached the
tower it was discovered that its foundatian was on a level
two or three feet higher than that of the rest of the
church. This tower—now known as the work of Abbot
Ruby—was in building abut the year 1500 and after-
wards, and the soil that had been gradually accumu-
lating for the previous four hundred years around the
base of the abbey church, was no doubt the cause of the
hi.'her level being adopted. In taking out the earth
from the east base of the Tower it was discovered that a
building of the decorated period had f, senerly been at-
tached to the north face of the Norman transept. Its
wthied ttho
w e r occupiesbetw eneena
tl s
bt hu et t Free
sms ee
se;p aacnedaist
haste
se
hadb eaad tdh of
o or
to the east. It is built of that peculiar fine limestonetthe
a
found on the Markenfield and Morkar estates, and
springers of the groining ribs, yet remaining
the
angles, show that it has been of no great
. height ; and
that, if it has not been a low porch running
breadth of the north transept, it may have been
i
n
-
in
the whole
a necessary appendage occasioned by. t_ti
e ingwre
great
thehichit
crease of chantry chapels in th
was erected. A little examination Beneath
sur-
face of the Tower floor would uldtehrpoewrlod more light on
termination of the
the subject, and also show whether Mr. Sharpee
conjectured plan of the Norman
tran-
sept is or is not correct. Placed againstthe outside wall
so
ef
vtehr
ae
In
fio
nr tehc enden
tr
eosf
ot hnf eog
rCdo
obi
nua
ipbnteg,l
ribs,toof
tt hhoeef
dineeEe
aaAirslllytea-sEr son
fwg
ltei
hsr
he
period, most of them cut int e
,Pniaciewedunknown occurrence had pre-
he
girneya mroawrb,,l,eready
ifdodrerrei
vented.nchaool vei dale,
nwdThlbbi nceeyhltouwnsrgonemirinnegeg up the soil in the course of the ex-
cavations several fragments of sculptured caps, bite of
swtoirindesowsvinerualifioonusn'd. Some had been thrown away on
broke ep or
portions
osnpso
oi lft
thweh ibl
us ti
dciuntgt i
that;
t;
hadand
down to make way for more fashionable
sbgat:cylecnlnoeeushupoaturllnedecessary alterations. *There were some bits
that had unquestionably belonged to the older gables of
the nine-altar chapels, now occupied by Abbot Darnton's
inserted perpendicular windows. There are also some
fragments of the Norman period very curious, and al-
most unique. In concluding this short notice of the
year's excavations at Fountains, we cannot too highly
praise the great liberality and spirit of the noble pro-
prietor, or the skill and energy displayed by his lord-
ship's agents in fully carrying out his wishes and instruc-
tions. The ignorant clods of the valley that daily pass
the remains of this great work of great souls long since
called to their final reward, and see "nowt bud an awd
Habba'," may be insensible to the improvements created
before their eyes, and acknowledge nothing but the visible
and tangible benefit that arises from the extensive employ-
ment of labour; but there are hundreds of gallant
hearts and gentle and refined spirits who will read this
inadequate account with eager interest—many now far
away in the powder-scorched and blood-stained fields of
the Crimea ; many in happy homes in the great forests
and by the giant streams of the far-west ; in the golden-
strewed land of Australia ; amidst the burning sands of
Egypt ; under the waving palms and in the beauteous
climes of the islands of the sea—many, we say, to whom
the remembrance of a sight of the "mighty carcase of
Fountains," "standing on its little green," is a pleasant,
and a holy, and an ever-oherinhed picture.