The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-15 00:00:00

swear by the God of Heaven never to cease to agitate
till the people had their rights. I heard Davis exhort
the people to go to the Church the following morning
to meet the Rector, but that it would be the last time.
The Church was the people's, and they ought to have
it. They spoke from a cart, which was made into a
sort of platform. On the following day (Sunday), I
went to the Church, and there was a great concourse of
people there. I saw Mitchell and Davis among them.
They were mostly persons whom I have seldom seen
there before, and principally those who attended the
meetings of the Chartists. They went into the pews
which were at the time empty, to the exclusion of the
rightful owners.
Cross-examined by Mr. COTTINGIIAM, on behalf cf
Mitchell.-1 have known Mitchell three or four years.
He kept a small shop for the sale of books, &c., before
he became a beer-house keeper. In the house I found
a sign, on which was the words, "J. Mitchell, agent for
George Thompson, pistol, gun, &c. manufacturer, Bir-
mingham." There arc many similar agents in Stock-
port. It is quite a common sign. The fowling-piece is
very highly ornamented ; wcrth, perhaps, two or three
pounds. He made no hesitation when I asked him for
arms, but took me up stairs and showed me the case.
I took notes of what was said at the meeting, after I
left the meeting, but they have been mislaid. Mitchell
said since Lord John Russell's letter his opinion was
altered, and he now thought every body had a right to
carry arms. He said his opinion had been altered in
consequence of the letter. I saw that letter in the
newspaper, and I think I saw it frequently at Mr. Cop-
pock's office in Stockport. With the exception of one
man, there was the usual regularity and decorum in the
Church, on the following Sunday.
Wn,. Walker—l am one of the Stockport police. I
accompanied the last witness to Mitchell's house on the
20th of July. I found two pike heads there, and two
books (Col. Maceroni's instructions). I found the pike
heads in the cellar.
Abraham Longson, of the Stockport police—l ac-
companied the last witness to Mitchell's. I found two
letters in a tea canister. (One was a letter to Mitchell
remitted to Birmingham ; the other related to the
price of different descriptions of arms, and was signed
" J. Broadley, jun.")
James Hammond, another policeman, proved the
finding of several documents in the top room of
Mitchell's house.
William Huff, a constable of Stockport—l went to
the premises of the prisoner Davis on the 31st of July
last, at half-past two in the morning. He is a spinner,
but has not attended his trade of late. He has been
employed at Chartist meetings, sometimes as speaker
and sometimes as chairman. I found in his house a
pistol, a bullet mould, and a number of documents.
Oae of the printed papers found by the witness was
then read. It was an advertisement from G. Thomp-
son, announcing his having taken a house at Ashton,
for the supply of guns, pistols, &c. on the most reasonable
terms. Another manuscript paper detailed the numbers
armed at Staleybridge, ready to stand in defence of
Stephens and the Convention. Another stated that
at Ashton there were 900 ready for physical force, and
mentioned the numbers in other districts. A fourth was
a letter from Geo. Thompson to Mitchell stating that he
would shortly be at Stockport to explain matters. The
fifth was a large printed placard, headed " Slavery v.
Liberty," and announced a public meeting at Kersal
Moor on the 25th of May,for the redress of thegrievances
of the people, and called upon them to lay down their
lives in defence of freedom.
Joseph Sadler was then recalled, and proved hav-
ing on the 6th of August searched the houses of George
Thompson at Birmingham. I met Thompson in the morn-
ing and told him I had a warrant against him for having
arms in his possession for illegal purposes. He said he'
had sold these arms to Mitchell and Davis openly,
and that he had no connection whatever with the Char-
tists, never having attended any of their meetings. That
he only suspected these arms were for an improper pur-
pose, when at Ashton-under-Line he saw men shoul-
dering muskets. I found a number of letters in his
house. This one was from Higgins, and it is
in his handwriting. (The letter was then read ; it was
dated July 2, Ashton-under-Line ; and detailed the
seizure of arms, to which the Learned Counsel had re-
ferred in his opening address.) The next was a letter,
signed James Duke, Bush Inn, Ashton, and P. M.
111'llouall, guaranteeing the payment of any arms that
might be orered. Also a letter from John Duke, or-
dering a supply of arms ; and a letter from .Jas. Livesey,
of Manchester, to the same effect. A letter from Geo.
H. Smith, of Holmes, Manchester, ordering a supply
of arms, and stating that he could sell hundreds if
they were sent. Similar letters from Bury, Bradford,
and other places, which had been found by the witness,
were then put in and read, and also a book in Thomp-
-5911'S handwriting, containing various entries of arms
supplied to Higgins, Mitchell, Livesey, Rawson, Smith,
&c. &c.
Cross-examined by Mr. TRAFFORD—Thompson must
have seen the other police officers when I met him in
the street. Some of the letters were found on the table,
some in his writing-desk, and others were banded by his
wife.

Robert Newton, jun., deputy constable of Ashton-
under-Line—l knew the prisoner Higgins for more thar.
twelve months. He has been formerly a spinner, and
is now Secretary to the Radical Association of Ashton. I
have seen Higgins frequently attending and speaking at
the Chartist meetings. I searched his house on the 30th
of June, at two o'clock in the morning. I had six or
seven officers with me. We found two large
boxes full of muskets, rifles, double-barrelled
guns, and moulds. Higgins was there. He said
there would be none of the bother if they would give
the people the Charter. I found some papers on his
premises. The papers were put in and read. One is
addressed " Dear Brothers," and stated that nothing
would convince tyrants but powder and steel. They
could get nothing by petitioning ; nothing, would do but
to water the tree of liberty with blood, and make one
bloody Moscow of Old England. A copy of Maceroni's
instructions was found in the bed-room, and an account-
book with several entries relative to the subscriptions to
the National Convention, and the disbursements.
Among the items was " silk for the cap of liberty,
2s. 3d."

Cross-examined by Mr. YARDLEY—When I went to
Higgin's house he was in bed with his wife.
Had you any warrant ?
Witness—Am I bound to answer that, my Lord?
'COURT—No.

I received information about arms being in his house.
Higgins does not keep a'sbop. There is no sign over the
doer. There are but two other families lodging in the

house.

The case for the Crown here closed.

Mr. COTTINGHAM then addressed the Jury in behalf
of Mitchell and Davis, who he said had great reason to
complain of the manner in which they had been indicted,
because a man could be indicted for a conspiracy to do
even a legal act. They also laboured under the disad-
vantage of having the statement of the Grand Jury laid
before them relative to having the offence made one of
high treason. All they had to depend upon was the inde-
pendent, upright, conscientious feelings of their English
fellow-subjects. They had not been indicted for any
particular facts, but upon matters which spread over a
large space of time, and against which it was impossible
for any man to defend himself. The present was what
was called a Government prosecution—a Govern-
ment, he must say, which was founded, and built,
and lived at that moment on agitation. He
need not remind them of the proceedings that took
place in 1830, when the present Government
came into power almost on the very wings of revolution.
Before that period offences like the present were scarce
ever heard of—they permitted the masses of the people
of this country to express their opinions openly and
fearlessly—and the very Government which now pro-
secuted these individuals were the first to promote their
free expression. But he would ask, were there not
other publications which equally well deserved the cen.
sure and the prosecution of the Government ? Could
they forget that but a few years ago a Peer, in his
place in Parliament, advised the people to pay no more
taxes ?

Mr. Baron GURNEY interposed. An improper
speech in another place was no justification of another
person doing the same thing.
Mr. CorritiGHANt would merely observe that if such
examples as these he had referred to were permitted
to pass unnoticed and unpunished, why in the name of
common sense were his clients to be selected for punish-
ment for an inconceivably lesser offence ? The

Learned Counsel then proceeded to comment upon
Colonel Maceroni's pamphlet, and read some extracts,

to show that civil war and outrages of every sort, were
vehemently denounced in it, and proceeded—Such was
the language upon which it was attempted to found the
assertion, that the prisoners were anxious to excite
disaffection and civil war. Again, with respect to the
placard calling the meeting at Kersal Moor, if it was
addressed to the Tories of Chester or Lancashire, he
was satisfied that, instead of finding it a seditious pla-
card, they would approve of, and coincide in every
word of it. He would be glad to know if it was a
crime for a man to have arms in his possession? It
might be so in Ireland, but, thank God, that Act
had never yet been extended to England, and the letter
of Lord J. Russell was actually quoted as the reason
that had induced his client to change his opinion, and
say that every man was at liberty to have arms in his
own defence. It was too hard, then, to visit his client
with punishment for having acted under the advice of
the highest authority in that country on that point, and
he would safely leave the question in the hands
of au upright and intelligent Jury. He now
came to the seditious language ascribed to his
clients, and the greater part of that had been already
disposed of by his cross-examination of the witnesses. It
was well known that differences of opinion upon political
questions existed among all classes, even the very high-
est in the realm, but the declaration of these various
opinions, however much they might differ, was never
in that country considered an offence, and he hoped
never would. Again, with respect to the arms that
had been found in his client's house, there was no con-

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ccalment, no secrecy, no attempt at evasion, for he not
only pointed out the arms to the constables, but told