The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-06 00:00:00

corn was about 405. per quarter, and when wages were connversation amongst the Counsel and the Judges, tile
better then than they had been since.—( Mr. Cobden was application of Mr. Dundas, to try the prisoner in the
loudly cheered throughout his address.) I County Court, was agreed to.
Mr. ABSALOM WATKIN next came forward, and moved I Mr. DUNDAS, as Counsel for the prisoner, hoped their
the following resolution :—" That this meeting offers its I Lordships would consent to postpone the trial, in support
cordial thanks to the gentlemen of the Delegation for their I of which he read an affidavit from the prisoner's solicitor
exertions in London, and highly approve of their resolu- ! that if the prisoner was tried in the county at present, 1i
lion not to remain there after both Houses of Parliament' could nut have a fair and impartial trial. He would content
bad refused to hear evidence of the injurious effects of the ! himself with reading the affidavit, which would show their
Corn-laws, and the meeting welcomes them back with the I Lordships the grounds for the application, and he was sure
assurance of their determination to renew, with increased I they would at once say that the trial ought not to proceed.
zeal, their labeurs for the total destruction of the 1 Mr. Dundas then read the affidavit of Mr. Se inburne.
monopoly of the landowners." Mr. Watkin pre- It went on to say, that at an inquest taken before the
faced his motion with a short speech, in the course of Coroner, Archibald Bolam was charged with the murder
which he said, after Mr. Cobden's address there would be of Joseph Milne. The deponent was present at the in-
no necessity for him or any one else to argue the question quisition, which was attended by great crowds of people,
I
of the necessity of the abolition of the Corn-laws, for Mr. and there was a general expression of satisfaction, shown
Cobden must have convinced every attentive bearer that by the clapping of hands when the verdict was pronounced..
those laws were founded on injustice, and therefore they The circumstance caused a strong irritation in the minds ot
must of necessity be impolitic and injurious not only to the the inhabitants of Newcastle and the county of Northum-
manufacturing and labouring classes, but else in their alter- berland, and the accounts circulated iu the local newspapere -
nate results to those who sought from them the protection contributech to and kept up such irritation. In the news-
of their present revenues.—( Hear.) The alternate operatien papers published in Newcastle and the adjoining counties,
of these laws, would be not only to ruin the manufacturer were plans and views, some of them re=presenting' the
0 I
and grind down the labourer, but ruin the country, and situation of the body of Millie, and wbere liolam was found. ,
with it the men whose injustice kept those laws in opera- In the _Newcastle Journal of the 15th December last, tie'
Lion, from an unfounded supposition that they were essen- day after the inquest, an engraved portrait was given ot
tial to their welfare. —( Hear. ) What had we asked the Bolam, with a fee-simile of his signature, and the same
Legislature? For liberty produce at the bar of the House newspaper, among other observations, said " that the ro-
of Commons evidence, to show that the laws against suit of the inquiry fixed guilt upon an individual moving
which we petitioned were founded on injustice, and in a respectable situation; and no other conclusion coul•
.
were deeply injurious, not only to ourselves, but to be drawn, in their opinion, from the evidence adduced.' ,
the country at large._( Cheers.) Could any request In the same newspaper of the next week, the 22d Decent-
be more reasonable than this ? What wis it that her, were plans and a view of Mr. Bolam's house, with a
appeared to oppose the success of our exertions in this great portrait of Mary Walker, his housekeeper. It also con-
cause? However black and lowering the clouds which hung tained an observation, ' that although there could be now
in the distant prospect—however powerful the opposition little doubt that Bulem had stained his hands in the blood
arrayed against us in the Upper and Lower Pouses of the of Millie, and perpetrated the foul crime of murder upoe
Legislature—it mattered not. Our cause being righteous, his person, the intsence of all motive up to the time of
it only remained for us to adhere to the principle Opel , the murder ahriest staggered belief'." Ahdfurther on, hi '
which we had begun our operations—to pursue that ps in- I the same paper, it stated "it might have been expected
ciple steadily and untiringly : to accumulate evidence; to ' when Bolarn had time to reflect, immured in prison,
enlighten the great mass of the people; to carry along eith and branded by a Coroner's Jury with the crime of mur-
us all reasonable men, and ultimately we must and would tier, that he would hive made a confession of his guilts
.succeed.—(Cheers.) To those who were dispirited and and made atonement ftr the unprovided orphans cast upon
desponding he would beg of them to bear in mind the the world, but he had not done so." In the same news-
beautiful old Irish proverb, " The darkest hour of the paper of the sth January, an account was inserted of co--
twenty-four is the hour before day."—(Cheers.) lie min additional evidence obtained from a person of the
called upon all to remember that England expected every name of Appleton, which evidence was contrasted with
man to do his duty; the contest must not be left to a few ; the examiria• ion of Mr. Bolam before the Coroner, and at.
but every man in his own sphere ought to be an apostle in extract is given from that examination which is not found
this great cause.—( Loud cheers ) to be contained in it. An argument is drawn therefrom,
Mr. EDWARD CURRAN, haiel-loom weaver, begged to that it was "only reroncileable by the black man having
second the resolution, and said he was gird put his ( Boiarn's) hat on, or that Bolam had done eo in a
that the delegates had returned to their con- state of insensibility." The same newspaper, of Feb. 9,
stituents,
.as the only tribunal left when the suited that •• Bolam bad a freehold estate in Idexhamshire,
Parliament had refused to bear them.—(Hear.) He end some other property, which he had assigned to his
condemned the disorderly proceedings of the previous friends, as in the event of teconyirtion, they would be
Thursday, expressing his conviction, that by such pee- forfeited to the Crown. In the Tyne Mercury of the
ceedings the people would get nothing, because the Aris- 12th Feb. last, were the following statements :—.' We
tocracy who fatten on the industry of the people live upon have heard that Bolan' last week expressed a; wish to so'
our divisions.—(Loud cheering.) The people must de- a Magistrate, and one would have been sent to him, We
clam with a voice of thunder, that this unjust monopoly his solicitor came in the way in 'the meantime, and nothing
must be destroyed. fie must tell them, and he hoped the . more was said about it. Bolam has, by the advice of hit
gentlemen of the press would take it front him as the go- solicitors, made an assignment of his property to his re-
neral sentiments of the working classes, that the working latives." That after the publication of the last mentionen
people of this country wanted nothing in return for paper, the same statements were printed as handbills, mid
their labour but food, shelter, and clothing ; hawked at the price of a halfpenny, and it contained ties
they wanted no extravagance, no luxuries, no other addition :—" We understand that Sir Charles 8011,
man's property, no destruction of property—( Con, Knight, one of the eminent surgeons of Edinburgh, will
tinned, tremendous cheers)—and he trusted that it would be subpeenaed at. the trial. It will be recollected that S 0
never again be said that the working men of Manchester Charles wrote one of the Bridgewater Treatises, and wa3
were other than an industrious, honest, and determined snt on the Field of Waterloo immediately after the battle.
of men. Entertaining these sentiments, he thought it his " From the . inquiries we have made in the country, T,ce
duty to thank the Delegates for their exertions, and nett find a strong feeling in the minds of the yeomanry uperi 1
less because they had been unsucessful. Referring to this murder." The deponent further said, that besides the 1
one of the Chartists calling him a traitor, at the meeting- newspapers mentioned, the papers published in Newcastio
on Thursday last, Mr. C. said he shouidhave thought hire- and Durham had almost every week published paragraph
self worthy of being designated as a traitor if he had not and placarded handbills respecting the murder, and therein'
taken those steps which be thought advisable—to take the kept up the excitement; and the newspapers in Newcastle
necessary steps to preserve his family from a state of star ea- and Durham are the only papers published in the county of
lion by trying tp obtain the repeal of these unjust laws. Northumberland. If they looked at the panel for the jury,
There was much 'difficulty to overcome, and the more una- they would find them drawn from within fifteen miles of
nimity that prevailed amongst them, the better chance there the town, principally from Tynemouth and Shields. The,
would be of their ultimate success. In the year 1815, at the deponent further said, that he had conversed with many
close of the war, we were told we were to have peace arid persons in Newcastle and Northumberland on the subject
plenty, but, the aristocracy said " No;; we'll prevent plenty, of the murder, and from such conversations he believed that
any way." And in order to effect this, they enacted the in. a general excitement prevailed; and he verily believed that
famous Corn-law. From that period to the present, the a strong and general prejudice existed in Newcastle and
hand-loom weavers as a body had been going to decay. In Northumberland, in and from where the jury would be
conclusion, he declared that be would he content with celled. He further believed that the prisoner could not, a'
nothing short of the total repeal of these iniquitous present, 'have a fair trial, either in the said town or the
laws. —( Cheers and hisses.) county of Nor thumberland ; and the statements made ;1i
Mr. Alderman &woes next addressed the meeting in a newspapers that " Bolam had sent for a Magistrate," and
humourous speech, in which he stated the ignorance of the " that he had assigned over his property," were wholly and
Aristocracy npon most national questions, and ridiculing absolutely untrue. Mr. Dundas stated that he had read evert'
Lord Howiek's plea for not allowing evidence to be ten- word of the affidavit, and he was sure it would tell its own
dered at the bar of the House of Commons. He ascribed story to the hearts and minds of their Lordships.
the presenti distressed state of the manufacturing interest Sir GREGORY LEWIN said, however ungracious it might
to the operation of the Corn-laws, as preventing the free appear, and however reluctant he was to do it, he was led
exportation of our manufactured' goods for the grain of to oppose this application, and he hoped it would not b"
other countries He called upon the meeting to remain received. There was no reason why the notice respecting
united, and, like the bundle of sticks, they would set at the application, which they only received last night, should
nought all efforts that might be made to break their union. not have been given many weeks ago. Sir Gregorytwas
A man named Tonge, from Bury, one of the Chartists, proceeding to argue on this point, when he was interrupted
who took part in the proceedings of the last meeting, then by Mr. Dundas and Mi. Baron Alderson. After a shoi
mounted the table and was saluted with cries of " Off, off," conversation, the Learned Counsel proceeded to say, that
end some faint cheers from his friends. As soon as he after the Circuit began, notice might have been giver''
could be heard be said he did not want to create a disturb- even on the first day of the Assizes, and the prosecution
ance.—( Cries of " You do.") Mr. Cobeen had invited had been put to enormous expenses, and were only las'
discussion, and if parties were for the repeal of the night made acquainted with the intention to make the
Corn-laws, they could not better establish their cause, nor application. The statements in the papers might he
could his party better establish theircause than by hearing called the twaddle of the Editors, they were merely ob
both sides of the question. If the repeal of the Corn-laws servations regarding the crime itself, and there was nothing
were a just cause it must prevail because it was of God ;if it to show there was a prejudice against the individual. It
were a wicked cause it must fail, because it was of the devil, WAS not excitement that was existing, that was a wrong
thereforein the name of God, let them drop party n.tines. fie name for it ; it had no resemblance to any political excite--
did no eiddreser them in i'he thimeof party. hoe•ddrt.ssed teem ment, it was merely an individual interest created after
as a Christian, and be did say that a more Abominable tax reading the evidence.
. never Was laid in any country in the world, than that which Mr. Baron ALDERSON made an observation about it
was laid on bread, —( Hear.) Mr. -Cobden had asked the being a very improper thing for any of the evidence to have
Meeeting, was the course based on the principle of justice, been made public.
now he must say, for one, he must differ a little from Mr. Sir G. LEWIN said they were not to be charged with
Cobden.—( Question.) He would state his objections to being accessories to the publication in question, but tln'
the Anti-Corn-law Association and his reasons, and if there observations contained in them were made with regard t°
was a majority in favour of Mr. Cobden, they ought not to the murder, and not against the man. That the circurn-
fear him.—(Confusion.) stances should have created interest was not at all to he
Mr. ARCHIBALD PRENTICE rose to order, amidst cheers wondered at, but it was not to be compared to the excite-
and cries of "Go on," hut the confusion was so great that meat that existed with regard to the Luddites in Notting'
he could not be heard, and he retired. ham, or the corn riots in London. Was it to be said th.,t,
TONGS continued, The principles which were advocated there could not be found 12 unprejudiced men in the vih°l'
by the anti-Corn-law Association did not meet his appro- county of Northumberland, to give an individual a f"r
baton, and he gave his reasons on the part of at least trial. It was a libel on the inhabitants of Northumber-
'200,000 persons.—(Laughter, and Cries of " Oh, oh.") land. He held in his hand a letter from Mr. Swinburne
uhlished in reply to some of the statements that ha`
They were based on injustice in the first place. Mr. P
Cobden had advanced an argument that they did not want been made ; and he was sure that gentleman would 01
to crop the price of labour, but they wanted to raise the once admit it to be his, and prevent him (Sir G. Le‘ti')
price of labour in the Foreign market, and thus to raise the from procuring an affidavit on the subject. The
price of wages. Now, be would ask in the first place, Learned Gentleman then read from the Tyne Mercurg
what business had this country to interfere in the labour the following extract from Mr. Swinburne's first letter :en
market of other countries?--( Loud hisses, which lasted for "It was suggested to him, that an application might be
several minutes, and Cries of " Off") At length the made to put off the trial till the Summer Assizes, on the
Chairman put it to the mneting whether Tonge should be ground of prejudice at this time pervading the public
allowed to continue his harangue, and the majority against mind, which application be was told would in all prob"(i
him beingeabout fifty to one, Tonge retired. The resolu- bility be successful. On the same ground it waasuggeate
tion then passed. to him, that he might appiy to have the trial at York or
Mr. ARCHIBALD PRENTICE then proposed the following some other distant place. The subject of assigning bi'
-
resolution :—" That this meeting, having learnt with property was also brought under his notice. All the''
mingled feelings of surprise and indignation, the facts suggestions, and others which I might mention, he at one
respecting the petition presented by the manufacturers and and unhesitatingly rejected. Respecting his properq'
traders to the -Lords and Commons, praying to be. allowed his answer to me was, "If they take my life for a allot;
to prove at their bar the injurious tendency of the corn of which lam innocent, they may take my property al'eje
and provision laws upon the commerce of the country, de- The Learned Counsel stated, that their Lordships wou7
Glares as its deliberate opinion, that the refusal, even see that the subject had been brought under the prisonel;
to listen to the complaints of the nature of these laws is an consideration from Mr. Swinburne's letter of the 12th, an
example of unreasonable oppression unsurpassed in this or another letter of the 20th, arid he did say, it was not re',-,
any other civilized country. Being thus repulsed in theattempt sonablo that he should the night before the day of trial
to expose to Parliament and the world their individual wrongs and after great expense had been incurred and preparatio'
this meeting recommend to the manufacturing and cor- made, to ask their Loidships to put off the trial. Sir Gr`d.",
mercial bodies to agitate the question of the Corn-laws gory then referred to the case of a person named Mean
henceforth not as a sectional, but as a national question— which occurred in June 1830, as a precedent for the./0"
to extend the right hand of fellowship to the ,Lordships' declining to postpone the trial • and sett
suffering agricultural labourer and cultivator—to contended, that the excitement existed agate
make common cause with _ all the town popula- the crime and not against the man. - There was 'ts
combination which could operate upon the loah, i
lien of the empire, and to cause the best energies of
the whole people to throw off, by an united effort, the most of n, the Jury in this case. They must have besje
baneful and destructive laws ever devised by the Legiela- of the murder, but no facts had been decided, 11(
ture." meetings had been held; it was merely the twaddle °,.
RICHARD Moose, a hand-loom weaver, seconded the newspapers, and were they to say from an ex parte stateg.
motion ; and, in the course of his speech, stated, that such intent having been !published, that they had made tiP thy
was the distressed state of that branch of the manufacturing minds? Sir G. concluded by stating, that the prisonito
business, that the band-loom weexers could not earn more would have his challenge, and they should not object
than ss. 6d. per week ; and if the Corn-laws were conti• the removal of jurymen, and the substitution of othe'''
eaWIY
cued much longer the other artizans would shortly be in The object of the prosecution was to have the thing he
no better a condition. investigated : they wanted no unfair advantage, burlier
A young man named HOWARTH, from Salford, ntxt did contend that notice should have been given at an ear
addressed the meeting. He said it was the assertion of Period. .te
Judge Blackstone that a law, to be binding, must be in Mr. DUN DAS observed in reply, that he knew his Lee had
accordance with Christianity. He would ask whether the Friend too well not to be convinced that the zeal be "te
Corn-law was in accordance with Christianity ?—( No.) shown in his remarks was altogether a zeal for his caticiet
Was it not in direct contradiction to the law of Gad?— and no zeal against the person of the prisoner; but it g
( Yes.) Ought it to be repealed ?—( Yes.) In the 11th appear to him that his Learned Friend had made tweo,`,,t
Proverbs 26th verse, it was stated that "be who with- expressions which in a grave matter like the present i 1 the
boldeth corn the people shall curse him." At a recent extremely wrong to have employed. He talked about A
meeting of the Central agricultural Society, which was " twaddle of an Editor." What, he would auk, " was,.c -
presided over by the Earl of Tankerville, who seemed as man to be twaddled out of his life ? If it had bee° itet
if he had just awaked out of a trance, his Lordship said peated again and again, that he (Mr. D.) had irobr int
that the manufacturers had forgot that there was the Na- his hands in the blood of a fellow-creature, was not tfwe
tional Debt, and that the landed interest paid the whole the worst of means, must likely to prejudice his cause bef we
whole of that debt. He begged to inform the Noble those siren who would have to try him, and prevent hint, ree d
Chairman, through the press, that the working classes bad having a fair and impartial trial. His Learned .nrlthet
not forgotten the existence of the National Debt, nor the had several times challenged him (Mr. D.) to show i sit
purpose for which it had been contracted—viz. to support this was a charge against the individual, and not mere %Ytith
legitimacy ; and what good had that done to the Menu expression of indignation against the crime itself, eni
facturing districts ? As to the statement that the landed in- which the individual was charged. surely he bad I3ot ri: 13
terest was paying the interest of that debt, ho must tell h:s the affidavit. The document marked with the icttefgte
lordship that the manufacturers and working classes knew contained an extract from the Newcastle Journal, cc Dee
d '
better than that.—(Cheers.) stated as follows ; —" There can be little doubt that 'Peso
Themotion was then put and carried almost unanimously, has imbrued his hands in the blood of' Millie." Ape fact
there being only about five or six hands he'd up against it. Swinburne, in his affidavit, distinctly deposed to tio,
The Chairman then left the chair, when Mr. Alderin in that a strong and general prejudice, excitement, an g.eintt
Kershaw having been called thereto, the thanks of the tattoo existed in the public mind, not generally, but 81,ortit
meeting were given to Mr. Harbottle for his conduct in the Archibald Bolam. His. Learned Friend spoke to thetr„tre"
chair. The meeting then separated. ships of the enormous expense which would be te- of
During a
_great portion of the time, a body of the Char- by a postponement of the trial, as if there would bel life
We was in jeopardy. He (Mr. D.) hoped he should neveie lif'-'
tists made several forcible attempts to get into the room, weight in a mere pecuniary consideration when a °an r lit!!
but were with some difficulty prevented by the police.
observed that the individual who styles himself the Rev. Mr. to see the day in_England when the weight of a rnVeoo
Jackson obtained access to the room. Some confusion woul be placed against the weight of gold. To tell hint vett:
was created by one fellow displaying a dagger which he sands of Funds would be incurred by postponing th" four;"
• that the ends of justice would be best secured by Iv by tV"
encased in a large stick, and which be was observed to it would only be as dust in the balance, if it %verb% post;
pouemetit. Again, his Learned Friend said--- '' never-
brandish about to the alarm of several persons. He crept
under the hustings, but we believe was ultimately taken i
I they not come sf .7 ' ld it WO , fat`

out of the room.

? a
mHaen(
too late to come°oneur .
foundl; e)
have it
if it was at the eleventh hour that be Old a 3
. it postponed, be hoped he would not be consider
such
coming too late ; and that there was no time whiell the
nheoupleci
not
have a ,
to
an application would be refused. With regar" towcre
letterswritten
written by the solicitor for the prisoner, thly ',eel
in denial of certain assertions contained in till tlie
newspapers, which were finding their way througuder.,
country. Whether h Lie acted the part of a wise or P out;
mar, in writing those letters, be (Mr Dundas) kaei%en,c
but the fact of his writing them, proved the "ferrOl
of that kind of excitement which Mr. Swinburne rt;3olBa,,
to in his affidavit. All the law was pressing. up" addi•
and he had enough to bear, wit haut having, anY ie of
tional burden placed upon him. It was big setlrefasc
innocence that made Bolam, in the first instance,iicatioo
all e.ffers on the part of his attorney to make arPouad be
to have his trial postponed; but now, when be 1

THE SAVINGS' BANK MURDER.

NEWCASTLE, MONDAY, MARCH 4.
Mr. Baron PARKE, and Mr. Baron ALDERSON, took
their seats on the bench a few minutes after nine o'clock.
The Court was almost immediately completely filled. The
Clerk of the Court then called upon Archibald Bolam,
and he was led to the bar, the greatest anxiety being mani.
fested by the immense crowd to get but a glimpse of him.
pcomposureha
He was considerably altered from what his appearance used
to be. His countenance showed the inward working of his
feelings, and the loose manner in which his clothes hung
ees aod o
wept.
atiot?s, After
bulk.up o
He
n him,
stood no
atd doubt b
t asar ton. i
twith
whatapparent
his
ar e
nt person
until
hMer.heDld his iuttlalhad
handkerchief made
t his o concluding
his ywhen