The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-20 00:00:00

visionary, or theoretical improvements. He only wished
to see the ancient institutions and the recognised rights
of the people of that nation restored and acted upon.
He merely sought for what at the present moment
existed in its most extended sense, in a country which
was likely to be one of the greatest among the nations
of the earth—the American Republic. At the sam,
time he would observe that even by the establishment of
these principles he did not expect that everything theo-
r. tically beautiful or politically deceptive would be
gained. From all the evidences he had yet seen, he
believed that idea to be illusive. If they consulted the
most ancient records, such would be found to be prac-
tically the result. Even under Moses, the chosen
people of God occasionally endured want, and famine
and desolation stalked across the land ; and even in that
place, where the peculiar care and concern of God was
manifested in their behalf, and where they peacefully
tended theirflocks,the smoke of battle rolled through these
beautiful valleys, and the chosen of the people, the heads
of the house of Israel, were compelled to buckle on their
armour, to gallop through the waving fields of corn, and
charge through their affrighted flocks. He would now
call the attention of the jury to the meeting at Hyde,
and from what had fallen from the Attorney-General it
would appear that he was not disposed to dispute the
right of the people to meet and petition. To establish
that point, he would take the liberty of reading an ex-
tract from a !peach of the Learned Gentleman, and he
would observe that the last time he had had the pleasure
of seeing him was in the midst of " a riotous and tumul-
tuous assembly," in the High-street of Edinburgh.—(A
laugh.) The Learned Gentleman had taken the liberty
of imputing to him the crime of being in the midst of a
" riotous and tumultuous assembly," at Hyde, and had
most unjustly and unfairly imputed to him (Mr. M'Dou-
all) the motives which might have actuated the men
among whom he was, but he would not be so uncharitable
or dishonest as to impute to the Learned Gentleman
the motives which influenced the mob among whom he
was when he ( Mr. M'D.) had seen him borne on the summit
of the shoulders of two stout porters, who appeared to
groan under the weight of their legal burden—
(Laughter, in which the Learned Judge joined)—and
when the Learned Gentleman wore a hat of a most
peculiar shape, his own having been transferred to some
of his friends around him, under circumstances that
might lead one to consider it a fair exchange. If he
(Mr. M'Douall) had judged from the company he had
then seen him in he should certainly have supposed he
had assembled " in a riotous and tumultuous manner
with other evil disposed persons."—(A laugh.) He
might, if so inclined, even accuse the Learned Gentle-
man of being a member of the Whig Government,
whose conduct and practices had been so violently de-
nounced, and whose proceedings and language had been
a subject of general execration. He might remind the
Learned Gentleman that he had thought proper to en-
ter Dudley by torchlight, and had advocated and de-
fended the riots that took place there, maintaining the
right of the people to use torches ; and such was the
connexion in the minds of Attorney-Generals between
meetings of the people and torches that in his opening
address to-day—
Mr. HILL—For God sake say which Attorney-Ge-
neral you mean.—(A laugh.)
Mr. M‘DonaLL—Such were the visions of torch-
lights that flitted through his mind that until he had
examined his brief he could not divest himself of the
idea that the meeting which he (Mr . M'Douall) at-
ttended was a torchlight meeting. He would take the
liberty of reading for them a passage from the speech of
Mr., now Sir John, Campbell in defending Mr. Samuel
Cook, in 1827. He then read—" Gentlemen, English-
men have a right to entertain and express their strong
and decisive opinions with respect to all public officers."
Such was the opinion of her Majesty's Attorney-Gene-
ral, and if he (Mr. M'Douall) called the Whigs " a base
bloody, and brutal" set, he was only doing it on his high
authority, for which he might have been taught to en-
tertain respect. Therefore, if he had made use of
strong language in denouncing the conduct of public
men—if he, as an individual ignorant of the law, had
expressed " strong and decisive opinions" on the con-
nect of members of the present Government, he was only
doing so on the authority of Sir John Campbell, the
Attorney-General. That was " a right" according
to him, " which they had inherited from their
ancestors, bought, amongst other things, at the
price of their blood, and he hoped they would
preserve it pure, and transmit it to posterity unbroken."
His opinions had been also fortified by another autho-
rity, higher, if possible, than the Attorney-General—he
meant Lord John Russell, who, in a speech in October
last, said—" some perhaps might think that these meet-
ings, (alluding to the Chartists) should be put down, but
such was not his opinion-, nor that of the Government
with which he acted. He thought the people had a
right to free discussion—it was free discussion that eli-
cited truth." He (Mr. M'Douall) agreed with his
Lordship in that position. "If the people had griev-
ances, they had a right to declare them, but if they had
no grievances common sense would speedily come to the
rescue, and put an end to them." Lord John Russell
did not state that if these grievances did exist, and that,
consequently, common sense did not put them down,
that he would have recourse to violent measures, that
he would proceed by indictments, and prosecutions, and
imprisonments, to put down these legal and constitu-
tional meetings of the people. In another speech, the
Noble Lord had observed, that "it was the nature
of the people to push obedience almost to a
fault." If any other authority was necessary, he
should feel disposed to refer to one still higher as to the
right of the people to meet, and that authority was the
Learned Judge now upon the Bench. Mr. (now Baron)
Gurney, who was counsel on the trial of Daniel James
Caton, had stated that "the first political truth engrave!'
on the soul of man was that all power flowed from the
people, and as a trust far their benefit, and when that
trust was abused resistance was not only a right but a duty."
He then proceeded to contend that the assembly at
Hyde was not a riotous or tumultuous one. He did
not deny having been present at it, but he did deny that
it was an illegal meeting, or one calculated to excite
terror and alarm ; it was not a torch-light meeting, nor
did it produce any breach of the peace. Now, certainly,
Lord John Russell must have a singularly constituted
mind to evince so much terror and alarm at a small
meeting, at an obscure place, like Hyde, and yet have
overlooked the great Kersal Moor meeting of 300,000
persons.
Why did he not instruct the At-
torney-General to prosecute Mr. Fielden who
presided, or Mr. Attwood, who spoke at
that meeting ? Why did be now descend
from Olympus to a molehill, and passing over
the rich and' the powerful, bring the whole
powers of the Government to crush him-
self, whom the indictment denominated a poor
" labourer," and his co-defendant a still poorer clogger ?
It was said that the meeting had bands of music and
banners. Why, had not large bodies of' men during
the last two days passed by that very Court with musk
and banners, and had any, one called that a tumultuous
or unlawful meeting? And what were the inscriptions
on the banners at Hyde ? " Equal laws" and
I' Equal rights" who did not contend for, and " No
property qualification"—was it not at present the law
of the land in Scotland ? The evidence proved that no
alarm was excited by or at the meeting, and it was
only said that one pistol was fired ; surely that
was not very alarming, nor could it constitute an act se
very criminal as to involve all who attended the meeting,
and who did not sanction its being fired, in the conse-
quences of criminality. How weak was the evidence of
seditious language. The witnesses made no notes. One
who swore to his words could not read. They heard
only parts of sentences. The omission or alteration of
a single word might make all the difference in the mean-
ing of a sentence, and these men, on the perfect accuracy
of whose testimony the Jury were called on to find a
verdict of guilty, could not repeat in Court immediately
after be had read it the substance of a sentence which
he read to them, much slower and more deliberately than
the speech made by him, the words used at which they
pretended to repeat. How absurd it was to imagine
that he should have advised a meeting consisting
principally of boys and girls, as the witnesses had
described it, to arm ; how absurd to say that he had
advised the meeting to attack the soldiers with guns,
pistols, and pikes, when, in the very same breath the
witnesses said that he told them five out of seven of the
officers of the army and navy were in their favour, and
that the soldiers were signing petitions in favour of POLITICAL GRIEVANCES.—WhiIe we decry
the Chartists. On such evidence as this he put it to the Chartist panacea of stabbing and burning, as a remedy
the jury, who were bound to decide on the evidence, for political grievances, we should be untrue to the cause
and that alone, how could they but acquit him ? we have so long advocated did we not take the same oppor-
But it was said he told the people they had a right to tunity of recording the sense we have of the existence of
have arms. Surely that was not seditious, it was a a wide-spread discontent, which can only be removed by
well known and recognised constitutional right, sane- reforms far more extensive than any which have hitherto
been attempted; and we feel very distinctly that if the
tioned by the Bill of Rights, by Sir John Fortescue, by
proper remedy be not found and applied, and that shortly, Blackstone, and by a host of authorities. The Con- noz edxtsion of the army, or of the principle of acerra-
stitution of England was jealous of any other power
will save this country frem.thaot_toa whichver
radical
unconstitutional than the people being armed. A standing army was evene police,rirarrdieelyd.advTanhceirneg-i-sa
ereevolutic f
unconstitutional in this country, and though it in reality character intelligence awakening
existed, existed, it existed only from year to year, and the Act which puts in a claim for privileges that cannot much
for maintaining it must be voted annually. He then longer be safely withheld: and, far worse than that, there
proceeded to contend that the Chartists had done is temple generating which will be fed, and which will
nothing that the Whigs had not set them the come to the Corn.law monopolists with the Poor-law at
its heels, and in all probability, sweep sway, at one rush,
example of, and for which they had been applauded.
both tne goad and the evil, if the safety of that which is
He referred to several passages in the Chronicle and the
good be not timely purchased by the surrender of that
Times, of 1831, the extract from the first concluding Afere,rury,
winch is bad.—Bristol
with the words " Union—arms—reform," and in the last
COIN
with "Organize and arm." Lord John Russell's recent IMMENSE ANNUAL ISSUE OF BASE
letter also proved the right of the people to arm, and the Weheard itA mentionedtere yesterday by Mr. SergeantPl
Attorney -General for the Count.
readiness of the Government to assist in arming them iAnteallieurslielr" tttethet imnpo-rtance of the Mint pry
osecuatitoinne,
for party purposes. What language had been used by that not less than three thousand persons are at present
a
ny Chartist half so violent or half so seditious as that ' entraged in eetniterfeiting and uttering base coin in the
which had been over and over again, used by the great Ueited Kingdom, and that the amount annually put in dr_
iMusrt.ieeFLowilill,
mire.
culation is not less than 600,0001. Doubtless the vil
and unprosecuted ally of Government, Mr. O'Connell ?
would be still more. extensive but for the exertions of' the
Did the Jury forget the Reform agitation—.the groans
ings at the Queen—the allusions to the fate of Charles onuchie.t
offendershewethis indefatigabledescription agent,to
I.—the banners with paintings of the Queen wearing
the breeches, and the black flag meeting at Edinburgh, ;at
THE WEATHER AND TIT- 'HARVEST.— The
last Sunday evening
where banners of crape were displayed with death's heads .
and cross bones painted on them ? and all this was iests,..
by heavy Thy fohowin
neighbourhood of L0...„.0a was visited";
4, has day vvas equ-dly wet. In
ted, sanctioned, and approved by very Gr,o-
-p roaodnh
ei tossicoooust
fneurantfi e
,holt the weath,sersoisasnoonaw, beeni too characteristic
vernment which now Sent down its • Attorneys es of St. Swithin
e hoercasions
Herat to prosecute him for merely asserting the ancient same quarters serious in
st. In
and recognised constitutional rights of the people. the Midland and Southen, Comities A considerableav
My Lord, and Gentlemen of the Jury, continued All" City of corn has been cut during the past we, k. Sucnivaanud-
*Douai), when I consider the position of thiii country, a high temperature are much wanted everywhere,

at the present moment—when I weigh in my own mind
the probable termination of the present agitation—when
I look at the speeches and proceedings of the great
body of the people in a social and national point of
view, there is much in my opinion to be feared and
much to be hoped from the progress of political opinion
at the present moment, The under currents which
have been flowing seem to have, for some time past,
been separating themselves and running counter to the
upper currents on social' and political matters, but the
great changes which are daily taking place in our social
and commercial relations, will speedily merge these two
into one common stream whose force will be irresistible.
It has been matter of observation with me that this will
be brought about mainly in consequence of the vast im-
provements which are taking place in all classes of so-
ciety, although one would suppose that at the present
moment, when in all other things we are advancing as
a great people, the strongest measures are resorted to
to suppress and resist the extension of political privileges
to the people. If I might allude, for instance, to
the extension of railways, which, although available for
promoting the commercial intercourse and the diffusion
of knowledge and information among the people, may
be made to afford facilities to a tyrannical Govern-
ment, which, God forbid, we should see established in
this country, or a tyrant monarch, which I trust we
shall never see in England, they may be made the
means of centralizing power and suppressing all efforts
for freedom on the part of the people. When I look
at the political horizon at the present moment it appears
dark and lowering, and aithorgh I do not anticipate
anything like what alarms the mind of the Attorney-
General—although I see nothing of revolution and
anarchy and blood, yet I can see approaching a train of
oppression in this land which is calculated to level down
the fundamental principles of the Constitution, and the
few remaining privileges of the people, in the new and
arbitrary ideas of centralization. copied from the ;espo-
tic Governments of France, Prussia, and Russia. I see
the approach of that tyranny in the incomprehensible
abhorrence of the middle classes to extend any politic iI
influence to the poorer classes, and I see Its ground
work laid down in the prosecutions, imprisonments, and
banishment of all those who have dared to advocate the
extension of these privileges. The effects of that tyranny
will only be fe,t when it pours its flood across this
country—when, like a vast tide, it rolls its waters over
the face of the land, submerging all our ancient insti-
tutions, and when it ripples on the thresholds, and flows
over the hearthstones of the upper and middle classes,
and when the power which might have prevented its
approach shall no longer exist—then only will it be felt.
Then will they regret the divisions which they them-
selves have created by their false and absurd fears be.
tween the higher, the middle, and the working classes—
then wirbtte., regret the hatred which has been engen-
dered by *Their common enemy between the two great
classes of the community in this country—and they will
regret it the more, because they will have engraven
on their hearts the fact that they themselves have con-
tributed to annihilate the power of resistance to that
progressive tyranny of a centralized Govern-
ment, which is fast effacing all the ancient
rights which their ancestors enjoyed they will
regret it because they will remember there was
a period when they might have opposed to this torrent as
it rolled along a barrier over which it could never have
passed and when they might have said to it—" Thus far
thou shalt go and no farther." My Lord, and Gentlemen
of the Jury, it appears to me that the efforts that have
been made to suppress the agitation which has been ex-
cited throughout the land, agitation founded on the
noblest principles and most philanthropic motives—it
appears to me that the suppression of that agitation will
be attended with results of the greatest magnitude and
importance to the future greatness of the land. It ap-
pears to me as if the ancient laws of the country, which
have been laid down with the greatest wisdom and
foresight, and calculated and based upon those princi-
ples which were most likely to render them perpetual,
so far as human contrivance could effect it—it seems to
me as if these great principles were now to be disre-
garded and laid aside, and our country permitted to
sink down into that tomb of oblivion to which so many
other mighty nations before her have been consigned. My
Lord,andGentlemen of the Jury,the experience of all ages
has proved that persecution is the very worst weapon
by which to attempt to efface those principles which
have been impressed upon the public mind by griev-
ances at length become intolerable. It must appear to
you, that no persecution that ever yet existed has'been
able to efface the principles which that persecution has
only endeared to the hearts of the people. If you
were to summon all the persecuted spirits of political or
religious agitation, this Court, this city could not con-
tain them, and they would stand before you a fearful
but potent evidence of the great truth, that the esta-
blishment of the principles for which they lived and died
had not been in the slightest degree affected by that
persecution, but that they had been still more firmly
and securely implanted in the breasts and affections of
the people. My Lord and Gentlemen, I should not
wish to see, I have never desired to see, and I never ex-
pect to see, any great principles of freedom gained or
established in this country by means of the sword. I
never hope or wish to see any great political or social
changes achieved by the use of this weapon, by revolution-
ary violence or civil commotion. If we consult the evi-
dence of history we shall find that in all such cases the
freedom which I so highly prize, and which I hope to
live to see gained, has been hunted down and over-
whelmed beneath a military despotism. My Lord, and
Gentlemen, the war that has been commenced now by
persecution and imprisonment is a war against prin-
ciples, and I believe I may add against individuals.
You may imprison the leaders, you may persecute the
men who have taken an active part in the present agita-
tion, but you never can reach those deep and wide-
spreading principles which have taken root in the minds
of the people of this country, and which never can be
reached by the hand of the tyrant, or only through the
enthusiastic and hasty expressions of some or the ill-
judged actions of others. If these principles be true
they must exist, if they be well grounded they must
flourish, if they are worthy of being perpetuated they
will be handed down to the latest posterity,
for, like truth, they are in themselves eternal,

My Lord, it is or little importance to me whe-
ther I be imprisoned, or banished, or condemned
to the scaffold—on the principles in which I
have commenced I intend to end my career. These
principles I revere and respect, and by these I am de-
termined to stand or fall ; but, my Lord, you cannot
condemn me on the vain pretext of this most miserable
indictment : if you condemn me at all, and if in your
judgment you conceive it right to find me guilty, then
you must condemn me for the cause which I have en-
deavoured by my humble means to establish and pro-
mote—a cause which has been founded on the principles
of justice must of necessity progress in this country—a
cause which cannot be reached by persecution, or which
if reached by it will only invigorate the seeds that are
sown, like the thunder-storm that clears the polluted
atmosphere. My Lord, and Gentlemen of the Jury,
while I thank you for the attention you have bestowed
on me, I beg to say that I retire cheerfully
within the gates of a prison ; I retire there
knowing that I am prosecuted and imprisoned because
I have dared to advocate the rights of the poor man,
and because I have presumed to assert, and am now
prepared to demand, the extension of these rights
to the working classes of this country which their
forefathers possessed. I retire, therefore, in the
hope and consciousness that the temporary imprison-
ment will at length draw to a close, and that at some
period I must be liberated ; and being young in years,
I am high in the expectation that I shall yet live to see
those principles carried into execution in this Country—
that I shall yet live to see them perfected in this land,
and peace, and skcurity, and comfort, enjoyed by all
its people. That short space of human existence must
soon, so far as we are concerned, draw to a close. The
period will soon arrive when all those now around me
will be numbered with the things that were, and then
will come the time when all of us will have to appear
before a tribunal higher than the present. When that
day arrives, and when our hearts are examined, our
motives sifted into, and all our hopes, and principles,
and prospects are seen, and known, and understood, it
will then be seen, and known, and understood who has I
been right and who has been wrong,