The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY) AUGUST 17, 1839.

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only to understand it, but to put our knowledge into prat- forward to-day, are men of property. But I leave it to you,
tice, and taking the great principle as my starting point— whether or not you, under the circumstances of the case, think
as the ground work of, all I have ever said or done, I have the statements they have made are to be relied on. (He then
gone about-1 have put myself to some trouble—l have proceeded to read an extract from the Globe, of Nov. 27,
run some risk-1 have suffered not a little, my Lord, in last, respecting the Todmorden disturbances, of a similar
opposing the party and in opposing the measure—the un-character to that read from the Morning Chronicle,
constitutional, and as. Lhold it,-the unscriptural measure, charging them upon Toryism, and denouncing Oastler
which the Administration to which the Attorney-General and Stephens for punishment, because by their addresses to
belongs lays claim as the brightest gem in the Crown the people they had incited them to riots, and were there-
that is to glitter, and carry their names down to the latest fore to be considered foremost in the crime.) I say, my
posterity:
If I had been a man of another stamp and of Lord, also, let the men who have been foremost in the
an opposite character, I should not have stood before you crime be punished—let the men whose teaching an insti
this day. It is tolerated and allowed, in the press and on gation have led to any breach of the good old laws dof this
the platform, to bring the Christian religion, as established country be visited—l will not say with the just punishment,
by law and founded by God himself—it is tolerated and but with the heavy vengeance of the law. Against such men
allowed to bring that religion into contempt. It is allowed let the vindicator of the law exercise his powers, for I indeed
to revile Christianity—it is allowed to speak disparagingly, hold them to be moral pestilences and nuisances in society.
to speak blasphemously of the Son of God. If I were a man of that kind, materials in superabundance
Mr. Justice ParTasoN--That is not so—it is not allowed. might have been long ago obtained. Many of myepeeches
Mr. S.ephene—l was about to add, my Lord, that it is were published fully in black and white, about which
allowed, but not by the genius of our laws. God forbid there could have been no mistake—no calling of witnesses
that such should be the case; but it is allowed under the to swear, one that I said I had been at Bolton, and another
administration of the, Attorney-General, who tells you be at another place—no calling of witnesses who, though they
comes here to vindicate the law. It is allowed to speak of heard me speak for twenty_five minutes, and their atten-
the House of Lords as a house of incurables—a house of tion was not called to it till months afterwards, can swear
imbeciles—an excrescence upon the Constitution, to be i so positively to what would not occupy three minutes, and
cut away by the --pruning knife of that Liberal party to have no recollection, not the slightest, of anything else
which the public proscutor belongs. that I said. No such subterfuges—no such miserable
Mr. Justice PATTESON—That is not allowed. Unless expedients would have been resorted to in such a trial
you show me a case in which a man has been indicted, and with the present Government of this country, of which I
that it has been laid down that the o (fence was not an in- am not the most important, but am one of
dictable one. the most determined and deadly enemies. Mr. Stephens
Mr. Stephens—lt is allowed in the sense of being le- then read several other extracts from different publications
niently passed over. denouncing him, and calling on Government to put him
Mr. Justice Perresose—That I don't know. But down, and protect property. It was impossible, therefore,
when you said it was allowed, I took it in the sense that under these circumstances, that the object of the Attorney-
you meant it was legal. General could be to vindicate the law. Hundreds and thou-
Mr. Stephens—l am sorry your Lordship so misunder. sands of his speeches had been reported and published
stood me, but I should have said it has been suffered to under his own sanction and authority. If these speeches
pass unnoticed and unprosecuted. Gentlemen, the news- were seditious, if the doctrines contained in them were as
papers of the day, and the press of every town, are filled described, why did not the Attorney-General prosecute
with allusions of the character which I described ; and yet, him for these, instead of resorting to this trumpery charge ?
of late years at least, we have heard nothing of these I will now read to the Jury a paragraph, out of which this
attics being prosecuted. Nay, further, in the case of the prosecution originally sprung. It was published in the
Whigs, at the time of the Reform Bill, I find that meet- Manchester Guardian of the 12th of December, four days
ings, precisely of this description, were held over every after the burning of Mr. Jowett's mill—a paragraph which
part of the country, with ensigns, flags, and banners, bear- had been copied by the London Press, and through them
ing the inscriptions, " Liberty or Death"—" Reform or had gone the whole round of the Provincial Press of this
Vengeance"—. Down with Tyrants"—and there were country. It was headed " Torch-light meetings, and their
caps of liberty borne on staves and pike heads, and every Consequences." The defendant then proceeded to read
thing of that description. The people were urged and the article, which charged him with inciting the people to
advised to pay no more taxes, in order to compel " Old incendiarism, and being in effect the cause of the burning
Billy," as these persons styled the rightful Sovereign of Mr. Jowett's mill ; and charging him with holding torch-
of these realms, to concede the Reform Bill. Three light meetings in defiance of the proclamation, and
groans were given for the Queen, the first female of the declassing that the people would be justified in using
kingdom ; and there was an effigy of the King, with their torches to burn down the inhuman bastiles.
a bloody axe suspended over his head, and a block, in- He was denounced as a devil because he bad advised the
tim rating that unless the Bill were passed, he might suffer people to arm by law, for law, and under law. He had
the fate of some of his predecessors in this and other given them that advice, and he would give it again and
countries. Gentlemen, I now put it to you whether, in again. That if the Poor law was attempted to be carried
this country, with these facts passing daily before your out it ought to be physically resisted. The editor then
eyes, and having recently passed, you can believe the observed that " another part of Stephens' speech was con.
Learned Attorney-General, that the only reason he netted with the burning of Jowett's mill. He had been
comes here is "to vindicate the law," by rendering me threatened by Stephens for having convicted a boy of some
amenable to those laws which lam said to have broken ? offence, and that at the time Stephens was addressing the
My Lord, why do I mention all this ?—for what purpose people at Bury, Jowett's mill was blazing at Ashton. That
do I trouble your Lordship, and tax that patience and con- he had not the slightest doubt it was the act of an incen
descension which has been always by a British Judge diary, instigated by the diabolical and exciting speeches
awarded to a defendant standing in the position which I addressed to the working people of Ashton." It was to
fill It is for the enunciation of a great principle, for the bring under your notice that paragraph that I read the
establishment of a great fact—it is to put it clearly before whole of that article—it was not, I admit, bearing directly
your Lordship and the Jury that there is a certain class on the question, but I read it that you might see the charges
of speaking and a certain class of writing which is which have been brought against me, and the grounds on
suffered to go unrebuked, and without prosecution or which they have been made, and also the spirit in which
punishment. Yes, we can have, on occasions, when it the editor comments upon my proceedings, and the language
suits the purpose, or contributes to the stability of an Ad- which he puts in my mouth—language which I need not
ministration—we can have disturbances of the public tell you I never uttered in the sense ascribed to me, and no
peace—we can have incendiaries—men who speak so as man in his senses could. Immediately after this—and this
*lead to a subversion of the laws—who propose, not the re- is only one of a hundred similar attacks and statements in
peal of a Poor-law, but the Repeal of that Union which con- the newspapers—came another most important article,
netts this kingdom with the adjoining kingdom of Ireland which appeared in all the journals, and which was delivered
—we can have these men going through the country, by a member of her Majesty's Government, who is now
forming affiliating societies, marshalling men, counting prosecuting me. The Hon. Fox Mettle, at a public meet-
their numbers, and receiving their money—we can have ing at Perth, said that the Government had not interfered
these men publicly declaring, that they want some 10,000, with public meetings till the pernicious doctrines of Ste-
or 500,000, or on some occasions 2,000,000 of fighting phens and others had led to the firing of mills.—[Mr. S.
men to go up and petition the throne. The Attorney- here repeated at length the passage he had before alluded to.]
General does not consider that illegal, or worthy of his I fully agree with Mr. Fox Maule and the Attorney-
attention—that is not a matter to be prosecuted—he does General, that where language is employed directly and
not then come forward to " vindicate the law"—to assert necessarily, and inevitably leading to acts of violence, it is
the majesty, and maintain inviolate the supremacy the duty of her Majesty's Government, and they would be
of the laws of this country. The Union may be threatened unworthy of her canfidence if they did not act upon that.
—two millions of fighting men may be held up in terrorem It is their duty, under such circumstances, without loss of
—merely to give that gentleman the influence and power time, to prosecute the ruffian who had outraged the law,
and patronage which be enjoys. But no sooner does an and incited the people to destroy property. It would be
humble individual, a poor unbefriended Minister of the culpable in me were I not to bring before you expressions
Gospel—a man without talent, save that of telling the truth said to have fallen from the lips—not of an individual in
fearlessly, so far as he knows it—a man without family, save the heat of public discussion—not from the lips of an indi-
that whose poverty is as humble and meritorious as his vidual haranguing the people out of doors—not from an in-
own—a man without name and character, save the name dividual collecting information and receiving the tincture
and character of a firebrand, an incendiary, an assassin, of prejudice and hearing evidence and report, but falling
a demon, and a madmen—a man without influence, save from the lips of a gentleman of station equal to that of
that of the widow and the poor, and the power of truth,which your own, of intelligence and information, and who at the
is great and will yet prevail—no sooner does a man situate period of my first arrest was one of my. Judges, and which
and charactered as I am, step forward and plead for his were uttered by him in the interval between my first and
fellow- men—l speak on behalf of the widow and the father_ second examination at Manchester, an examination in
less—and express his constitutional views on the Poor-law which my liberty and character were deeply involved.
Bill, the Factory Bill, and the case of the handloom That gentleman is reported with having given utterance
weavers, and the several practical grievances and evils of to the following expressions, and being charged with them
the country, for which he proposes a practical and consti- he has taken no steps to deny them. At a public dinner
tutional remedy—no sooner does that man appear before at Hyde, on the 31st of December, I having been arreeted
the country, although thus humble and without power and on the 27th, and having to appear again at the Old Bailey
influence, than her Majesty's Attorney- General comes on the 2d January, at this, to me, most critical period, he is'
down to the assizes of Chester to prosecute that individual, reported to have said, in the very town where the proseeu-
, while he cornes,as he tells you, merely "to indicate the law." tion emanated, and on the Bench of which be presided. In
He has no intention—neither the Learned Attorney- Ge- that town Capt. Clarke said " there was in the district a fire•
neral, nor the Government, whose servant he is—of putting brand, a demon, going about sowing his poison in the minds
down public meetings. He has no intention of restricting of time people he had deceived and was continuing to de-
liberty, or the opportunity of giving free expression to ceive. That man took in his hands—his accursed hands—
opinion. He prides himself on having the honour of ap- the Book of God, and quoted from it passages befitting his
peering in this prosecution because it is a prosecution aim- wicked purposes, counselling his deluded followers to des-
ply intended to vindicate the law. Now, gentlemen, if this troy factories and burn down cottages, as many as they
were really the desire of the Attorney- General and the pleased." And then emulating the example of Quintus
Government, as it is only professedly so on the present Curtius, Captain Clarke proceeded to say that "if lie
occasion, what course ought the Attorney-General to have would only spare life, if he would only spare the mills of
pursued ? lam charged in this indictment with raising and the enterprising manufacturers, and spare the cottages of
exciting discontent in the minds of the subjects of this land the poor men, if he would only be satisfied with the sacri-
-with making divers and sundry speeches enci discourses five of one life, and that its sacrifice would restore peace
which have a direct and necessary tendency to injure pro • and happiness and comfort, his own could not fail in a
perty, and lead to the loss of life by violence—that I ex- better cause." And then the Report states that there was
hcrted the people to arm, and procure arms, &c. Now loud cheering. Now where was Captain Clarke and Mr.
taking for the moment these facts for granted, what course Howard, who was my intimate friend—where were the
ought the Attorney-General to have pursued had his guardians of the public peace and the tranquillity of the
object been simply to vindicate the law. Clearly country ? If I had been a man of the description the At-
he would have taken the defendant in this case, torney-General has pour trayed, no doubt we should have
or I should rather say, as the fact is, the prisoner at the had those men in the box to-day to state their opinion of
bar, and fought him on another field. He would have my principles and conduct. Gentlemen, Parliament as-
brought the case before the Court and the country on sembled in the month of February, a month after my ar-
points about which there could be no manner of doubt. rest, and her Majesty in the speech from the throne alluded
It either is or is not lawful for persons situated as I am to to the persevering efforts that had been made in some
exhort ehe people on the Factory question and on the Pour- parts of the country to disturb the public peace,
law question. My opinions may be wrong on this point, and excite resistance to the laws. I certainly did
but if such a course had been pursued they would have been not suppose that so humble an individual as myself
clearly and fairly tried. There would have been no need had drawn the solemn anger of the Monarch of
to have had three indictments hanging over the head of a these realms, were it not that allusions were made to the
man like myself. There would have been no need to call matter in the debates in both Houses of Parliament ; and
cotton witnesses, for with the exception of the two cobsta_ it was then distinctly stated that I was at least one of the
bles, it is worthy of remark that all the witnesses are either individuals therein alluded to and pointed out. Following
cotton manufacturers or the brothers or relatives of cotton up this persevering and systematic misrepresentation of my
principles and motives, I find in the first Report of the
manufacturers. The Attorney-General reminds me of
Mr. Tinker ; but is not Mr. Tinker a surgeon holding an Constabulary Commissioners, most appropriately signed by
appointment under the Factory Regulation Act, whose con- Charles Shaw, before the brother of one of the Poor-law
duct, together with that of the cotton manufacturers, I Commissioners,' Col. Rowan, the head of the Metropo-
have had frequent occasion to bring under the notice of time litan Police, and Mr. Chadwick, the Secretary of the
country. There would then have been no occasion for Poor law Commissioners, a statement that very great
calling witnesses, and bringing into Court a family party— alarm was excited by leading agitators who were going
the families of the Howards and the Ashtons, and the M-, about the country, and that they were instigating the peo-
Tinker who is connected with them. If it had been the plc to the assassination of manufacturers and the destruc-
Attorney- General's desire merely to vindicate the law, he tion of property. The Report also alluded to the
would have proceeded against me for some speech on torch-light meetings, and the unwillingness of parties even
which there was no manner of doubt, or on some of those of the highest respectability to give information, unless
publications put forth and authorised by me, which I would their names were withheld. What effect must such state-
have roost readily admitted. How is it, I will ask, my merits have on the minds of even the most unprejudiced ?
Lord, when the Secretary of State for the Home Depart- Why, gentlemen, if even my brother, by whose side I have
men= went so far out of his way to malign my motives as stood, or my father, whose principles I have imbibed, were
to say a few days since, immediately preceding this trial, in the box, I maintain that neither my father nor my bro..
that a printed sermon of mine inculcates murder and the they, if the were in the habit of reading paragraphs of
destruction of property, and that in this sermon I have this description, could refrain from conceiving, a priori, a
declared that whilst the New Poor-law Act continues in strong prejudice against me. You have seen no reluctance
force, the Divine commands, Thou shalt not steal, and thou on the part of the witnesses to-day to give evidence against
shalt not kill, are no longer in force or obligation—bow me, and many of them are gentlemen of influence
was it that the Attorney-General did not proceed and station and property. You have had, in fact,
against me for this ? Why, for this reason— none but gentlemen of property examined. There were
that when read, weighed, and examined, and no labouring men, no shopkeepers, no tradesmen, no per-
brought to the touchstone of truth, when applied to sons out of the middle ranks of life, to tell you the state of
the standard of your books, my Lord, when applied to the town at the period of this meeting. You have had
the standard of that book which is part and parcel of the but two families who have represented the cotton interest
Common Law of England, it would be found that I have on this occasion, and yet the country has been told by the
inculcated no doctrine, nor advanced any opinion but such press that such is the state of dread, and alarm, and appre-
as are strictly constitutional and Christian. Therefore it is hension, that even gentlemen of property, and persons
that all this is passed over; therefore it is you have holding her Majesty's Commission of the Pe ace could
brought bet. re you evidence of an assembly of which you only be induced to gYe evidence, on condition that their
have heard to-day, and upon which evidence the Attorney- names should be withheld. I don't wonder at all this__
General hopes to obtain that verdict from you which he all that is sought is that the material, the statement
dare not invoke on what is the real and true cause of the should go forth to the world without any endorsement, or as-
prAtion in which I this day stand. If this prosecution surance of its truth, because the mischief is then done, al-
had begun to-day, if it had began as Mr. Tinker says his though the moment a responsible person appears,that moment
evidence began, two months ago—if it nad begun at the all alarm vanishes and disperses even as the witness, when
time the meeting took place, nine months ago, I pressed lay me, stated that not one of them felt any alarm
should have thought myself very much wanting about the meeting. I shall only trouble your Lordship
in due respect to your Lordship and to the time with one more extract for the purpose of removing, if pos..
of the Court in troubling you with what I have sible, from the minds of the jury any prejudices that may
done, and with what I shall be obliged to advance in order exist against me, but although it is the last it is by far the
to show that there is indeed a conspiracy in this country ; most important, and allow me to add, by far the most ma-
a conspiracy of certain parties to oppress, overwhelm, and licious. I stand here, gentlemen, prosecuted at the in_
crush me, and on this subject I submit to your Lordship I stance of her Majesty's Government, and communications
am entitled, in order to disabuse the Jury of the prejudice on the subject of my prosecution have been
which has been instilled into their minds, to expose those made to the Home Office, and I am going to show you
ujust and malicious proceedings by which it has been the share I have had in what the Attorney-General
sought to hold me up as one of the basest of mankind. It has been pleased to term " the agitation," having
is impossible for the various publications which have been for its object the destruction of life and property. You
made against me to have been circulated without the will be astonished when I tell you that I was going to
minds of the Jury being prejudiced against me. I will read an extract from the actual pr
osecutor in this case
whose character, g
it cl. hconfidenceof the of the
which. this description of character is ap_ Crown (and, lam sorry I cannot add in the confidence of
descriptions not casual but general, not the country) ought to have raised him infinitely above any
who are attempt to put me down by a side blow of the nature lam
opflietdhetodayn,win;
emanatingl will show you about to show you. Gentlemen, it is not sufficient that
rs in the present case.
the actual prosecutors
is ntiornAe, prosecutingndeavo ure nteo, thisi prosecution,y should so
iost irregular,itoteduangc
ao
inosstti t tei nhault,
tahned
pe
ox
ht rl ;-
from the pressl alone, but all from parties
thhaast
sedulously,
lvaeur
syl y oa vncdr nfora
tn whichth
rues and this, combined mind has been saturated usque ad nauseum w ith every species
prejudice the public mind a. inst
.on for those alleged offences of malignity and falsehood as affecting my character—it is
with the absence of all prosecution
have raised the greatest not enough that the ordinary course at this bar should be
and proceedings for which t ey
have represented me Attorney-General for the county should be passed by as
clamour against me, constitutes an a priori argument that departedAttorne. from, and that the talents and learning of the
I am not the kind of map which they inadequate—that it is not enough her Majesty's Attorney-
General, the first law officer of the crown, should come
tsoeelauet-eetionhgaottth2ps
for
rntohte apobronoesefiodfeeprrao9eheicougtiaoons,i
dbeusttaroypirao-g
Chrontele of the is not sufficient but after you, gentlemen, have received a
me on false prete,,,,, Mr. Stephens then proceeded to down simply as he says "to vindicate the law"—all this
read a lengthy extract from the Morning.
10th
stimulating mul January,nge tru yto try, and an honest and con.
tio• -
scien ue_vareldiet to give, ou who are in the habit of
s with
agency and that of readit g P
hmamofentar _debates, are to have this passage
disturbances
in whichandtltoo Tories were charged eu.mmons wll 'and 1
the manufacturing district.; through his
eßreostreeleid,
inanwheixethracthtefrNomohlao rLeocredntstsapt
the from a epee: Lord John Russel'. pot before you. The
i other persons, and represented the defendant as incising
• people to plunder, and recommended persons Of
pposition to the law in
his neighbourhood to look narrowly after him. I give Y;)4 Lhad been
`said Mr. Stephens) a specimn of the wilful and .110,17 there
with great perseverance to excite disaffection to the laws
cioe, moue in which conclusions the most prejudicial to
property ling deofredndjaonhto
cepse
d that
tf
of this country. Th t t e agitatien had assumed various
me have been drar4;. from supposed and invented prerniscg• oee of which. was oppOsition to the peor-laws
You have a proof that the eet °station to men of property shapes,
to watch me narrowly, has not been without effect, for all which were stated to ne to o contrary to the principles of
n
the witnesses (except the two constables), that is to say justice, that they wereentitled to obedience. That
all the members of the two families who have been brosighe Gentlemen, hit. Oastler, counted h
one of these;pielf a

Tory ; another was a Mr. Stephens, who termed himself
a Dissenting Minister, and without alluding to the dis-
courses for which he was now under prosecution, that pre-
tended preacher of the Gospel had told the people that
while the Poor-law was in operation the Divine Command-
ments, " Thou shalt not steal," and " Thou shalt not
kill," should be suspended; and of no force, thus di-
rectly tending to the destruction of property and life ;
and also that the attention of the Government had been*
called to the prosecution of those speeches, but that re-
porters could not be called to give evidence in the first
instance, and the fears of other persons residing in the
neighbourhood, lest they should be marked out for ven-
geance, had thrown insuperable difficulties in the way.
Now, my Lord, I shall add nothing more on this head,
than that this is a full admission that it was hopeless on th(
part of the Government to expect a verdict in a Court of
Justice without resorting to such evidence as has been
brought before you this day. For as long as two years
ago, up to the present time, not only the public
press, but the members of her Majesty's Government,
and even that member of her Majesty's Government
at whose instance I am now prosecuted, have resorted to
every mode in order to prejudice the minds of my coun-
trymen at large, and my jury in particular, in order to
prevent the moral possibility of my having an impartial
trial, by prepossessing the Jury to admit evidence and
i regarda
constructions of evidence, which otherwise they would
not have listened to. Now,
ithimportant, evidence. In all cases of sedition and using seditious
with
and
in nnnat to
cases
the
es
absolutely
language,
necessary,i highly
yat some such evidence as Lord
was
John Russell alluded to ( Reporter's notes) should be
given. It was a sine qua non that every means within
the compass of a reasonable possibility should be
resorted to in order to bring the supposed criminal
to justice, and to warrant a verdict of guilty. We are
told, indeed, that reporters cannot be called ; who then
can ? I would not tell your Lordship and the Jury how
exceedingly difficult even in the common affairs of life, in
matters of the most trivial and every day concern, to carry
away correct and accurate impressions of what has
been communicated to us, unless we have recourse to mi-
nutes or other artificial modes of memory. How much
more difficult, then, in a question of seditious language,
where it is well known the alteration or substitution of a
word, or even a comma or a point, may make a material
variation in its effect and tendency ? How much more
difficult must it be to rely upon evidence depending on
memory alone at the distance of many months
after the language was used ? Are the liberties
and lives of Englishmen to hang suspended on the slender
thread of such evidence as you have heard from that box,
from persons prejudiced and interested; from persons,
one of whom tells you that he was a little elevated when
he went to the meeting, but not drunk, because he could
walk upright ? From persons such as those on whom the
little government of a great nation rests its only hope of
obtaining a verdict against me ? As to the evidence about
banners and flags, and banner-knights, and powder-mon-
keys, and all that rubbish and twaddle—which on re-
peated examination of the witness, for the purpose of this
trial, was drilled into him--and getting money from the
clubs to procure arms, that the Jury will remember was
given readily enough. But the moment I asked for any
thing that had been said intermediately or interlocutorily,
the only answer I could get was non rni ricordo,
not one single sentiment or expresssion beyond
could or would the witness recollect. His mind was a
blank, and his lips were sealed the moment I put any-
thing to him that had not been drilled into him ; nor was
it before nine times that he could even remember that I
had often visited and been on terms of intimacy with Mr.
Howard, where he had seen me frequently, with whom
I had been on terms of friendship, as indeed I was with
all the magistrates and manufacturers in the neighbour-
hood, until I took up the cause of those little piecers of
13 years of age—the poor factory labourers—and then,
t
indeed, their friendship ceased. But the moment I asked
question of one of the witnesses who could remember
nothing before, whether he had ever heard me say anything
which had a tendency to the destruction of property—
his memory was miraculously restored, and he could give a
speech which he attributed to me, as he would have you
believe, almost word for word. What did Ido ? To test
his memory I read slowly and deliberately an extract from a
speech, stated by Lord Brougham in the Lords to have
been one of mine—stated so for the purpose of prejudicing
me, and containing rubbish similar to that which he had
detailed. I asked him to give that speech, or any portion
of it word for word. And what did he say ? He said, "It
was impossible." Not to be hard on the witness, and to
give him the same latitude as I wish to be allowed myself,
I asked him to repeat the substance, meaning, or drift of
the extract, or its tendency. .You will not forget the
memorable answer—" It would be folly to attempt
it." I ask you as moral agents, considering the
nature of man, his powers and capacities, is that
man to be believed—are any of those men to
believed, when they say they have given a correct statement
of the language used by me, of which they never made
any notes, and to which they never had their attention
called till two months after the time, and some of them not
till seven and eight months after the time ? When the
Leigh indictment broke down at that memorable examina-
tion, all these cases were transferred from Lancashire into
Cheshire. The whole evidence then was of the same de-
scription as that in the present case. Witnesses were
brought from the town of Leigh who could remember this
and not remember that—who could remember something
about arms, and something about other things ; but what
the drift, meaning, or tendency of the speech was they
knew not. I ask you then, Gentlemen of the Jury, can you
-conscientiously give a verdict of guilty upon such evidence ?
Depend on it there is something of which you ought to be
more fully informed. What this is I have partly endea-
voured to put you in possession of ; and if the most mate-
rial witness for the prosecution in this case, the attorney
who conducts, the brother of the witness Hibbert, and
whose name is on the back of the indictment, had been
sailed..—

of their labour if they attempted to meet ? Was
it when the whole district was under ban, and when it
was made the subject of a criminal information against a
Magistrate whom I now see in this Court, and on that
bench, that he would not enter or engage in a league with
the other master manufacturers, and discharge all those
from his employment who attended these meetings. When,
as an ancient authority has it, the bread of the poor,
which is the life of the pooe, was taken away from them,
for who so taketh away the bread of the poor taketh away
the life of the poor. Gentlemen, I stand here to plead
for them—l have comparatively no.case for myself, and I
heed not much whether or not you return me to my home,
as I believe you wit'. I stand here on behalf of the poor a
criminal at your bar—on behalf of those who were deprived
of their bread for venturing to attend a public meeting.
Gentlemen, in all this array of torch-light meetings, and
banners and ensigns, the Learned Attorney-General has
not attempted to show you that these meetings were corn-
mon in the district, nor has there been a tittle of evidence
to show that the persons getting it up had any intention to
excite terror and alarm in the minds of the people. There
has been no proof offered that I had anything to do with
the arrangements of the meeting, but that simply as a
minister of the neighbourhood, the people did me the ho-
nour to invite me to attend and deliver my opinions upon
certain great Constitutional questions. If there had been any
thing really terrific about these torchlight meetings we should
perhaps have heard a little more from the Attorney-Gene-
ral about them, and if he avails himself of the right to
reply,. we may hear him stake his reputation that torch-
light meetings are not illegal—he may stake his reputa-
tion that there is nothing more a torch than in a
farthing candle, that every Englishman has a right to
carry arms in his own defence—he may stake his reputa-
tion that the people have not only a right to carry banners,
but effigies and representations of individuals, and that if
if there happens to be a Magistrate of the name of Badger,
it is no crime to carry an effigy of the animal of that name
past the house of the worthy Magistrate. Now, Gentle-
men, with all this twaddle about banners and torches, with
which I have nothing whatever to do—with all this firing
of pop-guns and penny cannons some seven or eight
days after the sth of November, when every little boy,
and some hobbledehoys too, are in possession of these trin-
kets and toys, and when every one is firing them in com-
memoration of the salvation of this country from a conspi-
racy much more deadly than any that has ever been on
foot against the Poor-laws—with all this parade and twad-
dle, there has been nothing alleged either as to the time
of the meeting, or the manner of conducting it, so far as
I am concerned, which can constitute it an unlawful one.
Have any of the witnesses stated that they were alarmed ?
Not one; notwithstanding the consummate skill and talent
with which that was attempted to be extorted from them.
Gentlemen, on my part I have made many mistakes,
and got too much from the witnesses, although when I
look at the evidence again, it only shows the animus of the
party, and shows the great necessity of great caution in
receiving it. It is clear, however, that there was nothing
in the meeting to excite alarm, for you have the witnesses
going from one inn to another, and taking their jovial
glass—attending the meeting, and remaining within a
few yards 'of the speakers, and when the question was
afterwards put to them, " Were you alarmed ?" the
answer was, " No." " Had you any ground for sup-
posing you ought to inform the Magistrates ?"—" No."
And even Mr. Howard tells you that he was only afraid
of his barn from an accidental spark. No, gentlemen,
thank God, no spark of incendiarism of mine has ever
assailed the character or property of any man. Nay, so
guarded were the people on all occasions, that when
a waggon of straw was standing opposite the
gate of a factory, the word was sent along
the line by fuglemen to carry the torches on the opposite
side, and for anything I know the waggon may be still
standing there in the hope of another prosecution as vin-
dictive and malicious as this. Gentlemen, in the annals of
this Court there never was a more unfair, a more cowardly,
or a more cruel persecution. I have lighted a torch, not
literally, but figuratively, which, by God's blessing, shall
blaze, and which all the waters in the cistern cannot extin-
guish. I have taught the people to fear God and
honour the Queen; but I have taught them also to
hate everything unconstitutional and unchristian—l
have told them to take the book of God in their right
hands, and the book of the law in their left—to
have the fear of God on their side, and the love of God
and their neighbours in their hearts, and then to walk
abroad fearlessly, in spite of Attorney-Generals and all the
array of Poor-law prosecutions. Gentlemen, there was a
banner with the inscription—" For children and wife, we
will war to the knife." Is there a man in that box who
would Dot do the same? That, gentlemen, is "the head
and front of my offending." I have told the people of Eng-
land that by law their children and wives cannot be taken
from them. I have told the people that they have a right
to their own homesteads, to their own firesides, their own
earnings after work honestly and fairly done—that they
have a right to the comfort and society of their little
ones, and the partners whom they have sworn before
God never to desert, but to love and cherish until death
do them part. I have taught the people the only law
which professes to invalidate or overthrow. This is not
law, and ought not to be held to be law in any Court of
British Jurisprudence, and cannot be expected to be
obeyed by any party. That it is better to obey God than
man, and in all things in which the laws of man conform
to the laws of God I am willing to obey them. I am
brought here, gentlemen, on a mere pretext, and until I
am tried and found guilty I cannot believe that the real
object of this prosecution has been unfolded to
you. The present attempt is worthy of the ma-
lignity and hatred of the Government, and even upon a
legal point, if there be a verdict given against me, 1 shall
still contend that I have been unjustly condemned, because
I have been found guilty not upon the real charge which
these parties have against me. Gentlemen, the Attorney-
General did not remind you of the fact, and impress it
upon you, that it is the intentions or motive that constitutes
the essence or grievance of all crime. Without a criminal
motive, there can be be no criminal act. I may be a
madman, but until my opinions had gained such head
both with the rich and the poor—until my principles
began to take root in the minds of the people—until
something like an influence arising out of the exten-
sion and establishment of these principles began
to enwrap me, it was thought convenient and
necessary to represent me as a madman. If I am a mad-
man your verdict must be not guilty, for he who has not
his mind under full control is incapable of committing a
criminal act. I may have said something wrong—l may
have used hasty words or strong expressions, hut the At-
torney-General has omitted the most important part of all
—it was his duty to have satisfied you that I was a man
having malus animus—that I had in my heart a bad feeling
and hatred towards the men against whom I am said to
have spoken that I wished and had therefore com-
passed the destruction of their property and lives.
He should have not only shown this, but have satisfied
your minds of it, so as to leave no doubt upon
your minds. But how stands the case at present? You
have a large army of special constables who have been
convicted of striking the people, which they do not consi-
der a crime. There was a great deal about rioters, and
flags and banners, but not a word as to the motives of the
defendant, or as to his having the intentions set forth in the
indictment. The Right Hon. the Secretary of State has
stated that I have recommended the assassination of
manufacturers and the destruction of property, and that
while the Poor Law Act was in force the commandments
of God ought to be suspended; but he has not stated
how the argument really stands on that point, and I shall
give you, by reading that entire, an opportunity of ascertain-
ing what were my real motives and opinions on the subject,
and if after that you in your solemn judgments, and upon
your oaths, believe me capable of instigating the destruc-
tion of property or life, I shall give you the full scope and
benefit of all the prejudices that have been excited against
me. If you can believe that I have argued in any way other
than as a Constitutional Englishman I had a right to do,
and as an humble Christian Minister I deemed it my duty
to God and my conscience to do, then without putting
the Attorney-General to the trouble of a reply, or the
Learned Judge to the trouble of summing up, pronounce
your verdict of guilty, and let me bear the brunt of having
harboured malice against my fellow men, whom I ought to
love. Lord Erskine has well observed, that it is the intention
and motives that constitute the offsnce ; and hence it is,
that in old forms of law a person is charged with not
having the fear of God before his eyes, but being insti-
gated bythe devil. Now, I love those old forms, and wish they
had still been adhered to, but the march of intellect and the
spirit of Reform has rendered them, I suppose, unfashionable.
I am not one of those who set at naught the doctrines of
Christians, or who hold that the character amen is formed
for him and not by him, and that, therefore, he is not re-
sponsible for his actions. This may be modern philo-
sophy, but it is not reason; it may be liberalism, but it is
, not Christianity. I take my stand on the word of God,
and on Christianity. Christianity explaining and eliciting
the principles and structure of -all law, for human law is
only good when identical in principles and spirit with the
law of Christianity, it is then alone worthy of ad-
miration, of obedience, of living under, and of fighting
for—the law of Christianity, like the law of the
land, forbids men to judge hastily and rashly.
The law of Christianity with the law of the land, re-
quires that a man should have criminal intentions in order
that his arts should be deemed criminal. The malus
animus must be proved—the motive to do wrong must be
shown. Now, wherein has any motive to incite to deeds of
lawless violence been proved against me? The Attorney-
General has neglected this part of his duty, for he has
not shown you by any reference to my previous life, con-
duct, character, or conversation, that I am a man whom,
with this doubtful evidence against me, you ought to pro-
nounce to be a man of such criminal motives and in-
tentions as will warrant your consciences in return-
ing a verdict of guilty. I will do that which the
Attorney-General has left undone. I will give the
prnsecutor in this case every advantage, I will throw my-
self open and without disguise before you. I take the
very worst case against me, and I will read you that ser-
mon which I preached, on which Lord J. Russell founded
his statement that I was a man who incited the people
to aggressions upon property and life, and will put it to you
on that whether I am a person of those wicked and ma-
lignant feelings that have been ascribed to me.—( Mr.
Stephens here read at great length the sermon preached
by him some time wive at Kennington-common, in
which he had vehemently denounced the dignitaries
I put of the Established Church and the Poor-law Bill.)
it to the Attorney- General, whether in the whole course
of my life as a public character I have laid down any other
principles, or broached any other doctrines than those
which contributed to the happiness and well-being of
society—than such as are based upon the word of God, 0/3
contained in hia Divine Revelations. If there be anything
which may have struck you as particularly strong in what I
have just read, I ask you as Englishmen and glasias
bans to impute it to my enaiesy to maintain inviolate
thg coiumandittenta of god, rather than the orainances
of law, and to vindicate me from all improper of
unjustifiable motives or intentions. Strong a 4 the strangest
of these expressions may he they are not stronger than the
assertiona of the ablest writers of the land, than thoso of
Milton, Paley, Locke, Grotius, Puffendorf, and every
, other writer on moral or political science. The whole of
these authorities have again and again stated that the
foundation of society is the safety, the security, and the
happiness of the poor upon whom all the other orders of

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL offered to put him in the box.
Mr. Stephens—lf he had been in the box, Gen-
tlemen, he must have told you that from his office
proceeded that document which was intended to fill, and
which did fill, the inhabitants of this city of Chester with
alarm, and with such prejudice against me that I was not
allowed to stop even for a few minutes in the commercial
room of one of the principal inns here, because the land-
lord, not discourteously to me, informed me that in all pro.
bability I should find myself much annoyed by the persons-
who would frequent it. Nay, the day before yesterday,
whilst sheltering myself from the rain, in one of t 131.;
" rows," as the covered ways of Chester are called, I
ventured to suggest to a group of gentlemen who were
looking at the waggons of arms that were passing by, and
Perms without Judge or Jury,
contending that it was a seizure of arms belonging to
that Chartists
in
allw probability
oobaugbhi
lti
ttyo
theyb be hungwere belonging to the
Stephens
g ether_
Government, my reception was such that I was soon
was
oneworse
of thant al l th e
compelled to leave their company ; for without
knowing my person, they immediately attacked
me
rest oyf thea me g
gentle-
men said, if he formed one of the jury, he would take goodagainstcare that a verdict of guilty should be brought in against
b name,
a, saidita t o thatput t
o
him, at all hazards." To what is this extraordinary ex-
citement and prejudice to be attributed, but to the false,
malicious, and scandalous placard which figures on your
walls ? I left Hyde on Monday, and never- was it more
peaceable. I have been a regular minister there for flee
years, and have known it seven. I constantly visit and
officiate in that neighbourhood every Sabbath, and never
since I came there has there been any one case
in which there has been the remotest shadow of a
disturbance—not a single violation of public order—
not a single breach of the public peace occurred. My
people are amended rather than deteriorated—their habits
have become more domestic, their political principles more
constitutional, and their religious princ:ples more Chris-
tian. This is well known in the district from whence I
come. It is there well known that lam not the man
which, under the legal mask of this prosecution, I ant de-
scribed to be. It is known that I do not advocate brute
force. No Radicalism, nor Chartism, nor National Conven-
tionalism, and all the rest of the revolutionary dogmas of
the present day. It is notorious that I came forward at
the meeting at Leigh, and declared my detestation of the
•
doctrine i on which radicalism is founded, and
stated that if the Radicals got into power my head
would probably be the first that was brought to the
block, and my blood the first that would flow for
the restoration of the ancient liberties of the country.
If I am to be tried, let. it be in my own person, and not in
the person of Chartism—let me be tried on my own
opinions, as stated in public speeches, well known and
authorised, on which there can be no two opinions as to
the facts of the case. I trust your Lordship and the Jury
will tell the Attorney-General that whatever were the
motives or the views of a particular Government, the
liberties of Englishmen are not to be tampered with, their
privileges not to be destroyed. A few years ago it was
the object of the Government to effect an entire change in
all the institutions of the country, and to deprive the poorer
classes of their long recognised rights, and place the con-
trol of their management in the hands of persons
appointed by themselves, instead of leaving it in the
hands of their neighbours. How did Government
wish to accomplish this ? Not openly, not honestly,
but by alarming the fears of the men of property for their
property. It was only by libelling the character of the
poor, and by exciting the fears of the upper classes, that
they could hope to crush the freedom of England by that
inhuman and unchristian measure, the New Poor-law
Amendment Act. Before this Act could be passed, it
required that a Reforming Chancellor, Lord Brougham,
should rise up in the House of Lords, and, tell the Peers of
England, that unless their Lordships consented to that
Bill, their Property would be destroyed, and their estates
swallowed up. To accomplish this measure, the poor
people of England were described as depredators,
as persons wanting common honesty—their character
was maligned, and the Bill was passed. It is
also well known
that the Government—the party to
which the Hon. and Learned Attorney-General belongs,
has also for some time past been seeking to introduce an-
other innovation—to gain into their own hands the whole
control over the police force of this country—to deprive
the inhabitants of the various towns and districts of any
control over their own police, and to transfer it to a cen-
tral power in London. And how have they sought to
bring about this additional innovation ? In the same man
ner as they accomplished the former, by maligning the
character of the poor, and by endeavouring to excite the
fears of men of property ; by inducing them to believe that
there is a lawless combination amongst the poor that
renders Property unsafe, life insecure, and which
denounces assassinations and midnight burnings against
the persons, mansions, and factories of the gentry,
manufacturers, and employers in the land. All this
has been done for the purpose of exciting a pro.
Judice against me throuehout the country, and notwith-
standing the whispers I hear at my side, I contend that
have a right te bri
tuese matters wader yaur notice, an 4
to draw the conchtsion, that if this agitation and opposition
to the Poor-laNv bad not been going on, you would not have
seen me in this
place
to.day. Gentlemen, you should
recollect that in a factory district the labourers who are at
work from sunrise to sunset have no other opportunity of
meeting than after their hours of labour. When are they
to meet? Was it in the face of attempts not only
contemplated, but executed, to deprive these people