The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-28 00:00:00

TRIAL OF THE CHAR FIST
CONSPIRATORS.

CRIMINAL COURT.—(THIS DAY.)
OLD CURT
CQNTINUATION OF TEIE TRIAL OF C 3FFLY,
LACY, AND FAY.
Mr. Baron Platt and Mr. Justice Williams took their
seats on the bench at ten o'clock.
Mr. BALLANTINE proceeded to Pid ress the jury on
behalf of Cuffey and Lacy. After some prefatory re-
marks, he contended that the, Attorney General was
Wholly unjustified in saying that the prisaners were con-
nected with any plan of organization with a s levy to a
general end simultaneous I:sina of the people throughout
"le country. No evidence had been adduced to show
that they had any connexion with any such orgaroz
tiona The Attorney-General ha I said that no great
Vslio good wes ever obtained by violent measures.
it wes nototious, that the great measures on which
taelr liberties rested were obtained at the point
IL the bayonet ; but. under the sway of
bus reigning Monarchy, who desired by every
%leans to promotlt.he weir:ire of her subjects, force was
annecessary to obtsin that which was obviously good.
Ile was Derfcetly re-ly to admit that the prisoners had
been guilty of great ;•nproptiety, but he denied that they
had any intention of levaing we^ against the Queen. It
Was said that the Acts under which the pi isoners had
been indicts I was most merciful, since it reduced the
crime of treason, of which in effect the prisoners were
charged, to an ordineay felony, end hence abolished the
-Pllnishment of death, and the disembowelling of the yet
*arm body of the malefact sr. He admitted further that
Us Government of the pre-ant day was merciful, but do
40% let the jet.), forget that the time might come when a
Government might I- tusposed to tyrannise, andavhen
they might have unconstitutionel judges and unconsti-
tutional attorney-genere's —let tnem else bear in
Mind that a conviction under this Act placed the
turtles affected ;n the pDsition of serfs of the
ktovernment for life; since,:. the discretion of the Gourt,
% man so convicted wes no longer a free man. Notvvith-
Standing the mercy of the Act and the leniency of the
Government, the making of the offence a felony perpe-
trated a monstrous injustice, as it took away the privi-
leges which prisoners indicted for the high offence of
treason enjoyed; as a copy of the indictment, and a list
of the witnesses to be called against, and the jury who
Were to try, them, were not furnished to them. The pri-
lrilegewastakenaway altogether. Doubtless the meetings
Were unlawful, end deserved to be punished by the law—
doubtless a deal of foolish tslk was uttered, and there
was a great deal said about hand- grenades, in a wild
Scd untutored belief that they would thereby obtain
.ke People's' Charter ; but it was absurd to say
that the object of this conspiracy was to levy war against
the Queen. The idea wee absurd. Don't let them be
told that a meeting at a pot-hmise, and the nonsense
talked by Cuffey, and the finding of pike-head in a
garret, was levying such a war. Let them, therefore,
not be carried away by the special pleading of the At-
torney-General, but find them guilty of a misdemeanour.
Was it not very likely that the spies of the Government
tutored these foolish, excited, weak people, into acts of vi-
olence, who in reality had no wicked design ; that they had
fomented the whole matter, and planted about the
persons of these persons, and about their houses, evi-
dences of guilt which they intended to use for their
own purposes hereafter, and which they had themselves
e(rileoeted. He trusted the jury would not forget that
lowly of the greatest men of England had died upon
the scaffold in defence of the very liberties they now
enjoyed, and that they should not consent to take
away the liberties of their fellow subjects without the most
reature consideration, and without a due sense of the
tedent they thereby created. He then proceeded to
a l with the witnesses and the evidence adduced by
aserra He did not anticipate that in a grave charge of
this kind they would believe a person whom they would
tot trust in their shops by a drawer containing money
Which they had not counted, or in fact lend him half-a•
11-own. They must apply the same rule to matters of
this kind as they would to the ordinary pursuits of life.
The prisoners had a perfect sight to combine as others
had done to obtain by constitutional means the Charter.
It was as open to a fair discussion as the expediency of
ltdopting the Reform Bill, or the repeal of the corn-laws,
Which, though as much opposed one time as the Charter,
had become law. When persons had combined for a
certain purpose—the ,Charter, for instance—was it not
easy for wicked persons, for gain, to join them in the
guise of friendship, and to fan the already excited
*lemmas of the confederation into a flame. Other bodies
in- good repute—the Freemasons, for instance—had
Vaarders and other officers, and used secret symbols.
,
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said the Freemasons had
an Act of Parliament legalising their proceedings.
Mr. BALLANTINE said the Odd Fellows were not
legalised by Act of Parliament. He accused Powell of
having created violence where there was a disposition
for peace, and with being a person utterly unworthy of
belief. They had heard from his own lips that he had
disseminated hia -poison among his workmen—originated
and fomented. the crime new laid to the charge of the
prisoners. Was it not obvious that he had made the
first pike head, and exhibited it to those with whom he
Joined, in. girder to induce them to make others, and
when Vass proper time arrived thereby to strengthen the
cave against them? What evidence had they to show
shat Davis had not used many of the violent expressions
~,,aosssd to by Powell? How many:spies were there?
as it not possible that there were many more, and that, in
Iru'Lls, they formed this formidable conspiracy, and drew
tlke prisoners and others into the gulf? The Attorney-
lUeneral had stated in his opening that there were
-thousands upon thousand's in London who knew not
Where to get a morsel of bread or a bed to lie
upon at night. It was a lamentable and an appalling
fact; and was it not likely that these housel.ss and
famishing wanderers were easily made the tool of a de-
signing scoundrel like Powell, who had not even the
ulerit of being, • an accomplice—the man who had as-
landted his own father, deserted his wile, played the des-
picable part of a decoy at a gambling table, and run
races to hrir.g custom to beer-shops. He asked them,
With a strr.ng sense of justice, not to believe this man—
to put ne, faith in him. In war, a spy, when detected,
was hu-ug up like a dog to the nearest tree; but perhaps
taksPY ; a civil matters, and more especially one against
a'""Chartists, was a more respectable person, and less
mete. eying such a fate. He (Mr. Ballantine) did not think
a?' and he believed the jury would agree with him; but
.
ey would of course form their own Judgments. Then
ntgain, was it not remarkable that Davis stated his atten-
lion had been drawn to the evidence of Powell by read-
ing it in a newspaper. He admitted ho had read it.
Was it not likely he had learned his lesson from that
Person's testimony?
(The trial was proceeding when our report left.)

THE " COMBHARTIN SILVER NINES."—The silver
lead mines in the 'tillage of Combmartin, Devon (pro-
bably the oldest mines in England), which have been
Worked at intervals from the time of Edward 1., and of
Which mention is made by Camden, who says that the
expenses of the war in France, in the reign of Edward
lir, were partly defrayed by the silver extracted there-
Iron; "have been abandoned within this month, with the
excerption of the nipper levels, where three or four men
are still employed. Why this abandonment has been re-
IL'-ived upon we do not know, the yield being from 60 to
%0 ounces of silver to the ton of lead ore, which is con-
Itidered a profitable retina for the working, &c. There
are. besides the facts mentioned in Camden, some curious
historical circumstances connected with these mines. A
Cup, weighing 137 ounces, made of the silver smelted
from the ore found in them, was presented by Queen
Elizabeth to Sir R. Martyn, Lord Mayor of London.
This cup was, in 1830, melted down and made into three
tankards, which form part of the civic corporation of
the metropolis. The ancient cup bore a quaint and ap-
propriat'e inscription, thus.—
"In Martyn's Coombe I long lay hid,
Obscure, deprest, with grosser soyl,
Debased, much mixed, bad,
Till Balmer came, whose skill and toyl
Reformed me so pure and clean
As richer nowhere else is seen."
& letter from Charles IL to Lewis Incledon, of Buck-
hinde, coupty Devon, dated October 26, 1648, is still
extant, from which it appears these mines were held in
high estimation, and considered of importance in those
days. Her present Majesty Queen Victoria has various
articles manufactured by Messrs. Ellis, silversmiths, of
Exeter. in her possession, end in the cabinet of Prince
Albert there are some fine specimens of the ore of these
Mines. Messrs. Ellis have purchased the remainder of
the silver smelted previously to the late suspension of
the works, which it is to ba hoped will shortly again be
operatioe,
MILK FOR THE PEorm—There exist on Long
Island, near Brooklyn, several manufactories of milk—
the process of which should be known. One of these
dairies covers a space of 600 feet front by 300 feet deep,
carefully fenced in, so as to be as private, as pos-
sible—the business of the people being to drink
the milk, not to know how it is made—in
which enclosure 400 cows are kept the whole year
round, These cows are fed on the refuse slop of whisky
distilleries, and it is given to them warm. Each barrel
costs six cents., but being adulterated with water and
cheap feed brings the price still less. Such is the fond-
ness of the cows for this vile compound, that after
having fed upon it for a week or more, their appetites
become so depraved that they will take no other food.
The result is, their milk-producing organs are stimulated
to a wonderful degree; they yield enormously, but soon
becolne diseased; their gums ulcerate, their teeth drop
out, and their breath becomes fetid. Though thus
dineased, they do not fall away in flesh, but, on the
contrary, puff up and bloat to an appearance of great
fatness; their joints become stiff, so that they cannot
lie down, and rarely or never come out alive.
Bad as this is, the milk is afterwards mixed with
molasses, water, and whiting, and then sold to the people
of Now York for pure milk 1 Any one may observe the
thirty-six vans that carry it round every morning. It is
of course very injurious to children, who use it in re-ae:,,
greater quantities than adults. Some idea may be farmed
of the profit made by computing one barrel of sl jp to a
cow, costing sixpence, and the milk produced being 80
cents.—. New York paper.
.
FATAL ACCIDENT:TWO young men of Torpoint,
Devonport, went out in a skiff on T desday morning,
for the purpose of shooting on St. John's Lake. By
some accident the boat was upset, and both were
drowned. The body of one; named Grylls, whose
father keeps a public-house In Torpoint, was picked up
about an hour after the, accident, but the other has

mot yet been found.
Tae TRAGEDY IN TOXTETIL-PARK.—The inquest
upon Robert Howarth and his wife, who were found
dead in the house of the husband, in Toxteth-park,
Liverpool, was commenced on Monday and adjourned to
the following day for further evidence. On Tuesday,
Mr. Haverty, the surgeon, who had made a post modern
examination of the bodies, deposed that he had found a
Iwo guantit7 of rim in tho stowathe of both, but