The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-06 00:00:00

citizens, would come before the Bench and make
an application in the way you have made it at the
present moment. You appear to hold out a threat
to the Bench, to intimate the intention of certain
persons in this city to carry out that which is un-
lawful. Whether we give our consent to it or not, I
must say it is rather against the dignity of the
magistrates to argue the point. We sit here for the
administration of the law, and we have no alternative
but to enforce it. Any one letting off fireworks or
lighting a bonfire in the public streets will be fined.
If " Young Exeter" are desirous of assisting the
magistrates in the preservation of the peace let them
be sworn in as special constables.

Six prisoners, apprehended as ringleaders of the
riot, were then placed at the dock ; they were young
men from 16 to 25, and known as belonging to the
"roughs" of Exeter. Their names are Charles Pul-
man, James Cowley, William Humphries, John
Cleave, William Gale, and Nicholas Ayres. It was
shown by the evidence of several officers that four
of them threw stones at the kihop-windows. All
denied the offence, and declared that they had never
touched a stone during the night. Mr. Superin-
tendent Steel applied for summonses against other
parties, and it was resolved to hear all cases to-
gether. Cowley and Humphries, however, were
discharged, as, though in the crowd, they were not
seen to damage any property.
The Bench have been swearing in special con-
stables all day, in preparation for to-night. There
have been no preparations for a bonfire. The
Mayor (Mr. R. T. Head) has received the following
threatening letter :

,‘ The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Exeter,—
It will be to your sorrow if you dare to interfere
with our rights and usage which has not been in-
terfered with for centurys. Fine one. If you dare,
look out for your shrubbery and your cot if you do
when you little think of it.

" YOUNG EXETER."
" The Mayor has issued the following notices :

"To TIIE CITIZENS OF EXETER.
" The Mayor and magistrates of Exeter have re-
ceived information that several evil-disposed per-
sons, not connected with the party known as
Young Exeter,' intend to take advantage of the
proposed proceedings of the latter on the sth inst.,
to promote a rict and disturbance in the city,
similar to those which have recently taken place at
Teigrtmouth.

"The magistrates therefore feel it their duty to
appeal to all respectable inhabitants for their sup-
port, and to request that they will not congregate
either in the streets or in the Cathedral-yard on
that evening, so that such assemblages may be made
a pretext for mischievous conduct and riot.
" On those who countenance such assemblages,
or deliberately commit breaches of the peace, will
rest the responsibility of evils, which, although not
originally designed by them, may be the result of
their acting against good order and law.
" R. T. HEAD, Mayor.
" The Guildhall, Exeter, Nov. 4."
" To THE CITIZENS OF EXETER.

" The magistrates having received' good infor-
mation that a breach of the peace and riot are
likely to take place in the streets of Exeter on the
evening of to-morrow (Tuesday, the sth of Nov.),
similar to those which have recently occurred at
Teignmouth, and wholly unconnected with, and
independent of, the proposed celebration of that
day, which it is understood is to be made the pre-
text for the accumulation of large bodies of mis-
chievous and evil disposed persons for unlawful
purposes ;

"-The magistrates, with the view of checking the
same, will attend at the Guildhall tomorrow
(Tuesday), from 10 to 4 o'clock, for the purpose of
swearing in those well-disposed citizens who are
willing to act as special constables in aid of the
civil authorities in preserving the peace of the city,
and protecting the property of its inhabitants.

'1 H. T. HEAD, Mayor.
" The Guildhall, Exeter, Nov. 4."

The Fenian Trials at Manchester.

MANCIIESTER, Tuesday.—Mr. Digby Seymour
concluded his address to the jury for the defence of
Martin, Nugent, and Coffey on Monday. Dealing
with the case of Martin, the learned counsel ani-
madverted in strong terms upon the evidence of
dentity adduced on the part of the prosecution, re-
f erring more particularly to that of John Beek, the
railway clerk, who, after swearing to Martin, on
cross-examination hesitated ; and at last, when the
brother of Martin was produced, made the miser-
able confession, "I was wrong ; that is the man I
swore to." There is no resemblance between the
two men, and he asked the jury if upon such evi-
dence they would condemn a man. The witness
Jane Riley had given them the dagger scene. It
was clear that if she was to be believed, all the
other witnesses who had spoken to Martin had not
stated that which was true. It was not out of the
class to which Martin belonged that Fenians were
collected. They were collected from amongst the
young and frivolous, but not from amongst those
who had wives and families. Martin was a married
man with a large family. He was a respectable
man, and had an engagement which would put £2
or £3 into his pocket per week. He would prove
that by his employers, who were in court, and they
would tell them that he had given two sureties to
them for his good behaviour, respectability, and
honesty. The taint of Fenianism had never poisoned
his loyalty ; he had never attended their select meet-
ings or joined in their gatherings. He regretted that
the whole of the men were not put into the dock to-
gether, and then the jury would fully realise the
position of the prisoners. If both Coffey and Lar-
kin had been put together in the same charge, the
jury would have seen how much alike they were, and
he was almost sure it would have made them
very particular as to which of them they con-
victed. The learned counsel then referred to the
discrepancies in the evidence of Munn and others as
to the hat Nugent wore, and the conflicting
statements as to what Nugent did at the time of
the attack on the van. He believed he would suc-
ceed in establishing as strong an alibi for Nugent as
for Martin. Then as to Coffey, there was one
irresistible point : several of the witnesses had told
them that he was very like Larkin, and one wit-
ness, Mr. Knowles, who went to swear to Larkin,
swore to Coffey in mistake. With respect to the
meeting between Coffey and Pickup in the public-
house in Hyde-road the night after the attack, could
the jury suppose that a man would go to the scene
of the tragedy in which ho had been engaged, like a
moth playing round a candle, and leading to his
own destruction. They could not suppose that a man
would be so absurd. It was not until the quarrel
with Coffey that Pickup pretended to identify him
and sent for a policeman, who laughed the idea to
scorn. For Coffey witnesses would be called who
would prove that he could not have been at the
arch ; that he was a provident man, and that he
paid his contributions into a co-operative society on
the very night when it was stated that he was near
the scone of the outrage. The learned counsel, in
conclusion, said he thought enough justice had been
done. The moral effect of the trial of last week
must be great ; it must carry terror where it ought
to, and it must go to the world that if an outrage
is committed in England, English justice will follow,
and judgment follow the detection of the crime. Ile
had never shrunk from the bold avowal of his
opinion of the proceedings taken by her Majesty's
advisers ; but five men now awaited their doom, and
great as the moral force of their conviction was,
infinitely more moral force would be in the acquittal
of the prisoners then charged; for just as in pro-
portion charity was more lovely than power, and
mercy was more beautiful than justice, just in that
proportion would be the verdict that established the
present prisoners' innocence over the verdict that
produced the other men's dooms. It would be said
that they had not been urged by prejudices without
or passion within, and that they had vindicated
justice by inquiring into the case of the prosecution,
always remembering that it is the sublime duty of a
British jury in the midst of judgment to remember

mercy.
The following witnesses were then called on be-
half of Martin

Susannah Kirkby, residing in Barley-street, Old-
ham-road, deposed that the prisoner, William Mar-
tin, came to lodge with her about the end of last
July. She had two daughters, one of whom, Eliza,
was married to John Martin, brother to William
Martin. On the 18th September a Mrs. Brecknell
came into her house, about 10 o'clock in the morn-
ing, with a ticket of admission to the theatre for
two. William Martin was in the house at the time.
He left the bowie between 10 and 11 o'clock to go