The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-13 00:00:00

-I;oef4.e/X-0
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•le:isiOn of the courts by arbitration was also desirable upon
a conscientious and religious. principle—namely, putting a
; stop to the administering, of oaths. That was a very
plausible argument to be brought, forward now ; but it,
would be fur the jury to decide whether they were not
set up tbr an entirely different purposes Recollect that,
in the address from the, Association to the subjects
under the British Crown, one of the grievaneea which was
proclaimed tOthe world at large, as far as the British'sub-
wets were contented was, that persons had been appointed to
the bench hostile to, or not haying reeling with the people of
the country; and therefore they were dissatisfied with those
courts, and the mode in which the administration of justice
was dispensed.in them. Now, if the people combined, in or-
der to put down the existing courts of justice, as derived from
the appointment of the Queen, and to set them at naught,
and to induce the subjects of her Majesty to withdraw . from
their cognisance the. administration of justice, such an.aaso-
elation, or agreement with .such an intent, was a violation or
the law, and any infringement upon the Queen's prerogative
in that respect had always been considered a high minty-
; meanour. The subject was treated clearly by Judge Black-
' stone, in his celebrated Canon Laws, Ist vol., p. 277 (1837) ;
" The King is the fountain of justice, and general conservator
of the peace of the kingdom. , The original power of judica-
ture, by the fundamental principles of society; Wedged in the
society at large; but in England this authority : lute -been
immemorially exercised by the King or his substitutes: He,
therefore, has alone the' right of erecting courts of judica-
ture, and they should he erected by his authority." Such
was the common law of this country, as laid down 'by Black-
stone, and it was, therefore, an infringement, and a violation
of that law, if two or more persons presumed and took upon
themselves to enter into a common design to detract from
the respect due to the Queen's courts of justice, and the way-
in which the law was administered in those courts. There-
fore it was to be considered what had taken place—the man-
ner in which those, Arbitration Courts and the principle -of
arbitration was carried out by' these parties. lie held •in
his hand a Report of the Arbitration Committee, which was
presented to the Association, and dated the 21st of August,
1840, and they would find in that Report a statement of the
system that had been prOpesed by Dr. Gray and submitted
to the Association; and by them carried into one of its laws.
The offence contained in the indictment with regard to those
courts was not an attempt to establish Arbitration Courts.
although, perhaps, that • might be an offence; but he did
not say whether it would' or would not. However, the one
charged he took to be clearly criminal, and was a com-
bination to bring into disparagement and disrepute the courts
of justice as existing by law in the country, to bring them into
contempt and disregard among the subjects of her Majesty,
and to induce them to go to other tribunals to settle their
differences—which he had already shown from the language
of the traversers themselves. There was a paper adopted by
the Association, being a Report of the Arbitration Committee,
dated in August, 1840, which contained the reasons for the re-
commending and ado sting this new system of jurispnidence.
It went on to say, " Your Committee are of opinion, that in-
asmuch as many of the Magistrates who possess the confidence
of the people; have been dismissed, and deprived of the com-
mission of the peace, in consequence of their attachment to
the ause of 'legitimate independence, Arbitration Courts
should beostablished, and, in order to secure the harmonious
working of such a system, they recommend that a standing one
will be formed to arrange and superintend the carrying out of
those testimonials." The same Report recomMended the ap-
pointment of those dismissed Magistrates, for the reason that
they had been dismissed by the Government, by the constituted
authority of the realist, and not because of their legal or other
knowledge, local intinmation, property, conduct, or any other
qualification, awl the situation of chairman of the arbitrators
was to be given to any dismissed magistrate, if one should
be found in the district. Was that a reason why the parties
in question were to dispense with the powers of those courts
of justice which her Majesty, by her letters patent, thought
proper to provide, in the exercise of her undoubted preroga-
tive, as courts of law for the benefit and protection of her
subjects? There were four other grounds of accusation. The
eight traversers were indicted for haying conspired and agreed
to raise and create disaffection, hatred, and unlawful opposi-
tion to the Government anti Constitution; secondly, whether
they conspired and agreed, or any, and which of them, to
to stir up jealousies amongst the Queen's subjects, and to pro-
mote to her other subjects, especially the Irish against
the English ; thirdly, whether they, or any or which of them,
conspired and agreed, or any or which of them to excite dis-
affection in the army; fourthly, whether they conspired and
agreed to collect unlawful assemblages in large numbers in
Ireland, in order to obtain changes in the laws and Consti-
tution by intimidation and the demonstration of physical
force ; and lastly, whether they, or any, or which of ihem,
conspired and agreed to bring the courts of judicature estab-
lished by law into disrepute, and with the intent to induce
the subjects of the Queen to submit their disputes to other
tribunals. If they were of opinion that the traversers, or any,
and which of them conspired and agreed to do, or caused to
be done, the said several matters, or any of them,
then they were to find such traversers, or traverser guilty of
the conspiracy as laid.
The remainder of the Chief Justice's charge, and the pro-
ceedings up to the retiring of the Jury, appeared in fester-
day's 211orning Sun.