The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-01 00:00:00

CASE OP DII. M'DOUALL.

Mr. THOMAS DUNCOMBE rose to bring forward
the motion of which be had given notice, to refer to a
Select Committee the petition of Dr. M'Douall and the
petition of the inhabitants of Deptford, complaining of
the arrest of Dr. M'Douall. and of the conduct of the
police for preventing a,public meeting. He believed he
had precedence in his favour for the inquiry which he
wished to see instituted. He would commence by stat-
ing the circumstances of the ease. It appeared that
Dr. 1114)0u:di had been invited by several house-
holders at Deptford to attend a meeting convened for
the purpose of hearing a lecture by Mr. G. Thompson at
a Dissenting chapel. That meeting had taken place ;
and Dr. M`Douall, who had assisted at it, had expressed
his intention to exert himself in putting an end to dis-
turbances which had taken place at the commencement of
the proceedings. When lie arrived he found that the dis-
turbance was over, and the meeting adjourned to a place
called the Broadway, where the inhabitants of Deptford
were iu the habit of assembling. Many of the Gentle-
men who had interested themselves in the proceeding of
the lecturer accompanied Dr. M'Douall to the Broadway.
It appears, therefore, that those Gentlemen took no ob-
jection to his conduct. -When Dr. M'Douall arrived at
the Broadway he was invited to address the people.
He ascended a pump which was frequently used
on such occasions ; and he (Mr. T. Duncombe)
believed that there was nothing ineonstitutional in
mounting a pump to address the people. Dr. M'Douall
had addressed the meeting for about a quarter of an hour
when he was interrupted by a party of the police. lie
was arguing, at the time the police interfered, in favour
of free discussion. He was stating that a hearing should be
given to every man, whether Archbishop or chimney-
sweeper, landlord or labourer, shopkeeper or scavanger.
Those were the words reported by Superintendant Mal-
lalieu to the policeman. When asked by the Magistrate
as to the language used by Dr. M'Douall, he said he heard
him use the words " The tyrant aristocracy of the
country, who are trampling on the rights of the pour.
That was perfectly consistent with the account
given by 1)1.. M'Douall himself. Dr. M'Douall
stated that Mallalieu, the policeman, said to him, "Come
down, or I will knock you down ; you are holding an
unlawful and illegal electing, and using exciting lan-
guage." Dr. M'Douall asked him by what au-
thority lie • was interrupting a meeting which
was assembled peaceably, and would disperse peace-
ably ? Mallalieu said, " I hold no conversation
with you you must come down ;" and ho was
then pulled down by tato policemen, and desired to leave
thnplace. It should be recollected that at this time 1)r.
M`Dooall was under recognizances of 5001. in conse-
quence of a riot two or three years ago ; and that he
was little likely, therefore, to say or do any thing
to excite a breach of the peace.-r-(Hear, hear.)
The inspector, when he offered to disperse the meet-
ing, told him to go away, telling him the way to go.
Dr. M`Dowall, " That is not my way ; my is towards
o arrestedse.
v by
hatwte
the treatment
andeat menttakwenhiet the
hohe sta-
tion-house. London, and that is the way to Greenwich," Upon that
was
ex-
periencedbe
when there ? In the first place, good
bail was offered and refused. The trustees of
the chapel offered bail for the prisoner, and the reply
was "If you will lay me down 1.000 guineas I won't
let him go," giving as the reason that the town was ex-
. cited. The gentlemen offered to take him three or four
miles out of town in his own carriage, but nothing
would satisfy the policeman, .and Dr. M'Douall was left
all night, and until eleven o'clock on Wednesday in the
station-house, which had iu it an effensive privy, and an
unglazed window ; his property was taken from him, and
all communication with his friends was refused. No
common felon, no murderer, no miscreant, could
possibly .• • have been treated worse than this indivi-
dual, i
dual,,who was ttending,- as he was prepared to show the
House, a meeting lawfully assembled. He requested
that lie might be allowed to communicate with
his friends previously to appearing before the
magistrates, in order to prepare evidence that the
meeting was not unlawful, but he was told that
no interview would be allowed except in the
presence of a policeman. The next day he was called
before the Mrgistrates, and he appeared as wit-
ness against trim ? Why, these very policemen
not a single inhabitant of Deptford came forward to
state that there. had been anything like a breach
of the peace. There was no person but the policeman
to upholdsuch a statement,and he, according to the state-
ments that had been made, was interested in the ques-
tion. If any breach of the peace was committed, it was
on the part of the police, and no one else. Now what, he
.
would ask, was the conduct of the Inspector ? Ins opinion
it was most improper and indecent. He called the parties
who had surrounded Dr. M,Douall the scum of till
parish.

(LEFT dFEAKING•)