Star.
London, England, 1819-08-21 00:00:00

DURHAM AUGUST 12.

REX V. JOHN Al RE, JOSEPH A 1 RE, AmnftosE •AIRE,
GEORG& CRISP, JOHN EMERSON, 408E141 EMERSON•

AND JOSEPH CHOW.

Mr. COOKSON stated this to be an indictment for
having riotously and routously pulled up several
hedges, distutbing the peace, and alarming the fears
of the King's subjects.
Mr. Serjeant CROSS opened the ease to the Jnrr.
The prosecutor, Thomas Smith, had landed prope. tf
to the amount of £l,OOO, at Hett, a small ♦illage
four miles from Durham. Part of this property had
been a waste, which had been regularly transferred
to Mr. Smith by the Dean and Chapter of Durham.
The defendants occupied cottages at Hett, and ccn-
ceiving that encroachments were made upon their
privileges in the waste, assembled in a body with
spades and pickaxes, and rooted up several growing
hedges, some of which had been planted long before
Mr. Smith bought the property. This in law was a
tier, for even to proceed to do what was lawful in
such a manner as to excite apprehension and alarm,
was a riot.

Mr. Smith stated the commencement of the pre•
cess of levelling the hedges with axes and spades, on
the 11th of January; but he had seen no more of iti
for he hastened to Durham for advice.

George Pickering ordered them to desist, but he
was told by one of them, that unless he withdrew, he
should be levelled like the hedges!
Mr. Darnley, a paper-manufacturer, employed two
of the defendants in his service, and endeavoured in
Will to prevent this proceeding.
The three witnesses were cross-examined by Mr.
WILLIAsts with great spirit and humour. Ilett s
a retired place. There were twenty houses, but not
so many as in the City of London. Although ill.-
wards of twenty were said to have been assembled—
nay, fifty—the greater part were women and chil-
dren. The defendants were quiet and industrious.
They had asses and horses, which were turned out
upon the waste.
Mr. WILLIAMS then addressed the Jury, to the in•
finite amusement of his crowded audience. Riot, rout,
and all the hard words of that class, were crammed
into the indictment against the defendants now be►
fore them.—Commotion, turbulence, violence, and
insurrectbn, seemed to have reached even the peace-
ful vales of Hett. Modesty only restrained the de-
fendants at the bar, or they would look the Jury in
the face, and let them see the erect attitude and in-
genuous mein of honesty. But what said the indict-
ment ? " Evil disposed pet sons." " Look at them,
Gentlemen—the wicked wretches." What, had these
men attempted to excite fear and al irm? March
with the horrid front of war ? Present a forest of
guns, pikes, and bayonets ? No such thing. They
did, indeed, proclaim hostility to the hedges. They
achieved the subversion of thorns. They made
bloody war upon the enclosures, and shed abun-
dantly earth with their spades. But such wea-
pons and warfare, constituted no riot. The language
of the Poets made ;Itcse•w•eapons the reverse of war-
like; for when they would descr;t•e the most peaceful,
prosperous, and happy state of st ciety, their expres-
sions were, that swords should be turned into axes,
and bayonets into spades. This questiun ought really
to be bi ought forward as a trespass, and then the
right of common could be proved; but, be that right
as it might, and be this a trespass or be it not, it was
no riot. In proof of this, he referred to the authority
of Mr. Serjeant Hawkins, who explicitly said, that
if more than three were to carry away logs of wood
to which they laid claim, that would be uo riot.
Mr. Baron WOOD agreed with the Learned Counsel
for the defendants.--Not GuV•y.

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