Star.
London, England, 1821-09-24 00:00:00

LANCASTER ASSIZES, SEPTEMBER 20.

yROSECUTION BY TIM BRIDGE-STREET ASSOCIATION,
AID CONVICTION BY A LANCASTER SPECIAL JURY.
ICING V. RIDGEWAY.
- _ - - _

Mr. Tunst, opened the case, which he said to be
an indictment charging the defendant with having
published a libel on the King, the Government, and
the Centitution the country.
Mr. Serjcant HuLtoca said, his lend had already
;affirmed the Jury of the nature of this indictment,
and that his duty, as the prosecuting Counsel, would
lie in a very narrow compass; and he felt no inclina:
Con to exceed the limits of his duty, because the lan-
guage was too plain. and manifest to be misunder-
stood ; and if they, on hearing the passages read,
were not convinced that they were of a pernicious
end evil tendency, he could use no argument that
would bring their mind to that conviction.' The de-
fendant was a fustian!stitter in 'Manchester, but add-
ing to that business the selling of political pamphlets.
Toe libel was to be found in " A Sew Year's Address
to the fliji)rmers of Great Britain," which he should
prove to have been purchased of the defendant. The
Learned Counsel then read the folhAving passages
of the libel :
es To talk about the British Constitution is, in my opinion, a
sure proof of dishonesty. Britain has no Constitution : it we
speak of the Spanish Constitution, we hove sonwthing tangible.
There is substance and meaning, as well as sound. In Britain,
there is nothing constituted but corruption; the system of Go-
verntnent—our very laws, are corrupt and partial, both in the m.
selves and in their ruineinistration. In fact, corruption, as noto-
rious as the suss at noon-day, is an avowed part of the system,
and is denominated the accessary oil for the wheels of the Go-
vernment. It is a most pernicious net to the interests of the
PeoPle•"
And in another part he says: •
Reform will be obtained when the existing Authorities have
no longer the power to withhold it, and not before- we shall gesin
it at early without petitioning at with its and I 'resold :spin put fan-
ward my opinion, that something sesenstenn a petitioning attitude it
necessary. At this moment I would not say a word about in-
surrection, but I would strongly recommend union, activity, and
cu-operation. Ile ready and steady to meet any concurrent cir-
tunutances."
Publications of this description were usually sold
low, so that they might be within the reach of every
one. This document was published at the low price
of two-pence, in the heart and centre of Manchester,
a place of great population, and subject, as we all
know, to great political agitation. Their judgment
was to be exercised in considering whether this libel
could be innocently published, or whether it was not
published with the intent ascribed to it in the indict.
ment ? The man who would say that the laws were
corrupt, he would say was not contented with his si-
tuation. They had only arrived there yesterday, but
no man who had been in attendance for the last ten
days would say that our laws were not duly admi-
nistered ; the poor man could contend his rights with
the proud man, under a perfect reliance of receiving
justice from the hands of those to whom the adminis-
tration of the laws of the country were cuts usted.—
Ile would put it to them to say, whether a man who
could give publiCity to such a document, " that Re-
forin.would be obtained without petitioning," and!
" that something more than a petitioning attitude
was necessary," could have any other motive but to
stir up•insurrection and discord?
Mr. BROUGHAM objected to that part of the libel
going to the Jury, and also to his friend's putting a
meaning to the passage on which the record was si-
lone. No meaning or inuendo had been placed upon
the rccord,,nor had the defendant had any notice that
n meaning was intended to be put upon it; he was,
therefore, uaprepared to meet it, and he should take
his Lordship's opinion whether that part should at
all go to the Jury.
Mr. SErjeant HULLOCK.—Certainly his friend was
premature in his objection, and he did not think it
could be maintainedin law. _ _ _

Mr. Justice HoLamas said, that it was a matter
to be urged in arrest of judgment, rather than at the
present time.
Aar. iespect to its being a Mat-

ter for an -arrest ofjodynent, ire &Wed from his'
Lordship. If two passages were charged as libellous,,
and one containedinuendoes and the other did not.
and theJuryfound a verdict generally, how was the
Court afterwards to say upon which the defendant
had been convicted ? By suffering it to go to the Jury,
they may affix a meaning totally different to what
the indictment intended to charge, and how would
it be possible for the defendant to guard against the
impressions they might act upon ?
Mr. Justice HOLROYD said, the Jury must have the
whole record before them.
Mr. Baoumsass.--Then he felt it his duty thus
early to make an exception to that passage going
before them.
Mr. Serjeant Hotiocrt resumed. He had nearly
finished, and had only a few words further to add.
What, he said, could be the meaning that something
more than a petitioning attitude was necessary, and the
allusions to the Spanish Government? Why the ob-
ject was so palpable, that a he who runs may read,
and reading understand." It could only be to raise
up tumult and confusion, and he beseeched them se-
riously to considerif it could have any other motive.
He rejoiced, he said, that the defendant had employed
the assistance of so much talent, and after they had
heard his eloquence onlis behalf, he would venture.
to affirm that they would come to the conclusion that
this was a false and scandalous libel.
Evan Miller knew the defendant; he lived inMan-
chester, either in Swarbrick or Sackville-street. He
keeps a small shop, chiefly consisting of pamphlets
and books. He also saw checks and linens. He re-
collected seeing a printed paper upon his shutter—
" Just published, an Address to the Reformers of
Great Britaiu." He made an application at the shop
to purchase the pamphlet, on Tuesday, 27th March
last. He was directed to apply there for it by Mr.
Thomas Nadin, a Solicitor of Manchester. He is his
der k. Ile saw the defendant himself, and asked him
if he had the pamphlet called " A New Year's Ad-
dress to the Reformers of Great Britain?" lie said
he had not, but was writing that evening. and he
should have it by the latter end of the week, and if
the witness would come towards Saturday, he made
no doubt but he should then have it. The witness
promised to call again on the Saturday or Monday
following, and after looking at Hunt's Life and some,
ether political books, he lett. He called on the Mon-
day morning following, but the defendant was absent
from home; he repeated his visit in the evening, and
saw the defendant. He said he had not got the book,
but that he should most probably have it by the Fri-
day following. He said he had some before the wit-
ness called the first time, but he had sold them all.
The witness said it might be proper to observe, that
there was a sign over the door, on which was written,
" David Ridgeway, Dealer in Tea, Coffee, Tobacco,
and. Snuff !" The defendibt asked the witness if he
had a book entitled " The Divine Right of Kings to
Govern Wrong ?" He said he had, and the defendant
spewed it, and read several parts of it, hT way of ex-,
plaining those passages that referred to the pictures
that were on the back of it. He called again on the
Gth April, and saw the defendant, and got one of the
Addresses from his hands.
Cross-examined by Mr. BROUGHAM.—He is not one
of the family of the Millers, of Huddersfield. He is
not an articled clerk to Mr. Nadia, but is bound an
apprentice to him. It is Mr. Nadin, jun. the man
who was a police officer, that he is with, not old Mr.
Nadin, the Gentleman who had retired into the coun-
try to live upon-his fortune. Mr. Nadin, jun. mar
ied the daughter of Mr,Lavender, once al3ew-street
officer, but new the Deputy Constable of Manchester,
and not yet retired upon his fortune. Mr. Nadir)
does not read those books himself. He had some
difficulty in getting it; he went four times for it, but
he was promised it the first time. It is a small shop,
the front room of a small house, with a little flat
window. The defendant was generally at his work
up stairs when he went. lie saw several pamphlets,
and there were shelves around the shop, but not many
books. He saw the defendant folding up Newspapers,
and he believed be supplied them to those who or-
dered them. His wife sold, in the same shop, thread,
sand, potatoes, tea, and children's books—Mother
Shipton and Jack the Giant-killer! I shall be 18 years
of age the 20th. of next February. I don't know that
Ridgeway was a Volunteer six years, and in the Local
Militia four years. Yes,
_I made memorandums. It
was not for my own reading I bought the pamphlet.
I have not been paid for my four little trips yet.—
(Mr. BROUGHAM.—Except perhaps the books ?) I
came here last Friday. I came with Mr. Murray, the
Attorney for the Constitutional Society. I do not
know that Nadin, old or young, or Lavender, is a
member of that Society. I am not a member. 1
came with Mr. Murray, and I dine with him every
day at the King's Arms. I was sent for the purpose
of buying this pamphlet at David itidgeway's. Yes,
I had some little idea for prosecuting. I was desired
to take down little memorandums. Sometimes Mrs.
Ridgeway was by.
You have been long enough iii an Attorney's office
to know that the defendant's wife cannot give evi-
dence?—l only state a fact, I do not know who else
was by.
The passages charged in the indictment were here
put in, and read by Mr. Statham, Town Clerk of Li-
verpool, in the absence of Mr. Cross.
Re-examined by Mr. Serjeant HULLOCK—I came on
Friday last, with Mr. Murray.' I took my place on
Thursday. At that time I had not seen Mr. Murray.
I first saw him at our office on Thursday evening.
Mr. Serjeant HULLOCK.—You then by accident
came together by the coach ?—I should have come
on the Friday if I had not seen Mr. Murray. I took
my place for one o'clock, and after he came I changed'
it to six in the morning.
Mr. Bitoucuasr.—Mr. Statham, I will trouble you
to read one or two more of the passages?
A conversation here arose as to reading passages)
required by the prosecutor, intermixed with passages
required to he read by Mr. BROUGHAM. At last rt
was agreed that the whole pamphlet should be read.
Mr. Statham read it accordingly.
Mr. BROUGHAM said he rose as the professional,
advocate of this poor man, to defend him from a
new order of political persecution. In most cases
where the author could be found, he was the object,
of prosecution, and next to him was his avowed and
confidential publisher, because he was interested in
disseminating his writings, and was a partner with
the author in the publication. This was not an or:
dinary case : it was his misfortune not to meet an

open and avowed prosecutor, •IPPotn. ted by the Go-
vernment to be the gnardian of the law, who, in
41fircising his discretion on those he would prose-
liaise* always brought before a Jury those that were
really the offenders, where they could be found, and
disdained to take those who had acted a mere subor-
dinate part ; he always struck at the head, and was
ever cautious in not selecting improper cases to be
the subject of prosecutions ; he maintained a digni-
fied reserve over the little unhappy tradesman who
was ignorant of .what be was dealing in, and would
not stoop to such a case be this. This mock Consti-
tutional Association knew who the author was, and
why had they not prosecuted him? No, they knew
a Middlesex Jury would not countenance them, and
that as soon as they :hewed their heads in Court,
the Jury would turn their backs upon them, and so
they had sent down their agent, Murray, to see what
a Lancashire Jury would do. Mom says, ~ I will
go down to Lancashire, and there I know we can
'get a Jury that will give us i verdict; but we have
no case ; we cannot take Carlile.there for an offence
committed in Middlesex; well, and if we cannot
have him, we can hunt out some other trader, who
has sold a copy of his Address ; we will employ
young Nadin and old Nadin, and Lavender, and
they shall engage their ferrets And spies, and we will
employ a Lancashire Jury--we shall then make up i
a case, and by the services of the wretches, and the
Nadins and Lavenders favour, we shall be able to get
a verdict;" and they do accordingly get the poor de-
fendant, after four applications to him, to commit
what they call an act of publication, and it was
upon a case so got up, that they attempted to obtain
a verdict from a Lancashire Jury. lie called upon
them not to give credit to this solitary witness, who
had been employed for no other purpose than to en-
trap the defendant into a breach of the law, as they
were pleased to term it. The witness had gone at
the desire of his master, who had.received his instruc-
tions from Murray, who acted under the direction
lof an unconstitutional assembly, to go to the. de-
' fendant's house; he went, and there saw a bill posted
up, that an Address might be had within; he went
in, but he did not ask for that Address, but for Car.
lile's New Year's Address to the Reformers of Great
Britain. He was told he had not got it; but this
poor miserable man, who could scarcely by any
means make out a scanty means of existence, being
reduced in his own trade by the pressure of the times,
and his wife, lending her aid to obtain an honest
living bi selling snuff, potatoes, sand, and children's
b00k5,...m this bookseller's shop of spacious dimen-
sions, being the front room of a little house, pro-
mised to obtain it ; and we find that he was not suf-
fered to rest till he had fulfilled his promise ; for the
'witness himself confessed that he had great difficulty
in procuring it; and when he had received. it from
his hands, this prosectition for a libel on the King
and Constitution, which they were then trying, was
immediately commenced. At the time that Address
was purchased, the witness bought another Address,
and for aught they knew; (and in all cases where
doubt existed, they were bound to give the benefit of
that doubt to the defendant), that was the very Ad-
dress he had advertised at his parlour window, (for
Ihe would not call it a shop), and that he was tempted
by their pressing importunities to sell this offensive
Address. This, he said, was a rank conspiracy
formed against the defendant, and that too at the
very time when this Society stood indicted, in the
County of Middlesex, for another conspiracy. They
had circulated letters defamatory to the defendant,
and they had wickedly tempted him to do an act for
which they had afterwards prosecuted him, and but
for their intreaties to a breach of the law, the Jury
would never have heard of this defendant. If his
prosecutors had descended from their vantage ground
to an ordinary level, and instead of this poor de-
fendant, brought the writer to his trial, it would
have had more the appearance of justice--first,
because it was impossible that Ridgeway could know
the contents of the book ; and, secondly, because the
book might be read through without finding a passage
in which the talons of these harpies could be fixed.
—His friend had preached up the desire which this
Address had manifested to create an insurrection,
'and if particular sentences only were to be considered,
and abstracted from the general purport of the book,
he hardly knew one to which that, or some other
prejudicial remark, would not apply. Read the
passages immediately before and after those com-
plained of, and they could have no doubt of the
meaning of the author, and that he was a clear-
headed, honest-hearted man. Look at the whole
book collectively, and he would ask if it "smelt of
blood?' The author's attention had been drawn to
the Spanish Constitution, because in that a favour-
able change bad been effected without bloodshed ;
and the same meaning would apply to Naples, up to
the time of the interference of other Powers; and it
was in this light that he held them up to the vie*. of
Englishmen. With the exception of these passages,
the whole was an exhortation to abstinence and tem-
perance, ,and a war with the revenue, which he did
not know was waging war with the iCing. The au-
thor had taken himself from the mechanic's bench by
his attendance to economy, and the whole aim was
to prevail on others to improve their condition by
like means. He begged of the Jury not to look at
isolated passages ; in one part of his address he called
himself a Republican, the general meaning of which
is a form of Government opposed to Monarchy :
this, if it were read detached, would be prejudicial to
him; but, if connected with that which followed,
it would be seen that he only wished that the
Throne should bend to the interests of the People.—
The author's notions of Reform may be a mere
chimera; but he had been supported in those opi-
nions, by some of the greatest and noblest men of
the country, from the time of the Duke of Rich-
mond, in 1782, downwards, and by some of the most
strenuous Tories that ever the country gave birth to,.
even Dean Swift had only deprecated Annual Par-
liaments because they were liable to abuse. He
begged the Jury not- to place implicit confidence in
one witness ; the ground was tender, and they should
be cautious how they trod upon it. It was upon this
single testimony that the other jackal! of the Asso-
ciation had been called upon to give a verdict against
the defendant. Miller had said that there was a sign
over the door, indicating' that the defendant dealt in
tea, coffee, and other exciseable -wares ; and could
they think that a man mbosold them for gain would
call on bis very customers,. and disseminate among
them arguments to prevail on them not to use those

very things? The evidence was, that he had heel
drawn into the act Uy Miller, and those who set hint
yneclltivantgnetdo them it becasiguaseinoasttthit:etyl
eche:ere:m.4
i on, who only seemed to know one or two defettc
which the most perfect system of Government r 7
liable to, and they were made the vehicles of they
gain : •they called it precious, because they knee, its
only
do their duty by defending the math
value,ctryii
f 0
ns,r
from
i bloodsuckers.
nasndulch harpies and leeches.
Mr. Justice Hocnova commenced the semmin.
up of the evidence; at the time the writer said a
would not say a word about insurrection, hestrongir
recommended them to union, activity, and co.opera;
tion. His Lordshiplwibaesl,rwemheearking
and tendency of the
...

Mr. BROVOIIAhI said he was ready to address his
Lordship on that part of the libel, on which he wished
to take his Lordilfip's opinions
Mr. Justice HOLROYD.—The whole must go tothe
Jury, for them to form their judgment on it.
Mr. Baoucum4 objected to this, and beggedtoli
allowed to hand in an exception, with a view to
bill of exceptions, and a tuture discussion, it neces;
saty, on that part of the libel upon %%filch no n_iten:
ing
_was put upon the record.
Mr. EVANS (with Mr. llnottortAm)Every (baize
in a Court of Justice must be tuily stated on the
record.

Mr. Justice Hoinovo.—This is matter for an ar-
rest of judgment, and not for argument at this period.
• Mr. Et Arts thought it was not so.
Mr. Bitotniriast handed his exception
Mr. Justice lloi.stoyo continued his el :rge to tze
publication Was, in his opinion, decidedly
a libel. When he sold the - New Veal's Address he
also sold another Address, and it did not appear%
which of them the posting-bill applied. At the time
when the u:t.ness purchased the libel, the detendast
asked him if he had the 0, Right Divine of Kin,-,s to
Govern Wrong;' this was not evidence in the caste,
but it spewed that he dealt in political tractsor pan.
phlets. It had been repeatedly laid down as the he,
that if a man sold a book which proved to he libel.
loos, he is liable to the consequences, unless he cn
shew that he has a lawful excuse for having %Jolley,.
This prosecution is not carried on by the Attoiocv. ,
General, but by an Association of Gentlemen; by&
law no combination of persons are allowed to ctriy
on prosecutions but by the permission of a Count
Justice, or by the sanction of the Attorney-General.
—This prosecution was brought before the •Giat
through.the medium of a Grand Jury.
The Jury were in consultation rather less thantvo
minutes, when they returned a verdict of "Guatyd
the crime laid to his charge."
Mr. Justice HOLNOYD.—Do you find the defend*
guilty upon all the counts in the indictment?
The Jury.—We find him guilty generally.
While the Special Jury were being calied, they
appeared great.delay, and some differences bet
the Attornies for and against the proiecution. ids
BROUGHAM observed this, and asked the Ofticerif,i
calling over the names, he was guided by any prim
list? He said he had a list of such names as vet
not to be called. Mr. BROUGHAM said, a ith great
warmth, that the Jury should again he bailotted
and that he would not suffer a packed Jury of tha
description to try the cause.
Mr. Serjeant LLOCK.—The Attornies have each
been making objections to Jurors, and if his Fried
called the Jury packed, he could not give 4 any oas
name than re-packed.