Star.
London, England, 1820-04-17 00:00:00

THE KING V. MITCHELL.

Mr. ALDERSON stated that the indictment charged
the defendant, that he being a malicious, seditious,
and ill-dispo,ed person, and reatly disaffected to
our Lord.the King, and the bovernment and.Con-
-stitution of this R4alm, and intending to excite dis-
affection aqainst the person and Government of his
Royal liiihneis the Prince Regent, and to traduce,
defame, and vilify his Royal Highness, and to bring
the Con:mons House of Parliament into contempt,
did, on the .I.th of October last, in a Meeting held
near Halifax, maliciously and unlawfully _speak to,
and i:: the presence of, divers liege subjects of our
said Lord the King, then and there assembled,
amoogst other thThgs, the following seditious words,
which are contained in the second count (which com-
prises the whole of what is stated in the other counts):

" Our Land, once the noblest and happiest under the sun, is
now a disgrace to the eye of Heaven, on account of the mangled
carcases of men with which it is filled. What, thus, are we to
do? Are we to Petition the Prince Regent?—Hest would be
useless, because he has thanked •the . Manchester* Magistrates
already. Are we to Petition tae House of Commons?—No,
that would be useless. Redress from that House !—the thing
is impossible. To petition that corrupt body to do justice to the
People would be worse than absurd. We might as well ask it
to reform itself, which would be like praying a thief to give back
the property he had stolen, and be hanged. 0! there would
be an awful revolutiop, in tithing from Colonel Horton a part of
his property, and in giving to the poor a small portion from
the Twee estates of the Bedford', the Cokes of Norfolk, and
the Fitzwillisms. Certainly so there might: but how many of
our starving population would be relit7ed by it? It has been
made a law that a National Debt should be incurred, and that
Debt is One Thou:and Millions ! But as we can repeal some
laws, why should we not repeal this? And it ought to be re-
pealed, if the whole. sunk to the bottom of the sea. But I
would not deprive the poor widows and orphans, who have
rionqr in the Funds of •their Fifty Pounds' and One Hundred
fzunds. No; but I agree with my friend, Mr. Cobbett, that
z :c-Ending system should be commtnced, a::d those who have •
:::.'rid money to thenisAves, should be made :o refund, and
•lisse 'mall pensions."
21r. dates: stated' the. case to the Jury.
'the first witness called was Mr. John Tyas, who
said he is connected with the Tinie.c newspaper. He
attended a Public Meeting at Skircoat Moor, near
11111..4x, flr the purpose of‘ taking a report for that
Paper, on the 4th of October last. Heard the de-
lealant address the People. After some obserra-
tioas On a Loyal Declaration which had been adopted
at Halifax, he went on to state, that they wanted to
destroy whoredom and bad principles, and not even
b Id men; but if they were oppressed by bad prin.
ciples, they would destroy bad men and tyrants,
ra:.l.er than be oppressed by them. Mr. Mitchell
ther; and said, " Our lased, once the noblest
and happiest under the sun, is now a disgrace to the
eye of 11 y EN, on accdnnt of the mangled carcases
with which it is filled. What then are we to do?"
—All.:r saying it would be useless to Petition the
lteent, he proceeded as follows :—" Are we
to 11..izion the house of Commons? No! that
would be still more useless. Redress from that
I lome !—the thin.g is impossible. To Petition that
would be worse than absurd; it would
5. like a,ki..g a thief to give back the property.he

bad stolen, and be banged." Mitchell then paused
and turned round upon his assertion, and recom-
mended that they should Petition. Some observa-
tions were then made by Mitchell about taking the
'Capital from the Corinthian column, and also about
Colonel Horton, which introduced the following
But, 01 there would be a great revolution, in
taking part of Colonel Horton's property, and giving
it to the poor, and a small portion from the large
estates of the Bedfords, the Cokes of Norfolk, and the
Fithwilliarns." He then repeated—" 0, but there
would be an awful revolution !" and said something
about the Funds, which the witness said he did not
take any note of; but some time after, in summing
up his argument, he said—" Certainly there would;
but then how many of our starving poor would be
relieved r Witness said that Mr.blitchell was here
called to crder. He said also something about a re-
funding system, to this effect, that a refunding system
ought to be adopted, but that he did not wish to
take from the poor widows and orphans their. small
Annuities. 'Witness was cross-examined -at great
length 'by Mr. Mitchell, but nothing transpired to
vary the account he had given of the language used
by the defendant.

Mr. Edv-,,rd Baines, jun. attended the Meeting,
for the purpose of taking a ,report for the Leeds Mer-
cury. He proved the words which had been stated
by the last witness.

Mitchell, in his defence, which occupied upwards
of an hour and a half, admitted, that at the Meeting
alluded to, be might have used language which
might be the subject of a prosecution, and, therefore,
regretted that he should so far have forgot himself ;
but he positively denied having used the precise lan-
guage charged in the indictment, which he confi-'
dently stated he should be enabled to contradict by
the most respectable witnesses ; and, in the course of
his defence, he commented very much-on the con-
duct of some, whom he called the liberal Editors of
the Country Papers. He adverted to his connexion
with Oliver, whn had
.been introduced to him as an
honest man, and he had no reason, during his inter-
course with him, to suppose to the contrary. He
thep called several witnesses, but the Jury returned
a verdict of—Guilty.

Mitchell then addressed the Court in mitigation,
pleading the sincerity of his intentions, and that he
had, on all occasions, discountenanced violent pro-
ceedings and intemperate language. He stated he
had seven small children.

The Court retired ; and in about a quartei of an
hour returned, when the Chairman passed the fol-
lowing sentence :—That Mitchell be imprisoned Sis
Months in York Castle. and find sureties for two years,
himself in £loo,—and two sureties in 1450 each.