Star.
London, England, 1820-11-17 00:00:00

THE HAND-BILL CLWSPIRACY.

Mr. PIARSON, the Solicitor, has written a letter to ;
the Editor of a respectable Morning Paper, stating that
the indictment for High Treason, to which Mr. Jus-
tice BATLEY adverted on Monday last, is an indict-
ment against one Franklin, alias Fletcher, intended to
have been preferred by him for High Treason, in en-
deavouring to excite the People to rebellion, and by
force to subvert the Laws and Constitution of the
Country. The overt acts upon which Mr. PEARSON
grounds his charge consist in having, during a pe-
riod of three years, taken advantage of the agitated
state of the public mind to post the most audacious
placards about the streets, during the night, previ- '
ously to the holding of large Public Meetings, and
with having distributed at the Smithfield, the Ken-
nington, the Spa-fields, the Palace-yard, and otter'
Meetings, the most inflammatory and seditious hand-
bills, addressed to the passions of the multitude, and
calling upon them by force to endeavour to effect a
change in the laws of the country. Mr. Peaasox
states, that he has been under the necessity of post-
poning the presentment of the bill against Fletcher,
in consequence of the authenticated hand-bills which
he had collected having, during his absence in France,
been left by Mr. Hume, M.P. at Lord Stomourn's
Office, on a promise of their being returned ; but
with regard to the performance of which promise
there is now some demur ; the Under Secretary of
State declaring, in a letter eddressed to Mr. 'biome,
that Lord Siomount, retains them for the purposes
of publicjustice ; and for that purpose they will be
forthcoming at the proper time.
The. above contains the substance of Mr. PEAR-
sos's letter ; and. to put our Readers in possession of
the whole facts, we shall subjoin hereto Mr. Hum E'S
Letter to Mr. flonttovse, of the Secretary of State's
Office, and the answer of the latter:
(COPY.) " York-place, October 31, 1820.

" Sii—l had the honour to receive your letter of yesterday,
and beg leave to express my surprise that Lord Sidmouth should
refuse my second application to have placed in my hands the
printed placards issued by Franklin, which I entrusted to you on
the 20th instant, and for which I received your receipt.
" I cunsider the re..usal as not only extraordinary, but as a di-
rect breach of that good faith on which I acted in delivering the
papers to you, for the purpose of aiding the Government to
bring Franklin to justice; particularly so when I informed his
Lordship, in my two last letters, that a reference to the papers
was absolutely necessary to enable Mr. Pearson to institute pro-
ceedings against Franklin, to bring :him to justice for the of-
fences he is charged to hive committed against the laws of his
country.

" I new, fiee the third time, have to state, for the information
of my Lard Sidmouth, that as Mr. Pearson has prepared an in-
dictment against Mr. Franklin, for High Treason, he cannot
proceed with it until he has access to the three printed papers,
numbered 2,3, and 4, in the list I delivered to you ; and I,
therefore, again request that his Lordship will forthwith place in
my hands these three printed papers, to enable me to produce
them before the Grand Jury, for the purpose of supporting the
charges Mr. Pearson will make against Mr. Franklin.
" I have to state, that Mr. Pearson has insuperable objections
to trust the prosecution of the charge against Mr. Franklin to the
Attorney-General, as far as to the finding of a Bill against him;
and that if access to these papers is denied to Mr. Pearson,
through me, where both Mr. Pearson and the Attorney-Gene-
ral may have access to them, I must consider the refusal as an
act of my Lord Sidntouth, in order to prevent that effectual
prosecution against Franklin which may bring him to sufficient
punishment. If there is any fear for the safety of the papers, I
will pledge myself net to part with them; and if his Lordship is
desirous to prosecute Mr. Seale, at you now threaten to do on
his own affidavit, and notwithstanding your written pledge to
me to the contrary, when I delivered his affidavit to you, and
brought that individual as a witness to your office, I desire you
may tetain his affidavit, and ail the other papers except the
three marked 2,3, and 4, which I have named, to enable you to
tarry on the prosecution against Mr. Seale, because he has been
he discoverer of the infamous proceedings of Mr. Franklin;
and I now pledge myself that these papers shall be also forth-
coming, even against him, whenever you may call for them in a
Court of Justice.

" I understand that Mr. Seale, the printer, has behaved with
good faith, and that on his evidence, at the Old Bailey, a true
Bill has been found against Franklin ; and I am informed that
he is perfectly ready to appear in any Court of Justice you may
summon hint to, though he may be, perhaps, unwilling to sub-
ject himself to secret examination by persons who have already
acted in a doubtful manner in this transaction.

" I have the honour to remain, Sir, your obedient Servant,
(Signed) "JOSEPH HUME.
" To H. Hobhouse, Esq. Lord Sidmouth's Office."
(COPY.) " Whitehall, Oct. 31, 1820.
Sta—l have laid before Lord Sidmouth your letter of this
day, and am directed by his Lordship to acquaint you, that he
would think himself guilty of a great neglect of duty if he were
to permit any papers, which evidence so great a degree of guilt,
as those :o which your letter alludes*, to pass out of the hands
of the Officers of the Crown into those of any individual, how-
ever respectable he neay be. He retains them fur the purposes
of prblic justice, and for no other; and for those purpos's they
will be forthcoming, not only on those ocea.sions when the At-
torney-General may prosecute, but also when they may be
wetted on any indictment which may be preferred by Jr.
Pearson, and his Lordship will give directions to the Soiicitor
of the Treasury to that effect.
_ _

" With regard to Arthur Seale, I beg leave to set you right as
to the pledge given by Lord Sidmanith. If you will refer to my
letter of the 19th instant, you will find his Lordship's promise
to have been, " That no accomplice, who •hould disclose all the
knowledge he possessed, and co-operate in bringing to justice
the authors and original circulators of any of the libellous publi-
'cations therein alluded to, should be prosecuted by the Crown,
for the printing or subordinate circulation of any paper, with
respect to which, he should conduct himself with good faith."
Now, Mr. Seale, when you introduced hint to me, did not
scruple to affirm that he bad much knowledge affecting Fletcher,
as the author and original circulator of the papers mentioned in
Scale's affidavit, besides that which the affidavit contained ; and
he stated, that he had partially committed to paper what he re-
membered on this subject, and would put in writing what re-
; mined, and deliver it to Sir Robert Baker on the following
Monday. In the interim, Mr. Pearson arrived from the Con-
tinent; and then Seale, instead of producing his statemext, ex-
cused himself by saying that he wished it to be first seen by Mr.
Pearson. A❑d on a subsequent day, Seale informed Sir Robert
Baker, that Mr. Pearson had desiredslaim (Seale) to inform Sir
Robert Baker, that the whole of the case was before Counsel,
and as soma as arranged, that Sir Robert should be furnished
with a copy. It is not yet too late fur Mr. Seale to bring him-
self within the terms of indemnity promised by Lord Sidmouth,
hut you cannot fail to see, that at ;stearin, he has nut disclosed all
the knowledge be possesses, nor acted with good faith in giving
a simple narrative (which was all that was desired) of the facts
within his own recollection.
" I have the honour to be, Sir,
"'Your most obedient bumble Servant,
(S.gued) " 11. 1101;110USE.
" To Joseph Hume, Esq."
yore OF TIM ZDITOR.

• Nimely, the three printed placards, in which, when pre-
sented by Mr. P.:also'', my Lord Sidmouth did not see any rea-
vim for his interfering, at a time when Franklin was within reach,
and might have been arrested. But the intanent he is, by his
correspondence with Sir It. Maker, known to be out of reach,
his Lordship discovers " so great a degree of gutlt," as to refuse
to entrust them with those Gentlemen who have taken so
trouble to bring Franklin to justice, and have actually almost
forced his Lordship so take any measures at Anti!

. . .
LAW INTSiLiGE CF.':
~•• . , .
COURT OF CHANCERY, NOVEMBER 16.
THE OPERA HOUSE.--WATERS 11. TAYLOR:
Mr. HEALD said, he bad a motion to make on the
behalf of the defendant in this cause. He understood
his Learned Friends, the. Attorney-General and Mr.
Hart, were Counsel for the other side. If he made
the motion in their absence, he was afraid his Lord-
ship would have to hear it• twice. He had several
other motions similarly situated.
The LORD CHANCELLOR-" I am not sorry for it,
Mr. Heald, as there is not a man in England that
wants a holiday more than I do."
His Lordship then rose at eleven o'clock, the Bar
not being prepared with motions.
COURT OF KING'S BENCH, NOVEMBER 16.
The argument in the case of the King against Sir
Francis Burdett having been fixed for to-day, the
Court was crowded at an early hour.
The SOLICITOR GENERAL was called upon. and he
rose to move for judgment upon Messrs. Wooler,
Cartwright, and others, convicted at the late War-
wick Assizes of a conspiracy ; but as the Judge's
notes were not in Court, the motion was postponed
to a future day.