The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-04-06 00:00:00

THE NEWTON CONSPIRACY.

THE QUI:EN 27. SELSBY AND OTIIERS.—This was an
indictnient for conspiracy at" Newton-in-the-Willows,
against no fewer than twenty-six defendants, of whose
names we subjoin the following list :—Henry Selsby,
William Read, John Bonsfield, Alfred Cheeseborough,
Francis Dawson, John Dumbell, Gilbert Gray, Peter
Grundy, Samuel Mills, William Murgatroyd, Joseph
Platt, James Quarry, Nathan Ramsdell, Joseph Smith,
Robert Westwater, Thomas Wilson, Thomas Wright,
Joseph-Blemiars, John Firth, George Leach, John Ro-
berts, George Scholes, John Thomason, Rowland Wil-
kinson, and Elijah Bowman.
The • case for the prosecution was conducted by Mr.
Sergeant Wilkins, Mr, Monk, and Mr. Pollock.
Mr. Pouncic read the indictment, which charged
the defendants with intending to impoverish and injure
JOhn JOnes and Arthur Potts, ironfounders. There were
several counts in the indictment, one of which alleged
that they had conspired to prevent fifty journeymen, Work-
men, and apprentices, from accepting work at the foundry.
Mr: Sergeant WILKINS opened the case. Whatever
might be the opinions of those who had counselled the
defendants,,their offence was calculated to injure society,
and the jury were bound to find a verdict. The prosecu-
tors were the proprietors of the Viaduct Foundry, at
Newton. ; and all the defendants, except Selsby, bad
been in their employment, A disagreement arose, and
they attempted to dictate to the prosecutor as to how
they should conduct their business. They came to the
masters, and almost insisted that apprentices over a cer-
tain age should not be engaged, and that no men should
be employed who did not belong to a certain trade's
union, called the Journeymen Millwrights' Benefit Soci-
ety—a society that had the enormous fund of £lB,OOO at
its command. The masters would not submit to this
dictation, and then fifteen of the defendants left, and
those who remained became so turbulent that they were
obliged to be discharged. Then the discharged workmen
formed themselves into bands to prevent workmen .from
a distance entering the employment. The learned coun-
sel then alleged various acts of intimidation practised by
the defendants.
Constable Jones, from Warrington, was the first wit-.
ness called. Ile proved the apprehension of several of

the defendants.. He also proved the finding of Selsby's
letter on Utseeseborough, and the conversation he had
with Selsby when he arrested the latter ; and when, prior
to the arrest, Selsby mistaking him for Jones, the prose-
cutor, waxed communicative, and admitted that he was
the acting secretary of the millwrights' executive, the
author of the placard, and the writer of the letter to
Cheeseborough, enclosing ten pounds for the turn-outs.
At the house of Quarry, the defendant, a number of
books and papers, and a balance-sheet, were found.
.Papers were also found in Bowman's box. Witness had
been several pickets prior to the apprehension of the de-
fendants. They walked backwards and forwards on the
road in the neighbourhood of the foundry of Jones and
Potts. They walked in twos and threes ; sometimes in
sixes and sevens, nines and tens ; and they spoke to per-
sons going along the roads.
Cross-examined by Mr. KNowLEs.—The pickets were
very peaceable. He had never seen them otherwise than
well conducted. Selsby said, when arrested, that if they
had done anything wrong, it was contrary to his instruc-
tions. He admitted that most of the apprehensions had
taken place, and most of the boxes of the prisoners had
been broken open, late at night.
Elizabeth Pendlebury proved that she had pointed out
Quarry's and Bowman's boxes to the first witness. Both
these men had lodged at her house, and they had been
out of work for three months. _ .

At twenty minutes past six o'clock, the further hearing
of the case for the prosecution was adjourned to nine the
following morning.

NISI PRIUS COURT-SATURDAY.

The trial of the twenty-six ironfounders and engineers,
charged with conspiracy at Newton-in-the-Willows, was re-
sumed this morning, before Mr. Baron Rolfe.
Mr. Jones, constable, recalled, produced a letter to Cheese-
borough from Selsby, and an account-book of the society,
found in Elijah Bowman's box.
By Mr. BRINES: When I opened the box I had no warrant
of any kind: against Bowman.
Mr. WATSON objected to the papers just produced being
read. They were taken from two of the defendants, and there
was no evidence to show that his clients had the least know-
ledee of their contents. Then, again, here was a man going
without a warrant and breaking open another's box. He had
never known an instance in which a highwayman who took
papers from another could produce those papers as evidence in
a court of justice.
Hi. LORDSHIP over-ruled the objections.
Mr. WATSON: There is a celebrated instance on record, in
which the breaking open of a box was strongly deprecated, at
the resolution.

His LORDSHIP: Sydney's case. Ay, but that is a different
thing.
The minute-book of the committee was then read. Some of
the rules passed were, "that so and so be allowed to work ;"
" that no more than four go on picket, Sze." These were the
strongest expressions used.
A great variety of document^ and other letters were then
read. They revealed little more than the usual organization of
the trade society.
The whole day was consumed in adduc'ng evidence to prove
that the pickets were upon the roads preventing men from
entering the works, and intimidating them under a variety of
circumstances.

A clerk from the works of Messrs. Potts and Jones was called
to prove the number of worknen who had left, or been induced
to leave.

James Pemberton, formerly a special constable at Warring-
ton, spoke to letters produced being in the hand-writing of
Seisby.
Mr. Sergeant WILKINS: I understand your lordship to rule
that we could not adduce in evidence what has been done at
Glasgow or Belfast?
His Loaf:issue : Oh dear, no!
This closed the case for the prosecution.
Mr. KNOWLES then addressed the jury on behalf of those of
the defendants who were his clients.. He began by asking his
learned friends for the prosecution if they would oblige him by
telling him upon what count or counts of the indictment they
had proceeded?
Mr. Sergeant WILKINS declined.
Mr. KNOWLES then delivered an admirable and eloquent
address. He said the facts were few, and much of the evidence
which had wasted the time of the court was not applicable at
all, or so remotely applicable, that he need not think of or dis-
cuss it. His learned friend, in opening, had read documents,
with emphasis and theatrical tone, which were not compatible,
he thought with that cool judgment which juries were called
upon to exercise. He had inixe iup with the case much which
did not belong to it; for ,nstance, he tacked of men like the de-
fendants "prating about political freedom." From the very
beginninr, of the case-up till that very moment had there been
one word or syllable which showed that the defendants had any
political purpose? For his part he could see no harm in what
his friend called "prating about po itical freedom ;" and when
constables, without warrant, break open the defendants' boxes,
he should not have thought worse of the defendants, seeing that
an Englishman's home is his castle, if they had burst forth
into one of the noblest exclamations of Chatham. His learned
friend had talked,—he could not but think sarcastically,—of
the " length and breadth of the indictment." " Never was such
an appropriate phrase," said Mr. Knowles, rolling out the
Parchment on the table, " I believe it would reach from one
end of the room to the other. It is twice as large,—we have
measured it,—as the famous monster indictment in the famous
O'Connell case. Now any indictment is intended to let an
accused man know what lie is charged with ; and is it fair, I
ask, to perplex any man by putting into his hand this long
string of charges? In the time before the flood, when men
lived to be eight hundred years old, and when forty or fifty
years was of no consequence, then this indictment might be
pleasant reading; but we, who have shorter lives, who live in
railway times, and must do every thing io haste, how can any
man read this extraordinary thing, with no less than twenty-
seven charges, the party charging being so bewildered as to
what he is to charge that he is obliged to spread his net this
way and waite on Providence for the result? Ot the twenty-
seven charges, the framer knew be could convict only on one.
Here it is," continued Mr. Knowles. " I will roll it up. I
believe you, will pay little attention to it. And, instead of ad-
dressing myself to each count, which might fill the interval be-
tween these assizes and the next,—(laughter)-1 shall consider
the general merits of the case, and see if a case has been made
out against my clients. The indictment charges a combina-
tion : to that extent we plead guilty. There may be a combina-
tion to carry out a legal object by legal means, and beyond that
I deny that there has been any. Every great, every charitable
object in this country (and it has made the country what it is)
has been brought about by combination. There was such a
thing as combination amongst masters, too ; combinations
bearing heavily upon the working man ; and it would, indeed,
be hard if the taw should give its shield and protection to the
stronger and the wealthier class and not allow the working
classes to combine for their own protection." Mr. Knowles
proceeded to contend that the law, beyond all question,
did allow them to combine. He knew there was some doubt
on this matter in olden times; he knew that, some years ago,
it was thought a crime for workmen even to fix a price for their
labour; but statutes had repealed the common law. Mr.
Knowles then, with great ability, considered the evidence as
affecting his clients. He wished, he said, that his learned
friends had put in the rules of the society. If they had, every
one in court must desire to see many such societies in the land.
It was a friendly society, formed to relieve the needy. Not one
penny of the funds of the society had gone for the purposes
which they had heard of that day. The rules, as one of the do-
cuments showed, were open to the inspection of both masters
and men. If the impoverishment of Messrs. Potts and Jones
were not the primary object, if it were incidental only, then, he
contended, the indictment could not be sustained. Mr.
Knowles, in conclusion, impressed upon the jug that a con-
spiracy, should be shown by acts; and, in all his life, he bad
never heard of a conspiracy where there was no evidence or '
force, where the acts were so light as men walking and stand-
ing, confining themselves to speaking quietly to parties going
by. No one, he added, could entertain any regret that the in-
dictment could not be sustained, for, in regard to Selsby, it was
founded upon illegality ; in regard to others, upon documents
obtained from a box broken open by fraud.
Mr. BAINES, in a very able and argumentative speech, then
addressed the jury on behalf of his clients. He quoted the re-
buke which Lord Denman gave in the O'Connell case on the
extraordinary length of the indictment, and said, he had hoped,
that, after that rebuke, there would have been no more monster
indictments; yet here was one twice the length of that wbich
had called forth his eloquent animadversions. He had calcu-
lated, from the number of the counts and the number of per-
sons, and found there were not less than 4,914 questions for the
jury to determine: a pretty number for a criminal case. After
a warm and able comment on the general merits of the case,
Mr. Bainestreated of the progress and present condition of the
law affecting combinations.
Mr. WATSON then addressed the jury with great ability and
at considerable length.
Baron-RoLvE carefully and impartially summed up, taking
on the whole a view favourable to the defendants.

The Jury then retired, and, after an absence of ten minutes,
returned a verdict of guilty against Selsby,,Bousfield, Dawson,
Clieescborough, Platt, Quarry, Wilson, Firth, and Bowman,
and not guilty against the remainder.
The court adjourned at half-past seven o'clock.

SCREW PROPULSION.

(From the Nautical Standard.)

We have noticed the result of the first voyage of the Sarah
Sands, a large packet ship built of iron, and trading between
Liverpool and New York. We have since then seen the plans
of this vessel and her engines, and the whole subject appears so
interestin,, that we are glad be enabled to follow it up by a
few remarks. We have abundant proof that steam navigation
cannot be maintained with distant countries without the sup-
port of a Government contract for carrying the mails, such ves-
sels virtually become monopolies in the conveyance of passen-
gers, and are at the same time but of little service to the
mercantile community- in carrying cargo.. We may therefore
consider that except for the conveyance of mails and first-class
passengers, steam has not till now been successfully employed
on a large scale for long voyages and the merchants' service.
The Sarah Sands is the first instance, we believe, in which the
question has been fairly tested, and we are not wrong, therefore,
in attaching great importance to the experiment. The Sarah
Sands was built at Liverpool from the plans of Mr. Grantham,
consulting engineer. She is about 1300 tons, new measurement,
and ISO horse power. Her first voyage was commeneed on the
20th of January, under the command of Capt. Thompson, and
having encountered most severe gales, and a few delays, she
reached New York in 20 days 10 hours. To give some idea of
the state of the weather, we have been informed that the Halifax
steamer, which preceded the Sarah Sands, was upwards of 19
days to Boston, and some of the finest of the sailing packets
were upwards of 50 days. This establishes the question as
regards the sailing qualities of such a vessel. The next thing
to be considered is the amount of stowage, in addition to the
space required for the machinery and coals. These occupy less
than one-fifth of the length of the vessel, leaving room for nearly
1,000 tons of cargo, besides large and magnificent cabins.
We have here then a case where steam power is so applied
that considerable speed is attained during a long voyage, with
a vessel having large carrying powers, the object so long de-
sired but not till now fairly attained. We may therefore justly
mark this us a new era in steam navigation, exceeding.in im-
portance, if we are not mistaken, any previous step in this
most important branch of our national strength. There are
other features connected with the Sarah Sands that deserve no-
tice, and add greatly to the merit of the experiment.
We have been assured, that, contrary of all preconceived
views on the subject of the screw propeller, viz., that it must
be worked at a high velocity, that either a multiplying power
must be applied, or the engines be worked at a greater speed
than is desirable, (and although the engines of the Sarah Sands
are coupled direct to the screw) the pistons never exceeded 200
feet per minute during the highest speeds attained by the ves-
sel, about 12 knots, and that the average speed was ISO feet.*
The machinery also is placed so low in the vessel that it is
many feet below the water line, and acts as ballast for the ship.
About three years ago Mr. Grantham read a paper, a copy of
which is now before us, at the Institution of Civil Engineers,
in which he stated his views, and at the same time submitted
plans to the Admiralty such as he has since applied to the Sarah
Sands. It does not appear that other engineers agreed with
him in the opinion he had formed, and since then large orders
have been given out by the government for engines for screw
steamers. Some of these are worked by spur wheels, or, with
the intention of driving the pistons at high velocities, both of
which plans Mr. Grantham has shown to be unnecessary. The
Lords of the Admiralty now in office however, hearing of the
success of the Sarah Sands, sent an engineer to inspect her,
and his report has been highly satisfactory. Had Mr. Gran-
tham not had opportunities of accomplishing his plans in the
course of his private business, the results he has shown might
still have remained unknown, or others might have stepped in
to reap the reward so justly due to him. We trust he will not
stop here, but pursue this important subject when we may hope
to see still further improvements.

* The rate of a piston for such engines in the paddle-wheel
steamer would be 220 to 240 when running free.