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

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-
borougb. from Selsby, and an account-book of the society,
found in Elijah Bowman's box.
By Mr. BAINES: 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-
ledge 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.
His LORDSHIP over-ruled the objections.
Mr. WaTsox : There is a celebrated instance on record, in
which the breaking open of a box was strongly deprecated, at
the revolution.
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, &c." These were the
strongest expressions used.
A great variety of documents and other letters were then
read. They revealed little more than the usual organization of
the trade society.
The whole day was consumed in adducing 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
Selsby.
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 LORDSHIP: 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 WuxiNs 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
ally or sd 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 mixed up with the case much which
did not belong to it ; for instance, he talked of men like the de-
fendants "prating about political freedom." From the very
beginniir, 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 political 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 he 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 in 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 harge 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 he 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 till the interval be-
tween these assizes and the next,—(laughter)—l 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 tlilavv 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 jury that a con-
spiracy should be shown by acts; and, in all his life, he had
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. RAI NES? 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 which
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. Baines treated 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 ROLF E 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,
Cheeseborough, 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
interesting that we are glad to 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 tilt 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 as 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) tte 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 Enginfers,
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 tifbeunnecessary. 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 Ins 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.