The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-04-02 00:00:00

. Mr. Bolton was again called. He stated that there was no
other issue by the second lady than that child. He likewise
said that the present Lady Rendlesham recognised the title of
the claimant. He is brother of the deceased lord. The claim-
ant had succeeded to the family estates.
Proof was given that the late lord established his claim to
vote for the representative peers for Ireland, and also proof of
his death in the month of July, 1832.
The committee decided that the claimant had made out his
claim, and so directed the case to be reported by the noble
chairman, the Earl of Shaftesbury, to the house. •

LANCASTER ASSIZES.

THE ELECTION RIOTS AT CLITHERO.

Three bills of indictment having been found at the sessions,
on the prosecution of the Tory party in. that borough, against a
number of persons charged by them with being concerned in
the riots which took place on the occasion of Mr. Irving's mak-
ing a public entry into the town for the purpose of ad.dressing,
and canvassing the electors, they were removed by writ of cer-
tiorari to the Court of King's Bench, and thence sent down for
trial at these assizes. One of the indictments charged the par-
ties with a conspiracy; the other two were for riotously assem-
bling and disturbing the public peace.
On Friday, Mr. Sergeant JONES, who conducts the case for
the prosecution, applied to have the case which stood the last
of the three in the Cause Paper—one of the indictments •for
riot—tried first. But the ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Mr. Willi-
ams) and Mr. POLLOCK, who appeared for the defendants,
would not consent to the cases being tried out of the order in
which they had been entered.
Mr. Sergeant JONES then declined offering any evidence
upon the charge of conspiraoy, which stood first, and the parties
were in consequence, under the direction of the judge, acquit-
ted.

THE KING V. GREENALGII AND OTHERS.

This was an indictment against William Greenalgh, William
Bulcock, Thomas Prior, Joseph Parkinson, James Lawton,
jun., Robert Morley, and Thomas Garnett, for riotously assem
bling and disturbing the public peace, at Clithero, on the 31st
of July last.
:The counsel for the prosecution were Mrs. Serjeaut Jones, Dr.
Brown, Mr. L. Peel, and Mr. Brandt; for the defendants ap-
peared the Attorney-General (Mr. Williams), Mr. Pollock, Mr.
Coltman, and Mr. Seagar.
Mr: Sergeant JONES stated the case for the prosecution. The
transaction ou which the charge was founded was connected
with the election for that borough. and arose oat of party feel-
ing, but on that subject he should not say anything. The
learned serjeant then proceeded to state, in minute detail; the
circumstances of the disturbance which took place On the occa-
sion of Mr. Irving entering the town of Clithero, with a large
party of his friends, on the 31st of July last, the particulars of
which, no doubt, are fresh in the recollection of our readers.
A very great number of witnesses were then called,—magis-
trates, gentlemen, their tenants, and others, electors of the bo-
rough,—who formed part of the cavalcade which accompanied
Mr. Irving from Whalley Abbey to Clithero on the 31st of
July. The substance of their testimony was, that, on the road
to that town, they were assailed with stones and other missiles,
and, on arriving at Clithero, they found in the streets a dense
mass of people , who saluted them with cries of " Barkers !"
" Boroughmouger ?" "slave-drivers !" &c., and hurled stones
at the carriage and horsemen. Several of the latter were struck
with stones, others had their hats knocked off, and one gentle-
man was pulled off his horse, but was rescued from the crowd
by the constable of Clithero. Mr. Irving, finding that it. was
impossible to alight at the Swan Inn, from a window of which
he had purposed addressing the electors, proceeded onward
through the town, as far as the Bellman public-house, where se-
veral magistrates, who had accompanied him and had witnessed
the state of the town, and had also been urged by several inha-•
bitants to call in the
.aid of the military, despatched a messen-
ger to Burnley. Two troops of the 15th hussars, amounting to
sixty-four men, soon afterwards arrived, and Mr. Irving was by
them escorted back to the Swan Inn, one troop preceding and
the other following his carriage. He attempted, without suc-
cess, to address the people, who seemed infuriated, and threw a'
great many stones, wounding a number of the soldiers. These
merely used the backs and flat sides of their sabres in dispersing'
parties of men engaged in commiting these outrages, and, in
about an hour after they had arrived in' the town, they again
quitted it, escorting Mr. -Irving and his friends to Whalley .Ab-
bey, where one troop remained all night, and the other returned
to Clitheroe. The Rev. Richard Noble, one of the magistrates
who had sent for the military, as well as two lieutenants of
the hussars, and several ether gentlemen, expressed their con-
viction that, if Mr. Irving had attempted to'return through the"
town without the escort of military, his life would have been en-
dangered.
Some of the defendants were identified by one or more wit-
nesses as having mixed with the crowd, used threatening lan-
guage, thrown stones, or encouraged others to do the same.
About seven o'clock the case closed for the prosecution, and
the Court adjourned to the following Morning, at nine o'clock.
At nine o'clock on Saturday morning the defence was en-
tered upon, in this case, by the ATLORNEY-GENERAL, (Mr.
Williams,) in a speech of above two hours' duration. The de-
fendants he said, were not men of desperate fortunes and of
stained lives, but men who, up to that moment of time, stood as
well before the Jury as any persons then in that court. The
learned counsel commented, at great length, on the evidence
for the prosecution, from which, as well as trom that of the wit-
nesses whom he proposed to call, he Contended that it would
clearly appear, that there had been no such thing as a riot, pro-
perly so called, in the town of Clithero on the day in question,
and that much of the excitement which had prevailed arose out
of the military being unnecessarily called in by the magistrates,
who were themselves partisans of:Mr. Irving, in meter that,
however unacceptable to the people, their favourite candidate
might be delivered of his speech, with the unanswerable com-
mentary of the sabres of the Hussars to enforce his arguments.
On the conclusion of the Attorney-General's speech,
Mr. PoLLocx, who was specially retained for Mr. Garnett,
was about to address the Jury in defence of that gentleman,
when, in compliance with a gldggestion from the learned Judge
as to the absence of any evidence to sustain the charge as
against him,
Mr. Sergeant JONES consented to a verdict of acquittal being
taken as to the defendant, Thomas Garnett.
Between thirty and forty witnesses were then examined for
the defence, their testimony going principally to prove, that the
workmen employed at Low Moor and Primrose-hill proceeded
from those works in regular order, having persons with staves
or wands,,after the manner of stewards or marshal's men, ap-
pointed to superintend them and their movements; that the ef-
forts of those persons were directed and exerted to the suppres-
sion and prevention of outrages, particularly of the attempt
made by some strangers to overturn Mr. Irving's carriage---
that the defendants west especially exerted themselves in order
to preserve the peace; that, from the time when Mr. Irving's
carriage passed through the town to the Bellman public-house
until the arrival of the military in the evening; the town was in
a qiiiet state, and the numbers of the people very considerably
reduced ; that about a dozen persons received sabre-wounds, or
were bruised by the horses' hoofs, one of whom was said to have
died iu consequence of the injuries he received ; that to the
presence of the military alone was to be attributed all the ill
feeling manifested in the evening when the soldiers were pelted
with stones; and that when they quitted the town, to escort
Mr. Irving back to Whalley Abbey, general order and tran-
quillity again prevailed.
Mr. Sergeant JONES then proceeded to address the jury in
reply. ..He commenced his observations with stating, that it
should be his endeavour to preserve to the conclusion of the
responsible duty which had been casti upon him, the same spirit
and tone as"he had set out with; its opening the case for the pro-
secution. The question for them to try was one, not of party,
or of po litical:dispute, but simply of fact; and they were called
upon to decide first, whether there had been a riot or not in
the town of Clithero on the 31st of July last, and, secondly,
whether, if there had been such a. riot, all or any of the defend-
ants had taken any part therein. He had consented to a ver-
dict of acquittal in favour of the defendant Garnett, immediately
upon the suggestion of his . lordship, because, as it often hap-
pened that individuals were included in an indictment in order
to•deprive other parties of the benefit of their testimony, he was
desirous, if Mr. Garnett had any evidence to offer, that it should
be open to him to do so. He would also say the same with re-
spect to Bulcock and Moreley. He should, therefore, in draw-
ing theirattention to the case as it now• stood; confine his ob-
servations to the other three defendants—Greenhalgh, Lawton,
and. Prior. The learned sergeant then commented upon the
evidence. for the defence, contrasting it with• that which had
been given in support of the case for the proseciitibn, and con-
tending, that nothing had been brought forward to shake - the
testimony of the witnesses he had called.; and that, in point of
fact, though many of the witnesses on the other side stated that
they had no apprehension of danger to themselves, to their fa-
milies,• or •to their •property,--while they,' being of the same
party. with those by whom the outrages were committed, were
not, indeed, likely toleel,—yet they admitted that stones were
thrown, and that other acts of violence were attempted and'
done. Then, as to. he magistrates : their situation was a very
trying one. They had to act on the sudden, or not at all. If
they did not act promptly, in preservatimi of the, public peace,
there were persons ready, not only to accuse them, but also to
try them : and, if they did act, it was said, " Why did you 'call