The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-04-08 00:00:00

THE STA'

weidesee; Why bad tbey
ee latift ea trained'? Was ,
a less alai decide ape'allygoutsmeasurerlse
he had sot bees drilled during the night for
emits weeks? No 8 it was not to enable them to de-
el4e better that they bad bees drilled—those drillings
meresof the' use nature as those which raw recraite
underwent is his Majesty's service. They were eat%
pleated eight after sight in tuarelsiag and coasters
starching, Is wheeling is and oat of line, and in ilytl.
ping their heads at the word " fire." That sandy,
meld sot be aeciseary for the purpose ofisliberatlei.
He would state another fact, which would prove that
deliberation was not their object in these dallier.
At a conga word they fell down, at another word they
me agate. Now that was a light infantry mere-.
moot ; aid for what purpose could It be practised by
thee..mei, *alma, they contemplated a conflict at -w
disks* pried pith regular troops ? It was also mask
while toesseider whom these drillings took place; thy
• +rental is the sight time, they began at dusk, and lastid
instil dm morning. Two or three iadivideals.wbo bad vi-
sited them from curiosity, had been almost murdered
by them; and he world show that at one of these
drillligi, of which several were held, some at White-
tail's, some at Cockeramitic. others at Tesdes-bill,
ReAfeid, the present plaintiff, had been present—
sometimes as a commander of a squad, bometinies as a
private. lie would likewise show, that hi bat been
carrying a Bag is the Middleton division at the mo-
ment he received the sabre wound for which be now
demanded reparation. The learned Sergeant then
described the barbarous treatment which Murray and
Shawcross, two of the Manchester police, bad received
at Whitemoss, and stated that the party whom those
individuals bad seen drilling. on passing Murray's
house os the 16th of August, while repairing to Man-
chester, bad added insult to injury by halting, yelling,
sod hissing before it. He then described the march
of the reformers from that place by the Exchange,
and the air of defiance with which Host bad stopped
his cavalcade before it, to hiss the gentlemen engaged
them on business. He likewise detailed the manner
in which the column was halted before the Star lon,
where the magistrates used to assemble, and the hoot-
jag which there took place. After statist; the man-
lier is which this division arrived at St. Peter's-field,
after a circuitous route from Smedley-cottage. be pro-
ceeded to describe the military manner in which the
other divisions took op their ground. He should
prove that they marched to the field.. Mr. Shoals-
worth bad said that they had merely walked. la
that person's Opinioi be would oppose the opinion at
military men, who said that their stately organised
step was that of regular troops. They had likewise
mule. bugles, drum! and fifes, none of which were
secessary to suist their deliberations. They had also
beepers with inscriptions. His learned friend said
there was nothing wrong in that ; that they were only
used to distieguish the different townships from mit
other. If that had been the feet, they would bare.
simply put the name upon the banners ; whereas thdy
had put_" Lees" eta. one aide, and ." CaragY '
death " on the other. Thew Shore was a Mark lag.
A fat jolly looking man bad been called 'to prove that
the flag was painted black, merely because he hap-
pened to have at that time no other kind of paint.
But that statement he was sure the jury could Haw
be induced to believe. The learned counsel then eel
mented ou the impropriety of such au inscription 111
" Liberty or death," and said that it was intended to
express insult, defiance, and hostility to the cornett.
tuted authorities of the country. There was also the
inscription, " Let us die like men, and not be told as
slaves." Were the people of England, then, in that
state of thraldom and misery, that it was better for
them to seek death than to endure it? If not, was
not such an inscription calculated to excite disaf-
fection, insurrection, and absolute rebellion? After
condemning the inscription of " No corn laws" he
proceeded to point out the revolationary tendency of
the cape of liberty, which were paraded through the
field with so much ostentation. and to call the
attention of the jury to the " dagger," or " the
piece of tin," as one of the witnesses had called
it, which surmounted one of the Rigs. He thought
that he bad now satisfied the jury that the meet-
ing was illegal : bat even supposing that it was
sot so on account of the banners, he would ask then]
whether, under all the circumstances, it was not so
constituted as to strike tirrar into the inhabitants of
Manchester? After eulogizing the conduct of the
magistrates in very strong terms, and stating that it
was absurd to suppose that they could wantonly, and
withoto cause, lend themselves to acts and proceedings
which had put in jeopardy the lives of his Majesty's
subjects, he asked the jury, whether, under the impres-
sions which they had derive.; from the facts that
came within their knowledge, the magistrates could
have acted in any other way than they did?
They were aware of all the facts which be bad de-
tailed. They knew that Mr. Hunt was not easily to
be put off, and that, though he had seceded to the post-
ponement of one meeting, he had not abandoned his
intention of disturbing the peace of their neie hbour-
hood. In consequence they left their homes, came
to Manchester, and there consulted, day by a day,
not bow their own property, but the property of the
inhabitants of Manchester, and the tranquillity of the
county, could best be preserved. Ths leatoed counsel,
after some other statements of this nature, informed
the jury that the magistrates, in pursuance'of their
duty, hired Mr. Buxton's house, in order to be eye-
witnesses of the proceedings of the day. They left the
Star inn at ten o'clock to repair thither. They found
a cart placed in the middle of the square, which they
naturally supposed was left there for the purpose of
being used ea a hustings. Haring sworn in a num-
ber of special constables, they formed them in two
lines for the purpose of keeping up -a free and uninter-
rupted communication between the cart and the house,
after describing the military mode in which the differ-.
est parties arriving on the ground took up then posi-
tion round the hustings, be asked whether such a cir-
cumstance passiag before the eyes of the magistrates
'was not calculated to excite their fears? It was tree
that it did not alarm the fears of the plaiotifrs wit-
. ; but then it ought to be recollected, that with
the exception of Mr. Stanley, they either participated
it the transactions of the day, or entered strongly
into the feelings of the parties there assembled. The
inhabitants of Manchester, however, when they sae
habdoza wellme alarmedobser ;
w, the area completely jammed with a discontented
antics,papa-
for what meeting, as Mr. Stan-
leywas not' dangerous that

wit headed by es it men as Mr. Wet sad Mr
Ciente ? The assamonleation betties"' th •
hsetiegs sat' the waggon redratised oyes Co
, some time, but Is eemsequesee of its object being
Anoka be state of therm inoWiishled, the wee:fon wet
reason& add lbs Wee between its old and new poll
1111116 Ra nifty tea multitude. He eresld prose Mi.
fact by Indisitetable testimony. lashed. there was no:
one witness on "the part' of the plaintiff. except Mr.
Stanley, who dared 'to state that there was an nnin-
tereepted- enntmunica lion between lir. Bnxton's house
and the hustings. Ile would show for them. that there
est as Interruption ceased by the locking of arms
6or 7 deep. It was not surprlsieg that the witnesses
'hostel speak of the peaceable demeanour of the meet-
ing before the arrival of the Yeomanry, bee ,ose at
that time there was nobody to quarrel with 'emit
themselves ; but the dancer was from the collection
of so peat a man of elated persons. In defence of,
the vigotoete mestasares taken by the Manchester
eta-
gisteatea, be refiyret to the great mischief done by
the mobs In 1780, which be ascribed to the przsillani-1
ashy of Kennet, then Lord Mayor of London, who
had neglected calling in the military to quell them.
Fur that pusillanimity a criminal information had bees'
filed against him, oo which he bad breve found guilty,
sad severely fined. Ile also referred to the extreme
danger to which the city of Loudon bad been ex-
posed, and the plunder and destruction which had
taken place in it at the time of the Spafields meeting.
in consermence of an observation that had been mode
to the mob by an lessee individual. Now he would ask,
had henna nature altered since that time ? If it had not.
'was it not likely that the same fatal results would have
occurred at Manchester ? It ought to he recollected that
it was a hot surnmer's day. in Which these men, with their
wives and families, went to Manchester; and the exhume'
Lion that their journey mad fatigue in standing would
create, would have obliged them to have resorted to
the alehouses for refreshment. Nmeolfter they bad
been filled with the politics of Haan tliFitriigios et
Carlile, and the porter of the alebonse, be would ask
whether the lives of bii Majesty's subjects would not
have been endangered by such a Danaher of individuals
preparing to leave Manchester about, oine or tee
o'clock at night? Would not such a circumstance have
g ted universal dismay? And if it would, there
was as end of the argument. The magistrates had as
good a right to disperse sneh a Meeting as they had to
alter any other kiwi of legal nuisance. Under these
circurastanees the Magistrates thought 'themselves
Bound tdcall in the aid of the military. They issued
warrant to apprehend the leaders of the meeting.
They pit it into the heeds of the emastables, who one
and all of them declared that it was impractbsahle in
them to estimate It. 'His Learned Friend hid' Aid that
the civil power aught at least to have tried to execute it,
which was in other words to say that two or three con-
stables ought to have been killed in an at to per-
form an impossibility. In consequence of the magis-
trates coinciding in opinion with the constables. a mes-
jag. was sent off to Captain Ilkley to 'deuce part of
'lsis troop to the fieltl,„ and to Cssiasel LtEstrange to
bring out the Cheshire Yeomanry, and the 15th Hunan.
During the interval betiveen their arrival on the held,
and the despatching of the mess age, the Riot Act, as
be
would prove, was publicly read est of the window un-
der which the witness M.Kenna leas bleeding, and over
which Mr. Stanley was lookin g at the crowd. It
mattered not whether the public beard it, but read it
wet. On the arrival of Major T Telford, the consta-
bles put the *arrant into his bat ids, and desired him
to assist them in executing it. 11 e allowed that the
cavalry reterned the cheers of the people before they
set out for the hustings, and tie ma %mined their right
to do so. They did sot, boweve t, proceed rapidly.
He Would prove that they bad sere. t struck a blow till
they bad arrived at the hustings; t hat they were am
sailed by brickbats and stones, and t hat they wet with
an almost issarmoustable resistance On their way to
the hustings. it was not till they Ws ire attacked that
they used forest, and then they had a right to defect
themselves. It was his belief, derived from the testi-
mony which he would adduce. thit, but for the prompt.
aid given by the 15th Hassan and the Ches hire Yea
unary, the Manchester ieousant y would hare been
utterly annihilated. Orders were therefore given to
Col. L'Estrange to rescue them. 'The learner I counsel
then pointed out the parts of the plaintiff's ,tvidence
that seemed inconsistent with each other ; and' after-
Wards proceeded to say, that it was not what re porters
from London and elsewhere felt as to the daage.t to be
apprehended from the meeting, that the jnry had to
consider, bat the feelings of those who had pro,oerty
at stake is Manchester. He had a few words to say
regarding the m in which the trespass had been
proved. It was only proved by one witness, who said
that he saw Oliver strike him a blow on the shoulder.
He did not say with what aide of the sabre, and there-
fore it did not follow that the wound of the plaintiff
was caused by that blow. He must again submit to
the jury that there was no evidence to affect thieper-
son. There was another part of this case upon which
he mest address to them, and through them his lord-
ship, a few ob lions. lie meant this—that the
defendants acted in obedience to a warrant from the
magistrates; the resistance they experienced was in
point of fact a resistance to that warrant, and if that
were so, there was, as he should contend, an end to
the whole of this case. If they acted without a war-
rant, though under the orders of constables, then the
plaintiffs for an action fur damages should hays brought
their case within six months after the occurrence. It
was no answer to say that the parties contem-
plated redress fur a criminal wrong, aid that they bad
brought this action last summer, the moment they felt
that there was no chance of obtaining the redress which
they sought. That excuse was uoayailing a.;ainst a
protection secured to the public by a positive statute.
lie should lay before them is evidence abundant proof
of the case which he had stated for the defeadanst.—
He knew that the Jury bad a weighty duty to perform.
He admitted it was of the utmost importance that the,
justice of the country should beadministerrd to the satis-
faction of the country; and in anticipating. their vet-
dict for his clients, he felt himself only asking what
would satisfy the country and the justice of the
sass. The Jury ought to feel that this qurstioc
was, whether or not the laws and constitution of the
e xrt este reountry were any longer to be permitted to exist—
vhohe r
who, in fact,eci exercised
tiletyheweearielitnog, as be
suitbrweerrtee.doaft
will bi
h
manag-
ing meetings of this description. "It is for yon,
gentlemen-of the jury." said the learned Sergeant, iu
conclusion. "to say. se honest judges of the who'.
case, whether that meeting at Manchester was cuni;r