The Sun. — 1844-02-03 (London, England)

CHIEF JUSTICE—He did.  Mr. WHITESIDE said it was another case of the same nature in the same book. In this case the defentlints were charged, first, with having combined together maliciously to assemble for an unlawful purpose. The second count charged them with having assembled in immense numbers, armed with weapons ; and with having caused great terror and alarm to the peaceable and well-disposed subjects of her Majesty, for the.unlawful and seditious purpose of offering unlawful and seditious opposition to the Government and Constitution, and to the terror and alarm of the subjects of the Queen. Another count charged them with assembling with clubs, &c. The 12th count charges them with being at an unlawful assembly ; and the 13th for a riot. He wanted to show that, in this case the same result followed, and that those counts which were not found in the present indictment were those on which, according to the authority of the Learned Judge and the finding of the jury, a verdict was had. The Learned Gentleman then read portions of the evidence given in the case of the Queen v. Vincent, to show that violent language had been used at a public meeting at which the defendants were present, and that the inhabitants were put into a state of great terror and alarm. Vincent, in his speech, had described the system of Government as cannibal and atrocious—that it doomed men, women, and children to toil in factories, in starvation, and nakedness, to increase the wealth of the aristocracy. The snowball of Chartism was increasing in size, and he called on the people of Newport to roll it down on their oppressors and crush them. He had also threatened the magistrates with violence, and wanted to purchase a large quantity of arms—muskets, cutlasses, pistols, &c.—from a commercial traveller, named Johnson. Baron Alderson said that any meeting assembled under such circumstances, or likely to produce danger to the tranquility of the neighbourhood, was an unlawful assembly. He then alluded to the petition to obtain the five points of the Charter, which points went to a length that sensible persons would think inconsistent with the Constitution soafgtehsewehouienhtrmdit•y country. Gentlemen, nothing is more unfair than to take a part of a speech without taking the whole. In doing so sentence. wi lbe unable to judge justly, for there may be many pasGod be thanked," dcshaairdigethteheLeenartioreedm Judgeeanin g of a who presided over the Chartist trials, "that the Constitution does not forbid men to meet peaceably to petition the Queen. It is the inalienable right of the subject, and surely it is not now to be usurped." It is not evidence to be given against a man for a conspiracy, namely, that he attended a meeting, if that meeting be not illegal. Neither are the acts of another who may have been guilty of violence to be offered in evidence against a man for attending a legal meeting. He is not accountable for such acts, and cannot be made so. Nor is it evidence of a conspiracy that a number of persons propounded the same doctrines for the accomplishment of the same object. You must convict them of one and the same conspiracy, and of one and the same act—in different counts, if you will—but it must be proved that they have combined to effect an illegal act, or a legal act by illegal means. On the banners which the Manchester rioters bore before them was inscribed—" Englishmen, the blood of your brothers reddens the streets of Preston, and the murderers thirst for more ;" and on another banner was inculcated the observation of peace, law, and order ; but it was decided that such an inculcation was absurd, as their acts were to be evidence of their intentions, and their acts did not correspond with the words which expressed those intentions. Let us see, before we go further, what you are to find the party guilty of. Is it that they have agre-d together for the furtherance of a common object ? No. But that they confederated and conspired, by a complete union of purpose, and a premeditated plan, to do any of those acts charged in the indictment. Judge