a place where a person appointed to meet me at six o'clock, where I saw four or five men, not one of whom I knew, except Cooper; of him I borrowed a halfpenny, to buy a bit of bread. I appeal to God, who now hears me, (casting up his eyes) and knows that this is true. I went into the room at Cato-street, where I found a number of men eating bread and cheese, which they cut with a sword. I cut some for myself. Seeing so many men and arms, I was anxious to get away, but Adams stopped me, and brandishing a sword, said, If any man attempts to go from here, I will run him through. An officer then came in, and I surrendered without opposition. This was all I knew of the business, and yet I stand here convicted of high treason. I have served my King and country faithfully for twelve years, and this is my recompense, this is my recompense, O God!" [Here the prisoner again burst into tears, and could proceed no further.

Sentence of death was then solemnly pronounced by the Judge upon all the prisoners. Thistlewood, Ings, Brunt, Davidson, and Tidd, suffered the sentence of the law. The rest had their punishment mitigated to transportation, with the exception of Gilchrist, who received a pardon.

HUNT, AND NINE OTHERS, FOR THEIR CONCERN IN THE PROCEEDINGS AT MANCHESTER.

THE indictment charged the defend. ants, Henry Hunt, John Knight, Jo

seph Johnson, John T. Saxton, Samuel Bamford, Joseph Heely, James Moorhouse, Robert Jones, George Swift, and Robert Wilde, with having, on the 1st of July 1819, and at divers other times, conspired together to call great public meetings of the people, and thereby to excite terror in the minds of his Majesty's peaceable subjects; and that, in furtherance of their designs, they had, on the 16th of August last, at Manchester, illegally, riotously, and tumultuously, assembled a large body of people, to the number of 60,000 and upwards, with flags, banners, &c. There were other counts, charging the defendants with a riot.

Mr SCARLETT opened the case by stating to the Jury the grounds of the charge, and the facts which he was prepared to prove. With respect to public meetings in general, it was requisite for him to say a few words in the outset, as to his conception of what constituted a legal assembly in this country. It was undoubtedly the privilege of the people of England, stating the proposition in a broad and unqualified manner, when they suffered any grievance, to assemble at a public meeting, and to pursue a peaceful mode of address. But the meeting in question was not of that description; it was of a nature unknown to the constitution. In former times it was customary for counties, towns, districts, or particular classes of individuals, united by one common interest, in the pursuit of one common object, to meet together. Thus, for instance, where a particular trade was affected

by a particular law, the parties interested met to petition for its repeal. If a particular class of persons were oppressed by any grievance, they also as sembled together to petition for its removal. If a Lord-Lieutenant, or the High-Sheriff of a county, was informed that the freeholders had to complain of something that operated against their interests, the practice of

the constitution enabled him to call a meeting for the purpose of petitioning either the throne or the parliament. But he never had heard it stated by any lawyer, and he trusted he should never hear it decided, that it was a right, sanctioned either by the law or constitution of this land, for any person who pleased to call all the people of England together in one place, there to discuss political measures, and to lay down particular modes by which they might obtain redress. He would tell them why such a proceeding could not be legal. No man could deny that the greatest physical force of every community consisted in the mass of the people: and those who looked for the most extended reform admitted, that all power and all right were derived from the meetings of the people at large. Therefore it was clear that the people, when they met to frame the ground-work of a constitution, went back to the origin of society, and annihilated that state of things which had previously existed. Suppose all ranks of people to assemble in one vast plain, for the purpose of altering an existing system, it must, in such a case, be conceded, that all the constitutional functions, which they had previously bestowed on their public functionaries, must sink into the original mass. Let it be imagined that the bulk of the population met together to discuss public affairs, and to take into their own consideration such measures as they might deem proper for the alteration of the

existing order of things, it was evident, as all power and right were derived from the people, that they would in that case resume their original functions, and the government must be for the time dissolved. Hence it followed, beyond all controversy, that public meetings of the people, without any legal foundation, whether they assembled from their own private will,

or under the direction of some demagogue, who for a time possessed some influence over their minds, for the purpose of carrying into effect, by such means and in such manner as they might think proper, an alteration in the constitution of the country, could not be a lawful assembly, as the constitution at present existed.

Mr Scarlett now, after a short mention of the different individuals accused, proceeded to detail the facts which he was ready to bring forward in evidence.

On the 8th of August Mr Hunt arrived at a place called Bullocksmithy, about nine miles from Manchester, and three miles from Stockport. He was here joined by Moorhouse, who took him to Stockport, and on the morning of the 9th they were joined by Johnson. The party made a progress towards Manchester, accompanied by Sir C. Wolseley and others. The notice of a meeting at Manchester had, it seemed, attracted the attention of the magistrates, and the meeting was prohibited by them. By their orders placards were stuck up in the town, stating that the people were called upon to do a thing highly illegal. Mr Hunt, it appeared, was extremely angry at this prohibition, or rather at the conduct of those who were to have met together, in yielding to it; and they would find, that on the evening of the 9th, he was haranguing the people, and speaking of the magistrates who prohibited the meeting, by the appella

tion of Number 9, in allusion to nine tailors. He used terms of extreme reproach and contumely in mentioning these gentlemen-declared that he conceived the object of the people to be legal-stated his opinion that they were acting in a weak manner to yield to the suggestions of the magistrates, and invited them to meet him on the 16th of August. The obscure situation of most of the people residing at Manchester-their habits of labour, and the moderateness of their circumstances had induced them to pay some respect to the magistracy, who constituted the sole authority there, as there was no corporation, or any body of that description. Their conduct, when the prohibition was issued, afforded a sort of security that they were rather disposed to take the advice and obey the authority of the local magistrates; but when Mr Hunt came down to Manchester, (he having been occupied in assembling mobs at other places,) and said that the people behaved pusillanimously, and that the time was come for acting, he induced those persons, in the face of the constituted authorities, to determine on a meeting. He gave notice that a meeting would be held on the 16th of August-not a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Manchester, but of the population of the surrounding country. Having given this notice, that the meeting of the 9th was adjourned to the 16th of August, he proceeded to the residence of Johnson, near the town of Manchester, which he understood to be called Smedley-cottage. Whilst he was there, he would shew the Jury that Mr Hunt received a visit from Knight, another of the defendants. As Mr Hunt had acquired a sort of popularity in the town of Manchester, which it was not difficult for a man to do who headed a mob, and spoke the language of sedition, he proceeded to mature the

plan of the meeting. The magistrates now received information on which it was very difficult to act. They were informed that movements had taken place among the people composing the immense population of the neighbourhood of Manchester, in the dead hour of the night, five, six, and even ten miles off, which were of a nature quite unprecedented. The magistrates thought it necessary to take measures for the preservation of the peace: they felt that the calling of a meeting by a person who had no connexion with the town, who had no property in or about it, was likely to lead to serious mischief. They determined to ward off the evil; and the prudence of their determination appeared evident, when they were informed that on the 15th of August, in the night time, a number of persons assembled at a place called Whitemoss, and had been observed going through the evolutions of military discipline, in such a manner, that no one who had seen soldiers performing their exercise could entertain a doubt that the persons thus employed had some ulterior object in training at such an hour. The two persons who gave the information drew near to these individuals-so near that they were discovered and pursued; they were followed by bodies of men detached from the main body, and, when overtaken, were beaten most unmercifully. One of them of the name of Murray was discovered to be a special constable he was obliged, in order to save his life, to fall on his knees, and abjure his allegiance. This circumstance would give the Jury some idea of what the object of these people was.

On the morning of the 15th August circumstances took place which threw some light upon those motions which were observed in various parts of Manchester and its vicinity. The magistrates of Lancashire having received

an intimation that a gentleman from London had been preaching his dissatisfaction to the populace on account of the prohibition of the meeting of the 9th, and that he had declared his intention to hold a meeting on the 16th, deemed it prudent to take those precautions which were necessary when vast assemblies of the people were assembled together for any purpose whatsoever. It was now his duty to open a scene, which, he would venture to say, in the whole history of public meetings in this country, had no equal. On the morning of the 16th of August, it appeared that bodies were seen advancing towards Manchester from various places, some of them at the distance of ten or twelve miles from that town. They were provided with banners, the inscriptions on which he would by-and-by describe to them, and they marched upon Manchester with all the regularity of an army. From Rochdale, from Lees, from Middleton, from Oldham, from Stockport, and from many other places, which would be named in evidence, parties might be seen marching towards Manchester. Indeed from every point of the compass persons might be observed arriving there, manifesting all the discipline of soldiers, and differing from them only in this, that they had not uniforms and arms. At Middleton, Mr Bamford was seen placing in marching order a body of 2000 men; they were without uniforms, but he displayed talent sufficient to put them through their evolutions. He addressed them, and gave to each of them pieces of laurel leaf that they might distinguish one another. Two thousand more were seen marching from Rochdale. It would also be found that Mr Healey, another defendant, advanced from Oldham with a body of men. He would not say that this defendant commanded that body, but he would prove ex

pressions of a very extraordinary nature uttered by him, when he was, as it were, singing in triumph, in anticipation of the glories of that day. The town of Manchester was, in fact, surrounded by an immense force, who appeared as if they were going to invade it. Every road which approached the town was covered with parties marching in a military manner.

This was going on, he believed, up to 11 o'clock in the day; and amongst those who were advancing to the town, some of the individuals who had been training at Whitemoss were recognized. It was necessary that they should pass the house of Murray the constable, who had been extremely ill, and unable to remove from his bed, in consequence of the bruises he had received. The party stopped opposite his house and huzzaed, and gave evident tokens that they recollected the proceedings of the former day. They hailed him either to confirm him in the abjuration of the preceding day, or to intimate to him, that if he gave information he might expect their vengeance. At 11 o'clock Mr Hunt and his party were preparing to enter the town from the residence of Johnson. He came in an open barouche, and he, Johnson, and Moorhouse, were seen to approach the place where the meeting was assembled. Mr Hunt was attended by a triumphant band; the Middleton and Rochdale force had united-they became his guards-and thus surrounded, he advanced into the town of Manchester. The first place, he was told, which they approached, was the house of Murray the consta ble. When they came opposite to it, Mr Hunt took the command of the body; he stood up in the barouche, and commanded them to halt. same expression of feeling was then shewn as had previously been manifested by the party which had gone before him, and much hooting and

The

hissing took place. Mr Hunt then made his way to Deansgate; and, on passing the Star Inn, where the magistrates were assembled on one of the most arduous duties they could possibly be employed in, he ordered his corps to stop again, and the magis. trates were assailed with groaning, hooting, and hissing-a pretty good exemplification of the manner in which they would have been treated had he been in authority. He next passed the place where the head-quarters of the constables were held, whom they also treated in the same manner. Mr Hunt ultimately proceeded in triumph to the place of meeting, which had been previously visited by the other defendants. While the forces which he had described were assembling, Saxton, Swift, Knight, and all the remaining defendants, were employed in preparing hustings for Mr Hunt. The magistrates determined that a line of constables should be formed from the house in which they assembled to the cart on which the hustings were formed; and it would be proved, that when those parties found that the constables approached so near to them, they caused the hustings to be removed fifteen yards farther back; and the mob (he did not mean offence by using the word) formed in great strength around the waggon, in order to protect it. Speeches were made by two or three of those whom he had mentioned, particularly by Jones, who said it was the direction of the committee, (so that there was, it seemed, a committee,) that they should take close order till Mr Hunt came. They were then to open and let him pass, after which they were to close immediately; and they were to take particular care not to let any but friends enter, as their enemies were abroad. The Jury would also find, that most of the parties whom they approached were provided with large sticks, which they shoul

dered and brandished as they marched along. They were all provided with ensigns and banners, and advanced either six or four a-breast, with a firm military step, and presenting every appearance of troops upon their march. When they arrived at St Peter's area, the word of command was given, and they wheeled off with perfect regularity, and took the ground which their commander directed them to occupy. One of them, Healey, was particularly active on this occasion; and indeed everything connected with the entrance of those large bodies of men bore the appearance of an established and cultivated habit of military discipline.

Next came Mr Hunt with the largest band, consisting of more than 4000 men. He ascended the hustings, and his partisans took their places around, displaying their flags and banners. On some of these flags they would find described the words, " Equal representation or death." What could be the object of such a sentiment as this? "Equal representation or death" was by no means a vague expression; and he thought the mob, with all respect for those who had a better opinion of their understanding, had better attend to their different avocations, instead of discussing political opinions, for which their education did not always qualify them. Were the mass of the people to be told, by those who urged them on, that equal representation was to be purchased even at the expence of their head? Were doctrines to be disseminated which no man durst utter with his lips, though he might display them on his banner? Were they to be taught to consider equal representation as the sine qua non of their existence, and that they should rather perish than not procure it? Another banner bore the inscription of "No Corn Laws." He came not to that court to discuss whether the law on the subject of corn were good or otherwise but would