of his executing; but if you find, from the evidence, that he is actually embarking in that design, and declaring that he entertains it, there is then no room for the argument, which might otherwise be adduced as to the improbability of its success; if you find he was embarked in it, the improbability of success makes no difference in the crime; they expected, as it appears, a much greater force to assemble than did assemble; they were acting probably on some delusion, whether at the instigation of their own immediate friends, or of others, is not material; the question is not, whether they had ground for hoping for success, but the question is, did they or did they not, and particularly did the prisoner at the bar, engage in the acts imputed to him, with the design charged by this Indictment; namely, the design of endeavouring to overturn the Government if you think he did, then you cannot otherwise discharge your painful duty than by pronouncing him guilty. You will consider calmly, temperately, and dispassionately, the evidence which has been laid before you; you will weigh the remarks which have been made; you will discharge your duty according to your own judgment, and your oaths; and be assured, nothing can confer upon you greater comfort in life, or better hopes hereafter; nothing can confer any greater blessing upon yourselves, your family, your posterity or your country, than a faithful, upright, and conscientious discharge of that painful duty which it has fallen to your lot to execute. THE Jury withdrew at ten minutes after two, and returned in ten minutes with their Verdict, pronouncing the prisoner GUILTY; and that he had not to their knowledge any lands, &c. at the time of the offence committed. THE TRIAL OF GEORGE WEIGHTMAN. SPECIAL ASSIZE, DERBY. The Prisoner was set to the Bar. Joseph Gould, farmer, excused on account of illness. William Swan, farmer, sworn. Thomas Lomas, farmer, challenged by the prisoner. Anthony Broadhurst, farmer, not a freeholder, &c. Roger Sheldon, farmer, sworn. Joseph Needham, farmer, sworn. George Bagshaw, farmer, sworn. Richard Shaw, farmer, challenged by the prisoner. John Millwood, farmer; not properly described in the panel. Richard Thompson, horse dealer, challenged by the crown. Thomas Travis, farmer, challenged by the prisoner. George Hodgkinson, farmer, sworn. Nathaniel Wheatcroft, coal merchant, challenged by the prisoner. John Ward, farmer, sworn. William Stone, joiner, challenged by the prisoner. Nathaniel Hall, farmer, challenged by the prisoner. William Brownson, shopkeeper, challenged by the crown. John Endsor, farmer, sworn. Thomas Gould, farmer, challenged by the prisoner. John Bagshaw, farmer, challenged by the prisoner. Isaac Bennett, farmer, challenged by the prisoner. Thomas Drinkwater, gentleman, challenged by the crown. Randle Taylor, gentleman, challenged by the prisoner. John Barnes, the younger, cotton spinner, sworn. William Swan. John Rogers. THE JURY: Wigley Hodgkinson. George Hodgkinson. John Endsor. Thomas Deakin. Joseph Hodgkinson. John Barnes the younger. The Jury were charged with the prisoner in the usual form. The Indictment was opened by Mr J. Balguy. Mr. SOLICITOR GENERAL. May it please your Lordship, ་་་ FROM the Indictment which has just been opened to you by my learned friend Mr. Balguy, you are informed of the nature of the charge which is now preferred against the prisoner at the bar; namely, that he is accused of the crime of high treason; and the anxious duty is imposed upon you, of determining, after you shall have heard the evidence, whether that charge be well founded or not. It will be my duty in the few observations which I shall have the honour of making to you upon this occasion, to state to you, very shortly, my apprehension of the nature of the charge against the prisoner at the bar in point of law; and then to state to you, with as much brevity and perspicuity as I can, the facts, which I believe will be proved to you in evidence upon the present occasion; but before I make this statement, let me request you to discharge from your minds any thing that you may have heard in the course of the trials which have preceded the present, and to dismiss from your recollection the result of those trials, and to come to the present investigation with free and unbiassed minds, resolved to do that which you know it is your duty to do; to decide upon the guilt or innocence of the prisoner at the bar, upon the evidence and the evidence alone, which shall be adduced upon the present charge. Gentlemen, with respect to the nature of that charge, I shall content myself with stating to you, very shortly, what I apprehend it consists of, with all due deference to the high authority under which you are acting, and by which you will be ultimately guided; and unless you find my notions upon the subject confirmed by that authority, you will most properly, when you come to the consideration of this case, dismiss them from your minds, relying, as you are bound to do, upon that authority only. But after the discussions which have already taken place, I consider it the safest and best course, without troubling you with an historical account of the law of Treason, or fatiguing your minds with the recapitulation of cases and decisions upon the subject, to state to you shortly what the nature of the principal charge against the prisoner at the bar is, to which charge you are to apply the evidence. Gentlemen, the species of high treason which it is alledged this prisoner has committed, is that of levying war against the King; to make out that charge, it will be sufficient to satisfy your minds that there was a general rising or assembly of an armed multitude, that they intended by force to effect some general public object, inconsistent with the Government of the country, as established by law; and if that be proved to your satisfaction, it will be, in point of law, a levying of war against the King in his realm. There must be a rising or an assembly of a considerable number of persons. It is not essential, although on the present occasion it will be proved, that such persons were armed, for, if they were not armed, yet if they were in such numbers as to cause such terror and alarm as was likely to effect their object, that their object was treasonable, would be a levying war, but that circumstance will not be material for your consideration, because the case is, that there was a multitude of armed persons on this occasion. I say, if it shall be proved there was this assembly of armed persons, and they intended by force to effect that which we attribute to them, namely, an alteration in the constitution as established by law, it constitutes the offence of levying war against the King; and it is the high treason charged against the prisoner upon this Indictment. Gentlemen, having stated to you thus much with respect to the nature of the charge, you will have no difficulty whatever in applying the evidence which will be given to it, and be able in the result, to come to a conclusion, whether those things which I state to you are essential to constitute the crime of high treason, appear in the present case; and whether the prisoner at the bar be shewn to be one of |