Page images
PDF
EPUB

STATE TRIALS,

&c. &c.

698. Proceedings in the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh against ALEXANDER M'LAREN and THOMAS BAIRD, for Sedition, March 5th-7th: 57 GEORGE III. A. D. 1817.

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY.

MARCH 5, 1817.
Present.

Rt. Hon. David Boyle, Lord Justice Clerk.
Lord Hermand.

Lord Gillies.
Lord Pitmilly.
Lord Reston.

Counsel for the Crown.

Rt. Hon. Alexander Maconochie, Lord Advo-
cate [afterwards a lord of Session and Justi-
ciary, with the title of Lord Meadowbank.
James Wedderburn, Esq. Solicitor-General.
H. H. Drummond, Esq.
J. A. Maconochie, Esq.

H. Warrender, Esq. Agent.
Counsel for Alexander M'Laren.

John Clerk, Esq.
J. P. Grant, Esq.
James Campbell, Esq.

Mr. R. Morton, Agent.
Counsel for Thomas Baird.

Francis Jeffery. Esq.
Henry Cockburn, Esq.
J. S. Stewart, Esq.

yet true it is and of verity, that you the said Alexander M'Laren and Thomas Baird are both and each, or one or other of you, guilty thereof, actors or actor, or art and part: in so far as, you the said Alexander McLaren did, at a public meeting, held at Dean-park, in the vicinity of Kilmarnock aforesaid, on the 7th day of December 1816, or on one or other of the days of that month, or of November immediately preceding, or of January immediately following, which meeting was attended by a great multitude of persons, chiefly of the lower orders, wickedly and feloniously deliver a speech, containing a number of seditious and inflammatory remarks and assertions, calculated to degrade and bring into contempt the government and legislature, and to withdraw therefrom the confidence and affections of the people, and fill the realm with trouble and dissention; in which speech there were the following or similar wicked and seditious expressions"That our sufferings are insupportable, is demonstrated to the world; and that they are neither temporary, nor occasioned by a transition from war to peace,' is palpable to all, though all have not the courage to avow it. The fact is, we are ruled by men only solicitous for their own aggrandizement; and they care no farther for the great body of the people, than they are subservient to their accursed purposes. If you are convinced of this, my countrymen, I would therefore put the question, are you degenerate enough to bear

[ocr errors]

Mr. A. Campbell, W. S. Agent. Lord Justice Clerk. Alexander M'Laren and Thomas Baird, attend to the indictment against you, which the clerk of Court will read. "ALEXANDER M'LAREN, now or lately it? Shall we, whose forefathers set limits to weaver in Kilmarnock, in the county of Ayr, the all-grasping power of Rome; shall we, and Thomas Baird, merchant there, you are whose forefathers, at the never to be forgotten indicted and accused, at the instance of Alex-field of Bannockburn, told the mighty Edward, ander Maconochie of Meadowbank, his ma- at the head of the most mighty army ever jesty's advocate, for his majesty's interest: trode on Britain's soil, Hitherto shalt thou that albeit, by the laws of this and of every come, and no farther;' shall we, I say, whose other well-governed realm, Sedition is a crime forefathers defied the efforts of foreign tyranny of a heinous nature, and severely punishable: to enslave our beloved country, meanly permit, VOL. XXXIII. B

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

in our day, without a murmur, a base oligarchy when liberty began to rear her drooping head to feed their filthy vermin on our vitals, and in the country; when associations were framed rule us as they will? No, my countrymen. from one end of the kingdom to another, comLet us lay our petitions at the foot of the posed of men eminent for their talents and throne, where sits our August Prince, whose virtue, to assert their rights; when a neighgracious nature will incline his ear to listen to bouring nation had just thrown off a yoke the cries of his people, which he is bound to which was become intolerable-what did the do by the laws of the country. But, should wise rulers of this country do? Why, they he be so infatuated as to turn a deaf ear to declared war, not only against the French their just petition, he has forfeited their allegi- nation, but also against the friends of liberty ance. Yes, my fellow townsmen, in such a at home."-Page twenty-ninth, "Our opprescase, to hell with our allegiance." And you sors have taxed the very light of heaven; and the said Alexander M‘Laren did, shortly there- they seem surprised and indignant that we after, deliver, or cause to be delivered, your should not bear the insupportable burden, with said speech, in manuscript, to Hugh Crawford, which folly, corruption, and avarice, have printer in Kilmarnock, to be by him printed and loaded us, without reluctance and complaint." published. And you the said Thomas Baird -Page thirty-second, "Their reverend hirehaving been present at the said meeting, and lings would convince you that you are suffering having heard the said speech, and others of a under the visitation of the Almighty, and similar tendency, delivered there, did, shortly therefore ought to be submissive under the thereafter, and in the course of the said chastening stroke."-Page thirty-fifth, “We months of December or January, wickedly have these twenty-five years been condemned and feloniously print, or cause or procure to to incessant and unparalleled slavery, by a be printed, at the printing-office of the said usurped Oligarchy, who pretend to be our Hugh Crawford, in Kilmarnock aforesaid, a guardians and representatives, while, in fact, seditious tract or statement, intituled, "Ac- they are nothing but our inflexible and detercount of the proceedings of the public meeting mined enemies."-" They have robbed us of of the Burgesses and Inhabitants of the town our money, deprived us of our friends, violated of Kilmarnock, held on the 7th of December our rights, and abused our privileges."—" At 1816, for the purpose of deliberating on the present we have no representatives; they are most proper method of remedying the present only nominal, not real; active only in prosedistresses of the country, with a full report of cuting their own designs, and at the same time the speeches on that occasion;" which printed telling us that they are agreeable to our wishes." tract or statement did contain a number of se--And you the said Thomas Baird having obditious and inflammatory remarks and assertions, calculated for the purposes above mentioned; and, in particular, a report of the said speech of you the said Alexander M'Laren, with the passage aforesaid, in the same, or nearly the same terms; as also the following wicked and seditious passages, viz. page ninth, -"And a House of Commons-but the latter is corrupted; it is decayed and worn out; it is not really what it is called, it is not a House of Commons."-Page tenth-" The House of Commons, in its original composition, consisted only of commoners, chosen annually by the universal suffrage of the people. No nobleman, no clergyman, no naval or military officer, in short, none who held places, or received pensions from government, had any right to sit in that House.-This is what the House of Commons was, what it ought to be, and what we wish it to be; this is the wanted change in our form of government-the Commons House of Parliament restored to its original purity; and this, beyond a doubt, would strike at the root of the greatest part of the evils we groan under at the present day." Page eleventh, "Is it any wonder, my friends, that this country is brought to its present unprecedented state of misery, when the rights of the people have been thus wantonly violated?"Page twelfth, "But let us come nearer home. Look at the year 1793, when the debt amounted to two hundred and eleven millions, and the annual taxation to about eighteen millions;

tained a number of copies of the said printed tract or statement, containing the said false, wicked, and seditious passages, and others of a similar tendency, and being altogether of a seditious nature, did, in the course of the said months of December and January, and of February immediately following, at your shop in Kilmarnock aforesaid, wickedly and feloniously sell, publish, and circulate, or cause to be sold, published, or circulated, many of the said copies thereof, at the price of fourpence each, or other small sum, one of which was then and there purchased by Hugh Wilson, weaver in Kilmarnock. And you the said Alexander M'Laren and Thomas Baird having been apprehended and taken before William Eaton, esq., sheriff-substitute of the county of Ayr, did, in his presence, at Kilmarnock, on the 26th day of February 1817, both and each of you emit and subscribe a declaration: which declarations, being to be used in evidence against each of you respectively, and the manuscript of nineteen pages, and the half sheet of paper, titled on the back, "No. 5." both referred to in the said declaration of you the said Thomas Baird, being to be used in evidence against you the said Thomas Baird, as also three copies of the printed tract, or statement, above mentioned, being to be used in evidence against both and each of you, will be lodged in due time in the hands of the clerk of the high court of justiciary, before which you are to be tried,

« PreviousContinue »