Page images
PDF
EPUB

Q. Were these the words in the petition ?-A. I think these identical words were in the petition which was forwarded to Parliament, and ordered to lie on the table, I believe.

Q. You remember being shewn this printed publication. You said M'Laren complained of the latter part of his speech being inserted, because it was not in the manuscript?-A. Yes, I did.

Q. Say what part was not in the manuscript?-A. I cannot say what were the words he spoke at the meeting. What he said to me was, that he concluded with a line of a play, and it was "to hell allegiance."

t

Mr CLERK.-Q. Did he say that any part of the passage before that was not in his manuscript?-A. He just said the latter part of the sentence was not in the manuscript.

Q. You said you had a conversation with him when he shewed his indictment, and that he complained as you have stated. Had you any other conversation with him on the subject than on that occasion?-A. Perhaps there might be two or three, but to the same purpose.

Q. Did he attempt to influence you as to what evidence you should give at this trial?-A. Neither of us considered I should be called on to give evidence. I did not know what he had spoken, nor about the selling of the pamphlets.

LORD ADVOCATE.-Q. We had a very eloquent petition read. By whom was it composed?-A. I do not know.

Q. Did any member of the committee compose it?-A. The committee for superintending the printing were appointed to compose it, namely, Thomas Baird, W. Finnie, W. Andrew, D. Andrew, and W. Webster.

Q. They produced it to you as their own composition ?—A. It was produced and read at the meeting.

Q. Did they say any thing that led you to suppose that it was not their own composition?-A. I do not think they did.

Q. Did they say from whom they got it?-A. They did not. There was some amendment made upon it.

Q. Upon your oath can you state that none of them said to you any thing about the getting of the petition?-A. I heard nothing of it.

Q. Did any member of the committee give you to understand they had not drawn up that petition, but got it from another quar ter? A. It would be ridiculous for a man to speak positively to a thing he does not recollect of.

HUGH WILSON Sworn.-Examined by Mr DRUMMOND.

Q. Were you at a public meeting in Dean Park about the beginning of December?-A. I believe it might be about that time. Q. Who was the preses of the meeting? A. James Johnston. Q. Who made the first speech?-A. Alexander McLaren. Q. Did you read an account of the speech? - A. Yes.

Q Was it correct?-A I do not remember.

Q. Did it appear correct or incorrect, generally speaking ?-A. Yes, it appeared correct.

Q. Did you see any thing that was incorrect? A-I cannot say that I did.

Q. Do you know where it was sold?-A. In Thomas Baird's. (Pamphlet was handed to the witness.)

Q. Did you buy this copy in Baird's shop?-A. Yes, I believe I did, I am certain I did.

Q. Do you see your subscription there? -- A. Yes.

Q. Where did you write it ?-A. In Mr Brown's.

Q. Who was in the shop when you bought it ?—A. I do not recollect.

LORD ADVOCATE.-Q. Are there any booksellers in Kilmarnock?-A. Yes.

Cross-examined by Mr GRANT for Alexander M'Laren.

Q. What was the object of the meeting ?-A. To consider the propriety of petitioning Parliament for a Reform.

of.

Q. Had the meeting any other object?-A. None that I know

Q. Did any person recommend any thing else ?-A. Not that I

heard.

Q. Did you hear the pannel M'Laren speak upon that occasion ?-A, Yes, I was there at the time, I heard part of his speech. Q. Was it a very stormy day ?-A. Very stormy.

Q. Was there hail ?-A. Yes.

Q. Were many umbrellas up?—A. A great number.

Q. Was any noise made by the pattering of the hail upon them so as to prevent you from hearing? A. Yes.

Q. Was every thing conducted in an orderly and peaceable manner? A. Yes.

Q. Did the people separate in an orderly and peaceable manner? A. Yes, they did.

No.

Q. Did you sign the petitions to the Legislature?-A. Yes.
Q. Do you recollect what the terms of the petitions were ?-A

Q. Are you well acquainted with the pannel Alexander Maclaren ? A. Yes.

Q. How long have you been acquainted with him ?—A. A great many years-five or six, or better.

Q. What character has he possessed as to peaceable demeanour and loyalty ?-A. A good character, as far as I know.

Q. Has he had the reputation of being seditious and troublesome-or loyal and peaceable?-A. The latter.

Q. Was he ever connected with any society?—A. I do not know, he was a member of the committee for petitioning for Reform. Q. But with none other ?-A. With no other that I know of. Q. Do you think you would probably have heard of it if the fact had been so ?-A. I think so.

Q. Have you ever heard him talk of the measures of Government? A. Yes.

Q. What way did he express himself?-A. He used to approve of the measures of Government.

Q. Did you ever hear any arguments between him and others on politics? Yes, he took the Government side.

Q. Do you know of his having been a member of any military body?-A. I believe he served in the Local Militia-in the Rifle Corps.

Q. Did you look on him as a man of a seditious turn of mind, or as a person a friend to the Government ?-A. As a friend to the Government.

Q. Did you ever hear any imputation to the contrary cast on him ?-A. I do not remember ever hearing any.

Q. Do you know any thing about his objecting to his speech being printed ?-A. No.

LORD ADVOCATE.-Q. Do you know who drew the petition ?A. No.

Q. Did you ever read it ?-A. Yes.

DAVID BOW Sworn.-Examined by Mr DRUMMOND.

Q. What is Mr Baird?-A. He has a grocer's shop.
Q. Were the pamphlets sold at Mr Baird's shop?-A. Yes.
Q. Many of them?-A. Many. I could not say as to the num-

ber.

[ocr errors]

Q. Some dozens?-A. Yes; some dozens.

Q. Fifty copies?-A. I believe there might.

Q. What were they sold for?-A. Fourpence each.

Cross-examined by Mr JEFFREY for Thomas Baird.

Q. Do you know if they were sold any where else?-A. Yes. LORD ADVOCATE.-Q. Where?-A. Different persons of the committee got them.

Q. Mention who got them.-A. Mr Finnie, Mr Johnstone. Q. How do you know that?-A. Because I saw them given away. They were given to be sold by Mr Baird.

Q. Besides those given to the members of the committee, several dozens were sold in your shop?-A. Yes.

JAMES SAMSON, sworn.-Examined by Mr DRummond. (The pamphlet was handed to the witness.)-Q. Have you seen this pamphlet?-A. Yes.

Q. Have you seen in it the statement of a speech said to have been made by you?-A. Yes.

Q. Have you read it? Is it a fair account of what you said?A. It is near about it.

Q. Did you compose the speech yourself?-A. No.

Q. Where did you get it?-A. From Mr Baird.

Q. Before the meeting?-A. Yes.

Q. Did you speak or read it?-A. I read it.

Cross-examined by Mr JEFFREY for Thomas Baird.

Q. Look at what is written before the beginning of that speech, where it is stated, that a Mr Burt and a Mr White could not attend, but had transmitted addresses to be read to the meeting. Yours was given in the name of Mr Burt, and you understood it was Mr Burt's speech you read?—A. Mr Baird said Mr Burt had sent it to him.

Q. It was not Mr Baird's writing, but Mr Burt's?-A. Yes.

The following Declarations of the Pannels were then read.

DECLARATION of ALEXANDER M'LAREN.

At Kilmarnock, the 26th day of February in the year 1817, in presence of William Eaton, Esq. Sheriff-substitute of Ayrshire, appeared ALEXANDER M'LAREN, weaver in Kilmarnock; who being examined, declares, That he is a native of Perthshire, and in April next he has been eight years in Kilmarnock. Declares, That there was a public meeting held at the Dean Park, near Kilmarnock, on the 7th of December last: That that meeting was for the purpose of petitioning Parliament for a reform of grievances. Declares, That previous to that meeting there was a committee of certain individuals in Kilmarnock for the purpose of bringing about the said meeting: That the declarant attended that committee, and David Ramsay Andrews, writer in Kilmarnock, Thomas Baird and Andrew Finnie, merchants there, also attended that meeting, and the declarant has reason to suppose they were members of it as well as himself. Declares, That the declarant first appeared on the hustings and opened the meeting; and being shewn an "Account of the Proceedings of the Public Meeting of the Burgesses and Inhabitants of the town of Kilmarnock," and wherein is engrossed, on part of the fifth page, sixth, and part of the seventh page, what the declarant said at opening the above meeting, declares, That the declarant has perused said speech, and it is near what the declarant said on the above occasion, except what is said about the middle of the seventh page about allegiance, which the declarant thinks he did not deliver in the words as expressed in the publication. Declares, That on the morning of the above meeting, the declarant put into writing what he must say at the opening of the meeting: That he afterwards gave his part of the manuscript to those who were appointed by the committee to superintend the printing of the proceedings, that the same might be published along with the rest. Declares, That James Johnstone, muslin agent in the Waterside of Kilmarnock, was called to the chair, and on that occasion he made a speech, which was much approved of by those present. Declares, That the resolutions, as engrossed in said publication, are the same that were read at the public meeting, and the manuscript was read to the committee previous to the meeting by Thomas Baird, merchant in Kilmarnock, one of the members. Declares, That Hugh Crawford, printer in Kilmarnock, was em

ployed to print the proceedings of the meeting, which were afterwards sold at fourpence a-piece, to enable the committee to defray the expences. Declares, That the declarant attended a meeting of the committee, when those who spoke gave in their manuscripts for printing, and the declarant thinks the foresaid Thomas Baird was present: That a committee was appointed to superintend the printing, and the said Thomas Baird and Andrew Finnie were of that committee. And being shewn the printed report before mentioned, declares, That he heard none of the authors find fault with any thing that is therein contained; and the said publication is doqueted and signed by the declarant and Sheriff as relative hereto. Declares, That the words on the sixth page, "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," were in the manuscript wrote by the declarant, but were not repeated by him at the public meeting when on the hustings as above. And the foregoing declaration being distinctly read over, he declares that it contains the truth. In witness, &c. &c.

DECLARATION of THOMAS BAIRD.

At Kilmarnock, the 26th day of February in the year 1817, in presence of William Eaton, Esq. Sheriff-substitute of Ayrshire, appeared THOMAS BAIRD, merchant in Kilmarnock; who being examined, declares, That there was a meeting of several persons in the town of Kilmarnock in the month of November last, for the purpose of taking into consideration whether or not there should be a general meeting for the purpose of petitioning the Prince Regent and both Houses of Parliament for a Reform: That the declarant was preses of the first meeting only: That there were several after meetings, some of which the declarant attended, and the 7th of December last was fixed for a general meeting at the Dean Park: That the declarant attended that meeting, and Alexander M'Laren, weaver in Kilmarnock, mounted the hustings, and opened the meeting with a speech: That James Johnstone, muslin agent in Kilmarnock, was called to the chair, and read a speech to the meeting from a memorandum hook. And being shewn a manuscript, consisting of nineteen pages, declares, That he is pretty certain that it is the same that he read to the meeting, and which the declarant saw some days afterwards in Walter Andrew's office, and which is doqueted and signed as relative hereto. Declares, That the proceedings were ordered to be printed, and the declarant was appointed by the committee, along with several others, to superintend the printing: That the declarant assisted in correcting the grammatical errors in the manuscript, along with the said Walter Andrew, and the declarant assisted a little at the printing-office in correcting the proof copy. And being shown a half-sheet of paper, titled on the back "No. 5. Mr Burt's letter," declares, That said words are of the declarant's handwriting, and the said half-sheet of paper was given in by the declarant to the printer, along with the rest of the manuscripts; and said half-sheet of paper is doqueted and signed

« PreviousContinue »