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him the office of Chairman, and he was
clamorously called to it. He acquiesc-
ed, and took the Chair, and having
taken it, you will hear what passed:
you will hear the seditious words alleg-
ed to have been spoken by him for the
Gentlemen,
purpose of bringing the Government in-
to hatred and contempt.
there is often a great difficulty in bring-
ing witnesses to tell all the words utter-
ed on such an occasion. No prudent
man would venture to mix in such a
crowd, but curiosity in some overcame
their prudence, and some did go there,
from whom you shall hear the substance
of what was said by the present defen-
dants. I shall not here state word for
word what their testimony will be, I
merely generally advert to its character,
on which it will be for you eventually to
decide. After the tumult of the meet-
ing had subsided, Sir Charles Wolesley
said-

Mr. PEARSON.-My Lords, the witnesses should be sent out before the Learned Counsel enters immediately on

orators, who came from their different stage or platform was erected, on which occupations to harangue the multitudes the leaders mounted, two of the princithey were enabled to assemble. But, pal of whom were the present defenGentlemen, whatever you may have dants. It was previously agreed, perknown or heard upon that subject, I en-haps, that Sir Charles should take on treat you to banish it entirely from your recollection. I am perfectly sure you will give your decision, not on what I may say, not on any thing you have heard before, but simply and solely on the evidence I shall adduce. The two defendants, Sir Charles Wolesley and Mr. Harrison, are persons who are well known. Sir Charles Wolesley is a gentleman who has a considerable estate in Staffordshire, and he inherits a property and the dignity of a baronetage through many generations, from the time of Charles the First. Harrison, until lately, was a stranger in the county of Chester, and is described in the indictment as a schoolmaster; he formerly settled in Derbyshire, but was a resident at Stockport at the time he committed the offence charged against him in the indictment. On the 28th of June last a public meeting was announced to be held at Stockport, under the real or pretended pretext of petitioning for a Reform in Parliament. The numbers assembled on that occasion were above 5000, and according to one of the defendants exceeded 10,000. Previously to this meeting you will find Sir Charles had been acquainted, that they had been in correspondence on the day of meeting-that they had been in with each other-that conversation they were not strangers to each other or to the intended objects of the meeting, from which circumstance, as it appears to me, they must have gone upon some pre-concerted scheme. The meeting was attended by many persons armed with bludgeons, not merely meant for shew, not merely meant for intimidation, but so used as nearly to put a constable to death. Could such a meeting be considered fit for deliberation? Could it be called peaceable? Banners were carried, having on them the usual No Corn Laws, cant inscriptions, Annual Parliaments, Universal SufBludgeons frage, Vote by Ballot." were to be found almost in every hand; the crowd was more numerous than on any former occasion; and after this, could it be fairly considered as a deliberative assembly met together for a peaceable and constitutional purpose?

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his case.

Mr. Sergeant CROSS.-Yes, the witnesses, on both sides

The COURT then ordered the witnesses out, and after a pause of some minutes,

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Mr. BENYON resumed. Having, Gentlemen, already stated to you the erection of a platform or hustings, the numbers assembled, the bludgeons with which they were armed, the prominent part taken by the defendants, and Sir Charles Wolesley being in the chair, I shall now state to you what he said on that occasion. He said he was the first who made a kick at the Bastile in France, and he hoped he should be present at the destruction of other Bastiles in England; he declared his hatred of spies and their employers, Castlereagh and Sidmouth, and added, that as long as the people were unrepresented taxation was tyranny, and resistance was justifiable. I have here only pointed generally to what he said, and if you believe he actually made use of them, I can make use of no language, my imagination can frame none, more calcuAlated to disturb the public peace, and

bring the Government of the country the nature of the meeting, that it was imto hatred and contempt. Harrison, a legal, quiet, constitutional meeting, the other defendant, followed Sir Charles for the purpose of petitioning for a ReWolesley, and declared against petition- form of Parliament, is wholly disvowed ing the Legislature, as degrading and by Harrison, for he says the period for humiliating. He said a meeting should petitioning is at an end. "Twas not be held at Oldham, congregated so as then for Reform they were assembled; to form a National Union, from whence his letter disavows it. Nor can the a new and enlarged representation other defendant, if I prove the use of should emanate. That the two defen- seditious words against him, creep out dants were well acquainted, I shall of this prosecution by alleging he had show you that two days after the meet- no concert and no participation with ing, a letter was written by Sir C. any guilty act or acts of Harrison. If Wolesley to the Postmaster at Bridport, even he did not use seditious words, be complaining of some delay that took was Chairman when and where they place in the delivery of a letter addressed were used, and so far attaches to himto Harrison; and though this be not ne- self whatever criminality they naturally cessary to prove the fact of such ac- bring with them. I do not say it is imquaintance, I think, for the sake of proper to meet in order to petition for the ends of public justice, I may as Reform in Parliament-to meet for the well read it to you.-[Here the Learn- purpose of addressing the Legislature ed Counsel read the letter.] To this to obtain redress from actual or supposthe Postmaster replied, no letter was ed grievances. Heaven forbid I should stopped, and generally repelled the tell you, standing in this place, that ebarge made against him by the defen- such meetings are not proper, or not ledant. This, Gentlemen, shews a cor- gal. No, Gentlemen, the right of perespondence between the defendants;tition has been handed to us as a valubut if any doubt remain upon this subject, I shall read you another letter, addressed by Harrison to a man in Chester Castle, of the name of Baguely, which was opened by the direction of the Magistrates in consequence of the prisoner's improper bel.aviour. This letter I shall read for you; it states the circumstances of the meeting, the numbers assembled, the banners used, and the Presidency of Sir C. Wolesley. If then, Gentlemen, you consider the words of Sir Charles to be seditious, it is in vain that we may hear it said Harrison does not participate in Sir Charles Wolesley's guilt. So far, Gentlemen, 1 have given you an outline of the evidence I intend producing; and here let us pause, and see if it will bring homeed with quiet and decency, and not in to the defendants the charge against them in the indictment. They are charged with having attended a tumultuous meeting; with unlawfully assembling to disturb the public peace; and conspiring, by seditious speeches, to excite the people to a hatred of the Government and Constitution as by law established. From what I have already said, you will see that seditious language was used; but you are not to build any thing on what I say, unless it is substantially given to yon on incon trovertible evidence. With respect to

able legacy from our forefathers, and I trust we shall ourselves hand it down unimpaired to our posterity. With respect to the banner having on one side of it the motto of " No Corn Laws," I say, if the meeting had assembled for the purpose of discussing that question, it would certainly be unobjectionable. Upon that question some of the wisest political economists differ very widely; many say they are improper; perhaps some of you, Gentlemen, may, or may not be of the same opinion, though I do not agree with them, and it is but fair that those who think them improper or injurious should be permitted to petition against their continuance. Still petitions of that kind should be conduct

such a manner as to threaten and intimidate and endanger the public tranquillity. Still if they petition quietly, I say again, heaven forbid they should not be allowed to do so. It will, however, be for you, Gentlemen, to say whether the meeting was or was not intended for the purpose of intimidation; whether, from its general character and aspect, and the expressions made use of at it, it was or was not calculated to bring the Government of the country into hatred and contempt. I shall not now say more, at least at the present; during the pro

gress of the trial I may have again to trouble you.

John Kenyon Winterbottom examined by Sergeant CROSS--I saw a public meeting at Stockport on the 28th June, it was between one and two o'clock; I attended near it, at a place called Sandy Brow; I think 4 or 5000 people were assembled; I was not near enough to observe if they were of the town or not. They were very quiet when I first saw them; most of them had sticks, apparently got from hedges, newly got, and not like walking-sticks; they were generally pretty straight. The population of Stockport is about 20,000 persons. There was a hustings, or a scaffold; I saw several persons there; Sir Charles was pointed out to me as being on the scaffold; Harrison I knew; he is a schoolmaster, he lived then at Stockport. The first thing I observed was a hissing by the whole multitude; I was not aware of what occasioned it. I heard people in the room where I was say

Mr. PEARSON objected to the witness relating any thing of what he had heard others say.

say,

whether a man or a pig was upon th throne." He said, "the united will of the people was sure to prevail, it was an axiom that could not be confuted; it might be necessary in some cases to petition the House of Lords, who were by the constitution placed in a different situation from that of the House of Commons, but in the present corrupt state of things it was useless, and he would not recommend it."

Cross-examined by Mr. PEARSON-I was about 100 yards from the hustings; there were women at the meeting, I should think a hundred or two; not so many as 500; perhaps there were children there; I don't know on the side next myself, but children were playing; I only saw the people after they had met; the whole body had sticks, but they were not held up all the time during the meeting; I say most of them

had sticks.

Mr. PEARSON-Tell me, Sir, how many you think bad sticks?

Mr. Justice Marshall We have no number given as yet; there is no contradiction; he has already said most of them had sticks.

otherwise, I shall not persist in it.

Witness-I live with my father and sister; they were not removed in consequence of the meeting, nor any other persons; no shops were shut; if any were, I would have heard of it.

Mr. PEARSON here read an extract from a newspaper, in order to have the distinctness of the witness's recollection put to the test, by desiring him to repeat it after him, as he had just done that of Harrison.

Witness-The next thing I observed, Mr. PEARSON-My Lords, I don't was the passing some resolutions; the know that I am asking any improper Chairman was Sir C. Wolesley; I did question. I do not see what objection not perceive how he got into that situa- the Court can have to it. I think it netion; he was there when I reached.cessary to ask it; but if the Court think We have many persons of common sense at Stockport to preside at a meeting. I was about one hundred yards from the scaffold, and I could indistinctly hear all that was said. I only heard Sir Charles "unanimous." I did not vote. 1 saw persons vote by holding up of hands and sticks, but on the occasion of passing a resolution, I saw no dissenting sticks held up. I saw no respectable inhabitants take any part in the proceedings; I felt perfectly secure at the time I saw the meeting, and continued to feel that confidence till the night; but if they were kept till night, then I considered it would be dangerous; I only heard Sir C. Wolseley say the word "unanimous;" I heard Harrison say, "the House of Commons were the people's servants, that it was as absurd to petition them as it would be for a master to petition his groom for his horse;" he said, "there was a barrier between the throne and the people, which must be removed, either by force from Heaven or Hell, in order that they might see

The COURT This language has worked mischief enough elsewhere, not to have it repeated here again.

Mr. PEARSON-My Lords, I see nothing objectionable in it; if I had any book of prose or poetry near me, I should have preferred it. I read the passage to try the distinctness of the witness's memory. Can you repeat, Sir, the passage I have just read?

Witness-I cannot repeat it. There was nothing to distinguish the laugh from what is usually done at an absurd thing; I heard some other parts of Mr.

505

Harrison's speech; I thing I heard him say, "if they petitioned at all, they should petition the Throne or the House of Lords." I do not remember his complaining that some prior petition had not been transmitted to the Prince Regent; I did not hear any one distinctly but Sir Charles.

506

the other," Annual Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, and Vote by Ballot;" when I first saw it, it was furled-1 afterwards saw it lowered, for the purpose of putting on it a red cap of liberty; I followed shortly after Sir Charles; I got so near the hustings as to be within ten yards; I was for five minutes about thirty yards from it; I saw Sir Charles on the hustings; the Rev. Mr. Harrison was there; I knew him; Mr. Fitton, Willan, Johnson, and several others were there also, but I did not know them; those I have mentioned as not inhabitants of Stockport; Harrison was on the left of Sir Charles; there was speaking; I observed a conversation passing on the stage; Sir Charles bore a part in it; Harrison apparently joined in it; I can't tell what was said; I was observing the meeting before he mounted the hustings; I don't recollect any thing particularly being done; Sir Charles was received by loud huzzas ; great numbers at the meeting I knew to be townsmen; I saw no sticks unusual with the people; they were not more numerous than I should expect; I stood amongst the crowd, but high ground when I could; I could not hear as distinctly as those more elevated; I did not observe a chairman, my curiosity was to hear Sir Charles; the first attention I paid was to Sir Again examined by Mr. Sergeant Charles; I heard him; I took a minute of what it was he said within an hour CROSS-Mr. Knight, Fitton, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Willan, were there; they were after it was spoken; I can produce it if all strangers at Stockport; they appear necessary. [Here the witness produced ed to be acting as leaders; Harrison it, and read from it as follows:]-"Sir was the only one I knew to be an inha-Charles was happy at addressing the bitant of Stockport.

Examined by Mr. HARRISON-I live in Stockport, at the Church-gate; I am an attorney; I took notes of what I heard heard; I have not got them; you distinctly, and when I said, "I heard indistinctly," I applied it generally to all the speakers; I heard enough in what you said; I had no directions to pay particular attention to what you said; I took your using the word barrier as a figurative expression, that something was intercepted between you and the throne. I formed no idea as to what was intercepted; when you said, one could not know if a man or a pig were on the throne, you meant it in contempt; I read of Burke's observations calling the people a swinish multitude; I heard of an allusion to a pig in the school where I then was, but I do not know what association to that subject you might have had; I did not suppose the people were deriding the speaker, but that your observation had a tendency to deride the throne.

Thomas Bolton examined by Mr. ASHWORTH-I live at Stockport; I recollect a meeting on the 28th of June; I saw numbers of country people coming into town by different roads; I have been eleven months at Stockport; they appeared strangers who came.

I can

not say how many people passed; they were probably two hours in passing, but I cannot say how many; I observed they had nothing more than is usual, what I saw appeared to be walkingsticks; I was at the meeting;

saw

Sir Charles going up to it, by the direct road up to John-street-a young Gentlemen, I believe of the name of Lewis, was arm in arm with him; when I reached the meeting I observed a flag, No Corn Laws," on en one side was,

gained

people at Stockport from the present.
place, Sandy Brow. It was a place
consecrated to the cause of liberty by
the absence of friends he should have
been happy to meet there, and he trust-
ed Sandy Brow would be more famed in
history than the field of Waterloo. Was
there a peace officer present, he trusted
they came to keep the peace, and not to
break it. But was there any of your
spies, your note-taking or Black-book
gentry, tell your employers, the tools of
a Castlereagh and a Sidmouth, that I
hate them, that I detest them, that I
eternally execrate them. He (Sir C.)
was proud to say he was at the taking
of the Bastile in France, and he should
be happy to be at the taking of a Bas-
tile in England. And were all hearts
but as firm in the eause as his own, they
Z

should soon put an end to the present | tioned it to them.
tyranny and corruption." This was all
I took notes of.

Cross-examined by Mr. DICKENSON -I am a cotton-broker at Stockport; I have only a small part of Sir Charles's speech; it was not all uttered at a time; he called upon the peace officers to keep the peace; his address was generally to be peaceable. At the time of the cap being put on, Sir Charles turned round, and there was a demur; the cap was then put on, and afterwards the flag was hoisted; I did not hear Mr. Willan object to it, he might have done so, for any thing I know. Upon Sir Charles turning round, there was a stop or a demur, it might have been in consequence of his being displeased; it was put on and hoisted, and the meeting continued; it was quite peaceable.

John Johnson examined by Mr.WILLIAMS-I am a Land Surveyor at Stockport. I was at the meeting in question. I got there before. Sir C. Wolesley. Harrison was there when I went up. I do not know how many persons were present. There was no speaking before Sir C. Wolesley arrived. When he arrived, he got upon the hustings, and was appointed to take the chair.I do not know who proposed him.There was no chair on the hustings. Sir Charles began to speak immediately. I was within six yards of him he said he was the first at the taking of the Bastile in France, and he hoped he should soon be at the demolishing of the bastiles in this country. When he said this, he pointed north-west. He told the people to be firm and united, for in a few weeks the great struggle would be made and ended. He said the ground whereon they were was sacred to the cause of liberty, as they had there once defeated their enemies. He said more, but I do not recollect it. Mr. Harrison stood next to him; he also spoke. He said they wanted to get to the throne, to see if there was a pig or a man on it, and if there were 10,000 walls between them they would blow them up either to heaven or hell. When he used the words man or a pig," they were received with acclamations. Sir Charles was then on the hustings.

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Cross-examined by Mr. PEARSON-I first mentioned these words to George Bullock, about a fortnight ago. I have a father and brothers, but I never men

I lodge with the father of Bullock. [Here witness repeated what he said in his direct examination relative to Sir C. Wolesley's speech]. I cannot say who spoke immediately after Sir Charles. I do not recollect what the other speakers said. Sir Charles spoke more than once. I do not know whether what I have now said of his speech was uttered all at once or in separate speeches. What Mr. Harrison said about a pig or a man, was received with merriment.

Examined by HARRISON-Bullock is here as a prisoner for felony. I had no hand in it.

Johnson again called-Said he was in the New Bailey Prison on a charge of felony. I was discharged by Mr. Phillips, the Magistrate.

Thos. Walsh examined by Mr. DEACON-I am a clerk at Manchester. I was at the Stockport meeting on the 28th of June. I heard Mr. Harrison reading a letter to the multitude. I do not recollect the words of it. I made some minutes on my return from the meeting. (Here the witness produced a paper). These are not my original notes. I wrote this from the notes.

Mr. PEARSON objected to the reading of the paper. It was necessary that notes to be evidence ought to be taken at or soon after the time the words were spoken. If there was a report given by any of the public papers, it would serve to refresh the memory of a witness, yet it would not be contended that a witness could be allowed such a reference.

Mr. PARK followed on the same side. By the JUDGE-I made this memorandum about a month since.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL submitted that the witness had a right to refresh his memory from this paper. It was not intended that it should be put in as evidence verbatim of what passed. If the witness could take upon him to swear that the paper now in question contained the substance of his original notes it was sufficient, but if their Lordships had a doubt on the subject he would not press it.

The COURT decided that the witness ought not to be allowed to refer to this paper.

Examination continued-The substance of the letter was, that the Deity had created man for happiness, and a

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