prison in which you shall have been after your conviction.

This is the sentence of the law. I have now discharged my duty. I have declared it to you, and told you that the Court doth award it. May Almighty God, may the holy and blessed Saviour, that most worthy Judge eternal, suffer not the heavy pains of death eternal to fall upon you. May the Lord have mercy upon your soul. (a)

Reg. v. Constantine and others. December 18th, 1848. Indictment for felony under 11 & 12 Vict. c. 12., the Treason Felony Act, 1848, tried before ALDERSON, B., at the Liverpool Winter Assizes, 1848. The prosecution arose out of the same facts as in the previous case. The Attorney-General (Sir John Jervis), in opening the case :

Those five persons who stand at the barConstantine, Kenworthy, Walker, Stott, and Tassiker are indicted for that which until recently was high treason, but now is a felony. I will explain to you the charge immediately. The charge is, that they with others compassed and intended to levy war against the Queen and her government by force, to compel her to change her measures, and that in evidence of that intention they did one or more (but one is enough) of the several acts stated upon the indictment.

There is likewise a further charge that they compassed to deprive Her Majesty of her title of Queen of the United Kingdom, and it is stated in the indictment that they did some acts for that purpose. The acts are that they com. bined to make insurrections and tumults, and by inflammatory speeches and discourses to instigate each other to insurrection. With respect to the speeches I may at once relieve you. I shall not think it necessary to go so far back as to give rise to any discussion upon that matter. Secondly, that they became members of unlawful, secret, and dangerous societies. Thirdly, that they assembled for the purpose of being trained and of training. And fourthly, that they procured large quantities of guns, pikes, and ammunition. And as my lord will tell you, if either of these overt acts is established, and you are of opinion that the intent is made out as is charged in the indictment, the parties will be guilty of the offence. And for the purpose of satisfying the allegation of levying war, it will not be necessary you should be of opinion that persons were assembled in martial array. If they are rising in numbers with arms, that is a sufficient levying of war; and if you shall be of opinion that they did any of the acts mentioned in the indictment, that is to say, if they were members of illegal com

(a) Ratcliffe was reprieved, and transported 30th April 1852. He received a conditional pardon, March 28th, 1859, but was not allowed to return to this country, in spite of repeated efforts made on his behalf, as the murder for which he was sentenced was not recognized as a political offence. In 1889 the Home Office received a notification of his decease in the State of Illinois, U.S.A.

With respect to the first intent, my notion of it is this-and I think it will be proved in evidence-if you shall think that they intended by force to obtain the charter, that would of course be an alteration of the constitution of this country.

ALDERSON, B.: Any general purpose pervading the whole country.

Attorney-General: If you think upon the second, as to which possibly there may not be as much evidence as in the other, that part of their desires was to obtain a repeal of the Union by force, that would be to depose the Queen of part of her royal title, and would come under the first count as well as the second. It is now unfortunately almost a matter of history that for some time before the month of August last many persons had associated them selves and organized the country for the purpose of exciting violence and turbulence, and of obtaining-as they unfortunately supposed they should-the charter by force. I deeply regret that any of those designing persons who have led on their poor dupes to destruction have not been brought to trial for those principal charges. But the matter having got to a considerable height in the town of Ashton-under-Lyne, the organization was most extensive, so much so, that for a length of time before the 14th of August the districts had been divided, National Guards had been appointed-Milligan was selected as the colonel of the district-captains were appointed-of whom Constantine and some other parties were some, having lieutenants and corporals under them. The organization was so perfect that they thought it was in their power at any moment to have the town under their control and to effect a general rising.

The 14th of August was the day selected for the rising in that neighbourhood, and at Ashton, Hyde, Dukinfield, and places in the neighbourhood, the rising was general. It was divided at Ashton into two parties-one was to meet upon the Mossley Road for the purpose of obstructing the interference of the military. [The Attorney-General again described the circumstances of Police constable Bright's murder.]

Now there is no doubt that Bright was cruelly murdered upon that night, and there is no doubt that in point of law all the persons who were there standing were guilty of murder. And there is no doubt, though there may be a difficult question in the determination of a common object, that all those who were out that night with arms are guilty of the felony charged in this indictment. Why then have I made a selection of some of them only? I have done it for this purpose, because I believe-and that is the reason I have set Sefton by, for upon that matter it was not certain as to himI believe that I have got in this indictment, with the exception of Sigley and Ratcliffe, the seven men who were round Bright upon the occasion of this murder; and if that be so, it was my

duty, making that selection as the facts clearly make a distinction, to proceed against these persons more criminally for the felony I have now charged against them.

During the evidence for the Crown, Atkinson stated that the prisoners would withdraw their pleas and plead guilty.

SENTENCE.

ALDERSON, B.: Prisoners at the bar, you have thought fit to plead guilty after a good deal of investigation has taken place into this unhappy case, and I do not know, judging from the depositions and judging from the matters which have come before me, not merely to-day, but most unfortunately and unhappily on Friday and Saturday last, that you can be said to have lost any advantage whatever-perhaps you may have done some good to yourselves by the plea which you have made to-day. That good, if it be any good at all, will come to you from the contrition which you have shown, and must come to you from the Government of the country itself. It cannot come to you from me. I am here as the minister of the law appointed to do my duty between you and the country, and I should very ill discharge my duty if I did not pass upon some of you at least a very severe sentence. You must therefore abide a severe punishment for your guilt, and I cannot but perceive that four at least of you had a great deal to do with the murder of the unfortunate man Bright. You were all there-you, Constantine, were the one that took him by the arm and led him down to the place where he was killed. You, Kenworthy, were there with a gun, though I do not believe that it was your gun that was fired and killed him. I believe, indeed I have no doubt, that it was the gun of Samuel Sigley. You, James Stott, were there with a pike, and so were you, Thomas Tassiker; you unfortunately used yours, because that last witness that was examined upon behalf of the prisoner on Saturday morning told us that the man who piked, who he said was not Ratcliffe, was very well distinguished by him as having large whiskers which met under his chin, and it was proved that on that occasion you had large whiskers meeting under your chinthat your hands were bloody when you came from the place in question, and that you shaved off the whiskers in order to avoid detection. Much, therefore, have you to answer for. Indeed, if that evidence had come before us on the trial for murder last Friday and Saturday, your life would have been in great and dangerous peril indeed. You, Constantine, did nothing which saved you, but any overt act such as the piking of a man would probably have induced the jury to have come to the conclusion that it was not only your body which was present at the time the murder was committed, but that your mind was consenting to the act of the actual murders themselves.

Upon all and each of you, however, the same sentence will be passed, and that is that you be transported for life. (a)

(a) These prisoners were transported 8th August 1849, and received a free pardon 19th May 1856.

I shall make a distinction between you, Jonathan Walker, and you, John Napoleon Sefton, upon the ground-that broad, clear, and distinct ground-that your hands were not stained with the suspicion of blood. I wish to make a broad line of distinction between you, therefore the sentence of the Court between you and each of you is that you be transported for ten years.

In re Lord Harley. Jan. 1, 1849.--This was an application to Mr. Baron PLATT in Chambers, on behalf of the Hon. Alfred Harley, commonly called Lord Harley, who was detained in the Queen's Prison, for his discharge by reason of his succession to the earldom of Oxford on the death of his father. Evidence of his succession having been given, it was submitted, on behalf of the creditors, that a peer was not entitled to his privileges until he had taken the prescribed oaths.

PLATT, B., said he had no doubt that a peer was privileged before he had taken the oaths, but adjourned the case to allow counsel to appear for the creditors. Later in the day counsel attended, and admitted that he could not cite cases to the effect that a peer was not privi. ledged until he had taken his seat. PLATT, B., made an order for Lord Harley's discharge.

In re Mercy Catherine Newton. May 24th, 1849. Habeas Corpus.-Proceedings on a rule to show cause why a writ of habeas corpus should not issue to bring up to be discharged a prisoner. Reported in 18 L. J. Q. B. 299 and in 13 Q. B. 716, where the headnote is as follows:-A prisoner committed by a justice of the peace for murder was indicted at the assizes, pleaded Not Guilty, and was given in charge to a jury. The jury, after hearing the evidence and the summing up, retired at two in the afternoon and remained in deliberation all night. Next day, being brought into Court, they stated that they had not agreed, and were not likely to agree, on their verdict. The other business of the assize for that county was over, and the judge's duty called him to the next assize town. He discharged the jury and remanded the prisoner. On motion for a habeas corpus at common law, held that, whether the judge was or was not justified in discharging the jury, the discharge was not equivalent to an acquittal, and the prisoner was properly detained in custody under the original commitment. But held, also, that the judge acted rightly in discharging the jury.(a)

Central Criminal Court, before WILDE, C.J., (b) Reg. v. Hamilton. June 14, 1849. At the COLERIDGE, J., and ROLFE, B., (c) the prisoner pleaded guilty to an indictment under 5 & 6 Vict. loaded with gunpowder at the Queen. c. 51. for presenting and discharging a pistol WILDE, C.J., pronounced sentence as follows:

William Hamilton, you have pleaded "guilty" to the offence, as described in the Act of Parliament, 5 & 6 Vict. c. 51., of having presented

(a) See Winsor v. Reg. L.R. 1 Q.B. 289, 390; 35 L.J. M.C. 121, 161; Reg. v. Charlesworth, 1 B. & S. 460; 31 L.J. M.C. 25.

(b) Afterwards Lord Truro, L.C.
(c) Afterwards Lord Cranworth, L.C.