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You swear positively that Mr. Newman did not call me a rascal?-You heard me, I an

swer no.

Did you not see Mr. Newman put his fist into my face?-Yes.

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There is nothing else you can swear to,

Was not that previous to my having ad-only what you have mentioned?--No. dressed myself to the company?—No, it was afterwards

Now, Sir, what part of the room were you in, when you heard me drink these toasts? Not a great way from you, a little farther from you than I am now.

Did I drink them as toasts to the company at large, or to my friend?--You drank them to your friend at first, but you drank them so loud that they could be heard all over the coffee-room.

Was it not after Mr. Newman called me a rascal, and put his fist in my face, that I gave the toast on my legs?—It was, I said so before.

Did I seem to have given Mr. Newman any provocation to induce him to put his fist in my face, and call me a rascal?-No doubt of it, he was the first man who came up to you, and then you held up your stick in a menacing posture.

Was he not approaching my box in a menacing posture?—No otherwise than showing indignation at your behaviour.

You did not hear me call the king a German hog-butcher?-Perhaps that question may as well not be asked me. Certainly I did hear you call the king a German hog-butcher, that he had sold his troops at thirty pounds a head; that is as near the words as I can recollect.

Court. What were the words?-That he had sold his subjects for thirty pounds a head. Did he say what subjects?—I was not close enough to hear; he said the prince of HesseCassel did the same.

Prisoner. Pray, Mr. Leech, were these all the words I uttered?-I cannot answer that question; I wonder you should put it.

You have seemed to select them very nicely however; was it not in consequence of some paragraphs in the newspapers that I made these observations ?-That I cannot say; it did not appear to me that these were observations that could be made from any thing in a paper.

The jury want to hear nothing of you but evidence; did I not read the newspaper aloud, and were there not paragraphs tending to that effect, which induced me to make use of some of these expressions?--When you read the newspaper so very loud I was not in the room; you had read your paper aloud, and had two glasses of punch before I came into the room, and I begged to keep out till I was forced in.

And you came in very apropos when I was uttering these words. Did you hear the whole of that conversation concerning the king? I did.

At what period did you come in ?—I had been out of the room half an hour.

At what period do you think that I drank "The overthrow to the present systems of government throughout Europe"?-Towards the latter end, at the last glass of punch.

And are you sure these are the very words I uttered? Yes.

White Newman sworn.

I live in Newgate-street with my father; I was in the London coffee-house on the 30th of September; I went in there between eight and nine; the prisoner at the bar and another gentleman were sitting in a box, opposite to where I sat down.

How many do you think there were in the coffee-room at that time?--I should suppose a dozen, not more; they were talking very loud, but I did not hear any of their conversation, till they gave "The French republic!” as a toast aloud,-I mean the prisoner gave it to the person who was with him; it was as loud as I speak now; I heard it distinctly, and I believe every gentleman in the coffeeroom did; I got up, and went to Mr. Leech, the master of the coffee-bouse, who was at the upper end of the room; 1 asked him if he suffered that toast, "The French republic!" to be drank in his coffee room? I do not know whether Mr. Hudson heard me or no; Mr. Leech said, it was too bad. I called for a glass of punch, and drank his majesty's health, and the royal family; which was repeated, I believe, by every gentleman in the room, and immediately "The King! The King! The King!" resounded from all parts of the room, except from the prisoner. Then a dispute arose between the prisoner and myself; he gave it repeatedly again, "The French Republic;" he was sitting when I went to him; I said he had no right to drink that toast in the public coffee room; he called me a rascal and scoundrel several times, and held his stick in my face, and I held mine, but we neither of us struck one another. When I said he had no right to drink that toast in a public coffee-room, he drank that toast again, and said that I was a rascal and scoundrel and had no business with him; he made use of very ill language to me, to wish me to strike him, but I laid my stick on the opposite box, and told him I was determined not to strike; there was a great dispute in the coffee-room; he said I was a rascal, he had Lavater, he could read it in my face; and an officer was sent for, and he was taken into custody.

Prisoner. You say, you came into the coffee-room between eight and nine o'clock; can you recollect what period between eight and nine?—I suppose it was as near the half hour as could be.

Did I address myself to you when you came into the room?-You did not.

Did I appear to be addressing myself to the
company! You drank that toast aloud.
Did I desire the company to join with me?
-You did not.

Did not you come up to me, and call me a
rascal?-Not before I went to Mr. Leech.
You did not call me a rascal before I spoke
to you? By no means in the world.
I think you put your fist in my face?--I did

not.

What induced you to come to my box at all? Why, your giving "The French Republic."

You had no other provocation from me; how long do you think I gave this after you came into the coffee-room, before I was conveyed out of it?-I think it may be three quarters of an hour.

Then it must be past nine o'clock ?--I think it was.

Did you hear me give any other toasts than those you have mentioned?-I did not; I heard riotous behaviour.

came into the coffee-room?-A little after

seven.

How long do you think I remained there? -For more than till half after eight.

Do you think I remained there till three quarters past eight?-I do not think you were taken away till nine.

Was I taken away before nine?—I do not know.

In what part of the coffee-room was it you sat?-In the next box to you, with my back against your's.

Was Mr. Newman sitting with me?—No. Was Mr. Buchanan?-He was sitting at the end of that box.

Then perhaps Mr. Buchanan sat nearer to me than you did?-No, I do not think he did, because my back was close to you.

At what time did I drink" the French Republic"?—You drank several toasts of that nature.

How long do you think I had been there before I drank the toast you charge me with?

I think, when you were before the magis--Perhaps an hour. trate, you said you heard me call his majesty a German hog-butcher?-No, I did not; I came in afterwards.

What did you conceive that I was taken out of the coffee-room for?-For breeding a riot.

Did I strike any body?—I did not see you. Did not I desire the constable to take a gentleman into custody, who, I swore positively, had struck me?-You did.

Was he taken into custody?—He was not. You are sure, that I did not connect any other words with the toast that you have sworn to ?--I did not hear any other.

Thomas Griffith Vaughan, sworn.

I live in Bristol; I am a merchant there: I was at the coffee-house this evening.

Will you be so good as to tell us whether you heard any toast given by the prisoner, and what it is?- heard many toasts given, and drank; I heard two particularly given by the prisoner at the bar," Equality!" "The Republic of France; may it triumph over Europe!" There were many toasts, and some repeatedly given; but these two I have a perfect recollection came from the prisoner, or words to a similar import.

Do you recollect any expressions relative to the king?—Yes.

Were any such expressions as these used by the prisoner at the bar,-that the king was a German hog-butcher, that he sold his subjects of Hanover to the government of this country, to be butchered at thirty-pounds a head; and that the prince of Hesse-Cassel did the same by his subjects; and that he had no doubt but the king of England was in partnership with him, and received fifteen pounds a head back again of it, from the prince of Hesse-Cassel?-He said these words.

Prisoner. What hour might it be when I

Do you recollect how many glasses of punch I had while I was there?-You drank three.

How many glasses of punch do you think I had drank before I had made use of these expressions?--You were drinking the second. You are sure of that?-I have said it.

Have not you sworn that I drank "The French Republic"?—Yes.

And now cannot you fix on any period at all that I did drink it in?-Not within five minutes.

You recollect how many glasses of punch I drank; how many had I drank before I used these words?-I can charge you with drinking a great many toasts, some of them in the first glass, and some in the second.

Answer that question; at what glass of punch was it I drank the toast in question?— At the last glass.

Did you see any body attempt to interrupt me, in the course of my being in that coffeeroom?-Not till you had drunk "The French Republic," in opposition to the toast given, and generally received,-" The King."

Did you see any body interrupt me then?Yes, Mr. Newman.

Did I address myself, in any period of this discourse, to you ?—No, not at all.

Did you see me address myself to any body else?-Yes, to Mr. Newman, and to several persons in the room after the toast was given.

Did I give the toast to Mr. Newman?— You gave it generally; you gave it very loud in opposition to the toast of "The King," which was the sentiment of the company.

Did you see Mr. Newman put his fist in my face, or attempt to do it?-I did not; I saw him hold up his stick to you, and I came to him, and desired him to put down his stick.

Was that Mr. Newman holding his stick up to me previous to, or after my addressing him?-After.

newspaper?—I believe you were reading that the king had been a fox-hunting, and Mr. Pigott expressed great surprise that the king should take diversions of that kiud while his subjects were engaged in a war; then you began exclaiming that the king was a German hog-butcher.

Did you hear Mr. Newman call me a rascal?—I did not; I heard you call him one. But before I addressed myself to him, did not you hear him call me a rascal?--I did

not.

And if he had done so, you must have heard him? Probably I should.

Did you, in the conversation you have stated, hear me make use of any other words than these you have mentioned? Were these expressions not mixed with other words?— Yes, there were several general expressions afterwards; as that none but a German hogbutcher could be guilty of such practices.

You said, that I said, none but a German hog-butcher could be guilty of such practices? -That was by way of explanation; you gencrally summed up pretty fully. I believe you meant all that the words could convey, that I have given before.

What did you hear me say about the prince of Hesse-Cassel?-That you had no doubt but he was in partnership with the king of England, and that he received fifteen pounds a head, as half the consideration.

I wish to ask you a serious question, whether I did not apply the words, none but a Will you swear that I used these words, German hog-butcher could be guilty of such in partnership with the king of England? practices, instead of the king being a German-It was, or words to that full meaning. hog-butcher?-Both, I believe; I charge you with the first positively, and I believe you spoke the last.

I suppose it is not possible you could be mistaken in these words?—I am pretty confident.

You receive no kind of emolument for appearing against me this day?—I expect to be paid my expences.

You have not applied for any part of the

credit loan?—I have not.

I believe your circumstances are not in the best situation?They are not.

I believe you are either in a bankrupt state, or making up your affairs?—No, I am not: I have no other end than a man of honour,

Did you hear me make use of the term, king of England?--You said the king, meaning the king of England.

That is your meaning I suppose?-You had expressed the king of England before.

to the charge; and founded his defence, first, The Prisoner replied, for nearly two hours on the illegality of his first caption in the lowing Mr. Leech to order him into custody house of Mr. Leech, there being no law al

for mere words.

Secondly, that when he drank "The the present governments in Europe,” by the French Republic," and "an overthrow to all French republic might be understood the good of the French people; and that as an Eng

and the common rights of mankind. Are you positive that I drank an overthrowlishman, when he drank the overthrow of all to the present systems of government through-out Europe, it might naturally be supposed the present systems of government throughout Europe?--I am positive you did, and you he excepted his own country. proposed it.

Did not you, in a former examination, say that I spoke in a language which you did not understand?--It was so in the beginning of your conversation; I much wondered that two men sitting so close together, should talk so extraordinarily loud, so I looked round to see what sort of people they were; in consequence of which, Mr. Pigott noticed me looking at you; then a sort of conversation in French, or some other language, passed between you; so you went on in another language for some time, and you entered into an argument in a language which I did not understand; I suppose you spoke in that language when you found it necessary to put an end to the argument that had attracted at

tention.

Did not the conversation at first originate from a paragraph which I was reading in the

king was a German hog-butcher, it was a And thirdly, with regard to his saying the comparison he used, in which he saw no great harm; and with regard to the king's selling his Hanoverian subjects to the British government, and what he said about the he did say it, from existing treaties sanctioned prince of Hesse-Cassel, he was warranted, if by parliament.

The Jury returned a verdict of GUILTY.

Mr. Hudson was sentenced to be imprisoned two years in Newgate, to pay a fine of two hundred pounds, to be further imprisoned until such fine be paid, and to find security for his good behaviour for two years, himself in two hundred pounds, and two sureties in one hundred pounds each.

1033] Proceedings against Arch. Hamilton Rowan.

A. D. 1795.

[1034

584. Proceedings in the Case of ARCHIBALD HAMILTON ROWAN, Esq., on on an Ex-Officio Information, filed against him by the Right Hon. Arthur Wolfe, his Majesty's AttorneyGeneral for the Kingdom of Ireland, for publishing a Seditious Libel: 33 & 34 GEO. III. A. D. 1793-4.

COURT OF KING'S-BENCH DUBLIN.

The Information was as follows:

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of and concerning the government, state, and constitution of this kingdom, according to the tenor and effect following, that is to say, 'The Society of United Irishmen at Dublin, to the volunteers of Ireland. William Drennan, chairman, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, secretary.-Citizen soldiers, you first 'took up arms to protect your country from 'foreign enemies, and from domestic disturbance; for the same purposes it now beBE it remembered comes necessary that you should resume that the right ho-them; a proclamation has been issued in

Of Trinity Term in the thirty-third year of the reign of our sovereign lord George the Third, now king of Great Britain, and so forth, and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.

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England for embodying the militia, and a proclamation has been issued by the lord ⚫lieutenant and council in Ireland,' (meaning a proclamation which issued under the great seal of the kingdom of Ireland, the eighth day of December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two), for repressing all seditious associations; in consequence of both these proclamations it is reasonable 'to apprehend danger from abroad and dan'ger at home, for whence but from apprehended danger are these menacing preparations for war drawn through the streets of this capital?' (meaning the city of Dublin) or whence if not to create that internal commotion which was not found, to shake that credit which was not affected, to blast that volunteer honour which was hitherto inviolate, are those terrible suggestions and rumours and whispers that meet us at every corner, and agitate at least our old men, our women, and our children? whatever be the motive, or from whatever quarter it arises, alarm has arisen; and you volunteers of Ireland, are therefore summoned to arms at the instance of govern

County of the City of Dublin, to wit. nourable Arthur Wolfe, attorney-general of our present sovereign lord the king, who for our said lord the king prosecutes in this behalf, in his proper person comes into the court of our said lord the king, before the king himself, at the city of Dublin, in the county of the said city, on the eighth day of June in this same term, and for our said lord the king gives the Court here to understand and be informed, that Archibald Hamilton Rowan, of the city of Dublin, esquire, being a person of a wicked and turbulent disposition, and maliciously designing and intending to excite and diffuse amongst the subjects of this realm of Ireland, discontents, jealousies, and suspicions of our said lord the king and his government, and disaffection and disloyalty to the person and government of our said lord the king, and to raise very dangerous seditions and tumults within this kingdom of Ireland, and to draw the government of this kingdom into great scandal, infamy, and disgrace, and to incite the subjects of our said lord the king to attempt, by force and violence, and with arms, to make alterations in the government, state, and constitution of this kingdom, and to incite his majes-ment, as well as by the responsibility atty's said subjects to tumult and anarchy, and to overturn the established constitution of this kingdom, and to overawe and intimidate the legislature of this kingdom, by an armed force, on the sixteenth day of December, in the thirty-third year of the reign of our said present sovereign lord George the third, by the grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, and so forth, with force and arms, at Dublin aforesaid, to wit, in the parish and ward of Saint Michael the archangel, and in the county of the said city, wickedly, maliciously, and seditiously, did publish, and cause and procure to be published, a certain false, wicked, malicious, scandalous, and seditious libel,

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tached to your character, and the permanent obligations of your institution. We will not at this day condescend to quote authorities for the right of having and of using arms, but we will cry aloud, even amidst the storm raised by the witchcraft of a proclamation, that to your formation was owing the peace and protection of this island, to your relaxation has been owing its relapse into impotence and insignificance, to your renovation must be owing its future freedom and its present tranquillity; you are therefore summoned to arms, in order to preserve your country in that guarded quiet which may secure it from external hostility, and to maintain that internal regimen throughout

that seduction made them soldiers, but nature made them men. We address you without any authority save that of reason, and if we obtain the coincidence ' of public opinion, it is neither by force nor stratagem, for we have no power

to seduce; here we sit without mace or beadle, neither a mystery nor a craft, nor a corporation; in four words lies all our power

the land, which, superseding a notorious police or a suspected militia, may preserve the blessings of peace by a vigilant prepa'ration for war.-Citizen soldiers, to arms, take up the shield of freedom and the 'pledges of peace-peace, the motive and end of your virtuous institution-war, anto terrify, no artifice to cajole, no fund 'occasional duty, ought never to be made an 'occupation; every man should become a soldier in the defence of his rights; no man ⚫ought to continue a soldier for offending the rights of others; the sacrifice of life in the * service of our country is a duty much too 'honourable to be intrusted to mercenaries, ⚫ and at this time, when your country has, by 'public authority, been declared in danger, we conjure you by your interest, your duty, and your glory, to stand to your arms, and in spite of a police, in spite of a fencible 'militia, in virtue of two proclamations, totional freedom; wide as this entrance is, wide

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universal emancipation and representative legislature-yet we are confident that on the pivot of this principle, a convention, still less a society, still less a single man, 'will be able first to move, and then to raise the world: we therefore wish for Catholic emancipation without any modification, but still we consider this necessary enfranchisement as merely the portal to the temple of na

maintain good order in your vicinage, and enough to admit three millions, it is narrow 'tranquillity in Ireland; it is only by the mi- when compared to the capacity and comprelitary array of men in whom they confide, hension of our beloved principle, which takes whom they have been accustomed to revere in every individual of the Irish nation, casts as the guardians of domestic peace, the pro- 3an equal eye over the whole island, embraces tectors of their liberties and lives, that the 'all that think, and feels for all that suffer; 'present agitation of the people can be stilled, the Catholic cause is subordinate to our that tumult and licentiousness can be re- 'cause, and included in it; for, as United 'pressed, obedience secured to existing law, 'Irishmen, we adhere to no sect, but to and a calm confidence diffused through the society-to no cause, but Christianity-to 'public mind in the speedy resurrection of ano party but the whole people. In the sinfree constitution,' (meaning that the peo-cerity of our souls do we desire Catholic ple of Ireland had not at the time of the publishing aforesaid a free constitution) of liberty and of equality, words which we use for an opportunity of repelling calumny, and of saying, that by liberty we never understood unlimited freedon, nor by equality the levelling of property or the destruction of subordination; this is a calumny invented by that faction, or that gang, which misre'presents the king to the people, and the people to the king, traduces one half of the nation to cajole the other, and by keeping ' up distrust and division wishes to continue

the proud arbitrators of the fortune and fate ' of Ireland; liberty is the exercise of all our 'rights, natural and political, secured to us and our posterity by a real representation of the people; and equality is the extension of 'the constituent to the fullest dimensions of the constitution, of the elective franchise to the whole body of the people, to the end that government, which is collective power, may be guided by collective will, and that legislation may originate from public reason, keep pace with public improvement, and terminate in public happiness. If our con'stitution be imperfect, nothing but a reform in representation will rectify its abuses; if 'it be perfect, nothing but the same reform will perpetuate its blessings. We now address you as citizens, for to be citizens you became soldiers, nor can we help wishing that all soldiers, partaking the 'passions and interest of the people would remember, that they were once citizens,

emancipation: but were it obtained to-morrow, to-morrow would we go on as we do to-day, in the pursuit of that reform, which would still be wanting to ratify their liberties as well as our own. For both these purposes it appears necessary that provincial conventions should assemble preparatory to the convention of the Protestant people; the de'legates of the Catholic body are not justified in communicating with individuals or even bodies of inferior authority, and therefore an assembly of a similar nature and organization is necessary to establish an intercourse of sentiments, an uniformity of conduct, an united cause and an united nation; if a convention on the one part does not soon follow, and is not soon connected with that on the other, the common cause will split into the partial interest, the people will relapse into inattention and incrtness, the union of affection and exertion will dissolve, and too probably some local insurrections, instigated by the malignity of our common 'enemy, may commit the character and risk the tranquillity of the island, which can be obviated only by the influence of an assembly arising from, assimilated with the people, and whose spirit may be, as it were, knit 'with the soul of the nation, unless the sense of the Protestant people be on their part as fairly collected and as judiciously directed, unless individual exertion consolidates into collective strength, unless the particles unite into one mass, we may perhaps serve some person or some party for a little, but the

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