the constitution of the government under which they live, will naturally engage attention, and provoke speculation.

"The power of communication of thoughts and opinions is the gift of God, and the freedom of it is the source of science, and therefore it scems to follow that human laws ought not to interpose to prevent the communication of sentiments and opinions in voluntary assemblies of men. But assemblies of this kind are to be so composed, and so conducted, as not to endanger the public peace and good order of the government under which they live; and I shall not state to you, that associations and assemblies of men, for the purpose of obtaining a reform in the interior constitution of the British parliament, are simply unlawful; but, on the other hand, I must observe to you, that they may but too easily degenerate, and become unlawful, even to the enormous extent of the crime of high

treason.

"There is reason, from the notoriety of the fact, to suppose, that the project of a convention of the people to be assembled under the direction of some of these societies, or of delegations from them, will be the leading fact, to be laid before you in evidence, respecting the conduct and measures of these associations; a

project, which, perhaps, in better times, would have been hardly thought worthy of grave consideration; but, in these our days, having been attempted to be put in execution in a distant part of the United Kingdoms, and with the example of a neighbouring country before our eyes; this is deservedly become an object of the jealousy of our laws. It will be your duty to examine the evidence carefully; to sift it to the bottom, and to draw the conclusion of fact, as to the existence, the nature, and the object of this project of a convention, from the whole.

"In the course of your labours, you will probably hear of bodies of men having been collected together; of violent resolutions voted; of some preparations of offensive weapons, and the adoption of the language and manner of those proceedings in France, which have led to the overthrow of that country: yet these are not substantive treasons, but circumstances of evidence, tending to ascertain the object which the persons had in view, and also the true nature of the project of

a convention.

"The law, as to the project of bringing the people together in convention, in order to usurp the government of the country, has already been explained; as to the plan of a convention for effecting a change in the mode of representation,

and the obtaining of annual parliaments, this would be high treason in all the actors in it, if attempted to be effected without the authority of parliament: for this is a conspiracy to overturn the government. Whether the project of a convention, having for its object the collecting together a power which should overawe the legislative body, and extort a parliamentary reform from it, if acted upon, will also amount to high treason, is a more doubtful question. In this case, the authorities do not warrant, that the mere conspiracy to raise such a force, and the entering into consultations respecting it, will alone, and without actually raising that force, constitute that enormous crime.

" It may be stated as clear, that the project of a convention, having for its sole object a dutiful and peaceable application to the wisdom of parliament, on the subject of a wished for reform, which application should be entitled to weight and credit from the universality of it, but should still leave to the parliament the freest exercise of its discretion, to grant or to refuse the prayer of the petition, (great as the responsibility will be on the persons concerned in it, in respect to the many probable, and all the possible, bad consequences of collecting a great number of people together, without specific legal powers to be ex

ercised, and under no government but that of their own discretion,) cannot in itself merit to be ranked among that class of offences which this court is now assembled to hear and determine."

On Monday, October the 6th, the grand jury returned" a true bill" against Thomas Hardy, John Horne Tooke, John Augustus Bonney, Stewart Kydd, Jeremiah Joyce, Thomas Wardle, Thomas Holcroft, John Richter, Matthew Moore, John Thelwall, Richard Hodgson, and John Baxter, for high treason. The verdict of "Not found," was returned against John Lovett.

On the arraignment of the prisoners at the Old Bailey, Mr. Tooke, whose suspicions appear to have been again aroused by the late charge to the grand jury, had determined to address the court, in a speech condemning some of the principles there laid down, and attacking the character and conduct of the presiding judge himself. His sentiments were carefully committed to writing; and I am enabled here to insert a correct copy, from the only document now in existence.

"MY LORD,

"The intentions of your lordship, and of those by whom you are employed, are sufficient

ly barefaced and apparent to me; and no man, who has read my petition to the house of commons, can doubt of the motives and causes of this prosecution against me. The minister pledged himself solemnly to the house that I should be punished. And thus he keeps his word, My lord I have the same taste of sweet and bitter in common with other men. I love life. I dislike death. But I believe there never was, and, I trust, that I shall find there never will be, in my mind, a single moment's hesitation or reluctance to lay down my life deliberately and cheerfully in defence of the rights of my country, and I never was more ready to do it than now.

"Near half a year of CLOSE custody, under many degrading and humiliating circumstances, without the admission of any person to me, except my physician and my surgeon, at my age, and with any infirmities, this close custody has, in some measure, impaired the health and strength of my body; but my principles remain unalterably the same as they have been invariably and uniformly throughout my life.

"This bill of indictment, to which I am now to plead, contains alledged matter (and the only matter directed against me) as FACT, from whence to infer the crime of high treason.