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TRIAL

OF

JAMES WELDON,

FOR

HIGH TREASON,

BEFORE THE COURT HOLDEN UNDER A COMMISSION
OF OYER AND TERMINER AND GENERAL
GAOL DELIVERY,

IN AND FOR

THE COUNTY OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN,

IN IRELAND,

ON MONDAY, DEC. 21, AND TUESDAY, DEC. 22,

36 GEO. III. A.D. 1795.

COMMISSION.

MONDAY, December 14, 1795.

Mr. BARON GEORGE sat as the Judge of the Commission, and was assisted by Mr. Justice CHAMBERLAIN and Mr. Justice FINUcane.

In the latter end of the month of August 1795, several persons were taken into custody in the city of Dublin upon charges of High Treason, and in the ensuing commission of Oyer and Terminer held in October, bills of indictment were preferred against them, and others not then in custody, which were returned by the grand jury to be true bills.

The prisoners in custody were then brought to the bar of the court for the purpose of having counsel and agents assigned. They were severally called upon to name their own counsel and agents, and such as they named were assigned by the court, as follows:

THOMAS KENNEDY,

GEORGE LEWIS,

PATRICK HART,

:

EDWARD HANLON,

THOMAS COOKE,

JOHN LOWRY.

Counsel-Messrs. CURRAN and M'NALLY.

Agent-Mr. A. FITZGERALD.

THOMAS MURPHY,

MICHAEL MAGUIRE.

Counsel-Messrs. M'NALLY and LYSAGHT.

Agent-Mr. M. KEARNEY.

HENRY FLOOD.

Counsel-Messrs. FLETCHER and RIDgeway.
Agent Mr. F. FLOOD.

In the interval between the October commission and the present, a person of the name of James Weldon was apprehended upon a charge of High Treason, and he together with such as had been previously in custody, were served with copies of the indictments and the captions thereof, five days before the first day of this commission.

This day the prisoners who had been in custody at the last commission were severally arraigned and pleaded Not Guilty.*

When Flood was put to the bar,

Mr. RIDGEWAY moved that the caption of the indictment might be read. The court ordered it to be read, but the Clerk of the Crown said, he had it not in court: whereupon it was sent for, and being brought in, it appeared to be on paper. The counsel then objected to its being read, and moved that the indictment be quashed for want of a caption. He said the caption ought to make part of the record, and be annexed to the indictment. Here it is neither-the caption is upon paper, whereas the records of this court are always upon parchment, as the indictment is, and the caption here is detached from the indictment. In several cases in the State Trials, in the Rebels' case in Fost. 2, and in Hardy's case, 1794, the caption and the indictment form one continued narrative, and it would be absurd if it were otherwise. In Fost. 4, the caption states, "the bill hereunto annexed is a true bill," &c.

Mr. ATTORNEY-GENERAL.-My lords, the prisoner has been served with a copy of the caption and the indictment, which is all that is required. He has no right to look into the record. He might as well object, that the indictment consisted of several skins of parchment, when it is too long to be contained in one.

The CLERK OF THE CROWN said, that the caption did make part of the record.

Mr. RIDGEWAY.-If the officer assert as a fact, what every man who has sight must be convinced is not so, I know not how to answer. The COURT said, that upon this point, they must be satisfied with the averment of their officer, and desired him to proceed and read the caption.

This was accordingly done, after which the indictment was read, and the prisoner was asked, was he guilty, or not?

Mr. RIDGEWAY said he intended to plead that there was no caption to the indictment, but that his client wished for his trial and instructed

The prisoners had, upon the first day of the October commission, presented petitions, stating that they were ready for their trial and praying they might be jed in that commission.

him to waive objections in point of form, which he had thought it his duty to state.

The prisoner then pleaded Not Guilty.

James Weldon was then put to the bar and desired to name his counsel; he named Mr. Curran and Mr. M'Nally, who were accordingly assigned to him. Immediately after this, the Clerk of the Crown was proceeding to arraign the prisoner.

Mr. M⚫NALLY.-My lords, I object to the prisoner's being arraigned at this time; I have only been assigned this morning: it is impossible I could be prepared to advise him in his plea. It may be said, he was served with a copy of the indictment; but I apprehend, counsel are not at liberty to consult with a prisoner in custody for treason, until they are assigned; therefore I submit, he ought to be allowed five days before he is called upon to plead.

Mr. ATTORNEY-GENERAL.-My lords, if the prisoner wants time to prepare for his defence, I have no objection to anything that is reasonable. He might have consulted with counsel after the copy of the indictment was served upon him; for although only two counsel are allowed to plead in court for him, yet he may have as many to advise with as he pleases, and directions were given, that counsel should be admitted to him.

Mr. Justice CHAMBERLAIN.-In fact this man has not had counsel assigned till this morning, and as the Attorney-General does not seem to object, I think it would be better to postpone his arraignment.

Mr. Justice FINUCANE. The act of parliament is not peremptory as to the assignment of counsel before pleading.

Mr. Baron GEORGE.-No objection is made to allowing the prisoner time.

Mr. ATTORNEY-GENERAL then said, he intended to have Weldon tried first, and therefore all the other trials must be postponed. He mentioned Saturday for the arraignment and trial of Weldon, which day was accordingly appointed. But on Friday Mr. AttorneyGeneral moved to postpone the trial to Monday, lest an objection should be made, that the prisoner had not five clear days.

Mr. Baron GEORGE. There is another reason for postponing the trial; if it began on Saturday it might last till Sunday, which might be productive of inconvenience. Therefore let the trial stand for Monday.

MONDAY, December 21st.

The prisoner being put to the bar, Mr. M'NALLY applied to have the caption read.

Mr. ATTORNEY-GENERAL opposed this application; the prisoner is not entitled to have the caption read, he has an attested copy, and can avail himself of that.

Mr. M'NALLY cited Fost. 2, 228, 230, to show that the caption is necessary to assist the prisoner in pleading.

The COURT said the caption ought to be read. The prisoner must be furnished with a copy of the whole record; how can he know whether he has such a copy unless the whole record be read.

The caption was accordingly read and appeared to be engrossed upon parchment and annexed to the indictment.

"Be it remembered, that at an adjournment of a commission of Oyer and Terminer and general gaol delivery, held in and for the county of the city of Dublin, in that part of the King's Courts, Dublin, where the Court of King's Bench usually sits, on Monday the 26th day of October, in the year of our Lord God, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, and in the thirty-sixth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and soforth, before William Worthington, Lord Mayor of the said city, Michael Smith, Esq., one of the Barons of his Majesty's Court of Exchequer in the said kingdom of Ireland, Mathias Finucane, Esq., one of the Justices of his Majesty's Court of Common Pleas in the said kingdom of Ireland, and Denis George, Esq., one other of the Barons of the said court of Exchequer in the kingdom of Ireland, and others, their fellow Justices and Commissioners of our said Lord the King, in and for the whole county of the said city of Dublin, assigned by the letters patent of our said Lord the King, under the great seal of his said kingdom of Ireland, bearing date at Dublin the 20th day of June, in the first year of the reign of our said Lord the King, directed to Patrick Hamilton, Esq., the then Lord Mayor of the said city of Dublin, and the Lord Mayor of the said city for the time being, John Lord Baron Bowes of Clonlyon then being Chancellor of the kingdom of Ireland, and the Chancellor of the said Lord the King of the said kingdom for the time being, Chaworth Earl of Meath, Richard Earl of Ross, Humphrey Earl of Lanesborough, Richard Lord Viscount Fitz-William, Sir William York, then being Chancellor of the Court of Exchequer of the said Lord the King of his said Kingdom of Ireland, and the Chancellor of the said Lord the King of his Court of Exchequer for the time being, Warden Flood, then being Chief-Justice of the Court of Chief Place of our said Lord the King, in his said kingdom, and the Chief-Justice of his said Court of Chief Place for the time being, Richard Rigby, then Master of the Rolls in the said kingdom, and the Master of the Rolls in the said kingdom for the time being, Richard Aston, then being Chief-Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of our said Lord the King in the said kingdom and the Chief-Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the time being, Edward Willis, then being Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer of the said Lord the King and the Chief Baron of the said Court of Exchequer, for the time being, Richard Mountney, then being second Baron of the said Court of Exchequer, Arthur Dawson, then being third Baron of the said Court of Exchequer, Robert French, then being second Justice of the said Court of Common Pleas, Robert Marshall, then being third Justice of the said Court of Common Pleas, Christopher Robinson, then being second Justice of the said Court of Chief Place, William Scott, then being third Justice of the said Court of Chief Place; and the Justices of the said Courts of Chief Place and Common Pleas, and the Barons, of the said Court of Exchequer, respectively, for the time being and others in the said letters named, to enquire by the oaths of good and lawful men of the said county of the city of Dublin, and by other ways, means and methods whereof the truth may the better be known as well within liberties as without, of all treasons, misprisions of treasons, insurrections, rebellions, counterfeits, clippings, washings,

unlawful coinings and other falsifying of money of Great Britain or other money current in the said kingdom of Ireland by proclamations, burnings and of all murders, felonies, manslaughters, killings, robberies, burglaries, perjuries, forgeries, rapes, unlawful assemblies, extortions, oppressions, riots, routs, crimes, contempts, deceits, injuries, escapes and other offences and causes whatsoever as well against the common law of the said kingdom of Ireland, as against the form and effect of any statute, act ordinance or provision theretofore made, ordained or confirmed, by any person or persons within the said county of the city of Dublin, in anywise done, committed or perpetrated, or thereafter to be done committed or perpetrated, and of all accessaries to the said offences, and every of them, within the said county of the city of Dublin, as well within liberties as without, by whomsoever and howsoever had, done, perpetrated or committed, by any person or persons, upon any person or persons, at any time howsoever, and in any manner whatsoever, and that the said treasons, and other the premises, to hear, examine, discuss, try, finish, execute and determine according to the laws and customs of the said kingdom of Ireland, and to deliver the gaol of Newgate, in the county of the said city of Dublin, of all the prisoners and malefactors therein, as often as occasion should require. It is presented upon the oath of twelve good and lawful men of the body of the said county of the city of Dublin, whose names here follow, that is to say: Robert Powell, Daniel Dickenson, James Mills, Andrew Callage, Hall Lamb, James Blacker, Richard Wilson, William Henry Archer, Joshua Manders, Robert Hanna, Francis Hamilton, Mark Bloxham, Lewis Hodglon, John Gorman, William Evans, Robert Newell, William Lindsey, William Berry, John Duncan, William Crombie, William Duncan, Richard Cranfield, Bladen Sweny, in manner and form here following, that is to say,

County of the city of

Dublin, to wit.

"THE Jurors of our Lord the King upon their oath present that an open and public war, on the 20th day of August, in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith and soforth, and long before, was and ever since hitherto by land and by sea, and yet is carried on and prosecuted by the persons exercising the powers of government in France, against our most Serene, Illustrious, and Excellent Prince, our said Lord the now King, and that James Weldon, of the city of Dublin, Yeoman, in the said county of the city of Dublin, a subject of our said Lord the King of his kingdom of Ireland, well knowing the premises but not having the fear of God in his heart, nor weighing the duty of his allegiance, and being moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil, as a false traitor of our said Lord the King, his supreme, true, lawful, and undoubted Lord the cordial love and true obedience which every true and dutiful subject of our said Sovereign Lord the King towards him our said Lord the King should bear, wholly withdrawing and contriving with all his strength, intending the peace and common tranquillity of this kingdom of Ireland to disturb, and the government of our said Lord the King of this his kingdom of Ireland to subvert, and our said Lord the King from the regal state, title, honour, power, imperial

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