THE

TRIAL

OF THE

CANTERBURY RIOTERS.

THE assizes for the county of Kent commenced at Maidstone on Tuesday August 7th, when Lord Denman in his address to the Grand Jury, made the following remarks in allusion to the Canterbury rioters, who were on the following day to take their trial for the murder of Lieutenant Bennett, and Mears the constable.

On Thursday, his Lordship after some preliminary comments usual on such occasions, Lord Denman proceeded to remark, “You will naturally expect from me some remarks in reference to cases with which you are yourselves acquainted, which appear to have grown out of a series of circumstances, as extraordinary, on the one hand, as on the other they have been unfortunate in their results, and being too as they are, without precedent or record. It appears that towards the close of May, a large body of men were parading certain districts of this county, under the guidance of an individual of a wild and desperate character, who had obtained an influence of a strange nature over their minds, all armed, some of them with fatal weapons, and others with dangerous instruments to the peril of the lives of individuals, and the disturbance of the public peace; that they continued for some days banded together before an opportunity was afforded to the magistrates to act with a view of arresting their progress, and then that they proceeded, threatening acts of violence of the most dangerous description. It appears then, that the magistrates having been duly informed of their proceedings, most

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properly sent out warrants for the apprehension of the principals in the riot, that when the person who was intrusted with that instrument attempted to take the ringleader into custody, that individual instantly shot him and he died. It seems that after. this proceeding, another course, which under the circumstances was itself undoubtedly the most humane that could have been adopted, were pursued, a large body of the military were called into requisition, a force which from its number was the best calculated at once to overcome all resistance, and put an end to the scene, which was going on, which was sent to meet the band of the rioters. On the arrival of the force one of the officers advanced, as he had a right to do, in front of the rest, when the same ringleader shot him through the heart. In this instance it happened that besides several of those charged with a breach of the peace, some of those who were engaged in endeavouring to maintain the peace lost their lives, and the investigation into which the Grand Jury would have to enter arose out of the death of those persons. The law in such cases was clearly laid down by Lord Coke. His words were— "If any Magistrate or Minister of Justice in keeping the peace, according to the duty of his office, be killed, it is murder, for their disobedience of the King and his laws; and if any justice of the peace or constable acting in his office be killed, it is murder for the crime aforesaid; for when the officer requires the breakers of the peace to keep the peace in the King's name, and they, nothwithstanding, disobey the command and kill the officer, reason requires that this killing shall be an offence of the highest degree of any offence of this nature, and that it is voluntary, felonious, and murder of malice prepense." How far this description of the offence was applicable to the prisoners, it would be for the Grand Jury to determine. He understood there was some reason to suppose that the individual who was mainly instrumental in producing the affray, in which he himself lost his life, at the period when those tragical events occured, was in such a state of mind that he could not be considered as legally accountable for his own acts. It was quite possible, nevertheless, that those who accompanied him might have taken such a part in the proceedings as rendered them liable for the consequences of the acts of the insane person. It was also very possible that persons who had not actually, with their own hands, committed the murders charged, might have been in law, as in reason, guilty of the crime. The law on this subject was very clearly laid down by Mr. Serjeant Hawkins, in his work on the Pleas of the Crown; in which it is stated, that "where divers persons resolve generally to resist all opposers in the commission of any breach of the peace, and

prosecute it in such a manner as naturally tends to raise tumults and frays, and in so doing happen to kill a man, they are all guilty of murder; for they must at their peril abide the event of their actions, who wilfully engage in such bold disturbances of the public peace; but, in such case, the fact must appear to have been committed strictly in prosecution of the purpose for which the party were assembled." This was the law; but it was for the Grand Jury to say, in the first instance, how far it applied to the case of the prisoners, which they would have much better means of judging than he (Lord Denman) possessed, as his information was only derived from reading the depositions, whilst the Grand Jury would have the witnesses themselves to examine.

On Thursday the anxtety manifested to hear the trials of the unfortunate men, surpassed any thing of the kind ever witnessed at Maidstone. An arrangement having previously been made by the Sheriff, which had the effect of very much diminishing the pressure which otherwise must have ensued. Tickets were issued, so that on our entrance into the Court it presented a lively appearance, from the assemblage of gaily and elegantlydressed ladies who had already taken their seats.

The trial of the persons charged with the murders perpetrated by the singular individual who assumed the title of Sir William Courtenay and his deluded followers was fixed for this morning, and excited an interest proportioned to the extraordinary nature of the circumstances, and the tragical catastrophe which formed the principal subject of the investigation. All the avenues leading to the court-house were crowded from an early hour, and before the time at which business commenced as many persons were admitted as could be conveniently acommodated. A considerable number of ladies had seats on the bench and in the galleries and there was an unusually large attendance of the county magistrates.

Lord Denman took his seat at nine o'clock precisely, and the prisoners Thomas Price, and William Mears, otherwise Tyler, were immediately placed at the bar, and the indictment read over to them, in which they were charged, on the coroner's inquisition (together with one John Tom, alias John Nichols Tom, alias William Courtenay. now deceased), with the wilful murder of Nicholas Mears, at the ville of Dunkirk, on Thursday the 31st of May last.

The prisoner Tyler, who is described in the calender as twentynine years of age, appeared rather younger. He was dressed in a sailor's jacket, blue waistcoat, and dark trousers. He is a man with a fair complexion, auburn hair, light whiskers, blue eyes, a light and graceful figure, and features which, though irregular