SPECIAL ASSIZE DECEMBER 1830
THE SENTENCING (1)
Introduction (from THE TIMES)
THURSDAY 30 December 1830
“At an early hour this morning, it having been last night understood that it was the intention of the Court to pass their sentence on such prisoners as had been convicted during the Special Commission, the Court was crowded to excess. At 10 o clock Mr. Baron Vaughan. Mr. Justice Park, Mr Justice Alderson took their seats on the Bench, his Grace the Duke of
Wellington wearing a star, and the Right Hon. W. Sturges Bourne MP sitting to the right and left of their lordships.
The dock, which will hold about 30 persons, was completely filled by the associates of the principal leaders, all of whom had been convicted; and the jury box, which from its situation, affords a clear view of every thing that takes place in the Court, was crammed with other men who had, during the commission, been found guilty of less atrocious cases, and who
were in the course of a few moments to be removed into the dock for the purpose of receiving the judgment of the Court. It was so contrived that the men who had been convicted in conjunction with the more desperate, should be placed in the dock at the time their leaders were receiving the severest sentence of the law, and that immediately on the removal of
the unhappy men, they themselves should be brought forward to receive a slighter, though still a heavy judgment.”
SENTENCE OF DEATH.
Mr. Bishop, the Clerk of Arraigns, then called up JAMES THOMAS COOPER aged 33; HENRY ELDRIDGE 23, and JOHN GILMOUR. The prisoners having been put in the front of the dock, Mr Bishop addressed them thus.
“JAMES THOMAS COOPER, HENRY ELDRIDGE and JOHN GILMOUR you stand severally convicted of having, with several others, destroyed, pulled down, and demolished certain machinery: what have you to say why you should not die according to the law?
The prisoners made no answer, and neither of them at this moment evinced any particulate marks of distress. The three judges, having put on their black caps, Mr. Baron VAUGHAN addressed the prisoners to the following effect:
You, James Thomas Cooper, you, Henry Eldridge, and you, John Gilmour, unhappy men! you whose names have just been severally called, stand in the presence of your God, and in the face of your country, convicted by the unanimous verdicts of a most dispassionate and discriminating Jury of the offence of destroying, pulling down, and demolishing machines erected in certain manufactories in various parts of this county.
You, James Thomas Cooper, and you, Henry Eldridge, for destroying a machine employed in the manufacture of spinning hemp and flax, belonging to Mr. Thompson, in their mill at a place called Fordingbridge; and you, John Gilmour, for destroying a machine employed in casting iron and agricultural implements, belonging to Robert and W.Tasker, situate in the parish of Upper Clatford in this county. The wisdom of the Legislature, for the purpose of protecting property of this nature, has fixed to the commission of this crime, when perpetrated by a riotous and tumultuous assembly, the punishment of death.
We are not called upon to vindicate the policy of the law, or to rescue it from the imputation of its being an unreasonable severity in visiting with the ultimate penalty this heavy crime. But to every intelligent mind, it must appear that the capital which has been embarked in property of this description ought to be protected. It is only necessary to look around to see the great numbers, the very many thousands of our fellow-creatures, who are entirely and solely dependent on this species of property for their subsistence in every part of the country. It must, therefore, be apparent to every person of ordinary understanding that it is necessary the law should be executed with severity where the cases are of an aggravated nature. Prisoners, that your cases are of this description, if the facts in evidence are to be believed, no reasonable doubts can be entertained.
One of the false impressions which, it appears from the proceedings under this Commission, has been upon the minds of the lower orders is that the destruction of the machinery would be beneficial to them. It is plain to every man that the manufactures of this country have advanced in excellence in proportion as machinery has advanced with them, and it is, therefore, necessary to visit with the extreme penalty of the law those who have been the most desperate and prominent in the commission of the outrage. The law delights not in punishment; the object of the law is the prevention, rather than the punishment, of crime; and therefore it is that we have passed many anxious – I may say, sleepless – hours, in examining the evidence as it affects each of your cases, for the purpose of enabling us to discriminate the degree of guilt which is affixed to each of you. We have felt it to be, after due and minute consideration, our duty to select you who are now standing most prominent at the bar, as the persons of whom proper example should be made.
We trust we have done so according to the dictates of justice, and on such grounds as will satisfy all reasonable men. Those who are the first and foremost in an aggression of the laws, must expect to be made first. and foremost in the punishment; and such, after a close investigation into your cases, we find you to have been.
Therefore you, James Thomas Cooper, with respect to the various offences of which you have been convicted, in conjunction with several other: the first, that of destroying machinery at Fordingbridge; another, in the case of a manufactuory of a person of the name of Shepherd; and I see that there are no less than five other bills of indictment found against you, upon which the Counsel for the Crown did not think it necessary to offer any evidence; because they thought that the justice of the country would be satisfied by making an example of you on those cases of which you had previously been found guilty.
It is quite impossible that your life should have been spared. You have in those cases been proved to have acted as the leader and at a time when the state of anarchy was such that acts of the most atrocious nature were committed in defiance
of the law. No man can possibly entertain the slightest doubt of this fact. You have been proved to have, as I have just said, taken the lead in these riots. It cannot be forgotten, after the testimony -the often-repeated testimony – of so many witnesses, that you, on some occasions vaunted yourself the captain of this desperate band in Fordingbridge. You appear
the person who was seen who to be distributing money and orders among those who were around you. It is further proved that you were deaf to all remonstrances; for on remonstrances made to you by Mr. Thompson, you declared that no money should stop you; that you had come from 40 miles above London, for the express purpose of destroying all the machines
and that you would go into each county with your work of demolition; and, when it was pointed out to you that there were numbers who were dependent on this machinery for their daily bread, one would have supposed that statement would have affected the stoutest, the hardest heart but, no, you were not to be restrained but pushed on, and, as the leader of the mob, you entered the doors of the factory on horseback and with a signal well understood with those about you, the holding up of your hand, you set them immediately to work and they proceeded with their work of destruction until its completion.
Under these circumstances, added to which that memorable and never-to-be forgotten expression which you uttered, “Stand to your colours.” thereby avowing yourself as the regular leader of a band of this description, assembled for
destructive purposes, it is impossible, therefore that in your case I should hold out to you the slightest hope that mercy can be extended to you.
With respect to you, Henry Eldridge, I am sorry to say that though I have minutely examined with great care into your case for any point which might have justified me in recommending you to the merciful consideration of the Crown I lament to say that I have searched in vain and all hope of it is precluded.
It cannot be forgotten that you were the most active and that you also made a boast that you had been present at the breaking of not less than sixteen other machines in the course of that day; but independent of this grave offence there is a circumstance connected with your case of so aggravated a description that it is impossible that any mercy can be extended to you; I am alluding to your conviction in consequence of an indictment in the case of Mr. Eyre Coote – On what occasion in the morning about one or two o clock, you with your associates whom you found in the immediate neighbourhood are found proceeding, going in the dead of night, when every body is at rest, beginning with the breaking to pieces of the gates of and the destruction of the lodge; using epithets which were calculated to astound the stoutest heart; declaring your intention to enter that by which the constitution of the country is considered as every man’s castle – where none but the law can enter, and which object you and your associates would have effected, but that you were repulsed by the spirited conduct of Mr.Coote. Therefore I am bound to say to say that with respect to your case I can give you no hope of the least mercy can be extended towards you.
With respect to you, John Gilmour, It grieves us to know that having looked carefully through the long train of evidence brought against you – I mean in the attack on the factory of Mssrs. Tasker, and wishing to see whether you came within that
part of our selection – that of being a ring-leader, exciting others to forget their allegiance to the laws of their country; and looking at your case, I am grieved to find that on the morning, of the day on which this lawless attack was made, you were seen at the head of a mob in the town of Andover. That on the morning of that day you entered the room where the magistrates were assembled, took upon yourself to enter in a parley with the magistrates; and after every remonstrance having been made with a view to stay your further progress, you were found among the first to enter that factory, and to commit the grievous aggression of which you have been
convicted.
With respect to you, therefore, it seems to us we should not discharge our duty to the country if we were to permit you to entertain any expectation of mercy.
Therefore you must severally consider your lives to be forfeited to the law, and all I can do is to implore you, as you value your immortal souls, to prepare for the awful change which now awaits you – Your days are numbered – the gates of mercy on this side of the grave are closed to you for ever. Avail yourselves of the spiritual assistance which will be afforded you in this life, and when you go from this court you will, on bended knees and with contrite hearts earnestly supplicate the throne of grace for pardon on your sins.
It is, indeed, the most melancholy and painful duty as part of our duty, as administrators of the law, to pronounce the sentence which the law affixes to crimes of this description. But it must be so; and, therefore, entreating that you will make the best use of your time, and with earnest prayer that it may graciously please God, through the merits of our blessed Saviour, whose advent we have so recently been celebrating, to speak comfort to your souls.
It now remains only for me to pass the dreadful sentence of the law, and that is that you, JOHN THOMAS COOPER, that you HENRY ELDRIDGE, and that you JOHN GILMOUR, be severally taken to the place from whence you came , and from thence to a place of execution, and that you be severally hanged by the neck til you are dead – and may Almighty God have mercy on your souls.
The prisoners, who some time before the conclusion of the sentence had shown marks of considerable feeling, towards the latter part of it became very much agitated, and were removed from the dock in a state of great distress, particularly Eldridge and Cooper. Many of the other prisoners shed tears.
The solemn and impressive manner in which the learned Judge delivered his address had a powerful effect upon the persons in the court, and Mr Justice Alderson put down his face upon his hands evidently deeply affected.
