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THE ANTI-TITHE AGITATION.

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THE ANTI-TITHE AGITATION. DISTURBANCES IN ANGLESEY. Mr. Paterson, acting on behalf of the Tithe Protection Association, was on Saturday engaged In effecting distra'nts on a number of farms in the Parish of Heneglwys. about three miles from Llan- |efni, for tithes due to the Rev. J. Skinner Jon«s, ■"I.A., the rector. The farmers wanted a reduction 12 par cent., but the rector would concede only ^eQ. and in the majority of instances payment was Wholly withheld. Most of the farmers are tenants of the Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey. The dis- traints were to have taken place in December, and. In view of disturbances, a batch of special constables Were sworn to act for a month. Their appointment, however, was not renewed. Mr. Paterson, accom- panied by a number of his emergency men, who are making Chester their headquarters, attempted to make the distraints on Tuesday, but the attitude of the people was so threatening that they had to be abandoned in order that police protection might be obtained. On Saturday the Chief-constable (Col. Thomas), Depnty Chief-constable Davies, and a detachment of police, including a few drawn from the Carnarvonshire force, accompanied Mr. Paterson and the emergency men. Although the weather Was bitterly cold and snow falling heavily, a large crowd, chiefly made up of farm labourers, speedily got together, and hung on the flank of the distrain- ts force when visiting the farms. Towards the close of the distraints, snowballs and stones were ^berally flying about. One of the Carnarvonshire Police got a nasty cut in the face from a stone, and Chief-constable was also struck when getting juto his trap. The names of several persons were tasen, with a view of prosecution before the ^gistrates. Mr. Paterson and the emergency men returned to Chester by the evening train. THE LLANGWM "RIOTERS" AT THE ASSIZES. At the Denbighshire Assizes, at Ruthin, on Tues- before Mr. Justice Wills, the eight men ,charged with rioting in connection with the eol- ation of tithes at Liang wm, last May, were put on trial. There was a large attendance. The eteiidants were seated on the two front rows of w jury box. The names of the defendants were ^liam Williams, 38, farmer Thomas Thomas, 28, grocer; Edward G. Roberts, 23, local Wesleyan lister; John Lloyd, 36, farmer; James Metcalf, >. > draper's assistant; John Jones, 48, farmer; «a^id Jones, 27, farmer; and Edward Davies, 51, tarmer. c ?^e charges against them, as described in the ^.lender, were:—"for that they, together with 30r>erS °^er -disposed persons to the number of 2fi^,an(l more, whose names are unknown, on the anH May, 1887, being then armed with sticks Q d other offensive weapons, upon the Holyhead and orwen road, between, and at the following points ^ereon Pontarddwyfaen, Penybont, Pontglyn, ^urwysi Goat Inn. or Cymro, Pontmelirrug, thence „ atl<i returning from Cor wen, in the respective tj ^Qties of Denbigh and Merioneth, did unlawfully, p^tously, and routously assemble and gather to- aurf -to the peace of our lady the Queen being so, then and there assembled and gathered ?ether, armed as aforesaid, and then and there H0- .lHy» routously, and riotously made a great ^lSe, riot, and disturbance for the space of two di^rs auc*more then next following, and in and upon j ers persons, to wit, George Thorpe. John WTilliams y^Ph E. Roberts. Edward Yaughan, Charles. j0 *atl Stevens, and Amos Maltby, did riotously and rolltously make an assault, beat, wound, andilltreat, other wrnnca" adri r.e defendants were called, his Lordship, Ca ressing Mr. M'Intyre, Q.C., said that before the e Was called on he would like to have a few 0th*108' Prlvate conversation with him and the rQ er counsel engaged in the 'case in his private lo i?1' • l)arristers then left the court with his uship) and were absent for some 25 minutes or tj- Mr. M'Intyre, Q.C., appeared with Mr. Scott l,ankes (instructed by Mr. Cartwright, for the pub- ,c Prosecutor) for the prosecution, the men being !?*ended by Mr. Clement Higgins, Q.C., Mr. E. ^arshall, and Mr. Honoratus Lloyd (instructed by Alun Lloyd, solicitor, St. Asaph). ty;,?^nsel for the defence asked permission for the aut t^ie P.lea entered so that the defend- i °ould plead guilty. This was agreed to, and a Proqp' Intyre sa,id, acting on behalf of the public }je » cu-tor, now that the prisoners pleaded guilty, tjaj that the end of the prosecution had been at- of v' and he therefore left the case in the hands kis lordship without offering any remarks you defendants has rendered himself amenable to punishment, and no one of you has a right to expect that punishment will be withheld. Whether, therefore, the infliction of that punishment is neces- sary or not depends upon considerations of the general policy of the welfare of the district at large. When I speak of the welfare of the district at large, I place as an essential condition of any lasting or perpetual welfare the supremacy of the law under which we live. I feel pretty satisfied, however, that I have not now before me those who are really at the bot- tom of the present disturbance, and that I have here rather those who are the tools of others, than the active originators of the mischief, themselves. I feel that if that which is at present uncertain- namely, the condition of the district during the next few weeks—were known to me at the present time, it would give me a much better chance of judging what is necessary for the public interest and welfare than I can possess at the present moment; and, therefore, what I propose to do is to liberate all of you on your own recognisance to come up and receive judgment if called for, hub in order that justice—should justice in the sense of punishment still prove necessary—may not lose its effect by being slow and tardy and striking when too late to produce a moral effect, I shall adjourn these assizes for a month in order that I may then have all the conditions before me, which I should have wished to have now to enable me to form a judgment as to what ought to be done. Do not suppose for a moment that I should commit the injustice, under any circumstances, of rendering you responsible for what others may do in transactions in which you may have no share, but what I feel is that, were I compelled to act at once and for all now, I should be greatly afraid that, in taking the merciful course which I am taking now, I shouldseem to be offering a prem um and holding out encouragement to similar lawlessness elsewhere. The method of dealing with offences such as I have to deal with in the present case must always be guided and influenced not merely by consideration of what is necessary so far as individual guilt is concerned, but what is necessary in the shape of example to others. I hope and trust that it will not be necessary for me to return into this district, and I go further and express a confidence that it will not be so, because I do not believe that the spectacle of an English judge who is capable of feeling a warm sympathy with his Welsh neighbours and appre- ciating those good qualities of which, it seems to him, they have had their full share, though it may not lie so completely on the surface, and be there- fore so liable to instant detection by every super- ficial observer as some of their most obvious failings are, will be lost either upon the defendants now before me or upon the wider public, of their neigh- bours and friends whom his words may reach. I read not long ago words which have, I have no doubt, been read by many of you, of an observation to attempt to extort from the Government of this country or the people of this country by violent ap- peals intended to intimidate, which is one of the most hopeless tasks the mind of man can imagine. y Oll Welshmen who, as it seems to me, are much more easy to lead than to drive-that is, to lead by kindness than to drive by force-can surely sympathize with this dogged determination on the part of not only the Government but of every person who is concerned in the administration of justice, to enforce the main- tenance and supremacy of the law. Can you less doubt that whether your fellow-countrymen may agree with you or may disagree with you in the particular subjects of social improvement or alteration or change, which may be matters of interest to you, that they have the same resolution that by all proper means you shall be at liberty to advance your views and to urge them upon the rest of the community with as much of vigour, resolution, pertinacity, and determination you may think proper; and cannot you be content with that without attempting to produce a change in the law which you don't like by violence, and by ungener- ous assaults upon those who are employed to carry out the law, and who are simply doing their duty in doing so? Now go home and try and spread peace and tranquility amongst your fellows and neighbours in your district. I hope at some future time to see you all here again, but in a very different capacity. I hope I may see you in this box (the jury-box) instead of there, and joining with myself and the rest of us in the administration of the law and the maintenance of truth and right and justice. Attack what you con- sider to be abuses with whatever vigour you choose to attack them, but act like men and submit to the law until the law is altered, as all good citizens should do, and if the result of these proceeding should be to show that I have not made a mistake in attempting to appeal to the more generous sentiments of the generous popula- tion amongst whom I am administering justice you will have taken a great weight from my heart, and will relieve me from a great responsibility, because my judgment is in this matter on its trial just as much as you have been on your trial; and if it should prove I have made a great mistake, I can hardly expect that censure will not fall on my shoulders, as well as that punishment must fall upon yours. I have no more to say than to ask you once again to go home and spread peace and tranquility amongst the people amongst whom you live. I propose to adjourn these assizes till Wednesday, the 28th of March, and to bind over the defendants formally to come up and receive judgment if necessary, and I trust that that will be nothing but a formal proceeding. Addressing counsel, the judge said the defendants would be bound over in their own recognisances in the sum of £ 20. Defendants were then bound over, and left the court with Mr. Alun Lloyd, their solicitor. There was no demonstration, but apparent satis- faction at the way the case had ended. THE SCENE IN COURT. The above trial, probably one of the most remarkable that has ever been held in the Princi- pality, was opened with due pompt and solemnity on Tuesday, and has happily resulted in the conditional acquittal of the eight men over whose heads the most serious indictment had been hanging for several months past. The scene at Ruthin on Tuesday was in all respects a memorable one. Early in the day large numbers of people arrived in the town, both by rail and road, some coming from distant parts of the Principality, as the trial not only affected the eight persons directly implicated, but owing to its connection with the tithe move- ment it had assumed a national significance. So eager were the people to enter the court that the approaches thereto were jealously guarded by a strong posse of police, under the command of Sergt. Vaughan and Inspector Jones, hwo had strict orders to refuse admission to all except magistrates, barristers, reporters, &c., until the arrival of the Judge. Justice Wills reached the Court a few minutes after ten, the barristers having taken their several positions some time previously. The tables in front of them being literally piled with briefs, lawbooks, and maps of various forms and sizes, among the latter being one of immense size (25 inches to the mile) which had been prepared by the County Surveyor, and which when unfolded exten- ded the whole length of the space reserved for the barristers. On this was marked in bold and distinct outline the whole length of the road extending from Llangwm to Corwen, some special spots being depicted in more prominent characters than the rest. Meanwhile the court had become densely crowded, the attention of all being mainly directed towards the vacant space near the grand jury box, where Mr. Alun Lloyd, the solicitor for the defence, stood with the eight men who had surrendered to take their trial, and who were now awaiting the command of the Clerk of Arraigns to enter the prisoners' box. After arranging some preliminaries, the Judge delivered sentence on the man David Morris, who on the previous day had been convicted of arson at Wrexham, and who was now sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour. Having disposed of this, a flutter of excitement ran through the court, as it was known that the trial of the Llangwm men would immediately follow. His Lordship, however, in a few words, which were inaudible in the body of the court, expressed a wish that the learned counsel should retire with him to his private room. These gentlemen, with Mr. Mackintyre leading, instantly obeyed the summons, and the conference lasted nearly half-an-hour. Various surmises were indulged in with regard to this unusual procedure on the part of the Judge, and it was vaugely, but reasonably hinted that an endeavour was being made to arrive at some amicable arrangement whereby what pretended to be a very prolonged and irritating trial might be avoided. These surmises obtained considerable confirmation when, on the return of the counsel, Mr. Higgins held a brief consultation with Mr. ALun Lloyd, and the latter subsequently retired to a private room in company with the eight defen- dants. A pause of nearly half-an-hour again occurred, at the end of which the men again re-entered the court, and took their positions in the two front rows of the grand jury box, that space having been reserved for them, the ordinary prisoners' box being too small. All answered to their names with the exception of the young man Metcalfe, who, for some reason or other, had mixed up with the crowd in the body of the hall, and was by some supposed to have left the court. He, however, turned up in a few minutes, and no one could fail to notice that the countenances of the accused had suddenly assumed a calmer and more hopeful appearance than when they first entered the court, and this again heightened the expectation that during the preliminary conferences which had now occupied a full hour, the basis of an arrange- ment had been agreed upon whereby, the majesty of the law might be fully vindicated and upheld, while at the same time the accused would escape the indignity of a term of imprisonment, and the feeling of irritation which has for a long period unhappily agitated the Principality, would be con- siderably allayed. When all the prisoners had answered to their names, the counsel for the defence, one after the other, rose, and intimated that they had advised them to withdraw the plea of not guilty," and leave themselves entirely in the hands of his Lordship. Mr. Mclntyre, on behalf of the Crown, having expressed his approval of the course pur- sued, the Judge, amid the most awful silence, then proceeded to deliver sentence. This remarkable address, which we have inserted fully, was delivered in a calm, earnest, and most pathetic strain. It was evident that every sentence, and indeed, every word had been carefully studied, and while it was full of firmness and determination to uphold and enforce the law against all offenders, it breathed a spirit of tenderness, and contained so many eloquent and pathetic appeals to the better part of human nature that it seemed to leave a most profound and lasting impression, not only upon the minds of the prisoners, but upon all those in court. During its delivery, which owing to its interpretation into Welsh occupied a considerable time, the silence maintained in court was almost painful, and at its close the most intense feeling of relief was shown this feeling of satisfaction finding vent in audible expressions, which, of course, were instantly snppressed. During the morning, unfounded rumours were circulated that a public demonstration on a large scale was to be made in honour of the men, and a similar rumour gained currency in the afternoon, but, happily, nothing of the kind occurred, nor does it appear that anything of the kind was contemplated. After the trial the men with their friends remained in town until about half-past-four, when they went by train in the direction of Corwen. No one can but regard the result of this trial as most satisfactory, and it is to be sincerely hoped that the wise counsel given by Justice Wills will be read, and pondered, and followed by all classes of the community through- out the whole of the Principality.

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