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 The Judicial History of Individual Liberty,

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THE JUDICIAL HISTORY OF INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY. VIII. Bv VAN VECHTEN VEEDER, Of the New York Bar.

AT the opening of the century the satis faction of the nation with the success of its arms, and the hopes entertained of the union with Ireland, were sadly diminished by the condition of the working classes. The sudden cessation of the extravagant expen ditures entailed by war without a corres ponding fall in the prices of the necessaries of life, spread discontent and disaffection among the laboring classes, while the dis banding of soldiers added to the ranks of the idle and dangerous element. Addington's government was hopelessly weak, and only a leader was needed to reveal the widespread disaffection. Out of such conditions arose Despard's crazy attempt to murder the king and overthrow the government (28 St. Tr. 345). Colonel Despard had rendered brave and meritorious services in the army, and smarting under a bitter grievance arising out of his discharge, had embarked upon the stormy .sea of politics. Having been under suspicion during the Irish rebellion of 1798, he was imprisoned for three years without ever being apprised of the charge against him. With his mind unbalanced by such treatment he had identified himself with a band of conspirators, some of whom, at all events, were bent upon murder. It may well be doubted from the evidence whether he was privy to the reckless designs upon the king's life, or the wild attempts testified to by spies and informers. The overt acts of treason with which he was charged were se duction of soldiers, administration of illegal oaths among his followers, and illegal meet ings. It was urged in his defence by Ser geant Best that mere words, however trea sonable, could not be regarded as overt acts,

if not joined with acts. But Lord Ellenborough ruled that if such words were used at meetings held for the purpose of forwarding treasonable designs, and addressed to others to incite them to such acts, such words were themselves overt acts. Colonel Despard was convicted and executed. In Ireland the unsatisfactory conditions made themselves manifest in the criminal outrages of the Threshers in 1806, and of the rival Caravats and Shanavests in 1810. These organizations were in no way con nected with religious or political questions; they were mere roving bands of discontented rioters. The abuses arising out of the mode of assessing and levying tithes in Ireland, and the failure of the government to give any relief, were responsible for the long contin uance of violence and crime. The govern ment had no remedy beyond trials and execu tions (30 St. Tr. i; 31 i. b. 413). In England the strain of overthrowing Napoleon, which had been borne with some loss when England monopolized the trade of the world, became oppressive when peace re turned and commerce gradually settled into its accustomed channels, and the necessities of war expenditure ceased to find employ ment for home manufacturers and producers. The ensuing commercial and agricultural distress was at the bottom of the activities of the Luddites from 1811 to 1813. Taking its name from a crazy individual named Ludd, who at the close of the previous cen tury had in a fit of irritation destroyed a couple of stocking looms, it eventually de veloped into an organized conspiracy for the destruction of machinery in the midland counties, and formed the active principle of