The Chartist trials at Lancaster closed on Thursday, the eighth
day ; Wednesday having been occupied with Mr. Feargus O'Connor's de- fence in person, evidence corroborating the defence generally, and the Attorney-General's reply. Baron Rolfe's exposition of the law and analysis of the evidence are admired for their impartiality and clearness. The verdict of the Jury affirmed two counts of the indictment—the fourth, which charged the prisoners with tumultuously and unlawfully assembling, and forcing peaceable subjects to leave their occupations ; and the fifth, which alleged incitement to disaffection, to hatred of the laws, and to combine in producing a cessation of labour : fifteen pri- soners, including Bairstow, Thomas Cooper, and Leech, were found guilty on both those counts ; sixteen, including O'Connor, W. Hill, and Harney, on the fifth count; twenty-one, including William Scholefield, the Chartist pre,cher, and Richard Pilling, (who is said to have boasted that he orignated the strike in the Manchester district,) were acquitted ; and seven, including the younger Scholefield, had been acquitted by consent in the course of the proceedings.
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