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1 Bristol Riots. Trial of Charles Pinney, Esq., late Mayor; for Neglect of Duty 1832

handle is hein.trials/acuo0001 and id is 1 raw text is: BRISTOL RIOTS. TRIAL OF CHARLES PINNEY, Esq. LATE MAYORI; FOR NEGLECT OF DUTY. COURT OF KING'S BENCH, OCTOBER 25th, 1832. This l;eiig the day fixed by the Judges of this ('ou:t for the trial at bar of Charles PinneyEsq. l'dsvor Of Bristol, upon an information filed ex Officio by the Attorney-General, the avenues to the Court were crowded at a very early hour by numbers of mst respectable persons, who seem. ed to take the liveliest interest in the proceedings. The Jury, who were returned by the High Sheriff'of llerkshire, began to arrive about nine o'clock, and they were the only persons admitted before the arrival of the Judges, except the gen- tlemen of the press, who received every accon- modation from the officers of the Court. About ten o'clock, Lord rENT.RDEN, Mr, Justice LIT'rLEALE, Mr. Justice JABIES PARIK, and Mr. Justice TAUNTON, arrived in Couit and took their seats on the Bench. The doors were then thrown open, and every part of the galleries and the body of the Court was instantly crowded. The Council engaged for the prosecution were the ATTORNEY and 'OLICITOIL- GENERAL, Mr. COLEaRDGE, Mr. Serjeant WILDE, Mr. Snsw- HraD, and Mr. WRiGHs'aAN ; Solicitors-Mr. MAULE, of the Treasury, and Messrs. CRsoss and JARMAN, of Bristol. Counsel for the defence-Sir JA51xs ScAsrLTr Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. Sergeant LonLoW, and Mr. FOLLETT; Solicitors-Messrs. BscE and BUR- e., of Bristol, and Messrs. JENN s and BOLTON, of London. The following freeholders of Berkshire com- posed the Jury:- John Hopkins, Esq. Foreman. John Blagrave, Esq. John Sivewright, Eq. John Hughes, Esq. Charles Medley, Banker, Robert Mangles, Esq. Edmund Gardner, Esq. George Butler, Esq. Edward Gulding, Esq. Charles Pickham, Esq. Thomas Harman, E Richard Townshend, sq. Mr. Wightman opened the pleadings. This was an information against Charles Pinney, Esq. for that, on the 29th of October, there being a riot in the city of Bristol, and that the next day a riotous and tumultuous assemblage destroyed the Bishop's Palace, a number of private dwellings, and other buildings, the defendant, then being the Mayor of the said city, and a Justice of the Peace, did not exert his authority to repress such outrage. Also, that he omitted to give such orders, and make such arrangements, as were expedient and Somerton's Reports.-Part . necessary. To this information the defendant had pleaded Not Guilty. The Attorney-General then rose. Gentlemen of the Jury-You have learned, from the inform- at ion which has been read by my learned friend, that you are called from your homes to perform a most important duty, viz. to try an individual who has been placed in an office of high trust, but who was charged with having betrayed that trust, by not exercising the authority and power with which he was invested as chief magistrate of the city, to protect the property of those placed under his care. This gentleman was Mayor of' Bristol, and we charge him that during nearly 48 hours, when that city ksas placed in a most alarming state of con- sternation, and in a situation of great danger, h neglected and abandoned his duty, and withdrew from being found by those who wished to discover him. I am sure, gentlemen, it is needless for me to request your attention to an the facts which I shall have to lay before you, convinced as I am in my own mind that the result will leave no doubt of the truth of the charge in the inform- ation. The basis of the action is perfectly well known to you, and indeed it is sufficiently noto- rious. It must be proved to you almost as a mat- ter of form, but it is already well known that the city of Bristol-a city of the first rank in this great empire, was, for the period I have mentioned,tin the state of confusion I have stated to you. When it is further added that three prisons, two in the city and one in the vicinity, were broken open by a tumultuous and lawless mob, the prisoners let loose, and plunder carried on to a vast extent, that three gaols were destroyed by fire, the Man- sion-house, the residence of the chief magistrate, destroyed, the Bishop's Palace reduced to a heap of ruins, and the dwellings of individuals plundered and destroyed to a number little short of forty of the best houses in the town, I think I have stated nothing which does not raise a prima ffacie case against the Magistrates who were inves- ted with the custody of the city, and which leads us to inquire where were those Magistrates, what was their conduct, whether they took any and what steps to repress such scenes, and whether they exerted the atthority that was placed in them. 'I am sure, gentlemen, it would be idle for me to lay down to you the nature of the duties which attach to the office of Magistrates: all Magistrates are emphatically the conservators of the peace; when the peace is in danger, it is their peculiar and bounden duty to preserve it; and when it is broken, they are imperatively called on by their office to endeavour, by all means in their power,

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