THE OTHER SIDE.
Ws have spoken according to our honest opinion of the weak part of the Trades Unionist exhibition : its strength lay in the since- Tity, the earnestness, with which the poor men expressed their sympathy with the sufferings of their fellow labourers, under what they considered a cruel and partial enforcement of the law. Ministers have the credit of acting with discretion on Monday ; but we are far indeed from approving of their whole conduct is this affair of the Dorchester convicts. It is not denied that the law was enforced against these men in order to punish them for a dif- ferent offence from that of which they were found guilty. It is not denied that their offence, in the eye of the law, is one which is committed constantly by men of all classes. They were punished for what they had the best reason to suppose was no offence at all : for we may at once reject the supposition that they were sufl:ciently learned in the law to know, that by an act passed forty years since, for the punishment of mutineers in the Navy, or those who seduce sailors to mutiny, they were liable to seven years' transportation for taking secret oaths. Then again, why were they hurried out of the country with such baste ? This of itself would lead any man to suspect that tl.ere bad been foul play.
All these circumstances, it is natural to suppose, would greatly irritate those who felt that they were liable to the same punish- ment as the Dorchester convicts, for an offence which they had committed, most of them, probably, "meaning no harm." They had received great and unnecessary provocation. The administra- tion of justice appeared in their eyes to have been in this instance partial and oppressive. It was an occasion which called for the exercise of the Royal prerogative of pardon or mitigation of punishment; and the Government erred exceedingly in not recom- mending it to the King at first. With regard to the allegation that three of the convicts were men of bad character—admitting it to be correct, this does not alter the case of the others, against whom nothing is alleged.
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