The trial of James Watson Author:James Watson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: noi absolutely necessary in order to constitute that offence, that there should be a regular organized force, or that the persons should be in military array. If... more » there is .an insurrection, that' ta, a large rising of people, in order by force and violence to accomplish or avenge, not any private objects of their own, not any private quarrels of their own, but to effectuate any general public purpose that is considered by the law as a levying of war; there must be an insurrection, force must accompany that insurrection, and it must be for an object of a general nature, but if all these circumstances concur, that is quite sufficient to constitute the offence of levying war. Gentlemen, that point has been under the consideration of the judges at many different periods of time, and has always . received from them the same determination. One of the early cases which I mention by way of illustrating the principle, for it will be an important feature, probably, under your consideration; one of the early cases was.of this description :—There was a general rising, a rising of about 5000 people, with a view not to do any very wicked act, but to put down all brothels, Qt houses of ill fame ; that was not to revenge any thing private belonging to any of, those particular persons who were concerned in it, it was to produce in that respect a general reform. The judges were of opinion that it was not for individuals to take upon themselves by force to effectuate any thing of a general description, and therefore that was considered as an act of High Treason, the insurrection for that purpose was held an act of levying war. There was another case in which the parties met in large numbers, and with a considerable degree of force, to pull down all meeting" "houses, the meeting houses of those ...« less