The Oath & Betrayal

The Trumped Up Charge

The Rigged Trial

The Unjust Sentence

The Mounting Protest

The Trumped Up Charge

Squire Frampton had been busily gathering evidence against the Tolpuddle men. There was Legg's evidence from a preliminary magistrates inquiry.

Now he wished Lord Melbourne to know that societies were being organised among the agricultural labourers, inducing them to enter into combinations of a dangerous and alarming kind to which they are bound by oaths administered clandestinely.

Melbourne advised caution. But once Frampton had proof of unlawful combination his lordship advised him to study section 25 of 57 Geo. III, c. 19, the Act of Parliament whose purpose was to more effectually prevent Seditious Meetings and Assemblies.

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