Citizens, John Binns and John Gale Jones, the citizens we deputed to visit the popular society at Birmingham, are speedily to take their trial on a charge of seditious conduct (1796)

John Binns and John Gale Jones were sent in February 1796 by the London Corresponding Society on a mission to Rochester, Maidstone, Chatham and Gravesend in an effort to gauge and revive radical enthusiasm in regional centres following the passing of the repressive Two Acts in December 1795. On 4 March 1796, just two days after Jones returned from his first deputation, both he and Binns were again sent on a mission to visit the reformers of Birmingham. They were greeted enthusiastically by their counterparts at the first Birmingham meeting on 11 March 1796. The authorities, however, viewed their activities as seditious, and both men were arrested on 16 March 1796 on charges of uttering seditious words and attending illegal meetings. Binns and Jones were admitted to bail on 24 and 26 March 1796 respectively, and the following year Jones was found guilty on 30 March but never sentenced, while Binns was acquitted on 15 August 1797.