Star. — London, England, 1820-04-28 00:00:00

1 .1 it 1"" •:1 .1 THE 'E VEN INC} STAR. LONDON. FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 1820. TDB FUNDS. ?WE or STOCKS TIM DAY AT Obit O'CLOCK I 3 per Cent. Reduced 68% 34 3 per Cent. Consols 69% V I V I 31 per Cent. 77 1 /.7—1. per Cent. 87 1 / 2 5 per Cent. Navy 105% Vs Bank Long Annuities 17 15-16 India Bonds 255. pr. South-Sea Stock 77 Old Annuities 68 1 / 2 —New Annuities 69 liachequer Bills (2d.) 4s. ss. pre. Consols for Acct. 69 Vs Vs 'X. CONCLUSION OF THE TRIALS. The Trials for High Treason were last night un expectedly brought to a conclusion. The prisoners Davidson and Tidd, who were tried yesterday, having been found Guilty, the remaining six prisoners, Wilson, Harrison, Strange, Cooper, Gilchrist, and Bradhurn, withdrew their plea of Not Guilty, and, throwing themselves on the mercy of the Crown, pleaded Guilty. The injunction against publishing having now ceased to operate, we have given, in our preceding columns, an abstract of the whole proceedings, suf ficiently comprehensive to give our Readers a distinct knowledge of the nature and extent of the Plot of Treason—the guilt of which has been brought home to these unhappy men. THE SENTENCE The Court met this morning, pursuant to adjourn ment, to conclude the business of the Special Com mission. The circumstance of the Trials having ter minated last night, rendering it highly probable that sentence would be passed upon the prisoners this morning, occasioned the Court to be more crowded than usual, particularly with females, whose gentle nature we should have thought would rather have made them revolt from so awful a scene, than be anxious to witness it. . At a quarter past nine o'clock, the LORD CHIEF Jurarcz of the Court) of King's Bench and Common Pleas, the LORD Cntrar BARON, Mr. Justice BEST, and Mr. Justice RICHARDSON, entered the Court and took their seats on the Bench. Captain FITZCLA• ltzscE was also in Court. At half-past nine o'clock the prisoners were brought into Coon: they were all double ironed except Ings, who has been in the hospital. The latter was dressed in a butcher's jacket and black handkerchief. They were successively called into the dock by the Clerk of the Arraigns, to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon them : the first was Arthur Thistku.ood.—He rose much embarassed, and in a feeble voice, read from a written paper. He said he was conscious that if he possessed the elo quence of Cicero, it would avail him nothing. He inveighed, in bitter terms, against Lord Castlereagh and Lord Sidmouth ; he appealed against the Trial, which he said, was partial, and accused the Court of cruelty, not only in this but in all cases. He had only, he said, undergone the etiquette of a trial; for real justice had been denied to him. He had no personal enmity against Lord Sidmouth and Lord Castlereagh, but the massacre at Manchester made his feelings too intense; he resolved on revenge, and to wreak vengeance on those who had caused it. When he first met with Edwards, he found him poor ; but he suddenly became in possession of money, and said he was the heir of a German Baron. Edwards gained his confidence, became acquainted with the Reformers, proposed to blow up the House of Com mons, and afterwards to assassinate the Ministers at the Spanish Ambassador's; but he (Thistlew•ood) would not join in these projects, because he would not suffer the innocent to perish with the guilty. Ed ♦vards planned the Cato-street conspiracy, and he (Thisticwood) only went there in the expectation of passing a pleasant evening. He imputed improper motives to the Officers of the Crown, since they did not bring forward Edwards.--" Brutus and Cassius," said he, " were lauded to the skies for killing Czsar!" The prisoner was here interrupted by Lord Chief Justice Anuorr, who said— ,, Prisoner, while you were proceeding in the indecorous way in which you have been doing, we did not interrupt you ; but we cannot allow you, standing even in the situation in which you do, to justify assassination in a Court of Justice." Thisiiewood resumed—His mangled body would, he knew, soon be consigned to its native soil, but he was sorry that it should be a soil for slaves, cowards, and despots. He would consider himself as mur- dered, if executed on the verdict given against him. He did not seek pity, but he demanded justice. He had not had a fair trial, and protested against judg ment being passed upon him. William Davidson, on being called upon, said, he protested against the proceedings on his trial in tato. He was not allowed to contradict the evidence for the Crown produced against him, until it had made a manifest impression on the minds of the Jury. He then made the best defence he was able, but the At. torney •General, like a sweeping flood, bore all down before him.—He denied having been in the stable at Cato-street, and although he was found in that street, wits a sword and blunderbuss, yet he protested that he never made a blow at any many nor discharged the blunderbuss. He never had any intention to-mur der the Ministers, ar to lay his handon his Sovereign. When.Magno Charta was exacted from King John, twenty-five Barons were appointed to see that .the Charter was enforced. If it was infringed, four Ba rons were to protest against k to the King, and if they did not succeed in obtaining redress, then they were to join with the other barons, and, with arms in their hands, demand that redress at the point of , the sword, which the King had refused, and tell him, that if he did not yield it, they would levy war against him. This was the language of .Magna Charta, but yet h.. (Davidson), and his associates, , had never used such language. He again protested that he knew nothillg of any intention to depose the King or assassinate the Ministers. He could die but once, and he did not fear death ; his only grief was for the large family he would leave behind him : when he thought of this it unmanned him. James Ings said, if he had not got acquainted with Edwards, when he had been unsuccessful in business, he should not have been in the place where he then stood. He did not care for dying, if the man who had seduced him was to suffer with him. When Ministers conspired to pass laws to starve him and his fellow-countrymes, he thought them guilty of the greatest crime. The Manchester Meeting 'vas for petitioning, a right -which our forefathers had exercised without molestation. He acknowledged that he carried the sword to be sharpened, but he had never used, it. He would rather die like a man, than live like a slave. John Thomas Brunt, on being called upon,-ad dressed himself to the Judges in a particularly bold and unembarrassed manner. Ile said,-he had in tended to have written the observations which he should make, but he had not had the benefit of ink and paper. He said he would repeat what lie had before stated to the Jury on his trial, and which had been se ably knocked down by the Solicitor-General, who had talents to make even crime a virtue. He then proceeded with his recapitulation. He pro tested against the verdict, not that he valued his life ; no man valued it less when it was to be sacrificed in liberty's cause.--[The unfortunate man then 1 roceeded to animadvert, in language which we do not think ourselves authorized in giving, on the Government and the Crown Lawyers]. —Adams knew that he was a man of his word, and that if he said he would put a tyrant out of the world, he would do it; if this was a crime, then he was ready to suffer. Edwards had preyed upon his credulity, and Adams was.a perjured betrayer of his associates. What benefit Christianity would receive by being so ably defended by the Attorney-General, he, Brunt, did not know, but the principal witness against him, Adams, was a Deist, until the noose was round his neck. He was proceeding to accuse his apprentice, Hale, when Chief Justice ABBOTT interposed, and said he could not allow the characters of witnesses or persons not before the Court to be thus aspersed. Brunt resumed.—He had an antipathy against the enemies of his country, an esteem for an honest man, a feeling for his fellow-countrymen. He had never conspired to depose his Majesty, or to levy war against him, as he had been charged: but, if resisting the Civil Power was treason, then he confessed he was guilty. He was no traitor to his country—he was no traitor to his King, but a loyal and dutiful sub ject, who had never suffered his Sovereign to be abused when he was present; but he was an enemy to a Boroughmongering faction, which equally enslaved both the King and the People. When he could earn three or four pounds a-week, he never meddled with politics, but when those earnings were reduced to ten shillings, he began to inquire the cause. He thought nothing too bad for men who had caused the dreadful outrage at Manchester. He would die a martyr in liberty's cause, for the good of his country—but he was no traitor, and none but a traitor and a villain could accuse him of being one. In joining in the Conspiracy, he had no private enmity or revenge to gratify against any man, but he thought it for the public good, and would have gone through with it. He contended that-the verdict ought to be set aside, that he might have been tried for murder ; but there was no ground for imputing to him the crime of High Treason. Richard Tidd said, he had been convicted so late last night, that he had had no time to prepare a written address, as he could have wished. He denied that the evidence against him was true, with the ex ception of that of the gentleman he saw on. the Bench (Captain Fitzclarence); and, as for shooting him, why he would as soon have thought of shooting his own father. James William IVilson declared that he had been drawn into the plot by ona of the witnesses who appeared against him. John Harrison, on being called upon, said—" My Lord, they were all false witnesses." Richarcl Bradburn.—" The evidence of Adams was false." John Shaw Strange—" I have only this much to say, my Lords, that the evidence of Adams and Hale was false, and that they are perjured villains." James Gikhrist was much affected, and some time elapsed before he could speak : he said—" My Lords, what I say, I shall say and think as in the presence of my GOD. I knew nothing of the business until four o'clock on the day on which it took place. I then had not tasted a morsel of food the whole day.— [Here the prisoner burst into tears.] —I then went to a place where a person appointed to meet me at six o'clock, where I saw four or five men, not one of whom I knew, except Cooper—of him I borrowed a halfpenny, to buy a bit of bread !, I appeal to Got), who now hears me (casting up his eyes), and knows that this is true. I went into the room at Cato-street, where I found a number of men eating bread and cheese, which they cut with a sword. I cut some for myself. Seeing so many men and arms, I was anxious to get away, but Adams Stopped me, and brandishing a sword, said, If any man attempts to go from here, I will run him through.' An Officer then came in, and I surrendered without opposition. This was 'all I knew of the business, and yet I stand here convicted of High Treason. I h..ve served my King and Country faithfully for twelve years, and this is my recompense—this is my recom pense, 0 GOD I" [Here the prisoner again burst into tears, and could proceed no further]. • Charles Cooper said—" My Lords, then is no evi-, dence to convict me of High Treason." Proclamation was now made by the Crier, that the JUDGE was going to proceed to pass sentence on the prisoners, and enjoining strict silence in the Court. The L,ord Chief Justice ABBOTT having put on that solemn part of the judicial insignia, the black velvet cap, proceeded to his awful duty, and thus addressed the prisoners : " You, Arthur Thistlewood, James Ings, John Thomas Brunt, William Davidson, and Richard Tidd, have been severally tried and convicted of High Treason, in compassing and levyikig war against -his Majesty. You,. James Wilson, John Harrison, Richard Bradburn, John Shaw Strange, James Gilchrist, and Charles Cooper, did originally plead Not Guilty to the same indictment, but after the trial and convic: Lion of the preceding Prisoners, you desired to with draw your plea, and plead Guilty. You have cast yourselves on the mercy of yoar SovEnzrow ; and if any of you have your lives spared, which 1 trust will be the case with some of you, I hope you will bear in mind that you owe it to the benignity and mercy of your Sovereign, and to the lenity of the Officers of the Crown. " You, Arthur Thistlewood, say that your trial has been partial. You hav i e been tried in that mei ciful way in which justice has been administered in this country for ages. Any evidence you could have called would not have availed you anything, since three several Juries have pronounced on the same conspiracy, when Dwyer, whose evidence you wished to impeach, was not examined. You have said much respecting a person who has not appeared on. these trials, but we only can proceed on the evidence before us. On that evidence abundance'of proof has been fur nished, that each of you, prisoners, had taken a most active part in this cost dreadful conspiracy. The Court has had plain reason to see that you did not embark in this most dreadful design, till your minds were tainted with those seditious and irreligious publications which, unfortunately, have been so widely disseminated in this country. No man har bours a design against his King, until he has put the fear of GOD from before his eyes. We do not make these remarks to aggravate your sufferings, but as a warning to others—that they may learn to shun your example, and avoid your fate. Levy ing war, and the assassination of his Majesty's Ministers, were the first, but by no means the only steps you intended to take. You vainly hoped that when you had accomplished your purpose, that tens of thousands would have joined you, and enabled you to possess yourselves of the Government of the country. It has happened in this, as in many cases, that the associates-of your crime have been the cause of your detection. Your wicked inten tions have been avowed by some of you. But that persons should conspire to take away the lives of fourteen men, in cold blood, who were un known to you, except as public characters, is a case of atrocity, of which, thank GOD, this country pre sents no other instance. It now remains for me to pass en you the awful sentence of the law ; but before I do this, let me intreat of you to employ the time you may be permitted to live, in seeking to obtain mercy from that ALMIGHTY Powan before whom you will soon appear. Mercy may be obtained by all; but it must be sought in penitence and sorrow. Whether this exhortation be attended to or not rests with yourselves; but do not suffer that hardened conduct to continue, which, I am sorry to say, too many of you have exhibited. Repent, and obtain mercy.—The Sentence of the Court is, That you return to the jail from whence you came, and from thence be drawn on hurdles to the place of execution, there to be Lung•by the neck till you are dead; your heads cut (Iff, and your bodies divided into four quarters, to be disposed_ of as his Majesty shall think proper ; and I pray GOD to have mercy on your souls." The prisoners all bore it with uncommon firmness, except Gilchrist, who was in tears the whole of the time the Judge was passing sentence. They were immediately removed from the dock. CONTEMPT OF COURT—OBSERVER NEWSPAPER. As soon as the prisoners were removed from the Court, the ATTORNEY-GIINYRAL moved the judg ment of . the Court against Mr. J. W. Ccestawr, the proprietor and publisher of the Observer newspaper, ,for having, in contempt of the injunction of the Court, published an account of the proceedings on tIA trials of Thistletosed and Ings. He mr.ved this on three affidavits, which were read. Mr. CLZMIST having been called :on,. and net appearing— _ _ _ Chief Justice ABBOTT, after consulting with 11;s Brother Judges for some minutes, issid.“ No per son could reasonably doubt that the publication complained_ of manifestly tended to obstruct the cause of public justice. At the commencement cf these proceedings, the Court had thought right to express its opinion, in the strongest terms, of the da' gerous tendency of their lei; g published until the whole of the trials were concluded. 'The Editors and Publishers of all the Daily and all the Weekly Papers, have yielded a respectful deference to the injunction of the Court, except Mr. Clement, who, led by a desire to gain extraordinary profits by being the first person to gratify public curiosity, had done it to the prejudice of all other persons co: nected with the public Newspapers. Mr Clenu nt had been called upon to arts er for this contempt, when anything he could have urged in his defence, would have been heard. lie had not appeared, and had saved himself from that imprisonment which the Court would certainly have, inflictei. But this would not save him from another spe.ies of punish ment, which the. Court thought it its duty to awar . —The Court approved highly of the conduct of the Editors and PublLhcrs of these Newspapers who b rd so readily and so strictly obeyed its injunction, and could not but express its highest displeasure at the individual who had thus violated it. The Court, therefore, ordered that the said J. W. Cie:rent Fay a fine of Five Hundred Pound, to the King." The business of the Special Commission being now terminated, the Court w as dissolved. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. The Alert, Maier. from Trieste for liamburgh, was struck with lightning, eff-Cape St. Mary, 'ln the Gulf of Venice, hi February, and leundered.--Crew saved. Thus. ' Aran. 27.—Wind N.E.—sailed i last evening, the Scaleby Castle, and the Orwell. East Indiamen for China ; the Stafford. Parsotater, for Philadelphia ; Ilarsni; of Hartley, for Teneriffe ; Agamemnon, Stems, for New South Wales; and Perseverance Ilaywaan , for the Canary Islands. The Swift. East India pilot yacht, has lest an anchor in the Downs, and Proceeded for Dover R oads. Arrived the Marts, Reev, from New York. Dom, Aran. 27.—The John and Sarab. Natxtx, from Madeira for Loudon, has been carried into Fontaine Harbour, with loss of anchor, cable, bowsprit, and sails. At:dealt the Collingwood, Atacesaarn, from ltye, and the Sue Cobensg, from Brighton, with their anchors broken ; Mary, Haan, from Dublin, with loss of both anchors; and the Industry, Maws from Exeter, with her anchor stock broken and sails split. A great many vessels have anchored in these Roads for shelter, the wind blowing very hard. Poarsaroure Aran. 27.—Arrived the Hoeft after from a cruise. — Passe d down Channel the Company's ships Princess Amelia, Lady Camden, Marchioness of Ely, and General Hewitt.--Sailed his Majesty's ship TANA& bar Jamaica. beetroot, Aran ft.—Arrived the Prosperous, Misr, Rona Pernambuce; Alexander, Gass, from C/A:testae; Jasper, BMus; and Harmony, OTaxx, front Bremen; and Theresa, Amur, from Ostend. Pimlic/vs, Aram 26.—Wind N.W. Arrives! the Cork Rump, Saw., from Cork..--Sailed the Ibis, Statuses; and Nassau, Taziaavits„ for London. liaawsca, Aram 27.—The Nancy, HARTILS Her smut; Union, Dosser; and Good Intent, Wean, have lost an anchor and cable each.—Sailed the Leicester packet with a Mail for Holland. Cove or Coax, Arau. 22.—Arrived the Th:vnas transport from Weymouth, with part of the 5d Veteran . Battalion; convict brig, from Dublin ; his Majesty's ships Doreaet. and . Craerr. from a cruise.—Sailed the Sarah transport fur Quebec, with Government stores. ... Gearzszana, Arm. Y6.—Arrived the Papowger, Ludka, front Pißau. Sailed the Anna Maria, hest, for Alton*; Euphemih, Miller, and Alert, Dougal, for Hamburgh ; Albion, Ware, fc. Leghorn ; Perseverance, Hayward, funs Grand Canary ; Calypso, Hutchinson, for Bahia; Britannia, Corbie, for Calais ; Maiquis of Huntly, Ferguson ' for Teneriffe • Archibald, Taylor, (or Nova Scotia; and Union, Robinson ,for Antwerp. Amman—At Gibraltar, the Lady Warren, Hunt, from Per nambuco; Myrtle, M•Kinley, from Liverpool; Northumbria. Johnson ' • Trent, Sheriff ; and 'Marys, Bruce, front Newcastle ; also, the Catherine, Owe'', from Cork. At. Malaga, Delos, Lo rentzen, from Hamburg's. At Messina, Swallow ' Jones from Patna. At Trieste, Ann, Hill, from the Clyde ; and Victoire. from /lane. At fornyrna, Tom, Ketsdall,, from Live:- pool ; and Eagle, Beall, from Constantinople. At Para Sr.. Cbristoiao, ----, from Nantes; and Sta Rita, Nevis, ;non Opono. In Hampton Beads, Virginia, Fisher, from Live& • pool. At Marseilles, Isabella, Bishop , rom CastlitE A,; San tinder, Viscount IL:mouth, Tyack, from Loudon. , _ Comps-11mm, Linmos, Aram 47.—Entered Pasarge i Liedi ll e, from Pillau..---Outwards: Alfred, (*Omar, foe Opo rto; GLugow* Packet, Betts, for Lisbon ; Rose, Whit tingham, far Madeira ; Neleus, Hutchinson, for Hanbut&h.: Royal Eagle, Gibbs, for Lisbon L; Argo, Patterson, for Bergen; Juno, Pritchard, for Jamaica; Prince of Orange, Mimeo, fcr Rotterdam t • Ann, Mills, for Waterford ; Hope, jaws, fir Dublin; Brissett, Howe, for Dominica; Regret, Welbank, to; Bombay.—Cleared Outwards' Mercurius, for Amsterdam .; Nroohey, for ditto; Christopher, Row, for Philadelphia; Zealous, Young, for Ifamburgh ; Fanny, Taylor, fur St. Peters- • burgh ; Waterloo, Davies, for Cork; Liberty. Taa, for New') ; Williams, Williams, for Venice; Little Davi!, f.r Anutudam. Yesterday, the Earl and Countess of ABERDEEN arrived at their town. residence, Argyll House, Ar gyll-street, from Stanmore. Saturday, John Todd, Philip Rogers, and Peter M.Corwiek, for uttering forged notes in Liverpool; IVilliant Parker, for maliciously shoothig and rub bing ; and Charles Miller, for highway robbery, were executed at Lancaster. BETTING AT TAIT Ell S ALL'S YESTERDAY. • I 18 to 1 apt Antigallicza - Windfall 5 to 2 agst Pindaree 44 to it apt Sailor 15 to 2 agst - the Selim filly to 1 apt Abj;:r 16 to 1 apt The Duke 16 to 1 agst Arbutus 11 to S agst Emmeline 5 to 2 asst Prudeuce Coms-Evioncia, Ana 118.o:Tliere have been few arriyals of any Grain since Wednesday, and what little line Wheat ap peared from Esser and Suffolk obtained Monday's prices ; bet there was ilttledemand for the ordinary qualities. ri ime Milt ing Leaky sold ou full as good terms as on Monday, havirg bat little of that kind at market; but the inferior descriptions was dull sale, and rather lower. In oth:r articles no site. at on. Utz Kriao MAKE LT, Arias. 4. id. to ss. ad. per slim of alba. ; Mutton, 5s qel teobs. 6d. Vol, Is. pd. to 6s. ad. Pork 5s Od. to 6s. ad.; Lamb 7s. to 86. 041...—Cattls at MArket— Beasts 41s0 ; Calves, 80; Sheep and Lambs, 6,000; Pigs, 20u — Hay, 31. 10s. to 4L 6s. Clover, I. umo 61, Ks. Straw, 11. as. to 11. 14.. 20 to 1 apt 25 to t apt Lockalty 25 to 1 apt Cat 25 to 1 apt Hoopoe. U. 16 to 1 apt PrankL LownoS l'anted anti pubtldse4 by fivg.. FLice, r, Pfcictt• 1 '; sI