The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-02-10 00:00:00

I t - . - '"" •-,77c• - : --7 7 - --. ..4 , 11),A1.p . • P. .0. . / ' ,V . •46 Ml' . • 4 + 4 4 , • . 1 ; 51 - , •..t.-7t 1 ~ , 4 ............e - N /t / • . ' •,;,,\ .. , . ''' 4" . ..4/44/ _1 . - b ii irt l o - I . .. . . \L. / C 0 X ' . • .11 7 I AT 0 L ITE R. 4 RY .4D VE RTI Sln R. •• • • . . • :‘ • • Sia . I . M 0 B THURSDAY, FEBRUARY io, 1803. NUMBER 351 PRICE SIXPENCE. V. SPECIAL COMMISSION. - • 2 , 11MV cuURT-lIOUSIL, SOUTHWARK, rEIS. 7. HIGH TREASON. • stconn DAV. The Judges having taken their ,seats, and the Court being opened at nine o'clock in the morning, Colooni•Depard said— ,, Before the buniness Com snences, or rather proceeds farther, I am anxious to do away some unfounded aspersions, lest they might have an injurious impression on the Jury ; and they iiise from certain libellous publications with respea to me The Loup Cut F*Jurr c z answered —" At pre sent there is so Jury called, and you have no right to address the Court upon the sub ea of any Jury. inju rious impressiOn made upon the Neither have you, at any time, a right to make the obser vations which you now appear to be launching." Alderman Hi nit a? addressed the Court, with a Vi,:w of b..lng excused from serving upon the Jury, on 'coconut of his being obliged to attend to the ad ministration cf justice in the City, as a Magistrate ; and observed, that his residence in the County of Surrey was occasional, and it would be severe upon himself, and other Magistrates in the same predica ment, to be obliged to attedd like' the present, from such occasional residence ; that.the.,Lord Mayor and ether Aldermen wets in a simitir situation, and he trusted the Court would excuse him from serving, upon public grounds. ' The Loin Cstt r Ju,l ice said, that the public Were indebted to these worthy Magistrates for the share ibeyhad in the'administtatien of justice, and entertained every wish to-accommodate them, but the points rested upon by the worthy Magistrate, were of minor importance to the duty to be now discbai'ged in that Court. However, the Jury sheuld be called met, and if it could be formed without calling upon the worthy Magistrate, they would'he :114 to excust The Cleric of the Arimigns then proceeded to call over the names of the Jurors, when'tbe following Gentlemen were sworn in, after a nonsla of char knges had taken place : Grant Alen, Esq. William Dem, of Battersea, F.sq. William Driison, of Clapham, Esq. GabrielCopia•ti, of Clapham, "Ems Mr. William Cookson, of Gonsioird-street, Southwark. Mr. John Farm. r, of Southwark. Mr. Juhp Ciallioson, of Gravel-lane, Mr. Jame, Welil.er, of Sorry road, Chrat-ehurrli. Mr. Oilbert Militias:de, of Green-walk, Chriat-churdi. Mr. John How met, of Banksaie. Mr. Past IMbree, of Mr. Julio Field, of tieorg4-trect, Lambeth-marsh. Mr. Robert Dent, who it appeared did rot claim kis privilege of exemi c tion from age, to which he was entitled, being above Ai, was, by consent of both pasties, excused. '1 he Clerk then proceeded to read the Incliament, which is very long, but was in substance as fol.- ' 1 lows:—That the prisoner, together with certain • other persons therein name!!, on the 16th of No ember last, had consp . aed, oce. to compass and t ie, &c. the death of our Sovereign Lord the e first overt NI was, that the defendant, with certain other persons, on the above day, did en deavour to seduce certain soldiers therein named, and divers other suLjefts of our Lord the King, and to persuade them with force and arms to seise and destroy the Person of our Lord the King. The second overt act was, that the prisoner and others, o,i the same day, did conspire, consult, combine, agree, &c. to administer certain unlawful oaths to divers persons, tending to bind them to certain unlawful associations, with intent to sub vert the Government of this realm, as by law esta blished, &c. anclto destroy the icing. The third overt act was, that they had secretly endeavoured to obtain and procure, and in their custody to have and keep, divers cards, con taining an oath, engagement, and so forth, for the purpose of binding certain persons to such unlawful associations, &e. with intent to administer to such persons the said certain oath, engagement, &c. and that, by the said oath, engagement, and so forth, the said subjects should become members of such association, for the purpose of subverting the .Go vernment of this realm, as by law established, &e. and to murder the King. The fourth overt aa was, that the prisoner did administer, and cause to be dministereod to Thomas Blake and-others, such oaths, &c. &c. The fifth overt all was, that the prisoner, with others, did:panes, sonspire, consult, - agree, acc. to lapin wait to assassinate and murder the King. • .; The sizth . o aft was, that .the prisoner, and others, did maliciously, traitorously,.&C. meet and consult with others, for the purpose of attacking the Bank of E.ngland, and the King's tower of Lon don ; in order the more effeetnally to fight with,. kill and dstroy•the forces, and. other • liege subjeas of onr Lord the King, and to raise iii.surreftion and rebellion withiothe kingekaql. The seventh overt aft, was, that the prisoner, with others, slid secretly, traitorously, &c. meet, consult, and agree, to procure and obtain means to destroy the king. The eighth overt act charged was, that the pri soner did meet and agee, that divers of them should, on a certain day, when the King should go to meet the Parliament, to lie in wait to attack and shoot the . King, and that they should surround and make' themselves masters of the Horse of Parliament, and should seise on the Bank of England and the Tcwer of London, and seize magazines, &c. in the neigh . hourbood of London; to arm themselves, in order to fight with and kill the forces of' the King, and others who should be true to the King ; that they should stop and detain the snail-coaches, Stc. and to prevent them from setting out, and, according to a stgnal of attack, to create a rebellion, &c. against the sta tute. and against the King's peace, &c. A second count stated, that the prisoner, and others, &c. on the same day, maliciously, traitorous ly, &c. did conspiie, with intt ntion to..mprison and restrain the petsun of the X-ing, and did eipres.sly . •.. utter and declare such intention, by diiiers ads and deeds, stating the said overt ad and deeds as evi dence of such intention, &c. • A:third count set forth, that the prisoner, toge ther with others, did conspire, etc. to depose the King, and to deprive him of thiKingly Name, and Imperial Crown and Dignity, &c. of this Realm, and then stated the said overt ads ae proof of such in tention. On which indictment the defendant had been ar raigned, and pleaded Not Guilty; and the charge to the Jury was, to inquire whether he was guilty or not guilty of the said charges, tic. It was then agreed between the Counsel for the prosecution and the prisoner, tht the witnesses should be examined separately, with the exception of certain Honourable Persons, who were permitt:d to remain in Court. Mr. ASCOT opened the pleadings. Mr. A TTORNIX C,E)EaAL proceeded toistate the case to the Jury, in the course of which he observed, it was obvious that attention Was excited in propor tian to the importanceaof the subject, and he could not permit himself to entertain a doubt, the Jury were a:ready sufficiently acquainted with the nature of their preseni inquiry to induce them to attend to h:s statement of the case, and much more to the evi dence which he should lay befote them upon this oc casion,which was certainly of the mostaolemunature, both as it regarded the Gentleman at the Bat, and• the public at large. In nether` sense, no t question of greater iniportance could be presented to a judicial examination e for, it was an inquiry-into the gGist or innocence of a person, on a charge of 1 reason. As to the prisoner at the Bar,. they were *are, tbat his honour, his fortune, every thing that was valuable to him in life, and even his life itself, was at stake. As it respected the interests of the.public, nothing certainly . could be more important, sinceit involv ed the question of an attack, immediaitAy and di rectly against the best interests of the public, in the person of Oar beloved Sovereign , ; arid if such , a crime, or a-conspiracy to commit it, could yeas pray to have existed, it essential :the the 'punis meta of the law should be put in forae, nothing could be more wise than what the keveliati enacted for our general defence in that respee.t.: he veal ready to admit, in behalf of the piisona4t4i.isailthitt person charged with the crime of this aitexte;Nought to have the fall benefit of thepriueii3l4 , and that the enormity of the offence, instead of exciting,. prejudice against the prisoner at the bar, shotild- induce the • Jury to give him the benefit of that salntary indulgent principle of the law, which held . every man innocent until he was proved to Ise guilty; and therefore . the prisOncr Would be en titled to drat which he knew he would Have at their nslvell as'that of the Court.- =may; AO :a k a ioatip , lt hearing of the whole case, and thatedie case should be weltsifted, and the Jury well and perfelEtly satisfied of his guilt before they should pronotince him so. But the Jury would also give NI leave to express a confident expedation, that if one charge was made out, there would rot be in their minds, (because there oughonot to be in their minds} any hesitation to pronounce him guilty of Ig e h Treason, more. than there would be in any r case of a criminal nature. He then proceeded to obServe, that with regard not only to the indivi _ivals who compose His Majesty's present Govern . . may., b ut to yovernment itself, there never was a ,period in which there was less danger than the pre sent tb -be apprehended from any conspiracy what ever, or any period in which common human pru dence could be more adequate to secure us against effeUs of such a plan of conspiracy as that which w asnow about to be made the subject of inquiry, and therefore there could be no period in which the individuals who compose the Government could be supposed to have less feelings of interest in an event _like this, than the present. There was therefore nothing but the public interests, and those of the de fendantinvolved in this question ; for there was now .no.political party whatever concerned; no clamour 'to be opposed, nor any thing to be considered as ac - ' , • „. mating tneprosecution, but the purest motives of pUblic justice. It was .44-issue, which the Jury would of course try, not only as ith impartiality, but with perfed calmness and composure. He there fore should proceed to the statement of the case, whit as much brevity as possible, and in doing so, he would state to them the nature of it. The fads ,he should recite as simply and as shortly as pos . sible, and his own observations should be made in a ..way best calculated, according to his judgment, to bring the niinds of the Jury into a due consideration :Of the evidence to be laid bdose them. 1 he- substance of the charge against the prisoner at the bar, he obseried, as had bin already stated to them, was that of High Treason, in. compassing and imagining the death of the King, restraint of his person, and dethroning him from his royal stale and dignity. The first part, containing the charge of intention to destroy or take away the *life of the King, laid in the indidment, was founded upon 'the old statute of the 25th of Edw. 111. The se cond head, that of imprisoning the King; and the third, of dethroning him, and — deprivingrim of the royal state and dignity, was founded on a more re cent statute, enaded for the purpose of removing doubts concerning High Treason, and by which it was enafted, That any attempt to imprison or de throne the King should he conceived in the same light, as that of compassing and imagining the death of the King, and therefore, it was probable, there would be no embarrassment between him mid the Learned Gentleman on the other side, relative to the point of law upon this subject, for con spiring either to imprison or to dethrone the King, were now made substantial aEls of treason : It; therefore, either of these ads were proved to have been committed by the pri.,oner att the bar, the Jury would haves to pronounce him guilty, but however criminal the interitior. of the prisoner might be, his guilt must be proves, by some overt , ad, clearly expressing the intention of doing some ,;osie or other of those those things which he had already stated, as contained in the AFt of Edw. 111. or in the modern Satute of the tent h of the 4 present reign. 'He then stated the charges of the indiftment ? (the substance of which we have al ready given in the opening of it), and proceeding to observe on the nature of the overt-arils, be oh , serred, it wns not necessary the :let itself should be completei, 3ut it was sztfEcient that.the at should demonstrate the intention of completing the thing ; be ohsesved also, that an overt aft which might in itself appear to he innocent, might be given in evi dence as a proofof acri mi nal intention, wnen coMbined with another ati, and so an ad; however innocent in itself, taken abstratledly, might be deemed cri me' when explained by others. God forbid, that the hiring of a boat should be deemed a crimi nal acct ! but if a boat be hired for the purpcse cf taking the person who hired it to France, to invite persons there hostily to come into this country, or to invade it, then such aft, combined with subsequent ass, demonstrating such intention to invite foreigners to invade this land, will be deemed criminal, the hiring of the boat in such a case, being a part of the criminal intention to pro cure a hostile invasion of this country ; which was the case of my Lord Freston, who was convicted.— Nothing was moreinnocennthan the rtattingg,a letter in the Post Office, but if it should appear that such letter contained sentiments tending to excite persons, to whom it was 'sent, to Rebellion, the act of pet ting the letter in the Post Office, being in further ance of an intention to create Rebellion, will be deemed an overt act to Treason, and which' as Dr. Rincey's case, who was convicted. So here, there . was nothing mote innocent than to have a card, or paper, in a man's pocket ; for any man may have cards in his pocket; hut if such cards contained mat ters which tended to excite those who read them to Rebellion, or to seizing Or imprisoning the person of the King, then the having such a card was evidence -of the of the party; when combined with other alts tendine, to spew such intention. Thii was the case with the'Priumer at the bar. llaving stated the general observati - ens, he should now proceed to the - lies, upon which there would he two ques- - [ions for the Jury to consider, and to which the evidence was to be applied. The first question was a g . eueral one, -whether such conspiracy as that stated to the Indiclnaefaz existed or not ?—Secondly, whethe'r, sitpposing this' conspiracy to he in exist ence, the individual at •the bar was concerned in ? —Ozi,',the first question, whether a conspiracy existed or notelhe Jury must necessarily ;mecum into -the efts of others as well into those of the prisoner at the bar ; because a conspiracy could never be car ried on without i number of individuals beingcen cerned in it ; and k could not be proved but by showing the conchia of those individuals. But-sup:l posing i co nspiracY to be established, and . stsprk4ing. the prisoner to be conneabd then -net - - only-- his own arts, but the eels of the other conspirators would be evidence against him. And now he should proceed to the facts. He then read the names of the thirteen prisoners included in the indictment, and observed, that the thirteen prisoners, including the gentleman at the bar, were taken up on the 16th of Nos ember last, at the Oakley Arms pub lic horse, where was held one of the meetings. cluerged by the prosecution to be an _Act of Hlgh Treason. He then proceeded to state the reasons why, although Government had long been in pos session of information concerning the conspiracy isf' these persons, they had not causes them to be ap prehended. He observed, that apprehending them sooner might have created some embarrassment to Government ; for althodgin so early as the spring of last year, many acts ivere knoivn indicativeof thesame intention as had been afterwards made mare mani fest, yet, had the parties then Been taken up, Go vernment might perhaps have been tamer the neces sity of disclosing the means Of its information, with out perhaps establishing a case which might cons' all the parties. But when they were apprehended, the evidence against them was so clear, that he be lieved no doubt would be enterflined of their guilt, and this evidence would be sufficient without bring ing forward the resources of information which Go vernment possessed as to the early intentions of se veral of the parties. He then recited the condliti of -several of the prisoners, as connected wit that of the present defendant. [Which we pass over because it will appear in the evidence.] He proceeded to read a paper that was found in the room at the Oakley Arms, where the Defendant was apprehended, and in possession of some of the prisoners, though not of him at the bar, as stating the object of the parties concerned in this conspiracy.—lt set forth in sub stance, that they aimed at the Constitutional Inde pendence of Great Britain and Ireland, and the eqtialization of civil, political, and religious rights —an ample provision for the families of these he roes who should fall in the contest—a liberal reward for distinguished merit, &c. These were -the oh jedts for which we contend, and to obtain those oh jeas, we swear to be united, tee. :this was the purport of the paper, and the oath was, that " In the awful presence of Almighty God, 1, A. Be do' solemnly.declare, that I will endeavour, to the tste most of my power, to obtain the objects of thii' Union—namely, to recover the rights which God, in his infinite bounty, has given to man; and not to, give evidence against any Member of-the Meath bon." Such was the substance of the oath. . The ATTORNEY-GENERAL then proceeded to oh ' serve upon this engagement and the oath, and ar gued, that it was impossible to infer that it meant nothing more than an alteration, by peaceable' means, of any past of our system, 'tut that they manifested an hostile intention of overturning the whole frame of our Government. This engagement and oath were incapable of any interpretation that was consistent with the innocence of the parties ; and that the more especially, when these oaths had been administteed to soldiers, sworn to defend the GovernMent of this country, as by law established ; and that these panes had done so, would most abun dantly appear in evidence; and the the prisoner at the bin had been active among them, would elle* appoer ; that they had Field diver emeetings to this at various pnblic-houses in this metropolis, e ct and its vicinity : at the Hand and Windmill, in Windmill-street ; at the Bleeding Hart, Charles street, Hatton-garden; at Tower-hill; at Whitechapel, at the Flying Horse, Walworth; at the Flying Horse, Newington; and at the Oakley Arms. in all these places, attempts Bed been made to seduce soldiers from their duty. #ere he recited the circumstances, as they afterwards appeared in evidence of those va rions 'attempts, until the period at which the parties were apprehended at the Oakley Arms, and on which he made a variety of comments. He then cee3cd to of)serve upon some topics on which he ap prehended ffie ingenttity of the Learned Gentlemen on the other side w,oald bring forward in defence. They might say, that it was highly improbable that a person of the Character and station of the defendant should' embark in sych :t cause 'es this, and conned himself With persons'of thi lowest description ; that he must be aware of, the danger to which it ex= posed him, and that be must inevitiblv he deteeted rn the course of it; but, upon the .s-e 4 bleft of pro babilities, the Jury- should endeavour not to consider how things would appear to themScives, but how they , were likely to appear to such a person as the defenilasot at the bar, and to enter as far as possible into his imagination. They wet!: to remember that enthusiastn•was 'applicable to many subjefts, that it was the charader of erithnsiasni tc trine‘nify the value of its - object, and the'preleability of success in the pursuit of it, and to dimir.ish all apparent obstacles - to its completion. That there 'was politipal as well as religion's enthusiasm - and that the pris s hner at the bar was -a. - initsr who. had been previously the subjal of the ,suspicOns of the Government; and m;ght possibly he irrrt4ed, by a Misguided view of what he suffered in consequence of his .own lndis creticn ; that under such impressions he might have become desperate, and that to a mind so constituted, things might appear probable, which to a jumin their sober judgments, might be manifestly absMi , in the expedation ; and that difficultie> which to them might appear insuperable;sbould appear to him as trifling. —The next point to which be expelled the learm;d Gentlemen on the other side would call the attention of the Jury was, that of the credit due to the wit nesses. They mightsay, that no credit was due to an accomplice. .1, 1 the nrst place, he observed, one of the witnesses whom •he should call, although present at manrof the transadicnis, would hardly come under the light of an accomplice ; but 'upon the subject of Credit to an accomplice, he admit,. led, that an accomplice should be corroborated by other witnesses, if what hi stated was not of itself clear; but where there was conErmation to • such evidence, not only was, it adinissible, but it became credible. He apiercltencled also, that some defeats. might- ippaa'r lfi tWctaraiter of 'some cf those witnesses who were accomplices- This was 1- that •es lid been • persons, whose peevipas !iv steeled by many vic , ei, could come at once to a deterrninatioe of cmlrarking in so criminal and desperate a pursuit as this, and to make up their minds to the commie lion of so dreadful a died. The accotnplices who would be called 'as wh nestes, should net only be confirmed, btit the con fi'-mattun would beeahundant. The whole ciandu& of the prisoner would lead • direetiy to the inference of his guilt, end would be absolutely irreeSticileable with any other inference whatsoever. When he had .proved the proceedings of the consp?raters ; that the prisoner was present at all these proceeding's and as sisted in them, it wank! remain fot the Counsel on the other side to chew, why the prisoner was present, and how he could be innocently present. If the pri soner's Counsel could not setiily the Jury upon that point, the inevitable infetence would be, that he was guilty. Heconcluded with observing, that the prison. er at the bar would have the full benefit of the law of England, administered by English Judges and by an English Jury, in a manner superior to any other law in any other part of the world. if it were possible to suppose that feelings of compassion to the defendant, could induce the Jury to acquit him, notwithstanding clear proof of his guilt should be produced, such a verdiel would be one which would not only be a manifest breach of their daty, but one against which the public would leave a right to protest and exclaim ; not that he had any appreliee c,ll of such an event in this case e en the contra. y, he was confident that the Jury would fitid such a. verdia as the justice of the case deisianded. He would not occupy any more cf their tam., but pre ceed to call his witnesses. 701 n Stafford, Peace-Ch at the Police-Office, Union-Ha% examined I; Mr. Sot. Icitoa Geasseeie —On Tuesday the IGth November last, I was 41• reeled by the Magistrates to go to the Oakley Arm% • - • in the parish of St. Mary, Lambeth. I went, about nine o'clock in the evening, with John May and • Richard Lloyd, two officers, and met a largebody of •• Ifow-street Police Officers, sent by Sir Richard Ford. - Charl4s Bacon, and John Rivets, were two ci the officers I met. We Went together to the Oak ley Arms. Mr. Lloyd, the officer, ateendeci with a party in a room below stairs.. John Ilivett, John May, and myself, ran to the club-room up one pair of stairs; there were thirty persons assembled, among j whom were Thomas Phillips, William Lan der, John Landerelohn Duyle,JohuWood,'lliorhas. Newman, James Sedgwick Reams, Daniel Tyndall, Samuel Smith, Thomas 'Broughton, John Embein, - John Connell, and Edward Marcus Despard. They all appeared, except Colonel Despard, to be workhig Men.. some were soldiers. John Francis Wood and . Newman had not their regimentals on. Upon going into the room I made toward* the top, and ordered them all to keep their seats. I desired the officers to search them, and upon Thomas Phillips I saw May find a paper. tThe paper was produced to the v:itness, who identified it ; it was the same referred to in the Attorney General's speech]. Upon that paper being taken from Phillips, a patrole said, there was one who would not he searched. I went to the middle of the room to the person who had refused to be searched. Rivett said it was Colonei Dc perd. He desired to see the warent, and it was sheern ft: him. We pioceeded to search Colonel Despard; he seemed indignant. We searched him miauttly, but found nothing. He had a green utn- 4al .~ f • : 1 i )t .s .fa , 411 . 1.. t . • 1 I ;