The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-02-11 00:00:00

Film 1 +~ .•► . • .• t in this country. It would be proved that the pri soners propoetel this declaration. and offered to ad minister this oath to many persons. Here he read the declaration and the form of the oath, as stated in our paper of yesterday, and which, for that rea son, we pass over. He maintained. that the civil and religious rights which were mentioned in this paper, it was manifest, were not intended to be sought by penetrable means, or by appeal to any of Elie constituted authorities of the realm. 'Phis, he said, was clear from the words of the paper itself, and still more manifest from the declarations of the palsies, and the consultations which they held at va rious public-houses, at which all of the prisoners at the tier were patent. These papers, containing the declaration of those who adopted it, together with she oath to. endeavour to obtain the objett of it, he considered as of very great importance in this case, because they would explain the ohje.ft of the parties who promoted their circulation. The papers might be said to be ambiguous in their sense ; this he ap prehended would be quite otherwise, and that the meaning of them was to employ force to overturn the Government of this country, would be nianifest from the declaration and conduct of the prisoners. The Jury would find, that meetings for the purpose of obtaining subscriptions to this declaration, and to administer this oath to all who would take it, had been held so early as the month of March last, and -that they had been continued and held on various occasions et different public-houses, until the prison ers were al! apprehended at the Oakley Arms, on the 16th of November last ; in the course of that time, he believed that the public-houses at which these meetings were held. were not less than twenty in number. Here he recited the signs of the public houses at which these consultations wine held (and which we pass over, because they are already in evi dence upon the trial of Colonel Despard). In all these meetings, the Jury would find, that one great °Orel of the panics was to seduce the soldiers from their duty, and in which Jonh Francis was par t:c ulerl y active in swearing persons to that engagement. The Jury would find that some teok, and some refused to take the oath in the course of this proceed ing from March to November. Hitherto. how ever, lie had not stated any specific objeet to be attained by the persons engaged in this con spiracy. It was that of destroying or seizing the person of the King. and then the taking possession of the Tower, and that was intended to supply than with arms; hut as it was doubtful whether they should be able to have possession of the Tower, ter it was under the protection of the Guards, the conspi reties intended to obtain their objeet partly by force and partly by stratagem, and therefore it would appesr, that they determined to terrify some, and to cajcle others. They were to seize - he Bank as well, but that being proteeled by Gu..rds also, they were to gain them over. These were objects of the Conspirators, which the evidence worth? prove against the prisoners at the Bar; but the last and the most desperate part of the conspiracy, was the concerted plan for an attack upon his Majesty • and this plan was not only actually planned, but the ex ecution of it put off until the day when his Majesty was aetuaely to meet Parliament. It was agreed to be attempted on the day when his Majesty was ex peeled, by some persons, to meet the two Houses, but it being found that his Majesty was not to go that day, and that a subsequent day was appointed for that purpose, these conspirators put off the exe cution of their design unto the day when his Ma jesty was actually to go the House of Lords.— This meditated attack on the person of his Majesty, was the subject of many meetings and great dis cussion. Some proposed firing at the carriage in the Park, as his Majesty passed, out of the great gun on the Parade, and then to mike an attack, by rushing at once forwards ; others thought it better to attack his Majesty as he passed near Bucking ham-house, after the Horse Guards had left him— but with all their variety of opinion, they agreed to attack the King on that day • in this plan they all agreed, and Francis, Newr:ham, and Wood, who were soldiers, were particularly aelive; but they wanted for their head, Edward Marcus Despard. The SOLICITOR GENERAL said, he would not state all he felt on this occasion, and which he apprehended would appear in evidence, lest he might make an impression on the Jury to unfa vourable fur the prisoners. He was aware that the Jury would see, t ha t the general chjcct of the whole conspiracy was to seine on the person of the King, and to put him to death. However, he observed, that if in the examination of the evidence, the Jury should fled any reason to distinguish between the cases of the pri.oners, they would do so. Possibly they might rind some of them , more active than others, but he was afraid they would find that most, if not all, were without any excuse foreetir conduct. He then Irv:ceded to observe on the topics which would be probably urged by the Counsel for the pri soner, such as that the evi.Lnce were either accom plices or spies, and laid slow n the rules of law as they applied, in his opinion, to these points, and in which lie was afterwards confirmed by the Court. He con cluded with observing, he was perfectly satisfied, that from the dilig ent at :neon the Jury would give to the case, andeis as. stance they would have from the ('curt, they %%tnd be enabled to find a verdict consistent u ith justice, and satisfactory to their con scenes" as well as to the public. lis ths proceeded to seta the evidence for the Clown, wheel was needs/ verbatim the seine as that eich was given on th e . trial of Colonel Despard, aud which did not sufficiently affect the prisoner Doyle. he being only found at the Oakley Arms, without any proof of previcus knowledge of the intention of the rest of the party, and therefore Aeriiireee Gteeaet kindly observed, that although the appearance of Doyle at such a place. on suca an occasion, and under such circumstances, mi p ••itt seanant the putting 1.1 his case to the Jury, still he would con elit to h:s acquittal, in order that the other prisoners, if they thuught his evidence could avail them, might make use of him as a witness in their behalf. The evidence fur the prus , ,cutiun being closed, Lord Ei.i. es swim:lna, in the most landsome terms, co:mum:Al the caukiour of the Attuaney-Ge neral. Accordingly a verdict of acquittal, as to John 1)oyle, was recorded, and he was discharged ; but the prisoner's apunsel did nut think proper to apps:al tons cystic-me. Mr. J +ll Y I.t. rose, and addressed the Jury on be half of the Prisoners, in a speech of consid?rable and ss rent:irk:Me for its style, energy and elegtesue as any OW J-Aivered on a similar arca ■um. EA:Lusted as we ale by the fatigue cif detail- i2Q ; ~`.~ BIIM=mIIPMMI ing the proceedings of yesterday, it would be a vain attempt to give even an impeded idea of it. He commenced by observing. that it was his duty to ad- I dress the Jury on behalf of the twelve unfortunate men at the bar ' for whom he was Counsel, at a period cf the night when both body and mind were over come with fatigue and attention. He adverted to the difficulties he had to encounter, as Counsel for twelve men accused of so great a crime. It was a crime striking at the very fountain head of sove reign power, and involving in it the destrudion of one not only endeared to us by the sacred fumftion Fe fnifilled, but by Iris charader . in every relation of public and private life—one who I lad honer faculties so meek; had lseett So cli•ar in hi,. great oilier, that his virtmes Would plra.ll.ke tug Gls double tongural, against The deep damnation of hu takers off. He alluded to the Statute of Edward the Third, by which it was required, that no man should be at tainted of High Treason, except proveably by men of his own condition ; and he elucidated his reniarks upon that Statute by the Commentary and Exposi tion of Lord Coke, • and the more modern writings of Lord Hale and sir. Justice Foster. He contended that the question for the Jury was stripped of all le gal discussion—all difference of opinion as to points ()flaw; and that it was a mere question of fact. He then stated what were the rules and principles of evidence required to prove the fact of high treason, elucidating his remarks by apposite quotations from Beccaria on Crimes and Punishments, and other eminent writers ; and byreferring to the various pre cedents on subjects of criminal jurisprudence, at va rious periods prior and subsequent to the Revolution. He then referred to the particular evidence given in this case by the wimesees, insisting that it was of too suspicious a nature to justify a Jury in coedemning such a number of their fellow-creatures upon a charge of so foul a nature, and which was visited by punishment so severe and dread/oh He examined the evidence of each witness separately, contending that the trstiniony of Virindsor and the accomplices was unworthy of the least credit. He made many severe remarks upon the character of the witnesses, and appealed, in the most earnest manner, to the Jury, to discard their evidence altogether ; and he eonclnded an eloquent harangue, the delivery of . hich occupied near three hours, trusting that the Jury would, by their verdict, restore4ie prisoners to their families. A great number of witnesses were then called for the purpose of giving characters to the different pri soners, who stated them to be all men of sober and industrious habits, &c. but none of them spoke to any knowledge of the political sentiments of any of the prisoners, never having heard them say any thing upon politics. Mr. Hovte.t. spoke in behalf of the prisoners after the evidence was closed. The ATTORNEY GENERAL made an able reply to the speech of Mr. Jet YLL, and answered all the ob servations which were made by him. He maintain ed that all the evidence was on one side, namely, for the prosecution. As to the character of wit nesses, he observed, there was more advantage to the prisoner in the case of High Treason than any other, even in the case of an accomplice being exa mined as a Witness, beceu:...et the prisoner had the name and addition of every witness to be exal t = against him given in, a number of days his trial, by which, if there was any dereE in the character of the witnesses, the prisoner had time to examine into the matter, and to bring forward any thing that might diminish the credit of a wit ness, an advantage which a prisoner never had in the case of a common felony ; so, in this case, if any of the witnesses for the crown were those despicable chat acters they were stated to be, there had been abundant time to attack their character by the evidence of others, if their cha racters were vulnerable. That with regard to Go vernment having discharged fifteen out of the thirty who were apprehended at the Oakley Arras, and who were supposed to be as guilty as the pri soners, and who, it was contended, ought .to hare been examined .by the Crown as witnesses, he had only to say, if they had been called as witnesses for the Crown, they would have been called accom plices; but if .the prisoaers thought they could prove any thing material to their defence, they would have been excellent witnesses for them. That Government had not prevented their being wit- • ncsscs for the prisoners, by including them in the charges now before the Court; and if they had therein erred, it was an error that could not be said to be a hardship on the prisoners. Ile depreciated the idea of giving way to the appeals which had been made to the humanity of the Jury, by repeat edly reminding them that there were as many lives to ise disposed of in this ease, as there were em powered to pronounce their doom. He held this to ' be a principle much too dangerous to be attended to. He lamented as much as his Learned Friend, Mr. Jut v es, could lament, that twelve of his fellow crea'ures should be now upon their trial for one of fence; but that was their own fault, and not his. ! There was no calculating the den' get to 4vhich this • country would be exposed, if it were once under stood that Government were never to bring forward more than five or six persons in any one conspiracy against the State. The effed of that might be, that men disposed to mischief might be led to think that if they were five or six thousand in number, and only one out of thousand of them was to fall, the risk to each individual was sn trifling that it did not deter them. That was not the course to be taken; the Public and the Government must be secured under the administration of the law, whatever the sacrifice might be which the guilt of particular individuals might render necessary. The ATeue sixv GENERAL then proceeded to enforce this pi in ciple with irresistible force, and to contend, that with the exception of a few of the prisoners, whose shades of guilt were different, the prisoners must be found guilty, as a sacrifice that was demanded by Justice. • Lord Et.LEN Boaounn then went over the whole of the evidence correctly, and many able comments on the various parts of it, aril distinguishing the cases of Philips and Smith from the rest, as not be ing so decisively made out in point of intention as the :est. His Lordihip also went over the points of law as they had been mooted at the Bar on the subjed of the evidence of accomplices and spies, Sec. in like manner as he did on the former trial of Colonel De .yard. The Jury retired, and deliberated till Eight o'Clock, when they appeared in Court, and retur n ed the following : John W noti—L Thema; litoughtos-.CaUty. ,_ ' John Francis--. Guilty. Thomas Newman—Guilty, recommended to Mercy. • Daniel Tyndall--Guilty, recommended to Mercy.. James Sedgirick William Lander—Guilty, recommended to Mercy. Arthur Graham—Gut/rip Samuel Smith—Yot Guilty. )ohn M'Nernara—Guilty. Thomas Phillips—Nut Guilty. Col. Despard was then brought into Court, and placed at the bar. Mr. KNAPP, severally addressing the prisoners, said, " You have been indicted for conspiring, com passing, imagining, and intending to bring and put our lord the King to death, to which indictment you have pleaded not guilty ; and have pat yonrseivcs upon your country, which country has pronounced aga'ast you—What have you to say, why the Court should not give judgment against you, and each of you, to die, according to law ? " Colonel Despard. " I have only to say, that the charge brought against me is one which I could not have the most distant idea of ; and since my convic tion I have had no opportunity, from my attorney having been engaged, of bringing forward any evi dence to refute it. I have now nothing further to say, than what I said at first--that I am not guilty." Lord ELLENDOROITGII then pronounced sentence of Death on the convicts, and addressed them in a very impressive speech, of which we have endea voured humbly to give the substance as follows: " Edward Marcus Despard, John Wood, Tho mas Broughton, John Francis, Thomas Newman, Daniel Tyndall, James Sedgwick Ratten, Ar thur Graham, and John Ma.cniunara, after a long and, I trust a very patient and impartial trial, you have been severally convicted of the High Treason, which by your indictment has been upon you. In the course of the evidence which has been laid before the Court, a ti....asonable conspiracy has been disclosed, of enormous extent and alarmin,, ,, magnitude. The object of that conspiracy, in which you have borne your several very active and criminal parts, has been to overthrow the fundamental Laws and established Government of your country, tc seize upon and destroy the sacred person of our re vered and justly-beloved Sovereign, and to mur der and destroy the various members of his royal house, and annihilate those branches of the legisla ture of this realm, and which some of you have chosen, in bold and desperate language, to describe at your meetings as a den of thieves, and thereby to supersede the legitimate Government, which you have chosen to describe in terms equally reviling and unjust, as a s) stem of arbitrary rule, and in stead of the ancient limited monarchy of this realm, its established and wholesome laws, its approved in 'stitutions, its civil and nniform gradations of rank , its natural and desirable ineqUality, to substitute a wild scheme of impracticable equalization of civil, political, and religious rights, holding out a vain and delusive promise of an ample provision for the f.milies of the heroes, falsely so called, who should fall in the contest: a scheme equally calculated to produce the misery of those who struggled for its adoption, as of those who were to have been as victims. " This plan has been stated to have been carried intusecution by the seduction of unwary and ig norlifit soldiers from their duty, and by attempts to ensnare their consciences by the administration of illegal and impious oaths ; that this might operate on the more needy and unprincipled persons of the lower ranks and classes of the community, and in duce a more ready association in your criminal con federacy, it was (I hop.: falsely) declared, that the country was ripe for the attack, and that the. people in all its great and populous towns were ready to join it, and were anxious for that change which it was its object to effect. It appears too, that by a pre tended executive authority exercised by some among you, the distribution and direction of the resources of the confederacy, and the supply of ammunition, arms, and military stores, were held out as the means of assistan.:e, and the encouragement and pledge of support. It is, however, wisely ordained by Divine Providence, for the security and happi ness of mankind, that the rashness of such counsels is ever destined to defeat their malignity ; and that the wickedness of the contrivers falls on their own heads, afford the means of timely escape and secu rity to its intended victims. The leagues and unions, which constitute the means of such associates, are always treacherous. We uniformly find they begin in treason to the Sovereign, and end, if they do not also begin, in treachery towards those indi viduals who compose them. The danger to the public, which is threatened by their ma chinations, is redeemed, and its effects pre vented, by the criminal motives operating on the same classes of delinquents. It has thus happened in the present instance : that your crimes have, in part, been frustrated by the operation of the same instruments by which they were intended to have been forwarded, and had nearly been matured to their ultimate accomplishment. It behoves all those whose destruction was doomed to have taken place in the successful event of this conspiracy, and who were the objects of proscription by those whose sen timents are, I trust, the sentiments of but a very small portion of the people of the Empire, to render thanks to God for having hitherto defeated it. As to you, the contrivers of this dangerous, but abortive Treason, it remains for me only to perform the last but painful part of my o ffi cial 'duty. - As to you, Edward Marcus Despard, born to better hopes, ' and formed by Providence for better ends and pur poses, and accustomed as you have heretofore been to better habits of life and manners, and (pursuing, as you once did, as we have heard from your wit nesses, together with the virtuous and distinguished companions of your former life and service, during a lung period, a laudable course of laudable ambition) . I will not at this painful moment roint out how much all these considerations are lost in the de• grading and ignominious fellowship in which you Crow star d, or aggravate your crimes, sh irpcned and emhittered as l KIIOW they must be by the fullness of your p .e.ent sufferings ! I entreat you, by the mc sporysuf what you once were, to use your ardent en deavours, during the short period of your remaining life, to subdue that callous heart, of which, in a fatal moment, you once boasted, and to regain that salu tary disposition and affection you once had, arid by which you may work your salvation—which, thank God is yet attainable, by effectual penitence and availing prayer! As to you. John 'Wood, you'Thomas Broughton, you John Francis, you James Sedwick Wratten, you Arthur Graham, you Thomas Newman,' you.. Da niel Tynlail, you William Lander, and you John M'Namara, the tad victims of Lis seduction and LONDON, - FRIDAY. Frs. 11. Our readers will perceive, that it was impossible to do justice to the State-Trials, within the compass of a single number of the Bat risn PREMI, however comprehensive its columns may be.—We, therefore, this day subjoin a Supplement, which, taken to gether with our Paper of yesterday, will be found to constitute a complete, full, and accurate report of these most important and interesting cases.— Our promise to the public is thus, we conceive, faithfully discharged. But we cannot dismiss the sub jeet, without noticing another part of our conduit upon this occasion, for which we consider ourselves entitled to some credit, although our claim may not be equally apparent.—We mean, our declining to publish the Overt• Acts of the indictment, which are tan-amount in their effect to the indictment itself, until the trials were concluded. In observing this cautious rule, we indulged our own feelings, while we pursued that line to which we conceived our selves strictly enjoined by the order of the Court. The best writers upon the laws of England, notice the danger to which Juries are liable of being led astray by their feelings, iti cases of extraordinary tur pitude and flagitousness. Whether the charges contained in the indictments were of nature that might influence the public mind, and produce that effect, our readers will determine. We cer tainly think it no discredit to our judgment, to have considered them in that light, and to have acted accordingly. Upon the same principle, we abstain at present from making any observations upon those trials, and leave the credit of anticipation here also to some of our Cotemporaries. The door of justice has closed upon the prisoners, but the fountain of mercy remains still open. We cannot forget that all these unhappy men are within its possible reach, and that four of them are particularly recommended to it. • In our paper of Tuesday, we noticed the ru mours :squat, respeding an intended application to the Bank by some holders of Umnium, t,r further indulgence in the redemption of such sums as still remained pledged in the hands of the Diredors.— We then stated our convidion, that if such a mea sure was in agitation, it had not received the sanc tion of any of the leading men in the money-mar ket; and we expressed our sentiments on the inexpedi ency or such a proceeding. The events of yesterday have completely verified cur statements, and con famed our opinion. A Petition was actually pre. stinted to the Diredors of the Bank, humbly pray. h:g, that the deferred payment of 30 per cent. due on I: ridAy next the 18th, might be still further defer. red, one half until April, and the other until July. The signatures to this Petifi'on were very few, and,we have reason to believe, did not include any of the original Contra&ors for the Loan. The answer of tae Court of I)irdors to this Petition was, that the request of the Petitioners could not be complied with: arid the 'propriety of their resolution may be esti . ihated by tile joyous huzzas with which the deter. example, and of your own wicked and disloyal pnr. poses--you have afforded a melancholy, but I hope instructive example, to all persons of the same class and condition with yourselves, to deter them, by the calamitous consequences which await your crimes, from engaging in the same counsels which have led you to this ignominious and untimely end. May they, from yo.tr fatal example, learn the humble, but secure blessings of industrious and quiet life ! all which you have, in an evil hour, cast away from you ; and may they, by so doing, increase the stock of public happiness and security! The same recommendation I have offered to the leader of your crimes, and the companion of your present sufferings. As to the remainder of your existence in this world, I again repeat, and earnestly recommend to every one of you : and may you, by your penitence and earnest prayers obtain for you all, that mercy which a due and necessary regard to the safety and interest of your fellow-men may not allow you here It only remains for me to pro nounce the dreadful sentence of the law. His Lord ship then passed the nsual judgment for High Trea son : the dreadful term we avoid repeating. Col. Desiard. Your Lordship will allow me to say one or two words. Your Lordship has imputed to me the character of being the seducer of these men. I did not see that any thing of the kind ap peared on the trial from any part of the evidence. Tynkll-1 am satisfied with M. JLI:v I. L's exer tions, and I humbly thank him for them. APNamara—My Lord, I beg to speak. lam now under sentence of death, and am soon to quit this world ; but may God never rcc.live me, if I ever spoke to the witness, Windsor ! The Court immediately dissolved. THEATRE-ROTAL, DRURr-LANE. THIS EVENING will be pruruted ShakspeareN Play of THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. StrJohn Fitlotiff, Mr. Palmer, Shallow, Mr. Soca; Slender, Mr. Collins; Mr. Paste, Mr, Holland; Mr. Ford, Mr. Wroughton ; Sir Hugh Lvans, Mr. Dowton; Dr. Caine, Mr. Wewitzer. To which will be added, A HOUSE TO BE SOLD. THEATRE-ROrAL, co;'ENT-G ARDEN. THIS EVENING will be performed the Comedy of THE MAN OF THE WORLD. Sit Pertinax M'Sycophant, Mr. Cooke; Lord Lumb•ri court; Mr. Waddy ; Melville, Mr. Cory; Egerton, Mr. Siddons. Betty Hint, Mrs. Mattocks ; Connantine, Mrs. H. Siddons; Lady M'Sycophant, Miss Leserve; and Lady Rodolpha Lumbercotivt, Mrs. H. Johnston. To which will be added, PAUL AND VIRGINIA. Mil: BRITISH PRESS. I