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

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 havie 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.