Star.
London, England, 1820-12-11 00:00:00

EXECUTIONS.

This morning the sentence of the law was put in
execution upon the eight malefactors who were a few
days ago ordered to be hanged. The terrific ptepa-
rations were made at an early hour, and an immense
and noisy multitude assembled in the Old Bailey, to
witness the shocking spectacle. Amongst the crowd
there seemed to be no feeling but curiosity. From
the moment the communication had been made to
the unfortunate men under condemnation, they be-
came devoted to prayer. There never was an occa-
sion upon which greater proofs of contrition were
given. The spirit of repentance prevailed amongst
them all. Their friends had remained with them to
the latest hour permitted by the prison regulations.
At twelve o'clock last night, each of the poor wretches
lay down and slept for an hour. They then rose, and
alternately prayed and sung Psalms. They had been,
(luting the last few hours of their lives, constantly to-
gether, and each was as fervently occupied in sup-
porting the religious. enthusiasm of the other as in
himself receiving the assistance of the Divinity.—
Soon after seven o'clock, Mr. Beows., and the Sheriffs
WAITIIMAN and WILLIAMS, proceeded to the press-
room, which, soon after, Doctor COTTON entered in
prayer; followed by the pfisoners who were to die.--
The following was the order in which they entered,
and to that we have add‘d a repetition of the crimes'
of which they were convicted:
Thomas Eaton, Thomas Mint, and John Hughes,
for a highway robbery on the Edgware-road ; Mar-
tin Feeley, a soldier., for a burglary at Hampton
Court, at a hove where he was quartered ; Charles
Goodwin, for a burglary at Somers Town ; Richard
Scott, for an attempt to break open a house in Soho,
and cutting and maiming a watchman; Daniel
Gentle and lVilliam Reid, for a robbery in the house
of their master.

Feeley, the soldier, was the first whose irons were
taken off. He begged that somebody would lend
him a coat to die in, as he should be sorry to dis-
grace the Army, of which he was an unworthy
member, by appearing before the people in a soldier's
jacket. Mr. BROWN immediately ordered that this
last favour should be granted. All the unfortunate
men assisted the Officers of the Prison in removing
theirirons, and then joined in a Psalm. Dr. COTTON,
Mr. BAKER, and the two Sheriffs, were employed in
administering comfort to them. The death-bell
tolled at a few minutes before eight o'clock, and
they advanced in prayer, preceded by Dr. Corrow,
to the scaffold. Each of them bowed to the multi-
tude upon reaching the platform. They sung a
Psalm, and prayed most fervently while the Exe-
cutioner was performing his dreadful office. At
twenty minutes past eight the ropes were fastened
round their necks, and the next moment the signal
was given, and the drop fell. A violent scream was
heard amongst the crowd from a female. This was
the only evidence of horror the dreadful spectacle
produced outside the Prison. The multitude were,
for the*most part, engaged in noisy mirth, and left
the spot with as little advantage to their moral feel-
ing, as apprehension of so deplorable an end. The
bodies were cut down, after having been suspended
for an hour, and given to the friends of the deceased.
The following is a letter which Gentle wrote to a
friend, who, it would appear, may derive much be-
nefit from taking the advice:

,s Monday Morning—Condemned Room, Neergote.

" My Demi Furro--Little did I think I should be so soon
snatched from you; but GOD only knows—his will must be
done. My dear friend, I always respected you as my own bro-
ther : I hope my fate will be a warning to you. lam grieved
to my heart, to think you are deprived of •a comfortable situa-
tion through me; but I hope GOD ALMIGHTY will protect and
provide for you. I hope you will not forsake um laws. Al-
ways look up to HIM; for if Ha leaves us, we commit the
greatest of sins. My dear friend, repent of your past sins.
Never leave your Gon, and he will never leave you. Begin
this night to examine yourself, and repent of your former
sins. Mind you must be steadfastly purposing to lead a new
life. Let me persuade you to begin, and take your Bible on
Monday next, read the 55th chapter of Hezekiah, the 6th
chapter of John, and the 3d of Romans. Mind and repent, and
begin to sow your seed in good ground. Goo Atatharre is very
good, he has brought me to see the error of my ways. My pre-
sent situation is trying to fah and blood, but I hope will com-
fort my soul. He is a merciful GOD. 'Tic his will and plea-
sure. Mind and don't be easily persuaded. Ask yourself a
question first. pay, what am I—what is this world to the value
of my own soul? My dear friend be particular and guard against
being a hypocrite. This is almost the worst sin that can be
committed. Mind and put on the cloak of righteousness in sin-
cerity. Pray look more to your Bible. The Loan always be
your protector in this sinful world.—Your well-wisher and
dying friend, " D. GENTLE."
Reid has left behind a wife and four children. He
had expressed a most anxious wish to Mr. Baowm,
who has acted with his accustomed humanity, that
his wife and children should be protected. It is
feared that they are without friends.

A Scotch Paper informs us, that a fight-fingered
gentleman lately stole a cart at New Monkland
Church, with which he got clear off. -
Coax Excuaaax, Maax-r-axx, DICII3IIIIII H.—Owing to ad-
verse winds we had no arrivals today from the Suffolk coast,
but the supply of Wheat was large with land-carriige samples
from Essex, which met heavy sale, the quality being very infe-1
rior ; but ;hat was disposed of obtained last Monday's prices.
Having but little Barley at market prime samples sold Is. per
quarter higher than on this day week, and ordinary descriptions
sold on full as good terms as on Friday. The Oat trade conti-
nues very heavy sale, except for fide fresh Corn, which supports
its price, but the ordinary samples are Is. lower. In Beans and
Peas there is no alteration.
Smrrurrato Maacxr, Dec. 11..--Beef, ss. 6d. to 4s. 6d. per
stone of albs.; Mutton, Ss 6d. to 4s. 6d. Veal, 4s. 6d. to Ss. 6d.
Pork, 41.6 d. to Ss.lod. Lamb, 06.0 d. to os.od.—Cattle at Market
Beasts,s67o t Calves,l9o; Sheep and Lambs, 11,400 ; Pigs, 280.
Hay, Sf.los. to et. (s. Clover, 41. 10s. ty 61. ss. Straw, If. 121.
to 11.

-PRIDING MEETING.

~~ -•.:.

Thursday, a most numerous and respectable Meet-
ing, consisting of about one thouiand of the Inhabi-
tants, took pace in the Town-Hall, a to consider of
an Address of Congratulation to her Majesty the
QUEEN on the abandonment, by the Prosecutors
themselves of their own Bill of Pains and Penalties
against her; and also an Address to be presented to
hls Majesty the KING for the dismissal of the present
Ministers."

WILLIAM SYnenatm, Esq. the Mayor, was called
to the Chair by acclamation, and on opening the
business, said, he trusted the good order which had
always distinguished the Meetings of the inhabitants
of this Borough, would not be interrupted on the
present occasion, and if any difference of opinion
should arise during the discussion, that the same lati-
tude of speech.would be allowed to every one. He
'should endeavour to discharge his duty as Chairman
'with the.strictest impartiality—(Great applause).
JOHN BERKELEY MONCK, Esq. M.P. then came
forward, and, after some introductory observations,
said, the great majority of the whole People of the
United Kingdom were well convinced that the pro-
ceedings against her Majesty were inexpedient, un-
necessary, and unconstitutional—(Great applause).
He had never been able to discover, up to the pre-
sent hour, a single public ground—a single ground
in which the People had an interest, for the adoption
of any proceedings at all against her Majesty. He
believed in his conscience, that, the proceedings were
instituted merely to gratify a private feeling of dis-
gust and resentment in a certain quarter, from which,
of all others, accusations of adultery, and .sermons
about morality, purity, and the force of example,
came with the very worst grace—(Applause).—ln
that quarter, at least, it might have been expected,
that the humane precept of our religion would have
been scrupulously attended to—" Judge not, that ye
be not judged." When, however, proceedings were
determined to be adopted, why was it that his Ma-
jesty's Ministers•did not proceed by the regular con-
stitutional mode of impeachment, instead of having
recourse to an ex post facto law, a Bill of Pains and
Penalties—a measure that never ought to be pursued
but in case of absolute necessity, against some State
delinquent, either absenting himself from the coun-
try, or beyond the reach of the ordinary laws; and
then only for the purpose of preserving the Consti-
tution—of defending the rights of the _People—and
never for the purpose, as in the present case, of op-
pressing an individual, who had never done any
wrong to the People—whose sole offence, if any,
was against her husband—a husband too, who had
done nothing to gain her affection, to deserve her
love; who, within three short weeks after marriage—
after a solemn vow to cherish and protect her, had
discharged her from his mansion causelessly, capri-
ciously, and had ever since treated her, not only
with neglect, but with the most ungenerous and un-
remitting persecution ?—(Cries of Shame! shame!).
This husband seems to have thought, that he had
sufficiently fulfilled his engagement to his consort,
and his duty to the Public, in going through the
forms of marriage, and in securing to himself two
solid advantages—the pa=t of his debts, and a
largely entreated istalbli t. • As there was no
Bishop among them to broach..a new doctrine of
morality, he was not apprehensive that any man
there present would tell him, that 'the husband, be
he Prince or peasant, who had acted thus, could do
no wrong ! At last, when the iniquitous and awful
proceedings were begun, it would be remembered,
at what length Mr. Attorney-General opened the
case against the Queen, and that it was a tremen-
duous case indeed. There is hardly an obscenity'
ever, ractised—there is hardly an obscenity ever in-
vented or described in the filthy legends of brothels,
that was not imputed to her Majesty. At length
the mountain in labour was delivered; and what was
the produce?—a miserable abortion! which Minis-
ters themselves, its unhappy parents, were ashamed
of, and therefore thought proper to strangle it at
the very moment of its birth—(Loud cheers).—Of all
the weak cases that ever abused the time and pa-
tience of a Court of Justice, he would venture to say,
that this was one of the weakest. Strike out from
the case all the suspicious—all the contaminated—all
the contradicted evidence, and there remained no-
thing on which to hang even a suspicion of guilt,
except the single incident aboard the polacre, where
it was admitted, that her Royal Highness reposed,
during the voyage, under the same tent with Ber-
gami. This circumstance, however, far from laying
die foundation for presumption of guilt, to his ap-
prehension rebutted that presumption, and led to a
conclusion directly the reverse. He would ask any
candid impartial man, if it were credible that a wo-
man, intending to carry on an intrigue, would choose
such a place for such a purpose—a tent on the ship's
deck, exposed night and day to the prying eye of
the Officers apd crew, accessible at the sides—having
a communication, too, always kept open by the hatch-
way into the dining-room below, and where every
motion, and every word, and breathing of those
within might be perceived by those without. The
publicity of this transaction negatived all idea of
criminality. It had been said, however, that if she
had not been guilty of adulterous intercourse, she
bad been guilty of he knew not what unbecoming
levities and degrading familiarities—(Hear, hear).—
Admitting the fact to be so, still surely this did not
amount to guilt ? It was, at most, nothing but a
breach of manners ; it did not imply any immorality,
and least of all deserved to be visited by the severe
punishment of dethronement and divorce. He de-
tiled, however, the fact; he denied that her Majesty
had
.committed any impropriety, any indecorum—
provided only we were ready to make just allowances
for foreign customs and manners, and were not un-
reasonable enough to measure them by the precise
standard of our own—by the standard of English re-
serve, and (as foreigners are pleased to call it, when
they speak of us) of English phlegm, -.and English
haughtiness. It is well known, that on the Con-
tinent there is not that distance observed between
masters' and servants which prevails with us; and
that, in particular, married women have much more
freedom abroad than they have in this country.—
What is delicate, or indelicate, must, in every coun-
try, depend wholly upon custom—(Hear, hear!)Those who have travelled, and those .who have seen
the common engravings of the Swiss costumes, well
know that the peasants, in many parts of Switzer-
land, wear petticoats that do not descend even to the

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