with a view to the apportionment of their provisions; and having
discovered that it was near four thousand miles, they agreed that their
rations should not exceed an ounce of bread and a gill of water a day
for each man. Upon this scanty allowance they subsisted without any
other nourishment until the 6th of June, when they made the coast of New
Holland, and collected a few shell-fish; and with this small relief they
held on their way to Timor, which they reached on the 12th, after being
forty-six days in a crazy open boat, so confined in its dimensions as to
prevent any of them lying down for repose, and without the least awning
to protect them from the rain, which fell almost incessantly for forty
days; a heavy sea and squally weather augmenting their misery during a
considerable part of the time.
On their reaching Timor, they received every assistance from the
governor; and having remained until the 20th of August to recruit their
strength, they procured a vessel, in which they took their passage to
Batavia. They reached that port on the 2nd of October, and from thence
they immediately embarked for the Cape of Good Hope. Captain Bligh
quitted the Cape in the month of December, and having reached England,
he communicated the particulars of the mutiny to the Admiralty, and H.
M. S. the Pandora was immediately despatched in search of the mutineers.
It was not until the 25th of April 1792, that despatches were received
from Captain Edwards, stating that on the Pandora appearing off
Otaheite, two men swam from the shore, and solicited to be taken on
board. They proved to be two of the Bounty's mutineers, and gave
intelligence where fourteen of their companions were concealed on the
island. A part of the Pandora's crew were sent in search of them; and
after some resistance they were taken and brought prisoners on board.
It then turned out that Christian had taken upon himself the command of
the Bounty immediately on the captain's having quitted her, and that his
crew consisted of twenty-five men. When the Pandora arrived, Christian,
with the other nine mutineers, had previously sailed in the Bounty to
some remote island, and every exertion to discover their retreat proved
ineffectual. On her return home, the Pandora struck upon a reef of rocks
in Endeavour Straits. Her crew escaped from their perilous situation to
an island in the Straits, except thirty-three men, and three of the
Bounty's people, who perished by the boat oversetting. Captain Edwards
was reduced to the necessity of sending one of his officers and some
seamen in a small boat to Timor, which they were fourteen days in
reaching, and where a vessel was procured, which proceeded to the
assistance of the remainder of the crew.
So much had the mutineers of the Bounty conformed to the custom and
manners of Otaheite, that when two men of Christian's crew swam off to
the Pandora, they were so tattooed, and exhibited so many other
characteristic stains, that on being first received on board, the
Pandora's people took them for natives of the island. The names of the
above metamorphosed mutineers were, Peter Heywood, a midshipman, and
Joseph Coleman, the armourer; the latter of whom, Captain Bligh
observes, "was detained by Christian contrary to his inclination."
On the 12th of September a court-martial commenced on board the Duke, in
Portsmouth harbour, on Joseph Coleman, Charles Norman, Thomas
Mackintosh, Peter Heywood, Isaac Morris, John Millward, William
Muspratt, Thomas Birkett, Thomas Ellison, and Michael Burn. The evidence
for the prosecution closed on Friday night, the 14th, and the Court
indulged the prisoners till Monday to give in their defence; and on
Tuesday took the whole into their consideration, when they were pleased
to pass sentence of death on Heywood, Morris, Millward, Muspratt,
Birkett, and Ellison, the two first of whom the Court recommended to
mercy. Coleman, Norman, Mackintosh, and Burn were acquitted, and
discharged.
On the 29th of October, Millward, Birkett, and Ellison, were executed on
board the Brunswick: Heywood and Morris were pardoned, in compliance
with the recommendation of the Court.
NATHANIEL LILLEY, JAMES MARTIN, MARY BRIANT, WILLIAM ALLEN, AND JOHN
BUTCHER.
CONVICTED OF RETURNING FROM TRANSPORTATION.
The offence with which these prisoners stood charged was that of
returning from transportation at a period earlier than that to which by
their sentences they were required to remain in the penal settlement to
which they had been sent.
Their trial took place on the 8th of July 1792, and the following facts
were proved. It appeared that the prisoners had all been tried in
England, and sentenced to undergo various terms of transportation, and
in pursuance of their sentence were sent to Botany Bay. The small
settlement which then existed would be hardly recognised in the
flourishing colony which, through the employment of English wealth and
enterprise, now rears its head upon the shores of New Holland; and it is
not surprising that these unhappy persons should have been anxious to
escape from a place where slavery and misery alone awaited them. For
this purpose they formed a species of society or club among themselves,
and having collected together what money they possessed, they entrusted
one of their number, named Briant, the husband of the prisoner Mary
Briant, to apply to Captain Schmidt, the commander of a Dutch vessel,
who had recently before brought a cargo of provisions to the colony, to
induce him to sell them one of his boats, a sail, a quadrant, and the
necessary quantity of provisions for the voyage which they intended to
make. The enterprise was dangerous to both parties, for it was a felony
to aid the escape of convicts; but the Dutchman tempted by the bribe,
which was considerable, let them have an old six-oared boat, with a
lug-sail, and about 100 lbs. of rice, and 14 lbs. of pork, with which,
together with about 200 lbs. of flour, which they purchased of a baker
in the colony, they determined to set sail on their expedition. Having
got all their provisions on board, they started on the night of the 28th
March 1791; the party consisting of Briant and his wife and two
children, of the ages of one and three years, the three male prisoners,
and also Samuel Bird, James Cox, and William Martin; the point of their
destination being Timor, which by the nearest run is distant about 1300
miles from the place of their embarkation.
They were forced to keep along the coast, as much as they could, for the
convenience of procuring supplies of fresh water; and on these
occasions, and when the weather was extremely tempestuous, they would
sometimes sleep on shore, hauling their boat on the land. The savage
natives, wherever they put on shore, came down in numbers to murder
them; and they now found two old muskets, and a small quantity of powder
which Captain Schmidt had given them, particularly serviceable in firing
over the heads of these multitudes, on which they ran off with great
precipitation; but they were always forced to keep a strict watch. In
lat. 26. 27. they discovered a small uninhabited island, where were
plenty of turtles, which proved a great relief to them; but they were
very near being lost in landing. On this island they dried as much
turtle as they could carry, which lasted them ten days.
At length, after suffering almost innumerable hardships and dangers,
they landed at Cupang, on the island of Timor, a Dutch settlement, on
6th June 1791, having sailed considerably more than five thousand miles,
and been ten weeks all but one day in performing this voyage. At Cupang
they informed the governor that they had belonged to an English ship,
which was wrecked on her passage to New South Wales, and he treated them
with great humanity; but at length overhearing a conversation among
them, he discovered that they were convicts, who had escaped from the
colony in New South Wales.
On the 29th of August 1791, the Pandora, of twenty guns, Captain
Edwards, was wrecked on a reef of rocks near New South Wales. The
captain, and those of the crew who were saved, got to Cupang in their
boats; when the governor gave the captain an account of the eleven
persons he had there, and of the conversation he had overheard.
The captain took them with him to Batavia, where William Briant and his
eldest child died. The rest were put on board a Dutch ship, in which
Captain Edwards sailed with them, for the Cape of Good Hope. On their
passage to the Cape, James Cox fell overboard and was drowned, and
Samuel Bird and William Martin died. At the Cape, Captain Edwards
delivered the survivors to Captain Parker, of the Gorgon, and they
sailed with him for England; and in their passage home, the younger
child of Mary Briant died.
On their trials the prisoners described the hardships which they had
undergone in the most piteous manner; and the Court, in consideration of
their sufferings, ordered them to remain on their former sentence, until
they should be discharged by the course of law.
THE REV. RICHARD BURGH, JOHN CUMMINGS, THOMAS TOWNLEY M'CAN, ESQRS.,
JAMES DAVIS, AND JOHN BOURNE.
CONVICTED OF A CONSPIRACY TO BURN THE KING'S BENCH PRISON.
The prisoner Burgh, who is first named in this case, was the private
chaplain, and a relation to the speaker of the Irish House of Commons;
the other prisoners were persons who were entitled to be ranked as
gentlemen, and it appears that they were all confined in the King's
Bench Prison for debt.
On the trial of the conspirators, the Attorney-general said he flattered
himself it would be found that he had done no more than his duty in
bringing the several defendants before the Court. The offence with which
they were charged was of the utmost importance to the peace and safety
of the capital; for it not only had for its object the demolition of the
King's Bench Prison, but involved the burning of other houses,
bloodshed, and murder. He lamented that five persons, all of education
and respectable families, should, by their folly and imprudence, to call
it by the softest name, bring themselves into such an unfortunate
situation; one was a reverend divine, another an officer in the army,
another had been in the profession of the law, and the others were of
respectable parents, and, as he understood, set out in the world with
fair prospects of being honourable and useful members of the community.
The Attorney-general further said, that this case was pregnant with the
most alarming circumstances, which would be better detailed by the
witnesses than described by him.
Edward Webb was then examined, and he said he knew all the prisoners; he
was introduced into a society, called "The Convivials," held in a room
in the King's Bench Prison, of which the prisoners were members. M'Can
expressed himself very freely upon the subject of Lord Rawdon's bill,
then pending, respecting insolvent debtors, and said if that bill did
not pass into a law, he and others were determined to do something to
liberate themselves, and that there was a scheme in agitation for that
purpose, but that the parties were sworn to secrecy, and therefore he
could not divulge it; the witness said he might safely communicate the
business to him; and the prisoners, Cummings and Davis, being present,
M'Can said, the plan in which he and the other prisoners were concerned,
was to effect their own enlargement by demolishing the walls of the
prison, as they were determined not to be confined within those walls
for debt; the execution of this plan would, however, depend upon the
rejection of Lord Rawdon's bill: after they had effected their escape by
setting fire to the prison, they would then go to the Fleet Prison, and
liberate the prisoners; after which they should proceed to the houses of
Lords Thurlow and Kenyon, which they would destroy. Davis said he should
not hesitate, himself, to blow out the brains of those noble lords; the
same witness saw the other defendants, who conversed upon the subject;
and it was proposed to procure some sailors to assist them. This scheme
was, however, defeated by the vigilance of the marshal, who sent for the
guards and had the prison searched. The witness soon afterwards saw the
prisoners M'Can, Cummings and Davis, who said that they were defeated in
their former scheme, and that they were determined to put some other
plot into execution; and, on the next day, Cummings, who was nick-named
"the Captain," said that the best plan would be "to blow the d--d walls
up." He then conducted the witness to the bake-house, and pointed to a
place where the drain was opened, saying, that he meant to introduce a
box into it, containing 50lbs. weight of gunpowder; and that he had
planned how the tubes, by which the fire should be conveyed to it,
should run. He then asked the witness to get the box made; and the plan
having been communicated to M'Can and Davis, they declared that it would
be "glorious," and that they would lose their lives in the attempt.
Bourne was then acquainted with the plot, as he had some gunpowder, and
he acquiesced in it; and it was determined that, as he had not got
enough powder, a motion should be made at the next meeting of the
Convivials for a subscription of five shillings each to buy more, under
the pretence that it was to fee counsel, to know whether the marshal had
any right to enter their rooms when he pleased. It was then further
agreed that the powder should be deposited in a hole in the floor of
Burgh's room, which was looked upon as the best place of concealment;
and that on the day of the "explosion," M'Can and Bourne were to get up
a sham fencing-match, in order to give all the prisoners an opportunity
of being collected together and making their escape in a body. The day
fixed upon for the completion of the scheme was Sunday, and it was
determined that seven o'clock should be the hour of the train being
fired, because there were generally a great number of strangers in the
prison then; but the whole affair being in the mean time communicated to
the marshal, the plot was put an end to, by the apprehension of the
prisoners, and the seizure of their powder.
Other witnesses confirmed this testimony, and the prisoners were found
guilty.
On Tuesday, 12th February 1793, they were placed at the bar to receive
judgment, and were severally sentenced to three years' imprisonment in
different jails.
LAURENCE JONES,
INDICTED FOR ROBBERY.
This unfortunate man was a native of London, where he received a good
education, and moved in genteel society, but having been guilty of some
fraudulent practices, he was discharged from the situation which he
held. Being now driven to "seek his fortune," he determined to commence
swindler, and having a considerable sum of money left him by a relation,
he took a very handsome house in St. James's, had it elegantly
furnished, and kept his carriage and servants.
During his abode here he defrauded Mr. Hudson, a silversmith, of plate,
to the value of near three thousand pounds; Mr. Kempton, a mercer, of
silks, and other goods, to a large amount; and Mr. Bailey, a watchmaker
and jeweller, of a gold repeater, and other goods, to the value of three
hundred pounds.
The time of payment coming on, and suspicion being entertained of his
honesty, he thought it time to decamp, and he effected his purpose just
in time to avoid a warrant out against him.
After this he lived privately for some time, that suspicion might die
away before he again began his fraudulent practices, which he carried on
with his usual success, till the occurrence of the affair for which he
was condemned; the particulars of which are as follow:--
Mr. Campbell, the collecting clerk to Vere, Lucadou, and Co., bankers,
in Lombard-street, in the course of his business called at a house in
Hatton-garden for the purpose of demanding payment of a bill. No sooner
had he knocked at the door than it was opened by a person, in appearance
a gentleman, who desired him to walk into the counting-house, and,
having entered, a man came behind him, and covered his head and face
over with a thick cap, so that he could see nothing. He was then thrown
on the floor, and wrapped in a green baize, in which condition he was
bound hand and foot, and carried down stairs. His assailants now
proceeded to rob him of his pocket-book, with bank-notes and bills to
the amount of nine hundred pounds, and having secured the money, they
took measures to prevent a discovery before they could receive the money
for the bills, &c. which they had stolen.
They first laid their victim flat on his back on a board, and chained
him hand and foot, and then carried him down stairs into a back kitchen,
where they chained him to the bars of a grate, threatening that if he
made a noise they would blow his brains out. Then, after placing before
him some bread, some ham, and some water, they left him.
In this condition he remained for about eight hours, not daring to make
the least noise, expecting every moment to be murdered if he spoke: but
Providence preserved him from this dreadful fate; for, hearing no more
of them for so many hours, he at last had the courage to call out, and
he at length succeeded in alarming a man who was at work in a house
behind that in which he was confined. The fellow had the resolution to
break open the door of the house from whence the noise proceeded, when,
directed by the cry, he went down stairs, and there discovered the
unfortunate Mr. Campbell almost expiring, and exhausted with struggling
and crying out.
Jones was afterwards apprehended by Jealous and Kennedy, officers of
Bow-street, at the King's Arms, in Bridge-street, Westminster, and on
being seen by Mr. Campbell, he was immediately recognised by him as one
of the men by whom he had been robbed.
Being committed to Newgate, he was afterwards tried, and found guilty,
when he received sentence, and was ordered for execution on Wednesday,
December 8, 1793, in Hatton-garden, near the house where he committed
the robbery; but on the Saturday previous, about six o'clock in the
morning, when the turnkey entered the cell to prepare him to hear the
condemned sermon and to receive the sacrament, he found him dead. It
appeared that he had made several attempts on his life before, but was
prevented: and the manner in which he at last accomplished his purpose
was very extraordinary: he had taken the knee-strings with which his
fetters were supported, and tied them round his neck; then, tying the
other end to the ring to which his chain was fastened, he placed his
feet against the wall, and strangled himself. The coroner's jury
pronounced a verdict of _Felo de se_.
In consequence of this verdict, the body was, on Wednesday morning,
carried out of Newgate, extended upon a plank on the top of a cart, his
face being covered with a cloth, and his clothes being upon his person,
and in that condition, with a stake driven through his body, he was
thrown into a pit, which was dug at the end of Hatton-garden, at the
brow of Holborn hill, and buried.
ROBERT WATT AND DAVID DOWNIE.
CONVICTED OF HIGH TREASON.
We are now arrived at an alarming period in the modern history of our
country. Just engaged in the war with France, we were perplexed with
disaffection at home, and threatened with invasion by our enemy.
Confederate bodies of dissatisfied men were formed, from London to
Edinburgh, and a systematic course of treason and correspondence was
maintained until government stretched out its powerful arm to defeat
their plans.
Watt and Downie were principals in the Scottish conspiracy, and their
trial came on before the High Court of Justiciary, at Edinburgh, on the
3d of September 1794. Watt was first tried, when Mr. Anstruther stated
the case on the part of the Crown. He began by observing, that such was
the peculiar happiness of that country (Scotland), that they had been
unacquainted with the law of treason for nearly half a century.
The laws of treason were now the same in England and Scotland, and the
duty of the subjects of both kingdoms should be the same. Scotland, in
this instance, had reaped much benefit by the Union, as her laws of
treason, previous to that period, were much more severe. The act of
Edward III. stated three distinct species of treason: 1. Compassing and
imagining the death of the king; 2. Levying war against him; 3.
Assisting his enemies. He would not trouble the Court or Jury with the
two last: for the single species of treason charged in the present case
was the compassing and imagining the death of the king; which was
defined by the conceiving such a design; not the actual act, but the
attempt to effect it. But the law which thus anxiously guarded the
sovereign was equally favourable to the subject; for it did not affect
him until that imagination was fully proved before "men of his
condition." An overt act of treason was the means used for effectuating
the purpose of the mind: it was not necessary to prove a direct attempt
to assassinate the king; for the crime was the intention, and the overt
act the means used to effect it.
After explaining more fully the distinct species of treason which
applied to the present case, Mr. Anstruther said that he trusted that if
he could prove any design whereby the king's life was put in jeopardy,
that would be considered an overt act. He should now state the facts,
upon which these principles of law were to be founded. The present
conspiracy was not that of a few inconsiderable individuals; it had
risen indeed from small beginnings, from meetings for pretended reforms.
It had been fostered by seditious correspondence, the distribution of
libellous writings, and had at last risen to a height, which, but for
the vigilance of the administration, might have deluged the country,
from one end to the other, with blood. The proceedings of these
societies, calling, or rather miscalling, themselves Friends of the
People, were well known: their first intention was apparently to obtain
reform; but this not answering their purpose, they proceeded to greater
lengths. He meant to detail the general plans and designs formed among
the seditious, and then to state how far the prisoners were implicated
in them.
The first dawning of this daring plan was in a letter from Hardy,
secretary to the London Corresponding Society; to Skirving, the
secretary to the Friends of the People in Scotland. He wrote that, as
their petitions had been unsuccessful, they must use separate and more
effectual measures; and Skirving answered, and admitted the necessity of
more effectual measures, and said that he foresaw the downfall of this
government. Here also was the first notice of a Convention; a measure
which it was no wonder they were fond of, when they saw its effects in a
neighbouring kingdom (France). They meant not to petition Parliament,
but to proceed in their own plan, and to supersede the existing
government of the country: and, in that case, the king's life was put in
danger.
Soon after, a Convention, a body unknown to the laws of this country,
met; and in this there would have been little harm, had their views been
peaceable; but their objects were avowedly unconstitutional, for their
intention was to carry on their plans by force, and thus virtually to
lay aside the prerogative of the king. This convention met, using all
the terms and regulations adopted by the convention of another country.
They meant not to apply to Parliament; for whenever that was mentioned,
they proceeded to the order of the day. They resolved to oppose every
act of Parliament which they deemed contrary to the spirit of the
Constitution, and were determined to sit, until compelled to rise by a
force superior to their own.