judgment to die for what has been said against me. I answer, that I
protest against the proceedings in this trial in toto. In the first
place, I always thought that in a court of justice, the balance of
justice was held with an even hand. But this has not been the case with
me; I stand here helpless and friendless. I endeavoured to show that the
evidence against me was contradictory and incredible, and I hoped I had
made an impression on the gentlemen in the box; but the moment I was
done, the attorney-general got up and told them, that the evidence was
pure and uncontaminated, and to this I may add, that Baron Garrow almost
insisted that they should pronounce me guilty. I would ask, has any
person identified me but the officers? who, every one knows, have at all
times been instrumental in the death of innocent persons. I do not now
plead for my life; I know I must fall a victim to the vengeance of my
enemies. But in what manner have I been guilty of high treason? It would
seem I was a silent spectator; none of the witnesses impute to me a
single observation. Now is this probable? I had always got a great deal
to say for myself, consequently I was not the person who would stand by
without uttering a word; and yet such has been the testimony of Adams.
Then, with regard to the blunderbuss, I have already explained that this
was not mine, and that I acted in that affair entirely as the agent of
Edwards. I have also declared how I came by the sword, and I now declare
upon my soul, which will shortly appear before its Maker, that I never
made any blow at any man, or discharged any carbine. As for Munday, the
man who swore that I had a long sword, with a pair of pistols in my
girdle, who is he? He is a poor labouring man, who comes here for his
day's pay and his victuals, to swear away the life of a fellow-creature,
and to support the unfounded charge against me that I meant to
assassinate his Majesty's ministers. I appeal to any man, whether it is
upon such evidence that the life of an innocent man is to be sacrificed?
But even supposing, for the sake of argument, that the lives of his
Majesty's ministers were threatened, it did not follow that this was to
extend to the king himself. In a passage of Magna Charta, it was
ordained that twenty-five barons should be nominated to see that the
terms of the charter were not infringed; and if it was found his
Majesty's ministers were guilty of such infringement, then four barons
were to call upon them for redress. If this were not granted, then the
four barons were to return to their brethren, by whom the people were to
be called together to take up arms, and assert their rights. Such an act
was not considered, in old times, as an act of treason towards the king,
however hostile it might be towards his ministers. But this does not
apply to me. I had no intention of joining in any scheme whatever,
either to put down my king, or to murder his ministers. I was entrapped
by Goldsworthy and Edwards, in order, for some private purposes of their
own, that they might have my life sworn away. I have no objection to
tender my life in the service of my country; but let me at least, for
the sake of my children, save my character from the disgrace of dying a
traitor. For my children only do I feel, and when I think of them, I am
deprived of utterance----. I can say no more."
Ings, on being called upon, said, "I have very little to say, for my
abilities will not allow me to speak. If Mr. Edwards had not got
acquainted with me, I should not be here; he came to me, unfortunately,
when I had no business, nor any means of getting a living for my family.
I entered into the conspiracy only through him, and it was only
necessity and the want of means to support my wife and family that
brought me here. It is only through Edwards that I shall lose my life. I
do not mind dying, if you will let that man come forward and die with me
on the scaffold; for it was through him that I was going to do that
which, I must allow, was of a most disgraceful and inhuman nature. On
the other hand, his Majesty's ministers conspire together, and impose
laws to starve me and my family, and my fellow countrymen; and if I were
going to assassinate these ministers, I do not see that it is so bad as
starvation. There is another thing, a meeting was called at Manchester,
under the protection of the law of England, for which our forefathers
died, and which King John signed in the open air. This meeting was
called under the protection of that law, for the people to petition
parliament to give them their rights; but previous to the business of
the meeting, the Manchester yeomanry rode in among them, and cut down
men, women, and children, in a manner that was a disgrace to the very
name of Englishmen. Those yeomen had their swords ground beforehand, and
I had a sword ground also, but I do not see any harm in that. I shall
suffer, no doubt; but I hope my children will live to see justice done
to their bleeding country: I would rather die like a man, than live like
a slave. I am sorry I have not power to say more; I shall therefore
withdraw."
John Thomas Brunt next addressed the court in the following terms:--"I
am precluded from saying much: I had intended to have committed to
writing my defence, but I have been denied pen, ink, and paper;--as
such, what I have to state will be very short. In the first place,
whatever impression I made on the jury yesterday, was knocked down by
the Solicitor-General, who appears to me, by his sophistical eloquence,
to be capable of making the worst of crimes appear a virtue. And next,
with regard to Edwards, to whose machinations I have at last fallen a
dupe: he once before nearly entrapped me, when a cabinet dinner was
given, I believe, at the Earl of Westmoreland's. He said he had part of
the men mustered, but there was not sufficient. He had like to have
hooked me in then, but I happened not to go to the house. No doubt that
Hieden was in that plot for me; it was held at the Scotch Arms. Of all
the infamous characters on earth, Edwards is the worst; and yet he has
been kept altogether out of the view of the court. I protest against the
verdict which has been pronounced against me. For my life, if it was
sacrificed in the cause of liberty, I care not a farthing; but it is
galling to have it sworn away by a set of villains who thirst after
blood, merely for the sake of personal gain. Edwards is far more worthy
of punishment than any of us. He it was that furnished the arms--and he
it was that goaded us on to our own ruin. He always spoke well of me,
and said, if he had a hundred such men as me, he would be satisfied. He
knew I was not a shuttlecock, to be bandied about at pleasure. He knew
he could put confidence in my word, and that I would perish before I
shrunk from what I undertook." (The prisoner then went on in a strain of
strong invective against the witness Adams.) After which he referred to
the two Monuments. These two persons had been described by the
Solicitor-General, as having had no communication with each other, and
yet having agreed in all respects in their testimony. Was this the fact?
No, for three weeks previous to the trials, they met twice a day at the
Tower, rehearsed their story, and thus were enabled to come forward
quite perfect in their respective parts. He next adverted to the
character of his apprentice Hale, and was casting strong reflections on
his conduct--when
The chief justice said he could not suffer such observations to be made
under such circumstances.
Brunt begged pardon, but said he stated nothing but facts. He next
adverted to the conduct of Lords Castlereagh and Sidmouth; "They," he
said, "had been the cause of the death of millions, and although he
admitted he had conspired to put such men out of the world, still he did
not think that amounted to high treason. He was one of those who would
have been satisfied with taking off the cabinet ministers; but the
verdict against him, of intending to depose his majesty, he contended,
was utterly at variance with truth and justice. He had never
contemplated any such consequence. He was neither a traitor to his king
nor to his country; nor would he suffer any man in his presence to speak
irreverently of his sovereign. In undertaking to kill Lord Castlereagh,
Lord Sidmouth, and their fellow ministers, he did not expect to save his
life--he was determined to die a martyr in his country's cause, and to
avenge the innocent blood shed at Manchester." In conclusion, he said he
was willing to suffer for the acts which he had contemplated; but it
grieved him to think that he was to suffer for a crime of which he was
innocent, namely, High Treason. On these grounds, he protested against
the verdict of the jury, as contrary to law and justice.
Richard Tidd was the next called upon. He spoke as follows:--
"My lords and gentlemen, being only found guilty so late last night, I
have not had an opportunity to make up any defence. All I can say is,
and I positively swear it, that the evidence that has come before you,
with the exception of that of Captain Fitzclarence, is utterly false."
James Wilson said, "I am not gifted with the power of talking much, but
I mean to say, that I was certainly drawn into this by this Edwards."
John Harrison, and John Shaw Strange, contented themselves with
declaring that they had been brought into the matter by Edwards.
James Gilchrist addressed the court in the following terms. "What I
shall say in the presence of my God and you is, that till the Wednesday
evening at four o'clock, I knew nothing about this business. I was going
to look for work, and I had neither money nor bread; so I went to what I
was told was to be a supper of the radicals. At six o'clock I met
Charles Cooper, who was the only man I knew, and I borrowed a halfpenny
of him, which with another enabled me to get a pennyworth of bread, and
this I eat very sweet. I wish I may never come out of this place if I
tell false. We then went into the stable and up stairs, where there was
some bread and cheese. I took an old sword and hewed down the loaf, of
which others who were as hungry as me partook. I then asked what all
these arms were about, and when I heard, I was so shocked that I
determined to get away as fast as I could. Soon after the officers and
soldiers came, and I thought it my duty to surrender. I now stand here
convicted of high treason, after I served my king and country for twelve
years, and this is the recompense. Oh, God!--I have nothing more to
say."
Charles Cooper said, he had much to say, but his friends thought it
would be imprudent. He said, "he could only declare that he was not
guilty of the crime imputed to him."
The crier of the court now proclaimed silence in the usual manner, while
sentence of death was passing upon the prisoners:--and the Lord Chief
Justice then proceeded to address the prisoners severally by their
respective names.
After a most admirable and affecting speech, he passed sentence in the
usual form upon them, directing that after they should have been hanged,
their heads should be severed from their bodies, and their bodies
divided into four quarters, which should be at the disposal of his
majesty.
The execution of Thistlewood, Ings, Brunt, Davidson, and Tidd, took
place on the following Monday, at Newgate. Davidson was the only
prisoner who did not reject religious consolation; and Thistlewood, when
on the scaffold, turned away from the ordinary, with an expression of
indifference and contempt.
Thistlewood having been first called upon to ascend the gallows, he did
so with much alacrity, and he was immediately followed by Tidd, who
shook hands with all his companions, except Davidson, who was standing
apart from the rest. At the moment he was going out Ings seized him by
the hand, exclaiming with a shout of laughter, "Come, give us your hand;
good bye," but the remark was coldly received by the unfortunate
convict, who dropped a tear, at the same time making some observation
with regard to his "wife and daughter." Ings, however, with the most
astonishing degree of levity, cried out "Come, my old cock-o'-wax, keep
up your spirits, it will be all over soon," and Tidd appeared to squeeze
his hand, and then attempted to run up the steps to the scaffold. In his
haste and agitation he stumbled, but he quickly recovered himself, and,
with a species of hysterical action, jumped upon the stage, and there
stamped his feet as if anxious for the executioner to perform his
dreadful office. He was received by the gazing multitude with loud
cheers, which he acknowledged by repeated bows. While the executioner
was fixing the fatal noose he appeared to recognise a friend at an
opposite window, and he nodded to him with much ease and familiarity of
manner. He repeatedly turned round and surveyed the assembled mob; and
catching sight of the coffins, which were ranged behind the gallows, he
smiled upon them with affected indifference and contempt. While waiting
for the completion of the preparations for the execution of those whom
he had left behind him in the press-room, he, as well as Thistlewood,
was observed repeatedly to refresh himself by sucking an orange; but
upon Mr. Cotton's approaching him, like that prisoner, he rejected his
proffered services.
Ings was the next who was summoned, and while on the scaffold he
exhibited the same indecent levity of manner which he had shown in the
press-room. He laughed while he sucked an orange, and on his being
called, he screamed with a sort of mad effort,
"Oh! give me Death or Liberty!"
to which Brunt, who stood near him, rejoined, "Ay, to be sure: it is
better to die free than to live like slaves."
On being earnestly and charitably desired to turn their attention to
more serious subjects, and to recollect the existence of a God, into
whose presence they would soon be ushered, Brunt said, "I know there is
a God;" and Ings, agreeing to this, added "that he hoped he would be
more merciful to them than they were then."
Just as the hatch was opening to admit him to the steps of the scaffold,
he turned round to Brunt, and smiling, shook him by the hand, and then
with a loud voice, cried out, "Remember me to King George the Fourth;
God bless him, and may he have a long reign!" Then recollecting that he
had left off the suit of clothes in which he had been tried, but which
after his conviction he had exchanged for his old slaughtering jacket,
because, as he said, he was resolved that Jack Ketch should have no coat
of his, he desired his wife might have what clothes he had thrown off.
He then said to Mr. Davies, one of the turnkeys, "Well, Mr. Davies, I am
going to find out this great secret."
He was again proceeding to sing
"Oh! Give me Death or Liberty!"
when he was called to the platform, upon which he leaped and bounded in
the most frantic manner. Then turning himself round towards Smithfield,
and facing the very coffin that was soon to receive his mutilated body
he raised his pinioned hands, as well as he could, and leaning forward
with savage energy, roared out three distinct cheers to the people, in a
voice of the most frightful and discordant hoarseness. But it was
pleasing to remark, that these unnatural yells of desperation, which
were evidently nothing more than the ravings of a disordered mind, or
the ebullitions of an assumed courage, were not returned by the motley
mass of people who heard them.
Turning his face towards Ludgate-hill, he bowed, and cried out, "Here's
the last remains of James Ings!" and again sung aloud, preserving the
well-known tune of that song as much as possible,
"Oh! Give me Death or Liberty!
Oh! Give me Death or Liberty!"
Observing some persons near him, and amongst them one who was
taking notes, he said, "Mind, I die an enemy to all tyrants. Mind, and
put that down!" Upon viewing the coffins, he laughed, and said, "I
will turn my back on death. Those coffins are for us I suppose."
At this time Tidd, who had been just spoken to by Thistlewood, was
heard to remonstrate with Ings, and to tell him not to make such
a noise, adding, "We can die without making a noise;" upon which
Ings for a moment was silent; but soon burst out afresh, asking the
executioner not to cover his eyes, as he wished to see as long as he
could. At another time he said, "Mind you do it well--pull it tight;"
or, as some heard it, "Do it tidy." He also requested to have a
greater length of rope to fall; and that at last his eyes should be
tightly bandaged round with a handkerchief, which he held in his hand.
Upon the approach of Mr. Cotton he rejected his pious services; but
cried out, as if sarcastically, "I hope you'll give me a good character,
won't you, Mr. Cotton?"
Davidson was the next summoned; and it is truly gratifying to state
the difference that marked the character and conduct of him who had
derived his fortitude to face death, and all its awful preparations, from
other principles and sources than those from which the others appear to
have borrowed their wild determination. He had paid earnest and devoted
attention to the consolatory offices bestowed upon him by the ordinary of
the jail; and when he was called upon to ascend the scaffold, he did so
with a firm and steady step, but with that respectful humiliation which
might well be derived from his firm reliance in his Creator's goodness.
His lips moved in prayer, and he gently bowed to the people before him;
and he continued fervently praying with Mr. Cotton until the last duty of
the executioner was performed.
The last summoned to the fatal platform was Brunt, whose conduct
presented nothing particularly worthy of remark. The whole of the
necessary arrangements were completed within a very few minutes after
he had ascended the drop; and the fatal signal being given, the bolt
was withdrawn, and the whole of the men almost instantly died. When
their bodies had hung for half an hour, a new character entered upon
the scaffold--the person who was to perform that part of the sentence
which required the deceased men to be decapitated. He was masked; and
from the ready and skilful manner in which he performed his office, it
was supposed by many that he was a surgeon. The heads were exhibited
successively at the corners of the stage; and the whole ceremony
having now been completed, the bodies were carried into the interior
of the jail in the coffins, which had been prepared for them.
It will be observed that there were six prisoners remaining, upon whom
sentence was not executed. Of these, Gilchrist, who in reality turned out
to be no party to the plot, received his majesty's pardon, and the other
five were transported for life.
Having thus detailed the circumstances of this most diabolical conspiracy,
we shall now give a brief biography of its principal promoters.
Arthur Thistlewood was a native of Horncastle, in Lincolnshire, where he
was born in the year 1770. His father was land-steward to a most
respectable family in the neighbourhood, and maintained through life an
unblemished reputation. The subject of this sketch was, early in life,
put to school with a view to his being educated as a land-surveyor; but
having exhibited a disinclination for business, at the age of
twenty-one, through the instrumentality of his friends, he obtained a
lieutenancy in the militia, which he subsequently exchanged for a like
commission in a marching regiment. He shortly afterwards married a lady
possessed, as he supposed, of a fortune of 10,000_l._; but upon his
proceeding to make inquiries he found that she was entitled only to a
life interest in the money, and that on her decease it would revert to a
distant relation. Sixteen months after this marriage, Mrs. Thistlewood
died in childbed, and her husband was left without a shilling. He had,
however, retained his commission, and at the commencement of the
revolutionary war he accompanied his regiment to the West Indies, but he
soon gave up his rank, and quitting the army, he proceeded to America.
From thence he sailed to France, where he arrived soon after the fall of
the tyrant Robespierre; and there he became fully initiated into all the
feelings and doctrines of the revolutionists. He afterwards entered the
French army, and was present at several battles; and although a person
of moderate capacity, he obtained a considerable knowledge of military
tactics. He was besides a good swordsman, and possessed undeniable
courage. His habitual hatred of oppression, it appears, involved him in
many disputes; and it is but justice to say that most of these redound
to his credit. After the peace of Amiens, he returned to England, and
found himself possessed of a considerable estate, which accrued to him
on the death of a relative; but his evil genius still accompanied him.
He sold his property to a person at Durham for ten thousand pounds, who
becoming a bankrupt before the money was paid, Thistlewood found himself
again reduced to comparative poverty.
His father and brother, both of whom resided in Lincolnshire, now took a
farm and stocked it for him; but in consequence of the high rent and
taxes he found himself an annual loser by the speculation, and, in
consequence, abandoned agriculture. Previous to this, however, he had
been married to his second wife, Miss Wilkinson of Horncastle, a woman
who perfectly coincided in the political opinions of her husband. Driven
from the country, he repaired to London with his wife, and contracted an
acquaintance with the Spenceans. A propensity to gaming seems to have
been the first step to his ruin. In early life he lost considerable sums
at the _hells_ of London, and this vicious habit did not abandon him in
his later years, as it was well known that the gaming-table was his only
resource against the pressing demands of his family, precarious as must
have been the subsistence derived from such a pursuit.
In London, his constant companions were, the Watsons, Evans, and others
of the same character: and the consequence of this connexion the reader
may learn by a reference to the case of Dr. Watson, which we have
already given. His imprisonment on that charge might have taught him
prudence, but he was scarcely released from incarceration when he sent a
challenge, to fight a duel, to Lord Sidmouth; the consequence of which
was a motion in the Court of King's Bench, and Thistlewood was sentenced
to six months' imprisonment in Horsham Jail.
Before this last confinement his dress was genteel, and his air that of
a military man; but, after his release from Horsham Jail, his appearance
indicated extreme poverty.
Oppressed by want, and instigated by revenge, he forgot the lessons
misfortune should have taught him; and listening to the sanguinary
suggestions of others, entered but too eagerly into the plot, for his
connexion with which he was executed. The police watched his movements,
and his every word and action were known to the secretary of state.
Strange, indeed, was the infatuation he laboured under; and, if we look
upon him as perfectly sane, his conduct must appear unaccountable. He
had already been the dupe of a government spy. But the wretched man was
occasionally supplied with money, and his case being desperate, danger,
in his eyes, lost its forbidding aspect. The jaws of destruction were
extended before him, and he rushed upon his fate with all its horrors
staring him in the face.
In person Thistlewood was tall and thin; his countenance was dark, but
by no means expressive. He had no family by either of his wives, but a
natural son took leave of him on the day before his execution.