seven o'clock; and that if no one else came before seven, we should go together; no one else came; and at seven o'clock, he went to the corner of the room, and took out a pistol, which he put in a belt that he had got round his body under his great coat; he took about six or seven pike heads wrapped up in brown paper, and a staff about four feet long, with a hole in one end of it adapted to receive a pike head; then we went down into Brook's-street and up to Oxford-street; when we came to Holborn, he gave me the pike-staff to carry; as we were going along Oxford-street, I think it was, I asked him to tell me where we were going, he said I should know when I got to the place; I had asked him before we came out of the room, what place it was up at Tyburn turnpike we were going to, and he answered at a mews up by Edgware-road; I asked him, whether we were going to the House of Commons? he said no, there were too many soldiers there; I asked him again where we were going, he said, to Grosvenor-square; I asked him whether any one in particular lived there; he said there was to be a cabinet dinner there; no other conversation passed between us that I remember, till we got to Catostreet; we went under an archway; there were two persons under the archway; there were some few words passed between them and Tidd, which I could not understand; he was before me; the stable is directly close to the archway, you turn to the right hand; we went into the stable; I saw in the stable three or four men, whether they were armed I cannot say; there was a light below; I went up a ladder at the further end, on the left hand into the loft, and found the people up stairs, I suppose about twenty-two or twenty-three; somebody asked Thistlewood how many there were, and he said there was no occasion to count them there were five-and-twenty; there was a carpenter's bench there, and on the bench a quantity of swords and pistols; there was only one light that I observed, and that was on the bench; there was one man in a brown great coat, who spoke of the impropriety of going to lord Harrowby's, with so small a number as five-and-twenty men; that was the first time of my hearing lord Harrowby's mentioned as the house to which we were to go; Thistlewood said, that number was quite sufficient, for he only wanted fourteen men to go into the room, and supposing that lord Harrowby had sixteen servants that number would be quite sufficient; the other man said, when we come out, there will of course be a crowd of people about the door, how shall we make our escape? Thistlewood said, you know that the largest party were already gone; Davidson then told him not to throw cold water upon the proceedings, but if he was afraid of his life, he might go away, they could do without him; and Brunt said, sooner than they should go from the business they were about, he would go into the house by himself, and blow them all up, even if he perished with them; you know we have got that says Brunt, that we can do it with; after that, the man in the brown great coat said, though I do not like to go with so small a number, yet as you are all for it, I will not be against it; he then proposed they should all put themselves under the orders of Mr. Thistlewood. Thistewood then said, every one who engages with me will have equal honour with myself; and he proposed that the fourteen men who wre to go into the room, should volunteer from the persons that were there assembled; about twelve or thirteen men immediately afterwards volunteered, and among them were Tidd, Brunt the prisoner, Davidson and Wilson. About this time, Thistlewood stepped down stairs, and he came up again, and said he had received intelligence that the duke of Wellington and also lord Sidmouth had just arrived at lord Harrowby's; I do not recollect any thing more that passed till the officers came up; they came up into the room, and told them to surrender; that they were officers, and that there was a guard of soldiers below; I was taken into custody up stairs." This, gentlemen, is the evidence of an accomplice; but if it is believed, it supports the case proved by Adams. Then upon his cross-examination, he says, "I have read Paine's Age of Reason, and I have also read the bishop of Llandaff's answer to it; Paine's certainly affected my mind, but the bishop's answer prevented its whole effect; I never saw Brunt till Thistlewood brought him to me; I went there first without knowing what they were going about; I saw Tidd arm himself; I followed him; I thought they were going to attack the members of the House of Commons; still I went with him, having reason to believe something was to be done, but not knowing what was to be done till I got to Cato-street; when he told me there was to be a cabinet dinner, I was convinced that their object was, to destroy the persons there; but though I was a Christian as I profess to be, I was too much afraid to retreat after I had been engaged in this plan." Thomas Monument is produced to shew, that that which his brother swears is correct, so far as it is within his knowledge; he states, "I remember Thistlewood coming to my brother's house one evening, in company with Brunt the prisoner; Thistlewood asked to speak to my brother; in consequence of that they both went out; Brunt staid behind in the room; they were out about two or three minutes, and after they returned, Brunt and Thistlewood went away together; and again on the 22nd of February, the Tuesday, Brunt and Tidd called on my brother; when Brunt came in, my brother said, I thought I had lost you; there was something passed concerning the king's death; that his death had made an alteration in the plans; my brother asked him what plans; he said they had different objects in view; I recollect Brunt asking Tidd whether he should give us the outline of a plan; whether Tidd made any answer or not, I do not know; but Brunt told us the pass-word;" and he gives the same account of that as the brother had done before. "On the Wednesday, Brunt called again on my brother between four and five o'clock; my brother could not go just then; Brunt asked him if he was ready to go; we were busy at work, and my brother told him he could not go then; Brunt told him, when he was ready to go, he was to call in Hole-in-the-wall passage on Tidd, and he would take him; Brunt then went away; my brother went out about seven o'clock, as nearly as I can recollect; I did not go myself; I had never seen my brother from that time till he was in custody." Now, gentlemen, this young man swears positively to every thing which his brother John bas sworn to, except the parts which his brother only was present at; the question is, whether, when a narrative is made in several parts of which another person agrees, you do not believe the accomplice in the other parts; the two agreeing in the principal part, you will ask yourselves whether you do not believe him in the other things also. John Monument is called again; he says, "I was taken in custody to Whitehall; I cannot exactly say whether I was handcuffed to any person; I know I was put into a room by myself, but on the last day of examination some conversation passed between me and Thistlewood; Brunt and the other prisoners were there; we were then all put into a room together. Thistlewood told me, when I came to be examined before the Privy council, to tell them that Edwards brought me into the meeting, that it was through Edwards I came there. I said, how can I tell that falsehood, when I have never seen Edwards. He said, that is of no consequence at all; you must describe him as a man not much taller than yourself, of a sallow complexion, and that he wore a brown great coat. We were sitting round the table, and Thistlewoood told me that Edwards had betrayed us; and he bade me send that round to the other prisoners. I did not like to do it; I told him I should be noticed; he then leaned over, and desired somebody else." Then, gentlemen, Thomas Hiden is called; I shall not make any apology for reading the whole of the evidence. I feel that I am trespassing very much on your time, but the occasion is so important, that I am sure you will not feel it to be too long. Thomas Hiden says; "I have carried on business as a cowkeeper and dairyman in Manchester-mews; I have now the misfortune to be in prison for debt; I was taken in execution last Saturday se'nnight. I know Wilson very well. A few days before the 23rd of February he asked me to be of a party to destroy all his majesty's ministers at a cabinet dinner; that he and the party had all things ready, and were waiting for a cabinet dinner, and that they had such things as I had never seen-large round things, made of tarpaulín and cords, and filled full of nails and iron and other things, and that their strength was very great; he said if they were lighted, they would heave up one of the walls of the houses on the other side of the street; he said they were waiting for a cabinet dinner, and then they meant to set some houses on fire, and, by keeping the town in confusion for some days, it would become general;" that is not the particular mischief of setting fire to the houses, but that would become general; "those things were to be put into the room where the gentlemen were at dinner; that they meant to set fire to lord Harrowby's house. He said that all who escaped the explosion were to die by the edge of the sword or some other weapon. The houses he named were those of the duke of Wellington, lord Harrowby, lord Sidmouth, lord Castlereagh, the bishop of London, and one other house that I do not recollect; he said that they would depend upon my making one; I told him I would; before the 23rd," he does not remember the time, but that time is made up by another witness, “I wrote a letter to lord Castlereagh; I tried to see him, but I could not get access to him; I went to watch lord Harrowby's going out of his house to Hyde park; I went two or three times to lord Harrowby's; at last I saw a gentleman by his house mount a horse. I did not know the earl of Harrowby then; I followed him into the park; I met him, and delivered to him the letter I had written to lord Castlereagh." He looks at the letter, and says, “that is the letter." It cannot be in evidence, because it passed between two persons, the prisoner not being there. "The next day, between four and five o'clock, Wilson met me, and said, you are the man I want to see; he said there was to be a cabinet dinner that night at lord Harrowby's, in Grosvenor-square. I asked him where they were going to meet ; he told me I was to go up into John-street, and to the public-house at the corner of Catostreet, the sign of the Horse and Groom; and there I was to stop in the public-house, or to stop at the corner of the post until I was showed into a stable close by. I asked him when they were to meet; he said a quarter before or at six o'clock; if you do not make haste, he said the grand thing will be done before you come. I asked him how many men were to meet; he said between twenty and thirty; I asked if that was all the party that was in Cato-street, and he said there was another party in Gray's-inn-lane, another party in the Borough, and another in Gee's-court or the city, I do not know which. He told me I had no occasion to be alarmed, all Gee's-court was in it ;-they are most of them Irish in that court. Wilson told me the Irish were all in it, but that they would not begin till the English began first; the English had behaved so ill, and disappointed them so often, that they were determined not to begin till the English had begun; he said one party was to go to lord Harrowby's, and do the grand thing, and then all the parties were to retire, and meet some where about the neighbourhood of the Mansion-house." That is consistent with what Adams said. "He said there were two pieces of cannon in Gray's-inn-lane, which would be very easily taken by knocking in a small door; four pieces more at some Artillery-ground, he does not know where, which were to be got easily by killing the sentry. I then left him, and went to John-street that evening, between six and seven o'clock. I believe it to have been near seven when I got there. When I got near the gate-way I met Wilson and Davidson, the man of colour, standing near the post. Wilson said, you are come; I said, yes, I am come, but I am behind my time; I told him I had to fetch some cream, which I was obligated to do. Davidson asked me if I was going in, and said, Thistlewood was in; I asked him what time they would go away from thence, as I must go and get some cream; and he told me they meant to leave that place about eight o'clock, and if they were gone before I came back, I must follow them to Grosvenor-square, and I should find them at lord Harrowby's house," describing the place where it was. He is cross-examined; and he says, "I went to a club, called the shoemakers' club, twice; I went first on a Sunday night; I was induced by a friend of mine to go; I went another time on a Sunday, but I never went once to a private meeting; I know Bennett; I asked him if he would go with me and my friend Clarke, who was the person who invited me to go. I never persuaded him to go; I asked him if he would go to the shoemakers' club with Clarke and me; I did not know till between four and five, that the meeting was to be held in Catostreet. I wrote the letter myself.” did not take place; but I had given directions to the servants to provide it as if it was to take place; a little before eight I was dining at the earl of Liverpool's, and I sent a note to inform my principal servant that the dinner would not take place, and the dinner was of course put aside." John Baker, his lordship's principal servant, says, at a little after eight o'clock, he received information, that his lordship and the privy council would not dine there; he says, "up to that period every preparation for the dinner was going on; nobody had an idea to the contrary; I believe there was a party that night at the archbishop of York's, whose house is next door; as I saw carriages stopping at the door, I thought there was to be a dinner there that day, and that some gentlemen had come there; it was rather sooner than lord Harrowby's dinner hour; it was between six and seven o'clock." Richard Munday says, he lives at No. 3, in Cato-street. He says, "I know the stable in Cato-street; on the 23rd of February last I saw persons go into that stable; the first was about three o'clock in the afternoon; I saw Harrison in the stable. I came home from work about twenty minutes or half an hour after four, and I saw Davidson walking up and down the archway that leads to the stable; I went into my house, and I saw Davidson again about six o'clock, with two lighted candles in his hand." It is said that one candle was in the stable and another up stairs; it is very probable that they had but two candles; however that is of little consequence. "I saw two going in and three coming out, and moving backwards and forwards;" that does not appear to be very material, for there is no doubt that they were there, and he saw them hovering about and going in and out. Then George Caylock says, he saw Harrison go into the stable; Harrison told him that he had taken two chambers and was cleaning them; he saw five-and-twenty people go into the stable that evening. Then the earl of Harrowby is called; he is a privy councillor, and one of his majesty's ministers; he says, "it was usual to have cabinet dinners, but the dinners were suspended in consequence of the king's death. I determined to have a cabinet dinner on the 23rd of February last; on the Friday or Saturday preceding, cards of invitation were issued for Then George Thomas Joseph Ruthven is that purpose. I saw the last witness Hiden in called; he gives you a description of what pasthe park, near Grosvenor-gate, on Tuesday the sed in Cato-street. I do not know that it is 22nd of February." His lordship is not quite necessary for me to trouble you with an account positive, but thinks it was between two and of the transactions there; he found them in three o'clock he saw him; he gave his lordship the place; he and Ellis went up first; the other a letter, and upon the letter being shown to poor man, Smithers, full of courage, pushed him, he said, "that is the letter" his lordship himself forwards and was killed by Thistlewood. then says, "I had some conversation with With respect to the arms and ammunition, I Hiden; I asked him if he had given his name will state to you presently of what they consist. and address in the letter; I desired to have his A very serious remark, no doubt, arises on the name and address, and he gave it me; on his circumstance of their being all found there expressing a wish to have some further com- and the outrageous resistance which was made munication with me, I saw him again by ap--the bloody resistance which was made, and pointment the next morning in the ring in Hyde-park; I appointed to meet him, as he seemed to be afraid of continuing the conversation with me; I went to Hyde-park, and met him at Grosvenor-gate; I told him to go on to the ring, and I went on among the plantations in order to avoid his being seen. The dinner VOL. XXXIII. which was attempted to be made a great deal more bloody than it turned out whether that is evidence of a purpose beyond the destruction of ministers (the mere conception of which is not a capital crime, though a very great offence in a moral point of view) you will consider. 4 Q 1331] 1 GEORGE IV. Trial of John Thomas Brunt Then James Ellis says, that the moment that he saw Smithers stabbed, he fired his pistol; the pistol did not take effect, but missed the man, the candles were then extinguished; the flash of his pistol was the last light that he saw. Ruthven says there were several candles. Adams says there were only two; and when you consider that the only fire be saw after that, was the flash of his pistol, it should seem that there were not many candles in the room; however, as to that contradiction between Ruthven and Adams, it is of little consequence. Ruthven said there were four or five on the bench, and two or three in the little room. It appears that there was great confusion; and, perhaps, that may account for a good deal of inaccuracy. Ellis says there were two or three; one says there were certain words spoken from below; and another says there were other words to the same purport. You will see, whether that is such a contradiction as affects, in your minds, the credit to which the other parts of the case may entitle Adams. Westcoatt, Wright, and Champion, who are also officers, are called to prove facts of the same nature. Then Lieutenant Fitzclarence gave his evidence in the way in which you saw and heard; his conduct, and that of his men, was most gallant; be states what they found on these persons. Samuel Hercules Taunton is then called; he states that he went to Brunt's lodgings the following morning, and found those things which he produces. Then Ruthven is called again, and he enumerates the things, and states where they were found; if it is necessary that I should read them to you, I will do it with great pleasure; but the great object is, to show that there was an assembly of these men armed with a great number of arms, and that they made a most bloody and outrageous resistance. You must, of course, draw your own inferences from the nature of that resistance, as it can be applied to the case of high treason. The quantity of things found seems to be a considerable ingredient in the evidence. You see the defence is this; we intended to assassinate the ministers, and to commit plunder afterwards. With respect to the plunder, there is no evidence of that; with respect to the killing his majesty's ministers, the prisoner, as well as his counsel, admits the intention, and the evidence proves it; in the loft they found thirty-eight ball-cartridges, a fire-lock and bayonet, one powder-flask, three pistols, one sword, six bayonet spikes and cloth belt, one blunderbuss, one pistol, fourteen bayonet spikes, and three pointed files, one bayonet, another bayonet spike and one sword scabbard, one carbine and bayonet, two swords, one bullet, ten hand-grenades, two fire-balls, one large grenade and bayonet, one rope ladder, one sword-stick, forty ball-cartridges, one bayonet, and three loose balls. They found, in the | [1332 stable, in the pocket of Bradburn, six ball- I will now read, gentlemen, what was found in Brunt's house:-"Inarush basket, nine papers, with rope-yarn, tar and other ingredients; some steel filings in a paper, about half an ounce." The serjeant told us the use of the filings which I did not know before. "In another rush basket were found four grenades, three papers of rope-yarn, tar and other ingre dients; two bags of powder, one pound weight each; five flannel bags, empty, one paper of powder, one leathern bag containing sixtythree balls, one iron pot, one pike handle.” These were left at that house; they were not wanted, certainly, for the assassination of the king's ministers, because they were not with them. Then, at Tidd's, which you know has been described as the dépôt, they found, "in a haversack, 434 balls, 171 ball-cartridges, 69 ball-cartridges without powder; there were three pounds of powder in paper; also, in a coarse canvas cloth, ten grenades, eleven bags of powder, one pound each, ten empty bags, into which powder might have been put, a small bag, with tin powder-flask with some powder, sixty-eight balls, four flints, twentyseven pike-handles; also a box, containing 965 ball-cartridges." Serjeant Hanson is then called; he opens one of those hand-grenades for your inspection, and you see, from the inspection of it, its nature and the terrible consequence which might arise from such an instrument as that. He says, that the flannel bags, with the powder in them, are in imitation of cartridges for a sixpounder, so that something was in view, as it may be supposed, besides the assassination: cannon were hardly to be expected to be taken to lord Harrowby's dinner-room. The witness states, "I examined them; they contain exactly a pound of very good powder; we do not use flannel, but serge, in the army; but this would answer the purpose perfectly. I have examined the fire-balls; there is a difference in some of them, but they are generally composed of oakum, tar, and resin, and generally brimstone; but I found one without brimstone; the steel filings would be part of the composition of the priming of the fuse, the fire-balls would set any wood on fire, and would burn three or four minutes, according to their size; if thrown into barracks, with hay and straw, they certainly would occasion a conflagration. He says, the grenades in the army are covered with iron; these grenades do not seem as if they had been made by a military man; but they would effect a great deal of mischief." Then, he says, "the more hard they are bound, the greater will be the explosion." Then he took the fuse out of one of the hand-grenades, and poured the powder out; he says, "those he weighed contained three ounces and a half of powder, and this appeared to be the same; that quantity was more than would be sufficient for a nineinch shell, and quite sufficient to explode the grenade in which it was. In this grenade there were 26 pieces of iron; they would fly round the room like so many shot, and were quite sufficient to destroy or maim fifteen persons in a room; they explode within half a minute after their being a-light." Gentlemen, this is the evidence for the prosecution for the prisoners, you heard the two eloquent speeches of the learned counsel; you have heard also the prisoner state his own case. I am sure you paid all the attention which was due to it, and perhaps it did not make the impression upon you which you wished the prisoner's speech to make upon your minds; but you are to deal with it, gentlemen, as you feel to be proper; you heard it, and will consider it. There is no evidence offered for the prisoner; the case lies entirely upon the evidence for the Crown, and the arguments on both sides, which arguments you had the goodness to attend to, and I am sure they made the impression upon you which they ought. With respect to comment, I see very little to trouble you with; indeed, hardly a word. As I said before, there is here proved and admitted a conspiracy to do a most nefarious act it is broadly stated to us, that the object of the prisoner and his associates were to destroy fifteen of the king's ministers as they sat at dinner, in the unsuspecting hour of cheerfulness, by a degree of violence, and in the prosecution of a plan which one cannot think of without shuddering; that is admitted. Is that all the purpose? If that is all the purpose of these men, the prisoner is not guilty of high treason; but you are to ask yourselves, gentlemen, whether that could be the sole purpose: why are the fifteen principal ministers of the king to be destroyed in this way? If you attend to the evidence of Adams, and many of the others, there is no question at all that there was an ulterior plan and intention, and that ulterior plan and intention proves directly, if you believe the evidence, the trea son charged against the prisoner at the bar. It is stated, that it was an absurd project; so absurd, that it is not only improbable, but impossible, that it should be ascribed to any reasonable being: it has been said, very truly, that the attempt or the project to destroy the king's ministers is such, that one knows not how to deal with the supposition of it, but it is proved-it is true; the prisoner has stated it, and his counsel are obliged, by the force of evidence, to admit it. But then they contend, that they entertained no other project: you will judge whether that is the case. The question is, not whether these people were likely to succeed in their atrocious plans, but whether they entered into them? Did they compass, or imagine or intend those crimes with which the indictment charges the prisoner at the bar? Does the evidence prove it? if not, there is no question, gentlemen, how the verdict ought to be given. If with all the great attention with which I have observed you consider the evidence and the addresses of the prisoner's counsel and the prisoner himself-if, I say, you have a reasonable doubt upon the subject, you ought, as in all criminal trials, to give the prisoner the benefit of that doubt; but if, giving your attention gravely to this important subject, you are satisfied that the charge is proved, I need not tell you, gentlemen, that it is your duty to find him guilty. You will now consider, and give your verdict. I am sure you will give it according to the best of your judgment, and according to the necessary inference to be drawn from the evidence you have heard. A Juryman (Mr. Goodchild).-My lord, I have a doubt in my mind on a point of law. I conceive, as a juror, I am bound to receive the law from your lordship. Your lordship has called our particular attention to the first and third counts; I am sure your lordship has time, I wish to ask the opinion of your lordmost conscientiously done it; but at the same ship, whether should the evidence bear the construction, that an actual arming had taken place, that a resistance has been made to the civil authority, that in law constitutes a levying of war? Lord Chief Baron.-I wish clearly to understand you; have the goodness to state the question again. Mr. Goodchild.-Whether, if the evidence should bear out the opinion that an actual arming had taken place, and that a resistance had been made to the civil authority, that actual arming, and that resistance, constitute the crime of levying war? Lord Chief Baron.- Not resistance merely to` the civil power, unless you are of opinion it is an arming with the view stated in the indictment. Mr. Goodchild.-The question is intended to include that, it being an arming with a view to oblige his majesty to change his measures by force of arms. |