ness. The Court being opened, Arthur Thistle- Henry Ramsey, boat-builder, on account of illwood was set to the bar. The Jurors returned by the Sheriff were called over, when it was ascertained that the fol lowing were not freeholders of the county of Middlesex to the amount of £10 a-year. George Reid, esq. James Hammon, plumber. Charles Bowen, esq. George Lavell, grocer. Joseph Monyard, gentleman. John Outhwaite, rope-maker. Thomas Snock, shipwright. Thomas Savage, watchmaker. John Page, shipwright. Robert Holding, esq. Thomas Lambert, builder. Samuel Smith, esq. William Atlee, carpenter. William Young, esq. William Laurence, baker. ness. Robert Braine, gentleman, on account of deaf ness. James Thompson, gentleman, on account of ill ness. John Reynolds, watch-chain maker, on account of deafness. Joseph Clements, market-gardener, on account of illness. Alexander Ross, esq., on account of age and illness. Thomas Austin, esq., on account of illness. Thomas Phillips, jeweller, not properly described in the panel. William Winser, gentleman, not summoned, having removed. Richard Norton, gentleman, on account of age. Robert Cranch, gentleman, not properly described in the panel. Thomas Garrett, gentleman, on account of age. Samuel Wimbush, horse-dealer, for the present, not being prepared to depose whether he | The Jurors who had answered to their names was a freeholder in his own right. Robert Greaves, gentleman, on account of ill ness. John Bell, esq. and builder, not properly de. scribed in the panel. Charles Jeffery, gentleman, not properly described in the panel. Patrick Bartlett, esq., not having received the summons in time. Elijah Price, gentleman, on account of age. Wilkes Booth, silversmith, not properly described in the panel. Albert Gooch, watchmaker, not having been served with the summons, being on a journey. William Burges, esq., on account of age and illness. Thomas Hasker, timber-merchant, not properly described in the panel, his name being Hacker. Thomas Holah, esq. and tea-dealer, on account of age and illness. John Gould, gentleman and calico-printer, on account of illness. Thomas Perry, farmer, on account of age and deafness. John Frasier, gentleman, claimed his privilege as a practising attorney and solicitor which was allowed. John Palmer, gentleman, on account of illness. Charles Cock, toymaker, not summoned, no such person being known. Thomas Cheveley, ship-chandler, not summoned, having removed out of the county. Thomas Bedel, esq., on account of illness. Henry Friend, esq., on account of illness. Peter Robertson, gentleman and builder, on account of illness. John Messerop, grocer, not properly described in the panel, his name being Moscrop. Henry Knevet, market-gardener, on account of deafness. Joseph Procter, gentleman, not having received the summons. William Forsyth, esq., on account of illness. John Brooks, springer and liner, on account of illness. Stafford Price, gentleman and currier, on ac- allow me a seat? Lord Chief Justice Abbott. - Considering the length of time the trial may be likely to occupy, the court will allow you that indulgence. The List having been gone through, the De faulters were called over. Samuel Littlepage, baker, excused on account of illness. John Westbrook, brickmaker, fined for non-attendance, but the fine afterwards remitted, on proof of illness. John Smith, undertaker, fined for non-attendbut the fine afterwards remitted on his ance, appearance. were again called over. William Blasson, gentleman, challenged by the Crown. Alexander Barclay, gentleman and grocer sworn. Joseph Sheffield, esq. and ironmonger, chal- Robert Stephenson, anchorsmith, challenged by the Crown. Richard Blunt, gentleman, challenged by the prisoner. Isaac Gunn, baker, challenged by the Crown. William Churchill, gentleman and wine-merchant, challenged by the Crown. Thomas Suffield Aldersey, esq. sworn. Thomas Wilkinson, farmer, challenged by the prisoner. Samuel Fish, tobacconist, challenged by the prisoner. Edmond Collingridge, water-gilder, challenged by the Crown. William Shore, farmer, challenged by the Crown. Mr. Shuter. My name is incorrectly spelt, I spell it Shuter. Lord Chief Justice Abbott-The sound seems to me to be the same, that is no important variation as it appears to me. Mr. Shuter was sworn. Josiah Bartholomew, watch-maker, challenged by the prisoner. John Jones, carpenter, challenged by the Crown. Thomas Bristow, coachmaker, challenged by the prisoner. Samuel Granger, lighterman, sworn. Thomas Ashton, esq. and ship-chandler, challenged by the prisoner. James Wilmot, market gardener, challenged by the Crown. George Phillips, jeweller, challenged by the prisoner. Thomas Bird, distiller, challenged by the pri John Farnell, brewer, challenged by the pri soner. Jonathan Passingham, farmer, challenged by the Crown. Joseph Drake, draper, challenged by the pri soner. John Fowler, iron-plate-worker, sworn. William Gibbs Roberts, cooper, sworn. Thomas Garrett, shipwright, challenged by the Matthew Ashton, coachmaster, challenged by the prisoner. Richard Hatchett, esq., and farmer, challenged by the prisoner. John Dickenson, builder, challenged by the pri soner. John Dobson, esq., sworn. Thomas Dicks, silversmith, challenged by the Crown. Thomas Wood, painter, challenged by the pri soner. James Gates, joiner, challenged by the prisoner. Robert Wells, farmer, challenged by the Crown. William Fitby, brickmaker, excused, not properly described in the panel, his name being Filby. Edward Bracebridge, watchmaker, challenged by the Crown. John Jones, stockbroker, challenged by the Crown. Thomas Partridge, farmer, challenged by the prisoner. Henry Hillard, watch-gilder, not properly described in the panel, his name being Hilliard. George Henn, ship-chandler, challenged by the Crown. Thomas Harby, esq., and rope-maker, chal- John Bunting, gentleman, and tailor, chal- William Cooper, gentleman, sworn. highly necessary, for the purposes of justice, that the public mind, or the minds of those who may be to serve as jurors on trials hereafter, may not be influenced by the publication of any thing which takes place on the present trial. We hope all persons will observe this injunction.❤ The Jury were charged with the prisoner in the usual form. The Indictment was opened by Mr. Bolland. Mr. Attorney General.-Gentlemen of the jury;-You are assembled to discharge one of the most important duties that can devolve upon a jury to decide upon the guilt or innocence of a fellow subject charged with the crime of high treason; the highest offence known to the law. Upon such an occasion, I am satisfied it is unnecessary for me to bespeak your patient attention to the statement which it will be my duty to make to you; still less to point out the necessity of entering upon the investigation with unbiassed and unprejudiced minds-of discarding from your recollection every thing you have heard or read, relative to the charge preferred against the prisoner, of confining your attention exclusively to the evidence which will be adduced in support of that charge, and of forming your decision upon that evidence alone. The charge is, as I have stated to you, one of the highest nature known to the law; other crimes, generally speaking, however heinous and enormous, terminate, except so far as example is concerned, with their perpetration; but high treason, not only in its inception, but still more if it be successful, draws after it consequences of the most dreadful kind, affecting not only individuals, but the community at large. I shall not trouble you with any lengthened observations upon the law, as it applies to the crime imputed to the prisoner, because, if I mistake not greatly, that law is so undisputed, and the facts which will be proved to you will so clearly and satisfactorily establish the charge contained in the indictment, that it would be an idle parade in me to refer either to the authority of decisions, or to the opinions of our ablest commentators upon the subject. If the overt acts laid in this indictment, or a sufficient number of them, shall be satisfactorily proved, I will venture to affirm that no man who hears me will entertain the slightest doubt, that they will establish one or other of the counts of this indictment, and bring home to the prisoner at the bar, the high treason with which he stands charged. The four counts in this indictment will all be proved to you by the same evidence; and *See the proceedings on April 24th and 25th upon this subject, during the trial of John Thomas Brunt; and the further proceedings on April 28th at the conclusion of the trials, under this Special Commission, infra, the evidence which establishes one, will, I believe, completely support the others. The offences charged are compassing and imagining the deposition of the king from his throne; compassing and imagining the death of the king; conspiring to levy war, in order to compel the king to change his measures; and levying war against the king. It is hardly necessary for me to state, that in proof of these charges it is not essential that the plans of the parties accused should aim directly and immediately either at the deposition or at the life of his majesty, because if they were pointed against that form of government which now exists, if they were intended to bring about a change in the established system by means of force, they naturally and obviously, in the event of their being successful, tended to effect the removal of the king from his kingly dignity, or the destruction of his life. It will therefore be quite sufficient for me to apprize you, in the first instance, that the plans of the conspirators were of such a nature and description, that though, in their primary operations, they were directed against the government, as they will indisputably be proved to have been, and not immediately aimed at the destruction either of the authority or the life of his majesty, they would, in their consequences, inevitably lead to those results. And therefore, not to bewilder you in the inquiry upon which you are about to enter, I think it quite sufficient in the outset to state to you-that in which I believe I shall be confirmed by the highest authority the law knows when this case shall be summed up to you-that if the overt acts, that is, the facts stated in this indictment as indicating and evincing the traitorous intention of the conspirators, shall be proved, they will establish the charge laid in this indictment. It is unnecessary, therefore, to trouble you at present with any further discussion of the law applicable to the charge. Important and anxious as the duty is which you are called upon to discharge, mine, I may say, is no less so. In my address to you, I do assure you my only purpose is, to make you acquainted with the nature of the charge against the accused, and the evidence by which that charge will be substantiated. It is neither my intention nor my wish to lead you to any conclusion which the evidence itself will not warrant; for, God knows, if the facts shall be proved, as I have every reason to believe they will be, they want no addition to bring the minds of any unprejudiced persons to the inevitable conclusion of guilt. My duty is to state the case to you fairly, as between the public and the unfortunate man at the bar, as I expect it will be proved, without exaggeration on the one side, or timid reserve on the other. If I should unconsciously err;-if, when the time arrives at which you are to determine upon the verdict you shall give, you shall think either that the statement I have laid before you has not been proved, or that the observations and inferences I have made and drawn are not borne out by the proof, dismiss them from your minds, and confine your attention to the evidence alone. But if you shall be satisfied that the statement I shall have made is supported by the facts; if you believe that the observations introduced in the course of that statement fairly and naturally arise out of those facts, then you will, as honest men, give to them that weight which they deserve. Having said thus much, I shall, without further preface, call your attention, as perspicuously and as briefly as I can, to the circumstances which will be given in evidence to substantiate the charge. The prisoner at the bar, Arthur Thistlewood, must be already known to you by name; but, as I have already said, let nothing that you have known or heard of him before you came into this Court to discharge the solemn duty you are to perform, have the least effect upon The the verdict you are to pronounce. prisoner has, I fear, for some time conceived the wicked and nefarious purpose of attempting to overturn the government as by law established in this kingdom: and it will appear to you, that all the other persons included in this indictment, and whose names wilt occur in the course of the investigation, were participators with him in this guilty design. Some of them, it is true, entered into the conspiracy at a later period than others, but all concurred in that act which was to have been the commencement of the tragical operations they had in contemplation. At present, however, I shall call your attention more particu larly to two of the prisoners, James Ings, and John Thomas Brunt. The prisoner resided, during the time of the transactions which I am about to relate to you, in Stanhope-street, Clare-market. Brunt was a shoemaker or boot-closer, living at a place which will be frequently mentioned in the course of this inquiry, Fox-court, Gray's-innlane; he inhabited two rooms on the second floor of a house in that court, in one of which his trade was carried on, and in the other he and his wife slept. His family consisted of his wife, a son, and an apprentice of the name of Hale. I shall not carry you very far back in the narrative of these transactions; it will be sufficient for me, in this statement, to call your attention to circumstances which took place from the close of January, until the 23rd of the following month. It will appear to you, that long anterior to that period, the prisoner at the bar, the two persons I have mentioned, and several of the others whose names are included in this indictment, had consulted together, and devised plans for the purpose of overturning the government. They had held frequent meetings at a public house called the White Hart, in Brook's-market, and in a room behind that public house. At the latter end of the month of January, or the commencement of the month of February, they thought it prudent to remove their meetings from those places, and that it would be better that they should be carried on in the house in which Brunt resided, in Fox-court; and, to avoid suspicion, they contrived that another room in that house, and upon the same floor upon which Brunt lived, should be taken for the prisoner Ings, who, I believe, was by trade a butcher. Brunt and Ings, it will be proved to you, hired that room for the avowed purpose of a lodging for the prisoner Ings, but for the secret and real object of holding meetings there, at which they might mature their plans, and prepare the means for carrying them into execution, it being a place of more immediate security and greater secrecy than they had previously been enabled to obtain. Having prepared means for effectuating their plans, their meetings at the room in Brunt's house became more frequent and numerous. Gentlemen, I here regret that I have to state in an English court of justice the horrible plans which had entered into the minds of these conspirators, and the act with which they intended to commence the nefarious project they had in view. It was thought by Englishmen, that the assassination of all his majesty's ministers would be a proper commencement of the revolution which they wished to bring about; and you will find, that they frequently deliberated and consulted upon the means by which that most wicked design was to be accomplished. They entertained hopes that they should be enabled, at some meeting of his majesty's ministers, to perpetrate the bloody deed :—having effected that, they intended to set fire to various parts of this metropolis, to endeavour to obtain possession of the cannon at the artillery ground, and at the stable of the City Light Horse Volunteers, I believe in Gray's-inn-lane-to create as much confusion and dismay as they could by these various operations, and then to establish, what in their vain expectations they had imagined themselves capable of erecting, a provisional government, the seat of which was to be at the Mansion-house. tween the present day and that which they thought would be the completion of their hopes, and you will find, that at a meeting which they held at Brunt's, on Saturday, the 19th of February, the impatience became so great, on the part of many of them, that they then determined to wait no longer; but that if no opportunity in the mean time should occur, of their being able to accomplish the assassination of his majesty's ministers, by finding them all assembled at the same house, at all events on the following Wednesday, the 23rd, some blow should be struck, and that the revolution which they had in contemplation, should actually have its commencement. Having thus determined, they appointed a meeting on the next day, the Sunday, at Brunt's house, for the purpose of forming a committee, upon whom should devolve the organization of the plan of operations for the ensuing Wednesday. At that meeting, and indeed at all the meetings, you will find that the prisoner at the bar was the leader upon whom they mainly relied for the success of their enterprise. You will find that he was generally the person who addressed them, who suggested the course of their proceedings, and in whose counsel and advice they placed the most implicit confidence. It was the prisoner, Thistlewood, who, on the 19th of February, proposed that which I have stated to you; he said, that as it did not appear from any intelligence they could collect, that ministers were likely soon to be together at a cabinet dinner, they should immediately ascertain the strength of their respective parties, and that having ascertained it, those parties should be divided into different bodies, upon some of whom should devolve the horrible task of destroying as many of his majesty's ministers as came within their reach; upon others, the duty of setting fire to various parts of the metropolis, and that to the rest should be assigned the execution of other parts of the plot, which were then detailed by the prisoner Thistlewood. This plan was at that meeting seconded by Brunt; and it was agreed, that on the following day, the Sunday, a meeting should take place They had frequent deliberations upon these at Brunt's room, in order to appoint a complans. You will recollect his late most ex-mittee to complete the final arrangement of the cellent majesty died on the 29th of January. It was thought at one of the meetings, that the night of the king's funeral might be a proper time for them to commence the work of destruction. They had intimation that on that occasion the greater part of the troops quartered in the metropolis would be removed from it to Windsor, to attend the ceremony of his majesty's interment; and they imagined that would be an opportune period for putting their schemes in execution. However, they abandoned that intention; they found that their plans embraced more objects than they had men to effect; and upon that night, therefore, they did not attempt the purpose they had in view. But, brooding over their nefarious machinations, many of these men became extremely impatient at the delay which was from time to time interposed be operations of the following Wednesday. Accordingly, on that Sunday a meeting took place at Brunt's. It was attended by the prisoner Thistlewood, Ings, Harrison, Wilson, and others of the conspirators. With all their names I do not at this moment trouble you, because your attention should be confined, at present, to the charge against the prisoner upon trial; at the same time I must observe, that if in the course of the investigation, we shall connect all the persons accused in one common plot, and one common design, the acts and declarations of all of them will become most important. They will each be answerable for the acts and declarations of the others, made and done in furtherance of their common object. The plan was again detailed by Thistlewood, was again approved by the persons pre |