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X.

1820.

CHAP. trophies of their success bring out the heads of Lords Sidmouth and Castlereagh, for which purpose bags were provided. Meanwhile the cavalry barracks in King Street, Portman Square, were to be set on fire by throwing fireballs into the straw depôt, and the Bank and Mansion House attacked by those left in the city. Everything was in readiness, arms and ammunition provided, fire-balls prepared, the treasonable proclamation ready, and at half-past seven the conspirators were arming themselves in the Cato Street loft by the light of two small candles. But meanwhile Ministers had information of their designs from the information of Edwards, who had revealed the whole conspiracy, and instead of dining at Lord Harrowby's they dined together privately in Downing Street. The preparations for the dinner at Lord Harrowby's, however, were allowed to proceed without any interruption, and a party of fourteen police, under that able police magistrate, Mr Birnie, proceeded to the place of rendezvous, where it had been arranged they were to be supported by a detachment of the Coldstream Guards. The Guards, however, were not ready to start 64; Ann instantly when Birnie called with the police at their 32, 33; Mar- barracks, and in consequence, thinking not a moment was to be lost, that intrepid officer hastened on with his fourteen policemen alone.1 *

1 Thistle

wood's Trial, 56,

Reg. 1820,

tineau, i. 242, 243.

47.

the dark in

The first of the police who ascended the trap-stair was Conflict in an active and brave officer, named Smithers, who, the moment he got to the top of the ladder, called on the conspirators to surrender. As they refused to do so, he advanced to seize Thistlewood, and was by him run

the Cato Street loft. Feb. 22.

* The delay in getting the detachment of Foot Guards ready when Birnie called at the barracks with the police, was not owing to any want of zeal or activity on the part of that gallant corps, the detachment of which, under their noble leader, Captain Fitzclarence, behaved with the utmost spirit, and rendered essential service in the affray when they did come up. It arose from a different meaning being attached by military men and civilians to the words, ready to turn out at a moment's warning." The former understood these words to mean, 66 ready to take their places in file, and be told off," when ordered to do so; the latter, ready to face about and march straight out of the

CHAP.

X.

1820.

through the body and immediately fell. The lights were instantly extinguished, and a frightful conflict began in the dark between the police officers and the gang, in the course of which some dashed headlong down the trapstair, and others, including Thistlewood, made their escape by the back windows of the loft. At this critical moment the Foot Guards, thirty in number, came up with fixed bayonets, and, hastening in double-quick time to the door of the stable, arrived there as some of the conspirators were rushing out. Captain Fitzclarence, who was at their head, advanced to seize the sentinel at the door, who instantly aimed a pistol at his head, the ball of which was averted by his covering Sergeant Logge, whom it wounded. Fitzclarence upon this ordered his men to follow him into the stable, himself leading the way. He was met by a mulatto, who aimed a blow at him with a cutlass, which one of the soldiers warded off with his musket. Both these men were made prisoners. They then mounted the ladder, and five men were secured in Trial of the loft, making, with those previously taken by the Thistle police, nine in all. The rest, in the darkness and con- 74; Ann. fusion, had escaped, among whom was Thistlewood; but 32,33; App. a reward of £1000 having been offered for his apprehen- 935, 940; Hughes, vi, sion, he was made prisoner the following morning in his 410, 411. bed.1

wood, 65, Reg. 1820,

to Chron.

of the con

The Ministers, whose lives had been saved by the dis- 48. covery of this conspiracy, returned thanks publicly at St Execution Paul's a few days after, and the whole respectable classes spirators. in the country were horror-struck at the intelligence. May 1. Thistlewood, Ings, Tidd, Brunt, and Davidson, were

barrack gate. The difference should be known, and is often attended with important consequences. In this instance, if the Guards had been drawn up and told off in the barrack-yard, and marched out with Birnie the moment he arrived, the whole conspirators would at once have been taken in the loft, and perhaps no lives lost. They had been ordered to be in readiness to start at a moment's warning, but some little time was lost in putting them in their places and telling off. Another instance will occur in the sequel of this history, where a similar misunderstanding as to the meaning of these words between the magistrates and military occasioned the loss of five lives.

X.

1820.

CHAP. arraigned for high treason on the 17th of April, found guilty, and sentenced to death, on proof which, though consisting in part of the testimony of two of the conspirators who were taken as king's evidence, was so confirmed by the police officers, military, and others engaged in the capture, that not a doubt could exist of their guilt. Five were sentenced to transportation for life, and one, after sentence, received a free pardon. Indeed, so far. from denying their guilt, Thistlewood and Brunt gloried in it at their trial, alleging that assassination was fully justifiable in the circumstances, and that it was a fit retribution for the high treason committed against the people by the Manchester massacre.* They were executed on the 1st May, in presence of an immense crowd of spectators, many of whom evinced a warm sympathy with their fate. They behaved with great firmness in their last moments, exhibiting that mixture of stoicism and ruffianism so common in persons engaged in political conspiracies. All attempts to awaken them to any sense of religion or feelings of repentance failed, except with Davidson. "In ten minutes," said Ings, as he ascended the scaffold, know the great secret." The frightful process of decapitating, prescribed by the English law for cases of high treason, was executed, it is to be hoped for the last time, on their lifeless remains, amidst the shudders of the crowd, who were more horror-struck with this relic of ancient barbarity than impressed with the guilt of the criminals.1

1 Hughes,

vi. 411;

Ann. Reg.

1820, 32; App. to

Chron. 946,

949; Mar

tineau, i. 243.

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* "High treason was committed against the people at Manchester, but justice was closed against the mutilated, the maimed, and the friends of those who were upon that occasion indiscriminately massacred. The Prince, by the advice of his Ministers, thanked the murderers, still reeking in the gore of their victims. If one spark of honour, if one spark of independence still glimmered in the breasts of Englishmen, they would have risen as one man. Insurrection then became a public duty, and the blood of the victims should have been the watchword for vengeance on their murderers. Albion is still in the chains of slavery. I quit it without regret. I shall soon be consigned to the grave; my body will be immured beneath the soil where I first drew breath. My only sorrow is, that the soil should be a theatre for slaves, for cowards, and for despots. I disclaim any personal motives. My every principle was for the prosperity of my country. My every feeling, the height of my ambition, was

X.

49.

ances in

of England.

Hardly had the nation recovered from the shock arising CHAP. from this atrocious conspiracy, and its dreadful punishment, when a fresh alarm of a more serious and wide- 1820. spread nature broke out in the north. Notwithstanding Disturbthe powers given to the magistrates to suppress military Scotland training by the late act, it still continued through the and north whole winter in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham, and the neighbourhood of Glasgow. All the vigilance of the magistrates was unable to detect or suppress these alarming practices, which evidently presaged, at no distant period, a general insurrection against the Government. It was at first fixed for the 1st November, but adjourned then, and on various other occasions, in consequence of the preparations not being complete. Meanwhile the midnight training went on without intermission on the hills and moors, sometimes in one place, sometimes in another, so as to elude discovery or pursuit; and at length, all things being conceived to be in readiness, the insurrection was arranged to take place on the 2d April. The large military force, however, which was stationed in Lancashire and Yorkshire prevented any serious outbreak in that quarter, and it ended in an assembly of three hundred malcontents near Huddersfield, who dispersed on the rumour of the approach 1820, 36, of a body of cavalry. But in Scotland affairs became vi. 412; more serious, and revealed at once the precipice on the i. 245. brink of which the nation stood, and the extraordinary

for the welfare of my starving countrymen. I keenly felt for their miseries; but when their miseries were laughed at, and when, because they dared to express those miseries, they were inhumanly massacred and trampled upon, my feelings became too intense, and I resolved on vengeance! I resolved that the lives of the instigators should be required to the souls of the murdered innocents."-Thistlewood's Address before receiving sentence.

"Lords Castlereagh and Sidmouth have been the cause of the death of millions. I conspired to put them out of the world, but I did not intend to commit high treason. In undertaking to kill them and their fellow-ministers, I did not expect to save my own life; but I was determined to die a martyr in my country's cause, and to avenge the innocent blood shed at Manchester."— Brunt's Speech before receiving sentence; Ann. Reg. 1820, 946, 947; Appendix to Chronicle.

1 Ann. Reg.

37; Hughes,

Martineau,

CHAP. Sway which the leaders of the movement had obtained over the working classes in the manufacturing districts.

X.

1820.

50.

Insurrec-
tion in
Scotland.
April 2.

On Sunday morning, April 2d, a treasonable proclamation was found placarded over all the streets of Glasgow, Paisley, Stirling, and the neighbouring towns and villages, in the name of a provisional government, calling on the people to desist from labour; on all manufacturers to close their workshops; on the soldiers to remember the glorious example of the Spanish troops; and on all friends of their country to come forward and effect a revolution by force, with a view to the establishment of an entire equality of civil rights. Strange to say, this treasonable proclamation, unsigned, proceeding from an unknown authority, was widely obeyed. Work immediately ceased; the manufactories were closed from the desertions of their workmen ; the streets were filled with anxious crowds eagerly expecting news from the south; the sounds of industry were no longer heard; and two hundred thousand persons in the busiest districts of the country were thrown at once into a state of compulsory idleness by the mandates of an unseen and unknown power. Never was there a clearer proof how powerful an engine fear is to work upon the human heart-how much its influence is extended by the terror being awakened from a source of which all are ignorant. How i. 10; Ann. true are the words of Tacitus, " Omne ignotum pro magnifico;" and how well founded was the boast of Marat, 412, 413; that with three hundred determined bravos he would observation. govern France, and cause three hundred thousand heads to fall.1

1 Scotch

State Trials,

Reg. 1820, 36, 37; Hughes, vi.

Personal

51.

the insur

Fortunately at this juncture the energy of GovernOutbreak of ment, and the spirit of the untainted parts of the country, rection, and were adequate to encounter the danger. Volunteer its suppres- and yeomanry corps had shortly before been formed in various districts; regiments 800 strong had been raised in Edinburgh and Glasgow, entirely clothed at their own expense. Squadrons of yeomanry had been

sion.

April 3.

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