APPENDIX:
CONTAINING
Brief Sketches of the Lives of the Executed Conspirators, with copies of their Letters; an account of the infamous George Edwards, the Spy; the efforts made to bring him to justice, and the Parliamentary Proceedings thereon; with other particulars relating to the Conspiracy.
ARTHUR THISTLEWOOD.
In page 70, of the preceding narrative, we have briefly touched on the history of this ill-fated man, and we now add some further particulars relating to him.
Very early in life he manifested idle and unsettled habits, and remained a burden on his family until the period of his obtaining a commission in the Militia, soon after which he married a young lady of property; but even that step, so promising in the outset, was pregnant with future troubles. Thistlewood had supposed her fortune to be at her own disposal, but it was in fact so settled, that she received the interest only during her life, and the principal, at her death, reverted to her relations. Sixteen months after their marriage, she died in child-bed, and Thistlewood was left almost without a shilling of her property.
* * * * * * * * * *
In London he formed an acquaintance with a number of young military officers; was introduced into all the vices and dissipation of the metropolis, and gave loose to his passion for intrigue and gaming. On one night he was filched by a notorious black leg, and some of his companions, at one of the Hells, in the neighbourhood of St. James’s, of upwards of 2,000l. His money being nearly all gone, he fled in despair. Legal proceedings were commenced to recover the amount; but, owing to some informality in the pleadings, it was not recovered; and, soon after, those who had pigeoned him left the kingdom.
* * * * * * * * * *
In France his evil genius still followed him; on one occasion, having an improper passport, he was detained by the police, and during his detention, a circumstance occurred which produced him a long period of confinement. He had always expressed himself a hater of oppression and injustice. An Englishman, named Heely, was arrested for being without a passport, and conveyed to the same prison where Thistlewood was confined. Upon Thistlewood and Heely receiving orders from Paris for their liberation, Heely used some insulting language to the officer who brought him to prison; the officer struck him with a cane, and Thistlewood knocked the officer down with his clenched fist.
In consequence of this outrage, they were thrown into close confinement, and lay there for several weeks before they were able to obtain their final liberation.
Thistlewood having obtained a passport, then went to Paris, having sufficient knowledge of the French language to be able to converse. He entered the French service, and was present during the perpetration of numberless atrocities by the French troops.
Although a man of but middling talent, he had a considerable knowledge of military tactics; was an excellent swordsman, and always fearless of death.
He entered a regiment of French grenadiers, and was at the battle of Zurich, commanded by General ——.
After a variety of adventures in France and on different parts of the Continent, he returned to England, and became possessed of a considerable estate, by the death of a relation; which he subsequently sold to a gentleman at Durham for 10,000l.
He felt inclined to settle himself, and courted Miss Wilkinson of Horncastle. The gentleman to whom he sold his estate, instead of paying him the money, gave him an annuity bond, agreeing to pay him 850l. per annum for a number of years. In eighteen months this purchaser became a bankrupt, and Thistlewood was again reduced, not to want or poverty, but his finances were at a low ebb.
Thistlewood’s father and brother, both of whom now reside and are most respectable farmers in the neighbourhood of Horncastle, assisted him to take a farm; he continued to occupy it till he found he was losing annually a considerable sum, in consequence of the high rent and taxes, and farming produce being very low; he then parted with it. He came with his present wife and son to London, and formed an acquaintance with the Spenceans.
The Evanses were his constant companions; he took young Evans to France, paying all expenses for near twelve months; and since his return his history is but too well recorded in the annals of crime.
The son who took an affecting leave of him in prison, is not the offspring of the first marriage, but a natural child of Thistlewood’s, whom his second wife (the present widow) took under her care shortly after her marriage, and to whom she has shown great kindness. By the widow he had no issue.
The following lines are said to have been written by him while under sentence of death in Newgate:—
Oh what a twine of mischief is a Statesman!
Ye furies! whirlwinds! and ye treach’rous rocks!
Ye ministers of death! devouring fires!
Convulsive earthquakes! and plague-tainted air!
Ye are all mild and merciful to him!!
RICHARD TIDD
Was born at Grantham, in Lincolnshire. His age at the time of his execution was forty-five. He was apprenticed to Mr. Cante, of Grantham, but quitted his situation at sixteen years of age. He then went to Nottingham, where he lived two years and a half; from thence he came to London, where he resided several years. He thought it prudent to retreat into Scotland in 1803, and he stopped there for five years.
This flight was made in consequence of his having voted for Sir Francis Burdett, at the Middlesex election, when the Honourable Baronet was opposed by Mr. Mainwaring. Tidd swore that he was a freeholder—the fact being otherwise, and fled to avoid prosecution for perjury. A reward of 100l. was offered for his apprehension.
On his return from the north, he went to live at Rochester, and for nine years worked at his trade of shoemaker in that town. He was engaged in the conspiracy for which Colonel Despard suffered; but a temporary absence from town preserved him from sharing the same fate.
His last stay in town commenced on the 10th of March, 1818. From that time he attended all Mr. Hunt’s meetings, public and private, and was present at all the subsequent Radical meetings. He was introduced to Edwards by Brunt, at his own residence, Hole-in-the-Wall Passage, Baldwin’s-gardens. Edwards’s assumed violence suited his disposition, and he eagerly closed with every proposition, however desperate.
It was a most extraordinary circumstance that he had constantly an impression on his mind, for the last twenty years, that he was to be hanged. He frequently expressed to his wife that he should die on the gallows, who felt distressed at his entertaining such an idea, but he would still persist that such would be his fate. He was unhappily too good a prophet, and thus a life of irregularity terminated in the most ignominious manner.
Mrs. Tidd is a very decent woman; Tidd has left a brother and one daughter to deplore his fate.
Tidd, during the war, enlisted into more than half of the regiments under the crown, and received the different bounties. It is astonishing how he escaped detection; he was always in disguise when he enlisted, and, as soon as he had obtained the bounty, he deserted. When he had spent the money, he enlisted into another regiment.
It will be evident from this account, that the statements of his uniform good character and conduct published at the period of his first arrest, for the crime of which he was ultimately found guilty on an impartial trial by a Jury of his countrymen, were put forth by some zealous friend to produce a favourable impression on the public mind in his behalf.
JAMES INGS
Was a native of Hampshire. His relations were respectable tradesmen. He has left a wife and four children. Ings was a butcher at Portsmouth, and at the time of his marriage had a handsome property, consisting of several houses, and some money in the funds.
Trade growing bad at the termination of the war, and his property having decreased, some of his tenements were sold, and he came up to London about eighteen months ago, with a little ready money, produced by the sale of a house, and opened a butcher’s-shop at the west-end of the town. He could, however, get no business, and in a few months gave up the shop, and, with a few pounds he had left, he opened a coffee-shop in Whitechapel.
Business becoming dull there, he was involved in great distress, and at last was compelled to pawn his watch to enable him to send his wife and children down to Portsmouth to her friends, to prevent their starving in London.
At the coffee-house in Whitechapel he sold, besides coffee, political pamphlets, with which he was supplied by Carlile, of Fleet-street. Having given up the shop, and finding that there was no prospect of supporting himself and his family with credit, he gave himself up to despair. He had read the different Deistical publications during the time he sold political pamphlets, and, from being a churchman, he became a confirmed Deist.
He was a most affectionate husband and father; and his desperate situation, no doubt, was a principal cause of his joining the Cato-street plot.
Edwards, Adams, Thistlewood, and Brunt, had frequently visited Ings during the time he kept the coffee and political-pamphlet shop, and when he was in more desperate circumstances, he became a fitter companion for persons engaged in such an atrocious crime as the one for which he suffered the sentence of the law.
For some weeks before the Cato-street discovery, Ings was in the utmost distress, quite pennyless, and the money he was supplied with to subsist upon was given him by George Edwards. Ings was also supplied with money by the same person to take an apartment, where arms and ammunition could be safely placed. He took a room in the house where Brunt lodged, and thither the greater part of the ammunition and arms was conveyed by Edwards, Adams, and himself; indeed, it was the depôt of the conspirators.
The following Letters were written by Ings in Newgate, the night before his execution:
TO HIS WIFE.
“My dear Celia,—I hardly know how to begin, or what to say, for the laws of tyrants have parted us for ever. My dear, this is the last time you will ever hear from me. I hope you will perform your duty without delay, which is for the benefit of yourself and children, which I have explained to you before. My dear, of the anxiety and regard I have for you and the children, I know not how to explain myself; but I must die according to law, and leave you in a land full of corruption, where justice and liberty has taken their flight from, to other distant shores. My dear, I have heard men remark that they would not marry a widow, not without her husband was hanged. Now, my dear, I hope you will bear in mind that the cause of my being consigned to the scaffold was a pure motive.
“I thought I should have rendered my starving fellow-men, women, and children a service; and my wish is, when you make another choice, that this question you will put before you tie the fatal knot. My dear, it is of no use for me to make remarks respecting my children. I am convinced you will do your duty as far as lies in your power. My dear, your leaving me but a few hours before I wrote these few lines, I have nothing more to say. Farewell! farewell, my dear wife and children, for ever! Give my love to your mother and Elizabeth. I conclude a constant lover to you and your children, and all friends. I die the same, but an enemy to all tyrants.
“James Ings.”
“PS. My dear wife, give my love to my father and mother, brother and sisters, and aunt Mary, and beg of them to think nothing of my unfortunate fate; for I am gone out of a very troublesome world, and I hope you will let it pass like a summer cloud over the earth.”
“Newgate, 4 o’clock, Sunday afternoon,
April 30, 1820.”
TO HIS DAUGHTERS.
“To my dear daughters.—My dear little girls, receive my kind love and affection, once more, for ever; and adhere to these my sincere wishes, and recollect though in a short time you will hear nothing more of your father, let me entreat you to be loving, kind, and obedient, to your poor mother, and strive all in your powers to comfort her, and assist her whilst you exist in this transitory world, and let your conduct throughout life be that of virtue, honesty, and industry; and endeavour to avoid all temptation, and at the same time put your trust in God. I hope unity, peace, and concord, will remain amongst you all. Farewell! farewell, my dear children! Your unfortunate father,
“James Ings.”
“To Wm. Stone Ings,
and his Sisters.”
TO HIS SON.
“My little dear boy, Wm. Stone Ings, I hope you will live to read these few lines when the remains of yr. poor father is mouldered to dust. My dr. boy, I hope you will bear in mind the unfortunate end of your father, and not place any confidence in any person or persons whatever; for the deception, the corruption, and the ingenuity in man I am at a loss to comprehend: it is beyond all calculation. My dear boy, I hope you will make a bright man in society; and, it appears to me, the road you ought to pursue is, to be honest, sober, industrious, and upright, in all your dealings; and to do unto all men as you would they should do unto you. My dear boy, put your trust in one God; and be cautious of every shrewd, designing, flattering tongue. My dear boy, be a good, kind, and obedient child to your poor mother, and comfort her, and be a loving brother to your sisters. My dear boy, I sincerely hope and trust you will regard these my last instructions. Yr. loving and unforte. father,
“James Ings.”
“Newgate, Sunday Night, 8 o’clock,
April 30, 1820.”
The following petition to the King was written by Ings, the day previous to his execution, it contains a repetition of some of the facts urged by him in his defence, but of course produced no effect in his favour.
THE HUMBLE PETITION OF JAMES INGS, TO THE KING.
I was born near Waltham, in Hampshire, but I have lived ever since I was about fifteen years of age at Portsea, and every one that knows me knew no harm of me; and the masters that I have lived with sent me a character for me to give to the Jury, but the Jury never saw the character.
I married a girl that I loved, and she had a little property, and I continued working till I could get nothing to do, and I went into business, and it turned out very unfortunately, and I lost a great deal of money, not through drinking and gambling, for I never went to a public-house in my life but to smoke my pipe, or for the sake of company. I can assure your most gracious Majesty, that I never was tipsey but three times in my life, and that was not through the love of liquor.
The times being so very bad at Portsea, and I had nothing to do, me and my wife made up our minds to come to London: me and my family left Portsea the beginning of May 1819. I thought when I came to town I should get a situation, but to my sad disappointment I soon found all my hopes was blasted. I tried every means I was master of to get employ for the support my family: I did not know how to act, for it was not my intention when I came to town to enter into business, I had a little money by me, for me and my wife mortgaged her property—a house I mean—to the full value of it, if it was to be sold now.
I went and took a butcher’s shop in Baker’s-row, Whitechapel-road, and I carried on business from Midsummer to Michaelmas. When I came to look over my little stock of money, I found it was very much reduced, and the summer being so very hot, was very much against me; and after I had paid my rent, and a few little bills beside, my money was nearly all gone.
I left Baker’s-row at Michaelmas, and I took a house in Old Montague-street, Brick-lane, and I fitted it up for a coffee-house, and then my money was gone. It did not turn out to my expectation, for I did not take money enough, if it had been all profit, to keep my family. I persuaded my wife to return to Portsea with the children: the reason was, I thought she had better be among her friends without money than in London.
I remained in the house a short time after my wife had left me: there was a man used to come frequently and take a cup of coffee, and he used to enter into conversation about the Manchester massacre, and Government, &c. I did not make but very little reply, for I took him to be some officer.
After I had left my house, I met him in Smithfield-market; he said I have caught you out, I shall make you stand treat. I am sorry it is not in my power, for I am very short at present; if I do not get some work very shortly, I must sell my few things. What have you to sell? A sofa-bedstead—it is the best piece of furniture I have. I should like to see it; if I like it I will buy it, and give you as much as any person will. I took him to my lodging, No. 20, Primrose-street, Bishopsgate, and shewed him my sofa, but it did not suit him, and he took me to a friend of his, a broker, to buy my sofa, but it did not suit him, and we parted early in January.
I met him in Fleet-market, and he asked me how I did? I told him I was very low in spirits: come, he says, have a glass of gin—that will rise your spirits. No, I thank you, I never drink so soon in the morning. We walked up Fleet-street, and we went and bought the very sword that was produced in the Court, and I took it to the cutler’s, and I left my name.
If I had known at that time what was going to be done, I am sure I should not have left my name. He took me to the White Hart, and gave me beef-steaks, &c. for my dinner, and I thought he was the best friend I had, for he used to give me victuals and drink when I was very short; and this was Edwards that introduced me to the party, which I never should have known if it had not been for him.
There have been a great deal more said about me in the Court than is true, but it is of no use for me to try to contradict what has been said. I never was at a political meeting in my life not before this time, and I can assure you it was through Edwards, and the anxiety for my wife and family, which brought me to this sad unfortunate situation. I can assure your most high and mighty and gracious Sovereign, that I have been a true and faithful subject till now, but being in distress, and hearing the language I did, when irritated, took advantage of my distressed situation.
I know not what to say or how to address a King, but I hope your most gracious Majesty will spare my life—life for the sake of family—for I was not the inventor of this plot.
I shall in future, if your most gracious Majesty spare my life, be a true and faithful subject.
James Ings.
WILLIAM DAVIDSON
Was born in the year 1786, at Kingston, in Jamaica. His father was Mr. Attorney-General Davidson, a man of considerable legal knowledge and talent. He had several children.
William, his second son, was sent to England when very young, for the purpose of receiving an education suitable to the rank of his father, and his own prospects. His mother was a native of the West-Indies, a woman of colour: she opposed her son being sent to England; but her husband was resolved: he wished William to be brought up to his own profession—the law. William was therefore sent to Edinburgh to be educated.
Having learned the first rudiments of education, he was sent to the academy of Dr. ——, where he studied mathematics. Having left school, he went to his father’s agent, a friend who resided near Liverpool.
After some time he was apprenticed to a respectable attorney at Liverpool, at whose office he remained near three years, when he became tired of confinement. He had for some time felt great inclination to go to sea, and the captain of a vessel, to whom he disclosed his wishes upon the subject, promised to take him out as his clerk on his next voyage.
Without taking leave of the gentleman to whom he was articled, he entered on board the merchant vessel, and soon had cause to repent, for after the vessel had left the port, he was compelled by the captain to perform duty.
On the voyage a king’s ship stopped the vessel, and impressed Davidson and many of the crew. He arrived in England about six months afterwards, and wrote to his father’s friend a supplicatory letter. His father’s friend sent for him, and at his own particular desire, apprenticed him to a cabinet-maker, in Liverpool.
Davidson was a personable young man, and was upon the point of marriage to the daughter of a respectable tradesman at Liverpool; but her friends sent her off, and prevented the match taking place. Davidson being somewhat disappointed, determined to leave England, and to visit his relatives at Kingston, in Jamaica.
He took a passage on board of a West India merchantman, and on his voyage again experienced the misfortune of being impressed into the King’s service. He took the first opportunity of running away from the vessel on its arrival in port, and having obtained some money from his friends, he got work at his trade as a journeyman.
About twelve months after, his mother allowed him two guineas per week, which was paid him regularly through her agent. Davidson was employed by Mr. Bullock, a cabinet-maker at Litchfield. He was a most excellent workman, and was able to get three or four guineas a week, being a man of considerable taste in his profession, and chiefly employed in fitting up the houses of noblemen and gentlemen in the neighbourhood.
With his mother’s allowance he was able to live and dress very genteelly; and the company he kept was highly respectable. By some accident he met a young lady of the name of Salt, who resided at Litchfield; she was only sixteen years of age. She imbibed a strong regard for Davidson, and, unknown to her family, she allowed him to visit her. Miss Salt had at her own disposal, when of age, the sum of 7,000l. She communicated to her mother her passion for Davidson. Her mother objected to it; but finding that nothing could wean her from her attachment, she consented to allow Davidson to visit her daughter.
He frequently paid visits unknown to the young lady’s father: the latter, however, at length obtained information of these clandestine interviews, and laid wait for him; and, as he entered the garden late one evening, he fired a pistol at his head, and the ball it contained passed through Davidson’s hat. A constable was sent for, and Davidson was taken before a magistrate, charged with attempting to commit a robbery; but upon Davidson stating the simple facts of the case, precisely as it occurred, that he was courting the daughter, with the privity of Mrs. Salt, though against the desire of Mr. Salt, he immediately set Davidson at liberty, and committed Mr. Salt to prison for shooting at him.
While Mr. Salt was in prison, he sent for Davidson, and promised him his daughter, if he would not prosecute him. Davidson did not appear against him, and he was set at liberty.
Mr. Salt afterwards repented of his promise, and, to evade the pledge he had given, he told Davidson that he would not object if he would only wait till she was of age. Davidson communicated to Miss Salt the wish of her father. She replied, “You know my sentiments towards you now. I cannot say, if I remain single till I am of age, what they may be then;” and expressed herself angry that Davidson should be inclined to agree to her father’s proposal for deferring their union. Davidson had previously written to Jamaica, to his mother, and informed her of his intended union, and she had remitted 1200l. to a banking house in London, and placed it at his disposal.
Miss Salt was sent by her father to see a relative in a distant part of the country, and before she had been many months there, she married another suitor.
Davidson, who had entertained very great affection for the lady, upon hearing that she had broken her faith with him, went to a chemist’s shop at Litchfield, and in a fit of despair, purchased some poison, and took it; he had not swallowed it long before he communicated to a friend the rash act he had committed, when the latter immediately procured a powerful antidote, which Davidson took, and which destroyed the effect of the poison in a great degree, though he was unwell for a considerable time after. When he recovered, he left the place, and took a large house near Birmingham.
With the money his mother had sent him he entered into an extensive way of business; but being, from the disappointment in his marriage with Miss Salt, rendered quite unsettled in his mind, he did not attend to his business, and in a short time the whole of his money was expended.
Previous to his acquaintance with Miss Salt, he was employed by Lord Harrowby to fit up his house, and had frequent conversations with the Noble Lord upon the plan of decorating the interior of the mansion.
After Davidson’s failure in business, near Birmingham, he came to London, and was employed as a journeyman by Mr. Cox, a cabinet-maker, in the Haymarket, to whom he had been strongly recommended, by some gentlemen forming part of the congregation of a Chapel at Walworth, which Davidson frequented, and where he also made himself active as a teacher to the Sunday-school attached to the Chapel. It was during the period of his service with Mr. Cox, that the circumstance happened alluded to by Davidson on his trial, of an indelicate attack on the person of one of the female teachers at the school; but we are compelled to state, that his account of the affair is directly the reverse of the truth. The fact was, that he habitually indulged in attempts of a gross and indelicate nature on the persons, not only of the teachers, but even of the children of the school; way-laying them on their return home, particularly in the evening after their attendance on divine worship, and taking improper liberties with them. The outward sanctity of the man screened him from suspicion, and the indelicate nature of his attacks silenced for too long a period the virtuous and innocent females, who were the objects of his vile attempts; but at length his conduct became too gross for endurance, and one of the ladies communicated it to the committee. This led to enquiry, and the result was the most perfect unmasking of the hypocrite, who was expelled with contempt and indignation from that society and religious community, which he had so long disgraced by making it the means of indulging his brutal propensities.
After this detection and exposure, his conduct was more narrowly observed, and his habitual lying, prevarication, and intrigue, became notorious. Indeed he seemed to delight in evasion, and scarcely ever spoke the plain truth.
About four years ago he entered into business for himself at Walworth, and then married a Mrs. Lane, the widow of a respectable man, who had left her with four small children; for a short time he appeared to be doing well. At length trade fell off, and he was obliged to remove to London. He then took a lodging in Mary-le-bone.
He had known Harrison (one of the transported conspirators) for several years previous to his coming to Walworth, and by him he was introduced to Thistlewood, and by the latter to Edwards, the spy.
Edwards frequently called upon Davidson at his lodgings during the getting up of the Cato-street plot, and was, for several weeks before, his and Thistlewood’s constant companion. Edwards breakfasted with Davidson on the morning before the Cato-street plot was discovered; and on the same evening, in the presence of Mrs. Davidson, gave him money to get a blunderbuss out of pawn.
On the Sunday night, when Davidson parted, for the last time, with his distressed wife, he expressed himself very strongly against Lord Sidmouth.
After he had kissed her, he said, “If I should betray a weakness when I come out on the scaffold, I hope the world will not attribute it to cowardice, but to my intense feelings for you and my dear children. Farewell, love! pray that God will take mercy on me, and receive my soul.” Mrs. Davidson then left him.
This unfortunate woman is left with six children; four by her former husband, and two fine boys by Davidson, both under four years of age.
The following letter was written by Davidson to his wife, enclosing the notice served upon him by the solicitor for the prosecution, that the indictment for high treason had been found by the Grand Jury.
“My dear Sarah,—According to the promise your entreaties caused me to make to you concerning matters of counsel, &c.
I have sent you here the order I received last night—an order for application to either of the several justices therein mentioned, whereby an order will be granted to the applicant for the free admission of counsel, solicitors, &c. But I would rather, for my part, use such an order for you and my dear children, in preference to counsel, &c.; and would now retain my integrity of not having any, only as it is the first time you ever ask the favour of being dictator, and as in such considerations I did grant you that request, I will not now fall from such a promise, to one whose sole interest and young family entirely depends on the result of this trial. Therefore, you can be advised how you are to act; for my own part, I am careless about it, as I am determined to maintain my integrity as a man against all the swarms of false witnesses, and I hope you will never be persuaded, or suffer the public to be led away with a belief, that I am fallen from that spirit maintained from my youth up, and had so long been in possession of the ancient name of Davidson (Aberdeen’s boast), and is now become feeble. Death’s countenance is familiar to me. I have had him in view fifteen times, and surely he cannot now be terrible. Keep up that noble spirit for the sake of your children, and depend that, even in death, it will be maintained, by your ever affectionate husband,
“Wm. Davidson.”
“Mrs. Sarah Davidson,
“12, Elliott-row, Mary-le-bone.”
The following is a copy of the letter, which he wrote to Lord Harrowby, referred to in page 357, it is evidently a rank falsehood, written in the hope, perhaps, of obtaining a respite:
“My Noble Lord,—It is with the greatest pleasure I write to inform your lordship of my innocence of the charge wherein I am shortly about to suffer death. My Lord, permit me to inform your lordship, from the personal knowledge I have of your lordship’s family, it is impossible I could be guilty of the slightest intention to harm your lordship in any way. My lord, I have had the honour of working at your lordship’s seat, in Sandon-hall, Staffordshire, wherein I worked for Mr. Bullock, of Rugeley, and would at any time rather lose my life in your defence than to be an accomplice to harm you, or any other man, be his condition ever so poor, much more so many illustrious persons, and among them one I had so great a respect for, from personal knowledge, as your lordship. I declare now to your lordship, as I hope to be saved, that Edwards was the man who gave me the money to redeem the blunderbuss, which Adams carried away to Cato-street; I gave it to him not knowing of any plot: and, as I related to the Privy-Council, Mr. Goldworthy met me in John-street, Portland-road; he gave me a sword to take to Cato-street, and a bundle, which contained belts. When I found I was entrapped, I naturally attempted to escape, but never fired. I never had any pistols in my possession; and, in truth my lord, Mr. Edwards must know that I am not that man of colour that was in their party, if he will do me the justice to say so.”
JOHN THOMAS BRUNT
Was born in Union-street, Oxford-street, London. His father was a tailor: he apprenticed his only son John Thomas, at the age of fourteen years, to Mr. Brookes, a lady’s shoemaker, in Union-street. He served Mr. Brookes till he was eighteen years of age, when, his father dying, his mother purchased the remainder of his time, and his indentures were given up to her, and he supported his mother for some years by his labour.
At the age of twenty-one years he articled himself to learn the boot-closing; and, in a short time became an excellent workman: A prize-boot in the shop of a tradesman in the Strand was made by him. When he was twenty-three years of age he married a respectable young woman, named Welch. On the 1st of May, 1806, she brought him a boy, who is now living with his mother. He was fourteen years of age on the day his unfortunate father suffered the sentence of the law. Brunt was thirty-eight years of age.
The following lines were written by Brunt in the Tower, upon the Secretary of State sending a letter in answer to one written by the Major, that the alleged traitors were not to be allowed knives or forks, and only to be allowed to walk on the leads an hour each day:
The Home Department’s Secretaire,
His orders they would make you stare;
An hour a day allowed to walk,
But mind you neither wink nor talk!
For these are gifts of human reason,
And you are adepts in high treason:
No bigger rogues on earth there be on,
For so says Edwards the espione!
Let them eat and drink and sleep,
But knives and forks pray from them keep,
As they’ll commit assassination—
The rogues would overturn the nation!
At the bottom of the above lines were written the following couplets:
In modes of faith let graceless zealots fight,
He can’t be wrong whose life is in the right.
Life’s but a jest, and all things show it,
I thought so once, but now I know it!
J. T. Brunt, Tower of London.
The following verses were written by Brunt, in Newgate, on the Sunday evening, after taking leave of his wife; they were inclosed in an envelope, which was addressed to his wife; it contained also a shilling, the last money he possessed, and he requested his wife to keep the shilling for his sake as long as she lived:
Tho’ in a cell I’m close confin’d,
No fears alarm the noble mind;
Tho’ death itself appears in view,
Daunts not the soul sincerely true!
Let Sidmouth and his base colleagues
Cajole and plot their dark intrigues;
Still each Briton’s last words shall be,
Oh! give me death or liberty!
J. T. Brunt, Newgate, April 30, 1820.
Proceedings relative to George Edwards, the Spy.
On Tuesday, the 2d May, Mr. Alderman Wood rose in his place in the House of Commons, and said, that “he had a question to bring under the consideration of the house, which he considered as one of the greatest importance, and particularly to the house itself. He might be wrong in the course which he had proposed to himself to pursue; but, if he were, the Speaker would, no doubt, instruct him what was the proper mode of bringing the matter forward. He had come to the determination of treating it as a breach of privilege; and would here very briefly state what were the facts.
“Seven persons had applied to him, in his official capacity of magistrate, for a warrant to take up a man, stated to be then resident in Fleet-street, whose name was said to be George Edwards. He immediately went into a private examination of those individuals, with the assistance of Sir W. Domville. Four of the parties deposed to some very material facts, some of which, affecting the safety of that house, he should now mention; but others, which were detailed at great length, were of too horrible a description for him to repeat.
“They involved a plot, not merely to effect the destruction of that house, and the honourable members within it, but of one of the highest personages in this kingdom, and of his majesty’s ministers also. He would, however, confine himself to the facts of the case as they regarded that house. He would read the words of the deposition.
“Some time in that year deponent saw a man, of the name of Edwards, going from one public-house to another, inviting persons to unite with him in the execution of the plots against the government, which he intended to bring forward. It then went on to state, that one of his great plots was this:—He said, ‘that he could bring into the House of Commons six or eight men very readily, and that it was not necessary that they should come in clean.’ By that expression he meant, that they might easily enter the House with something under their arms; for they could so come into the lobby and other parts of the House with books; no objection would be offered to their passing in with books under their arms.
“These books were to have been filled with gun-barrels, cut down to the length of four inches only, which were to be filled with gunpowder, and plugged up at both ends; and these implements being thrown down in the middle of the House, upon some occasion of a full attendance, when it would be in a very crowded state, would explode with great violence, and cause much destruction. The deposition went on to shew, that Edwards on one occasion said, ‘Thistlewood is the boy for us; he’s the one to do our work: he will very soon be out of Horsham-gaol.’ Now the evidence next showed, that, two days after, Thistlewood did come out of Horsham-gaol, and he was introduced to this Edwards at the house of Preston, the cobbler; and that which was the strongest confirmation of the whole statement, and proved it beyond all doubt, was, that Edwards did get those very books made for the purpose; and that he procured the gun-barrels, and had them cut up.
“At that time, too, he had not money enough to buy a pot of beer. All at once, however, he got supplied with cash, and was enabled to purchase several other weapons of defence, and arms, which the deponents spoke of.
“Now, this was the general substance of the depositions as they regarded that house; as to the other parts, which related to the intended taking off of certain individuals, he had hardly satisfied himself what might be the best mode of proceeding; or whether, from the nature of the case, he might be justified in asking the House to indulge him with a committee of secrecy, in which case it would not be necessary for him to proceed with his present observations. The other details, however, which he did not at present feel it his duty to bring before the House, were of a most terrible description, and unfolded plots of the most dreadful character.
“The persons who had made the depositions were respectable persons, and not at all implicated in the late legal proceedings, as having been evidence for the crown or for the prisoners. He had had several other persons with him that same morning, who were all ready to swear that they knew Edwards to have been engaged in these plots from time to time. He had been asked by several individuals, how he intended to proceed in this case; and he could now declare, that his mind was made up to call that person (Edwards) before the bar of the house. Whether, however, he should ask for a committee of secrecy, or proceed in any other way, he was ready to bring this important business before them, and he thought that he discharged his duty in so doing. He had not thought it proper to swear those deponents to the truth of their allegations, because all the acts charged against Edwards were stated to have occurred either in the county of Middlesex or the city of Westminster. As he never interfered in such a case, he told the parties that they must go before a magistrate, either of Westminster or of the county; or else that they must apply for a warrant to Lord Sidmouth. He directed them to go to his Lordship; and promised that, upon procuring the warrant, he would get it immediately backed, so as to make it operative within the city of London.
“He thought the thing a matter of such importance that he took the depositions in charge himself; and ordered the witnesses to attend him at Lord Sidmouth’s immediately; but it so happened that his Lordship had left the place a few minutes before his arrival. He left the depositions with a person whom he had now in his eye, and had received an answer; but he did not think proper now to give it.
“The existence of such a man as this Edwards it was almost impossible to conceive. It was difficult to imagine a man, going about with all this boldness from public-house to public-house—nay, even from one private house to another, framing and discoursing of all these plots. For his own part, however, when he looked at all the facts, he thought it clear that Edwards had become connected with the conspirators at a very early period; and he pledged himself, that, if the house should adopt any question upon the subject, he would bring forward such evidence as must convict the man. It was only to be apprehended that he was not, perhaps, in the country, which he might have quitted by this time; otherwise, no doubt, there were honourable gentlemen who were in possession of him, so that he might be produced. He, therefore, felt it his duty, under all the circumstances, before he sat down, to move, ‘That George Edwards be immediately brought to the bar of this house.’”
Mr. Bathurst objected to the motion, on the ground that an individual charged with such high crimes as those imputed to Edwards, was an improper person to be brought to the bar of the House of Commons, on the charge of a breach of privilege; but stated that there was no doubt, if the question was brought before the House in a proper shape it would be entertained.
Mr. Alderman Wood in reply said, “that he certainly set out with intimating that he saw great difficulties in this question, but was, indeed, quite happy to hear it observed, that if the business were brought before the House properly, the House would properly entertain it. He thought it right to state, that he had applied to another quarter, to get the individual in question prosecuted, but in that application he had been disappointed.
“When he first read over the depositions, which were of a nature, he was sure, to make every man shudder with horror, he thought that not a moment was to be lost in taking Edwards up, if he could be found; and, he took it for granted that he could be found; for he was known to have been in the possession of certain persons for a long time. His plots were truly diabolical; and from the evidence it could be proved, beyond contradiction or dispute, ‘that Edwards was the sole plotter and founder of the whole Cato-street plot.’ At present knowing of no other way than the motion he had suggested by which the man might be brought to justice, he should leave the matter in the hands of the House.”
A short debate on the question then ensued, but it appearing that the charge could not regularly be entertained by the House as a breach of privilege, Mr. Alderman Wood was induced to withdraw the motion for the present.
On the 9th of May the worthy Alderman, having newly-modelled his motion, so as to move for a committee of secrecy to examine the depositions in his possession, again called the attention of the House to the subject. He commenced by stating that “in bringing forward the motion, he had no object in view but the furtherance of justice, no end to attain but the elucidation of certain extraordinary facts. He had not willingly embarked in this business, which he wished to have been taken up by his Majesty’s ministers. He had done all he could to induce the Secretary of State for the Home Department[4] to bring to trial and to punishment the individual whose name was so intimately connected with the late conspiracy. He had done so as a magistrate.
“In consequence of information which he had received, he deemed it necessary to lay before the Secretary of State all the documents he could collect on the subject of Edward’s proceedings; and he produced a number of persons who were ready to swear to the matters contained in their depositions. He farther added, in his correspondence with the Secretary of State, that he was then enabled to bring forward a considerable body of evidence in support of what had previously been alleged. He had attentively looked over a vast number of depositions, which appeared to him to be of great importance. He had brought down about thirty of them; and he craved the indulgence of the house while he read over the whole of this evidence, preparatory to his moving for a secret committee. His only wish was that a secret committee should be appointed; and if the House at once agreed to it, he should be quite contented with that result.
“If he could show that Edwards was the person who directed that plot—if he could show that he was going about for two years endeavouring to effect it—if he could prove that it was Edwards who purchased the swords and the arms of all kinds—if he could prove, by good evidence, that it was he who made the instruments of destruction which were produced on the trial, and others which might now be produced—he thought it would be quite impossible for the House to refuse his motion. He could substantiate all this by evidence—by the evidence of persons whose characters could not be impeached. He could bring forward witnesses, who had lived four, five, and six years with their employers, from whom they had received the best of characters. They stated, that Edwards had called on them at different times, and had endeavoured to seduce them: that he had drawn them into public-houses—that he had made purchases of arms—and that he had sent arms to their houses, they not knowing from whom those arms came, until subsequent evidence made them acquainted with the fact.
“He had traced this man during a period of five years, although his motion was confined to two. Some years ago he was living at Windsor, and some favour was shown to him by persons about the Castle. He was employed as a modeller in plaster-of-Paris[5]. Sometimes he was in deep adversity, at other times his circumstances were better. At one period he was walking about the streets selling his busts, without shoes or stockings; and all at once he became comparatively rich. To account for this, he stated that he was the relation of a German count, from whom he had received some money; in obtaining which, he said, he was assisted by Lord Castlereagh. This circumstance was sufficient to excite suspicion in any rational mind.
“He would also prove that Edwards had been long connected with the police-officers. This was a point which certainly must be considered as very important. He pledged himself to show that Edwards was in connexion with a police-officer who was the intimate friend of Castles, and by whom Castles was employed to entice individuals to assist in the liberation of French officers, those individuals being immediately afterwards seized, for the purpose of procuring the reward. If he traced deeds of this description to Edwards, he contended that the committee ought to be granted. All this, doubtless, would be denied; but he was prepared to prove it, and was determined to do his duty. He had sought out the history of this man, as, on a former occasion, he investigated and exposed the conduct of three individuals who stood in a similar situation, and who, for the purpose of receiving the reward, were inciting men to the commission of crimes.
“When, at last, he brought the villany of this atrocious traitor (he could not denominate him a man) before the House—when he traced him, forming his plots—meeting individuals at an appointed place, for the purpose of carrying his schemes into execution—telling them, if they were surprised, to proceed to Lord Harrowby’s—employing himself in making those arms which were produced on the trial—and, above all, when he proved that Edwards had brought Thistlewood to the lodging at Davis’s house—that he had hired that lodging for him—that he did not cause his apprehension the night of the discovery, but that he caused his arrest the next morning, having waited until the Gazette, offering a reward of 1,000l., was published;—when he proved all this, could they refuse a full and fair enquiry? He could incontestibly show, that Edwards told the persons engaged in the conspiracy, in case they were disturbed, to follow him to Grosvenor-square; that he accompanied a part of them on their way towards Cato-street to Holborn; that he quarrelled with one of the persons who declined going further; that when the discovery was made, he informed Mrs. Thistlewood where her husband was; that he went the next morning to Harris’s, and desired him to keep Thistlewood all day, and that he would be removed at night; and finally, that he brought the officers to seize him.
“He could further show that Edwards had taken lodgings, under the assumed name of Walls, in Pimlico. He referred the owner of the house to a porter, at Buckingham-gate, for his character, who told him, ‘This is Mr. Walls, of Windsor.’ He remained at these lodgings for a considerable time with a police-officer.
“He would now proceed to the depositions:
“A person named Pickard[6], a weaver, working for his father, deposed that he had casually met with Edwards at a public-house. Edwards called him by name, though he did not recollect having seen him before. Edwards told him “It was time the b—y thieves was destroyed. A number of persons, say six (he continued), might get admission into the gallery of the House of Commons, provided with tin cases, painted to represent books, and filled with pistol-barrels. One of these, provided with hemp, as a fuse, might be thrown into the House, when the members were engaged in debate.” Deponent farther said, that Edwards gave him a small steel instrument, to fix to a walking-stick. He also stated that Edwards was constantly going after him.
“Another individual, William Coudry, stated, that he attended several meetings when Edwards was present, and was informed by him, on one occasion, that a cabinet dinner was to be given at Lord Westmoreland’s, at which Lord Castlereagh would be present. Edwards said, ‘the b——y Irish butcher must be made away with.’ Coudry stated also that he had often seen Edwards afterwards preparing destructive instruments.
“A person named Seymour stated, that he knew Edwards four or five years, having met him some time ago, and he proposed that deponent should go to a meeting in Smithfield. He replied to Edwards, that he would not go, for that he was not inclined to join in those bad pranks. Edwards afterwards told this man that the meeting had not turned out to their expectation. This was a man of considerable respectability. Another man had seen Edwards at a coffee-house, in June, and was told by him that the only means was, to destroy his majesty’s ministers, by throwing hand-grenades into their carriages. Another individual was called on by Edwards on the 19th of August, three days after the dispersion of the meeting. Edwards stated to him, that Manchester was on fire, that the New Bailey was taken, and that Hunt was killed, and added, ‘Come out immediately, all are ready; we have nothing to do but rallying our forces.’ Edwards came again at eight in the evening, and said something so wicked, that the man would have nothing more to do with him.
“Edwards called on another man at his mechanical business, and asked if the men were all reformers. After coming several times he saw a sword hung up in the place, and said he would be very much obliged to him for it. The individual gave it. Edwards said, ‘you have more?’ He replied that he had not. Edwards said such swords were very cheap, and they could get them as cheap as the government. The man gave him no more, but soon afterwards a bundle was brought to him containing twenty-four swords and some pikes, and Edwards carried away a number of them under his coat, and sent for others. He said to this individual, ‘Pray come and see what we are about.’ He went, and saw Edwards in a flannel jacket, surrounded with combustibles; he saw him making cartridges and hand-grenades, and arranging all the implements of destruction. The man, who had formerly been at sea, would stay no longer.
“A man of the name of Chambers[7] was visited by Edwards, and was desired to permit him to leave there some arms. Edwards said that all was ready. He offered money to two Irishmen who came in, and brought them to a public-house, where he treated them with some drink. Mary Barker, daughter of one of the unfortunate men, stated that the hand-grenades and other things found in her father’s (Tidd’s) house, were entirely brought in the night before by Edwards.[8]
“Another individual—he was not desired by any of those persons to conceal their names, and if any member wished for the names he was ready to give them,—the individual to whom he alluded knew Edwards; he had known William Edwards, brother of this Edwards, connected with the police, and had worked with him at the palace at Windsor. This man was conducted by Edwards to Cato-street, but when he saw the preparations there, he immediately ran away. Edwards presented his sword to prevent another from going away from Cato-street. To another person Edwards said, ‘Now is the time to destroy his majesty’s ministers, if the country is not to be ruined.’ The man replied, ‘Such a thing might do very well for a foreigner; it would not do for an Englishman.’ Edwards then got Thistlewood to come along with him to this man. Thistlewood had sold an estate to a friend of the man’s, and was therefore known to him. But the man said to them, ‘I’ll hear no more of that.’
“Another man was applied to by Edwards, on the 19th of January, and was told by him that the destruction of ministers, either in their carriages or at cabinet dinners, was determined on. He would not weary the house by detailing all the practices of this infernal person. One very long and very interesting paper in this matter, which explained the whole from beginning to end, was written by one of the unfortunate individuals who had been seduced—it might therefore be said that it was deserving of little credit. Another person stated Edwards to have been patronized at Windsor, and that he knew him to be a spy. Another person, who had been on the waggon at the Smithfield meeting, stated, that Edwards gave a hint to a person who was about to speak of what he should say—gave him a pint of beer—told him to speak out, and among other things suggested, that they were ready with fire-balls. It was a very extraordinary disclosure, and never had there been a thing devised so well. In the whole proceedings not one instance was found of one person seduced, seducing another. A was not found to have seduced B; but in all cases Edwards was the seducer.
“Of some of the papers he was not prepared to give any account, as they had come into his hands only since he came into the house; but he had stated the facts brought forward by such persons as were sufficient to convict Edwards. He should hear, perhaps, that those persons were themselves guilty of misprision of treason; he was prepared to hear that, and to say something in reply. But that did not at all lessen the guilt of the individual who was seducing others to acts of treason. Edwards had gone on with these practices, and supplied others with money. He could prove money to have passed from Edwards to many of the deluded persons. It was remarkable that Edwards was near the spot when Thistlewood was taken in Harris’s house. Whether he had received the 1,000l. or not, he did not know. If he had, he could now live without labour, at least without such labour as he might otherwise be dependent on.
“This was established by the testimony of a very respectable man, who kept a school in St. George’s, Hanover-square, with respect to whose conduct in this business the trustees had held a meeting, and found nothing to blame. This gentleman (Mr. Fowler) was applied to by Edwards under the name of Wards, for lodgings, and Mr. Wake, who kept Buckingham-gate, said to Mr. Fowler that he was a respectable person. After he had been six weeks there, he said to Mr. Fowler, if Mr. Sheriff Parkins or Mr. Sheriff Rothwell should call for him, his name was Edwards. Mr. Fowler exclaimed, ‘Good God! have I got a spy in my house all this time?’ There had been no subscription to provide any money, except indeed a trifle for one of the persons implicated, who had been in the debtors’ prison, but it was very small. There had been, therefore no money provided among them that could account for Edwards’ mode of living and acting.” The worthy alderman concluded by moving, ‘That a secret committee be appointed to examine evidence touching the criminal conduct of George Edwards for the last two years, and particularly touching his connexion with the conspiracy detected in Cato-street.’
The motion was seconded by Sir Robert Wilson, and a warm and animated debate, between most of the leading members of the house ensued, in which the principle of employing spies was strongly censured and condemned by some members, and approved of and supported by others, as a justifiable measure of state policy. The question was, however, ultimately negatived.
The exertions of Mr. Alderman Wood in the House of Commons having been rendered nugatory by the rejection of this motion, recourse was had to the ordinary means of justice, and on Monday the 22d of May, the Grand Jury for the County of Middlesex found a true bill against George Edwards, for High Treason, and among the witnesses examined by the Grand Jury in support of the charge were, Mrs. Thistlewood, Mrs. Brunt, and Julian Thistlewood, (the son). Mr. Harmer was authorized to offer a reward for the apprehension of Edwards, and the following advertisement immediately appeared in the newspapers:
High Treason.—One Hundred Guineas Reward.
A True Bill of indictment having been found by the Middlesex Grand Jury against GEORGE EDWARDS for HIGH TREASON, whoever will apprehend and lodge the said George Edwards in any of his Majesty’s Gaols, shall, on application to Mr. James Harmer, of Hatton-garden, London, receive the above reward.
The said George Edwards is by trade a modeller; he is about 5 feet 3 inches high, thin and pale faced, with an aquiline nose, grey eyes, and light brown hair; he has lately gone by the name of Wards, and is supposed to be about to leave this country for New Brunswick under that assumed name.
The retreat of Edwards, however, has never been discovered, and the general expectation is that a free pardon will be granted to him for all acts of treason committed previous to a certain time, by which he will be secured against the consequences of the bill found against him.
The witness Hiden, and the accomplices Monument and Adams, who became evidence for the crown, are also detained in confinement, but will probably be hereafter released by a general pardon.
FINIS.
London:- Printed by W. Clowes, Northumberland-court.