KING’S EVIDENCE.
Macdonald’s fellow in iniquity, Maddox, succeeded. He was nominally an ensign, but he held no commission, and Towneley was his colonel. In the retreat, northward, Maddox stated that he had expressed a desire to get back to his master at Manchester, and that Towneley replied that, if he attempted to withdraw, he would have his brains knocked out. At Carlisle, he added, the Pretender, on leaving, appointed Towneley Commandant, under Hamilton, the Governor of the town. That, in the above capacity, Towneley fortified the city, sent out foraging parties, to whom he made signals by firing a pistol as he stood on the wall, to warn them against surprises by the enemy. When Governor Hamilton spoke of surrendering the citadel, Towneley, according to Maddox, flew into violent rage, and protested that ‘it would be better to die by the sword than to fall into the hands of the damned Hanoverians.’ In his cross-examination, Maddox accounted for his being an approver, by saying: ‘My brother came to me in the New Prison, and advised me to do my best to save my own life, and serve my country.’ He had followed the fraternal counsel, and was then living, at Government cost, in a messenger’s house. TOWNELEY’S TRIAL. The third approver, Coleman, gave similar evidence. A Carlisle grocer, Davidson, deposed that he heard Colonel Towneley give orders to set fire to a house near the city, from which ‘the Elector of Hanover’s troops’ had fired on some Jacobite soldiery. Two captains, Nevet and Vere, stated, that on entering Carlisle, they had found Towneley acting as Commandant; and Captain Carey said, that the Duke of Cumberland having ordered him, through Lord Beauclerc, to take the rebel officers under his guard, he found on Towneley some guineas and a watch, ‘which I did not take from him,’ the captain added; ‘for His Royal Highness’s orders were, not to take any money out of the pockets of any of the officers, as it might be of service in their confinement.’
The process of accusation was not long; the defence was briefer still. Towneley’s counsel could not save him by stating that he was a gentleman by birth and education; that motives which weighed upon him forced him to go abroad in 1722; that he held a commission from the King of France; and that he was at the side of Borwick, when that marshal was slain at Phillipsburgh; that he had come over to England, some time before, while in the service of the French king; and that, as a French officer, he had ‘a right to the cartel.’ Captain Carpenter, whose evidence was to the same effect, served the colonel as little by his deposition; and two Manchester men, Hayward and Dickinson, who swore that Maddox was a cheating apprentice to a Manchester apothecary, not to be believed on his oath, might as well have remained at home.
CONVICTION.
The summing-up was brief, but to the purpose. The jury, consisting of three gentlemen, one yeoman, three brewers, a baker, brazier, starch-maker, gardener, and cloth-worker, promptly replied to it, by finding Towneley ‘guilty.’ The colonel heard the word and the sentence which followed, so horrible in its details of strangling and burning, without being much moved. His dignity never failed him; and the crowd through which he returned to his dungeon was less savage, in its expletives, than the loyal press in its comments. ‘The commission from the French king,’ said the ‘Penny Post,’ ‘was treated with the contempt it deserved, and must convince the Jacobites that such foolish and wicked contrivances can have no effect on men of understanding.’ ‘Hear! hear!’ cried the Whig papers; ‘so much for the nominal Colonel!’
While these trials were in progress, a curious enquiry was attracting not a few of ‘the mobile’ to another part of the town. A goodly number of King George’s soldiers were made prisoners by the Jacobites, at the battle of Preston Pans. These had been recovered, but they did not return to the ranks unquestioned. They were compelled to appear, in batches, at Hicks’s Hall, Clerkenwell, to clear themselves from the imputation of cowardice and desertion; and to undergo the rough wit of the populace as they went to and fro. Other soldiers, against whom the above imputation could not be laid, offended in another way. For acts of murderous violence and robbery in the London streets, six soldiers were hung on the same day, at Tyburn. As long as such spectacles were provided, the mob little cared to which side the victims belonged.
CAPTAIN FLETCHER.
Three prisoners were tried on the following day, July 16th, Fletcher, Chadwick, and Battragh. Maddox, the approver, stated, as in Towneley’s case, that he had expressed a wish to withdraw, but that Fletcher had said: ‘That it would be a scandalous shame to retreat;’ and, added the witness, ‘putting his hand in his pocket, he pulled out a great purse of gold, and told me I should not want while that lasted! I have seen him in the assembly with ladies, he was a chapman and dealt in linen before this affair.’ Bradbury, another witness, said, ‘When the recruiting sergeant had finished his speech, at Manchester, with “God save King James and Prince Charles!” Captain Fletcher pulled off his hat and hallooed.’ For the defence, Anne Aston, an old servant of seven and twenty years’ standing, stated that Fletcher carefully managed his mother’s business at Salford; that he was always loyal, but that the Jacobites had carried him off by force, from the house, and that he went away weeping. It was, however, said that he gave 50l. for his captain’s commission. He was found guilty, was again put in fetters, and was taken back to prison. ‘I would do it again!’ was his bold remark, as he turned away from the bar.
THE MANCHESTER OFFICERS.
Lieutenant Chadwick and Ensign Battragh were then put forward. They belonged to Captain James Dawson’s company. The ensign had been an attorney’s clerk. The lieutenant was the son of a Manchester tallow-chandler and soap-boiler, but he was too proud to follow his sire’s calling. He was a handsome fellow, with a sweet voice for singing, and was no mean proficient on the organ. ‘He kept,’ it was said, ‘some of the most polite company in the place, and never followed any trade.’ One of the witnesses stated that when the lieutenant was with the Jacobite army at Lancaster, he went into the organ-loft of one of the churches and played ‘the King shall have his own again!’ In addition to the old witnesses, a Jacobite drummer-boy, twelve years old, was called. ‘Child,’ said the judge, ‘do you know the nature of an oath?’ The child readily answered in the affirmative, adding: ‘I know I am sworn to speak the truth, and I shall never be happy if I don’t.’ Upon this, he was sworn, and he deposed to being a servant to Captain Lowther, and to being taken prisoner at Carlisle, where, said he, ‘I begged my life on my knees, of His Royal Highness, which he readily granted, and God bless him for it!’ The active presence of both prisoners in the rebel army having been duly proved, they held their peace, and were duly found guilty, were ironed, and carried back to their dungeons.