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.