“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.