1820.] Proceedings in the present Session of Parliament.

per cent, duties granted by the legislature of Barbadoes for the repairs of forts, the building of a sessions-house and prison, and for other public purposes, in the year 1663, he could not trace when this fund came into the sole possession of the Crown; but, in the reign of Queen Anne, on a complaint from Barbadoes and the Lee. ward Islands, the House of Commons addressed her Majesty on the subject, and she agreed to give it up for the purposes to which it had been originally applied. It was somewhat curious that, after Queen Anne's acknowledgment that it was not her's, that it belonged to the colonies, and that Parliament had the controul of it, it should neither go to the use of the colonies, nor fall under the inspection of Parliament, but make a dead stop, and become the absolute property of the Crown. So it was, but the cause and history of the fact were buried in obscurity: all that was known was, that it was the fund for obscure pensioners of all descriptions. He concluded with moving, "That it is expedient that the House do take into its consideration the Droits of Admiralty, the 44 per cent. duties, and other funds not usually deemed within the coutroul of Parliament, in order to make such provision respecting the same as shall be consistent with the dignity of the Crown, with the interests of the people, and with the maintenance of the Constitution."

Mr. Canning opposed the motion. There was no disposition on the part of his Majesty's Ministers to accept the boon which had been offered as an inducement to sell the Royal prerogatives. The Crown asked nothing beyond an arrangement already in existence, and no new burden was contemplated, and surely Parliament would not say, "You are too well satisfied, and it is our duty to see whether we cannot Jake something from you as a punishment for being so easily contented." Though the 4 per cent. duties were given for the consideration of repairs, &c. yet the origin of the fund was the giving of some quit rents and the settling of a disputed title. It was true that it had not formed part of the Civil List since the time of Queen Anne, but the power of granting pensions on it was co-existent with its origin. The observation as to the obscurity of pensioners, might be answered by saying, that among them were, the illust:ious William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and Edmund Burke. But to prevent any abuse from concealment, his colleagues and himself would consent that the amount of the fund, and its application, should be laid annually before Parliament, as a mat

453

ter of course, and without any previous motion. As to the Droits of Admiralty, after deducting what had been paid to captors, and for law expences, there remained to be accounted a sum of little more than 4,000,000. Out of that sum 2,600,000. had been contributed for the public service; and two several sums. had been given, one in aid of the Civil List, the other of the 4 per cent. fund; the first of these contributions was, 1,300,000.; the second 40,000.; there. remained, therefore, about 300,000l. to be accounted for. This sum had been paid partly in donations to different branches of the Royal Family, and partly in entertainments to foreign sovereigns. The expenditure, however, of the whole had been communicated to Parliament, and Ministers had no objection that, in future, every grant out of this fund should, as a matter of course, be so communicated; but they were not prepared to propose that a long, and almost immemorial usage should be abolished, without the most striking proof that such usage, though co-existent with the practice, was incompatible with the spirit of the Constitution. He thought it better that the patronage of the Crown should reward public political services by property under its peculiar protection, than that a democratic assembly should dole out largesses and favours according to the impulse and force of passion, party, or canvass. So far as the droits supplied any motive for going to war, he could not conceive it possible that the vilest mind that ever meddled with public affairs, would plunge the country into hostilities for so paltry a consideration. There were claims connected with these Droits, the adjustment of which, if they were taken from under the controul of the Crown, would be attended with many difficulties. With regard to the system of the Civil List, he advanced various arguments, to shew that it was more adapted to a monarchical constitution, than that of the American government could be; and he would not be induced by any pecuniary temptation to the Sovereign, to strip off trappings which were neither costly to the people, nor dangerous to the constitution.

In the sequel of the discussion, the motion was supported by Sir J. Mackintosh, Mr. Marryatt, Sir J. Newport, Mr. J. Macdonald, Sir R. Wilson, Mr. Tierney, Sir J. Yorke, and Mr. W. Smith; and opposed by Mr. Wynn, Mr. Vansittart, and Mr. B. Bathurst. On a division, it was negatived by 273 to 155.

TRIALS OF THE CATO STREET CONSPIRATORS
FOR HIGH TREASON.

In our last Number, p. 367, we briefly, noticed the trial and conviction of Thistle wood, Ings, Brunt, Tidd, and Davidson., The circumstances relative to this horrible Conspiracy were also fully detailed in page 165.

The counts of the Indictments were four: :---- The first and second counts were under the statute of Edward III. and charge the prisoners, first with compassing, imagining, and intending to depose the King; and secondly, with compassing, imagining, and intending to excite rebellion and war against the King, and put him to death.

The third count was on the statute of George III. and charged the prisoners with compassing, imagining, and intending to levy war, in order to compel the King to change his measures and counsels. The overt acts charged were: - - First, "Meeting, conspiring, and consulting, to devise, arrange, and mature plans and means to subvert and destroy the Constitution and Government of this realm, as by law established."

Second:-"Conspiring, &c. to stir up, raise, make and levy insurrection, rebellion, and war against our Lord the King; and to subvert and destroy the Constitution and Government of this realm, as by law established."

-

Third: "Conspiring, &c. to assassinate, kill, and murder, divers of the Privy Council of our Lord the King." Fourth: "Procuring, providing, and having large quantities of arms, with intent thereby to arm themselves and other Traitors, in order to assassinate, kill, and murder divers of the Privy Council."

Arthur Thistlewood having been placed at the Bar, the Attorney General opened the case for the Crown, and detailed to the Jury the plans and proceedings of the conspirators, as developed in the following evidence; from the whole of which he drew the conclusion that the prisoner at the bar was guilty of the treason laid to his charge. The Learned Gentleman's speech occupied the attention of the Jury for nearly two hours.

Before the first witness for the prosecution was put into the box, all the prisoners named in the indictment were brought up, with the view, we suppose, of having an opportunity of hearing the evidence, it being principally the same which was to be adduced against most of them. They entered the Court with much apparent indifference.

The first witness called was Robert Adams, examined by the Solicitor-General.

-I live at No. 4, Hole-in-the-wall

passage, Brooke's-market, I am a shoe-
maker. I was in the Royal Regiment of
Horse Guards. It is 18 years last Christ-
mas since I left them, I knew Brunt at
Cambray, in France, he went then by the
name of Thomas Morton, it is 18 years
ago since I first knew him. I know This-
tlewood. I knew him first on the 16th of
January last. He then lived in Stanhope-
street, Clare-market. I was introduced
to him by Brunt and Ings. I saw him at
his own place. We had some conversa-
tion together. When I went in, Brunt
said to Thistlewood, this is the man I was
speaking to you about. Thistlewood said,
"You were once in the Life Guards ?"
I said, "No, I was not, I originally be-
longed to the Blues." Thistlewood said,
"You are a good swordsman?" I said,
"I could use a sword to defend myself,,
but I could not use it very expert, as I
had not used any arms for a long time."
Thistlewood said, there was no one who
was worth 10%. who was worth any thing.
for the good of his country. As to the
shopkeepers of London, they were all a
set of aristocrats together, and were all
working under the same system of govern
ment. He should glory to see the day,
that all the shops were shut up and well
plundered. He then alluded to Mr. Hunt,
and said he was a d-d coward, and were
he (Thistlewood) to go to Whitehall, he
was sure he would find his (Hunt's) name
there, as a spy to Government. He then
turned the conversation to Cobbett, and
said, he was equally the same as Hunt,
and for all his writings, he had no doubt
he was also a spy. This ended the con-
versation then. I was afterwards confined
for debt in Whitecross-street prison. The
next interview I had with Thistlewood was.
on the 16th, at the White Hart public-,
house. It was in a room in the back yard.
Thistlewood was present, and Ings, Brunt,
and Hall; and before they broke up,
Tidd. On the 17th I went to prison, re-
mained 14 days there. I came out on
Sunday, the day after the death of the
King. I saw Thistlewood on the Monday.
evening following. I saw him in the same
floor in the house where Brunt lived, in a
back room. This was in Fox-court, Gray's
Inn-lane. There were Brunt, Ings, Hall,
and Davidson, present. There was ano-
ther particular took place that night. To,
the best of my recollection, I met them
next on the Wednesday; (by them he
meant Thistlewood, Brunt, Davidson, Har-
rison, and Ings.) I went into the room
and saw a number of pike-staves, and
Thistlewood wanted to have them ferruled.
Thistlewood then asked why Bradburn (the

prisoner)

1820.]

Trials for High Treason.

prisoner) was not present, and he added,
that Bradburn was entrusted with money
to purchase ferrules, and was not satisfied
lest he should not buy them. The staves
were green, and seemed as if they had
just come from the country. Thistlewood
said he would not give a damn for a man
who would spend the money in such a
way. I do not recollect any thing fur-
ther then. The meetings were held twice
a day from thence to the 23d of February.
The room was hired by Brunt for Ings;
Brunt said so. I remember one circum-
stance that occurred; one evening, about
ten days before the Cato-street business,
I went in and saw Harrison, Thistlewood,
and Brunt. Harrison said, he had been
speaking to one of the horse guards, and he
had told him that the whole of them would
be down at Windsor at the King's funeral;
and Harrison said, this would be a good
opportunity to do something that night
(the night of the funeral.) Thistlewood
said, it was a good place, and added, that
if they could get the two pieces of cannon
in Gray's-inn-lane, and the six pieces in
the Artillery-ground, they could so help
themselves as to have possession of Lon-
don before morning; and he said, that
when the news should reach Windsor, the
soldiers would be so tired as not to be
able, when they came back to London,
to do any thing; but that by activity,
some might go to Hyde-park, and pre-
vent any person or messenger from going
to Windsor. He also said that they should
go over the water and take the Telegraph,
to prevent any communication with Wool-
wich. He then said that they should form
a Provisional Government, and send to the
sea ports to prevent any gentleman from
leaving England without passports. He
particularly mentioned to send to Dover,
Brighton, Margate, and Ramsgate. He
said the present family had inherited the
throne long enough, and it was no use for
the present King to think of being crown-
ed. Brunt and Ings came in after this,
and Thistlewood mentioned to them what
had passed; but they said that nothing
would satisfy them but their plan of as-
sassination. They had talked at a former
meeting of this plan of assassination. Two
or three of them had drawn out a plan of
assassinating his Majesty's Ministers at
the first public dinner they had: They
talked of assassination at every one of
their meetings. I could not say there
were pikes in the room before this. I met
them on Saturday, the 19th of February,
at eleven or twelve in the forenoon. I
saw Thistlewood, Davidson, Brunt, Har-
rison, Ings, and Hall. They were all set
round the fire, and seemed in a conversa-
tion betwixt themselves. They all got up
and turned round, and said, "It is agreed,
if nothing turns out before next Wednes.

455

day night, next Wednesday we will go to
work." It was said they were all sworn
that they would not wait any longer.
Thistlewood proposed they should meet
the following morning at nine, to draw
out a plan to go by. Thistlewood said to
Brunt, "You had better go round this
afternoon and mention it, in order to have
the committee to-morrow."-Brunt said,
he did not think he should be able to go,
as he had some work to do, but he would
go on the next morning, and perhaps he
might see some of them; it was not ne-
cessary to bring a great many. Brunt
appeared to be leaving the room then,
and Thistlewood called to him, and said,
"O Brunt, it will be highly necessary
for those that come to-morrow morning to
bring arms with them, in case any officers
should come up." On which Brunt said,
"D-n my eyes, if any officer should
come in here, the time is now so near, I
would run him through the body. I would
murder him here, sooner than we should
be discovered." On the next morning I
went there about 11 o'clock. It was a
little dark in my eyes when I went in
after the snow. There were Thistlewood,
Brunt, Harrison, Cooke, Bradburn, Tidd,
Edwards, Wilson, myself, and another.
W. Cooke, on looking round the room,
said, "There are twelve in the room, and
I think it enough. to form a committee."
Thistlewood proposed that Tidd should
take the chair. Tidd took, the chair, and
sat with a pike in his hand. Thistlewood
was on his right, and Brunt on his left.
Thistlewood said, .6
Gentlemen, you all
know what we are met for ;" and then he
turned to the door, as if unwilling to men-
tion it, and said, "the West end job."
Brunt said, "D-n my eyes, name it."
On which Thistlewood again said, “Gen-
tlemen, we are come to the determination
to do this job, that we are talking about
so long, and as we find there is no proba-
bility of meeting them (Ministers) alto-
gether, we shall, if no opportunity occurs
of doing them together, take them sepa-
rately, at their own houses, and do as
many as we can. If we only get 3 or 4
at a time we must do them." He also
said, "I suppose it will take 15 men to
do this West end job; and I propose to
take the two pieces of cannon in Gray's-
inn-lane, and the six pieces in the Artil-
lery-ground." He proposed Cooke to
lead this party, and he himself would
command. He said they should take the
Mansion House as the seat of the Pro-
visional Government. They were next to
take the Bank of England; and Palin
should be the man who should set fire to
the barracks and several parts of London.
This was the principal part of the plan,
but if any thing else occurred before
Wednesday, they would think of it. Brunt

was