The Rev. Mr. Griffith told Booth, "he wanted the great he wanted to pick his birds."

men,

At length, by promises and threats, by being told the parties accused were either apprehended, or had fled from the charges against them, and being frequently reminded of the helpless situation to which his wife and children would be exposed, a promise was wrung from him to join Dunn's evidence.

Upon Booth stating his ignorance of what evidence Dunn had given, Dunn and he were put together, that Dunn might inform him; and orders were given that Booth should now be better treated, and have a moderate allowance of liquor, but not so as to make Dunn jealous.

Booth being afterwards bailed, an indictment was preferred against him at the ensuing quarter sessions, on the accusation of having damned the King, &c. and immediately meeting the charge, though he might have traversed to the following sessions, he was tried and found guilty on the sole testimony of Dunn, although Dunn was flatly contradicted by Mary Booth, the defendant's sister, who was present when the words were said to be spoken, and swore positively they were made use of by Dunn himself, and not by her brother.

No indictment was preferred upon the first accusation, of distributing the paper, pointing out the evils which were likely to result from the war.

It is remarkable, that Dunn accused five or six different people of using precisely the same expressions respecting the King, at different times, and when not in company with each other.

The chairman of the Manchester quarter sessions in passing sentence observed, that Booth had been found guilty to the satisfaction of the whole bench, and the judgment of the court was twelve months imprisonment in Lancaster Castle.

Benjamin Booth, thus imprisoned, was again indicted for the conspiracy with the other defendants, at the next assizes, and with them acquitted on the trial. At the period of his acquittal, more than nine months of his imprisonment had elapsed.

Benjamin Booth being thus indicted, both at Manchester and at Lancaster, was effectually precluded from giving evidence of the practices made use of, (whilst he was in prison, to prevail upon him, to give false testimony against some of the other defendants.

It is perhaps not unworthy of remark, that the Chairman of the Manchester quarter sessions, should afterwards be one of the Grand Jury who found the bills of indictment against the defendants in this trial; he was likewise fore

man

man of the Grand Jury who found the bill of indictment against Dunn for PERJURY.

So well aware were the prosecutors, of the mode in which Booth's declaration, in support of Dunn's evidence, had been extorted from him, (which he never reflects upon but with shame and contrition, and which he acknowledges to be utterly false) that they did not produce it on this trial, nor did it prevent the Crown from granting Booth a pardon.

After Dunn (whose conduct was reprobated by the whole court) was committed for perjury by the judge of assize, the chairman of the Manchester quarter sessions wrote (it is said) as well as the ATTORNEY GENERAL for the county palatine of Lancaster, to the Secretary of State, for Benjamin Booth's pardon.

On the 2d of May last Booth was set at liberty, in consequence of a pardon, of which the following is a copy.

(L. S.) GEORGE R.

No. XX.

Whereas Benjamin Booth was at a quarter sessions of the peace held at Manchester, tried and convicted of sedition, and is now in Lancaster gaol under sentence of imprisonment for the same; and whereas some favourable circumstances have been humbly represented unto us in his behalf, inducing us to extend our grace and mercy unto him, and to grant him our free pardon for his said crime. Our will and pleasure therefore is, that you cause him the said Benjamin Booth to be forthwith discharged out of custody, and for so doing this shall be your warrant. Given at our court at St. James's, the twenty-fifth day of April 1794, in the thirty-fourth year of our reign.

To our trusty and well-beloved the Chairman of the Quarter Sessions of the Peace at Lancaster, the High Sheriff of the said county, and all others whom it may concern.

By his Majesty's command,

(signed) HENRY DUNDAS.

Benjamin Booth has a wife and four small children.

On

On the 4th of October 1793, Benjamin Booth, while in Lancaster Castle, received a letter from Mr. Cartwright, of Shrewsbury, who is a surgeon and apothecary, and a Nonjuring Bishop, of which the following is a copy. The reader will make his own reflections upon its objects and principles.

No. XXI.

Copy of Mr. William Cartwright's Letter to Benjamin Booth, dated Shrewsbury, 27 Sep. 1793-:

When you wrote to me, soon after the death of Bishop Price, I little suspected that ever I should have seen your name in the public papers, on such an occasion as that which has rendered you so conspicuous; and reduced you to that situation, which your criminal conduct has so justly deserv

ed.

I begin this address to you in this manner, with no other design than to express my abhorrence and detestation of those principles which excited you to this conduct, for which the laws of your country are now punishing you; and which, without sincere repentance, leaves you obnoxious to the just judgement of the Almighty, whose holy laws you have so flagrantly violated, and thereby brought a scandal on that sound branch of the catholic church, of which you were a member.

You well know, or once did know, that unfeigned allegiance, in all civil matters, to your rightful and lawful Sovereign, is an essential doctrine and duty of christianity; and that all coercive resistance to him and his laws, in all cases whatsoever, and under the most trying circumstances, is threatned with DAMNATION.

I am quite at a loss to conceive on what ground you can possible justify or excuse your late conduct. Sure I am that before you could adopt the maxims and principles of PAIN, and such men, you must either have made shipwreck of faith, and virtually renounced all reverence for the revealed will of God, or lulled your conscience into a very irreligious degree of torpor.

I thought I had sufficiently exposed the atheism of Pain's wicked book, in that paper of mine signed "Phileleutherus "Christianus," which was printed and dispersed in Manchester as a hand bill in May 1791.

I grant

I grant you there is much plausible reasoning in Pain's writings; many unsavoury truths, mixed with vile falsehoods, and gross misrepresentations: but his reasoning is entirely of that sort, with which the adversary of souls always endeavours to deceive the unwary. However, it is such as can have no influence, but upon those who have first withdrawn their minds from that dependance upon God, which is always our duty, and our best security against the tempta tions of Satan, the allurements of the world, and the corrupt propensities of our fallen and depraved nature. The unsavoury truths disseminated in his writings are such as, more or less, exist in all governments in the world, and ever will, till there shall be an entire renovation of the fallen sons of Adam. The speculations of those who call themselves Philosophers, promise us mighty fine things indeed. But the world was not created by human wisdom, neither can it be reformed by such means as those of Thomas Pain. Refor mation is a fine word; yea, and a good thing too, when properly set about: but the experience of France should surely teach us the folly as well as wickedness of all popular attempts at it. Let every individual strive to reform himself, and leave the rest to God. While he is doing this, he is in the way of his duty: but whoever attempts to reform his superiors, and the governing powers by the arm of flesh, will only fall from one wickedness to another, and will not come into the way of righteousness.

Possibly you may deceive yourself with a notion that you were doing right, in endeavouring to overturn the present established system of government, because some of our religious predecessors attempted, in the years 1715 and 1745 to dethrone the then reigning family. But give me leave to tell you that those attempts, whether right or wrong, whether justifiable or not, were undertaken on entire different and opposite principles, to those, on which you must have engaged with the new disturbers of the public peace. The former attempts were not undertaken to overturn or alter the constitution of the government of this country. No! it was a competition between a claimant to the throne, who was thought to have been unjustly and illegally disposessed of his. right, and him who withheld that supposed right from him. That competition, you well know, is now at an end. The one family being as good as entirely extinct, and the other ha ving been so long a time in uninterrupted possession, surely we need not now hesitate which of these God has chosen to reign over us. He has declared "by me kings reign." And I believe there is not now one person of our communion who does not recognize King George as the only rightful King of Great Britain, &c,

In

In consideration of this unquestionable; truth, and of your late seditious and rebellious practices, it is my duty, however painful, to tell you that you lie under the censure of THE GREATER EXCOMMUNICATION. The consequences of such a state I need not explain to you, any further than to tell you that without an exemplary repentance there can be no pardon for you either in this world or THAT WHICH, IS TO COME. By an exemplary repentance, I mean not only a sincere contrition, such as is described in the cxLth. lesson, page 400, of our catechism, but also the most effectual restitution and satisfaction, which it may be in your power to make to that government which you have insulted, and the laws which you have violated. And this can no other way be done, than by disclosing to a proper magistrate, every thing which you know of seditious and rebellious plots; and endeavouring, not for the sake of revenge or malice, but for the sake of justice, and better security of the public peace, to bring all your associates in iniquity, to such punishment as the law prescribes..

Thus have I faithfully admonished you, in love to your soul and body too, and delivered my own soul on this occasion. I pray God to give you a right understanding in these, and all things concerning your eternal welfare, and

am

Your faithful but afflicted pastor and friend,

(signed) WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT.

I shall send this to you under the cover of a frank, directed to an old, sensible, and very worthy friend of mine; whom I have not seen for above twenty-three years last. His name is Langshaw, now organist of Lancaster. I shall request him to give you the most efficacious advice he can; I am persuaded it will be good and friendly; and I believe him to be as capable of convincing you of those delusive errors, into which you have fallen, as I am. you have a due sense of your crimes, it will give me some consolation to receive a letter from you: otherwise not.

If

I believe it is not permitted to persons in your situation to send or receive letters, without the inspection of the governor, and I have no objection that he should see this. I shall send it unsealed to Mr. Langshaw.

To Mr. Benjamin Booth

Lancaster Castle.

FINIS,