How long have you known the prisoner? -Part of two years; I have had an opportunity of being acquainted with his character almost two years. I first saw him with a Mr. Ryan of Limerick. From what you have known of his character and conduct, what has it been for propriety and honesty?-He was recommended very highly to us for honesty and industry, and he chose goods at our place, for Mr. Kyan, and we bought coals for him at the Coal Quay. I always thought him an honest and proper man. You never heard of his character for loyalty being impeached? -No. William Grimshaw cross-examined by You know nothing about his politics?— No, nothing; only he was recommended to us as an industrious young man, to do business sometimes at our house. Daniel Egan sworn.-Examined by Where do you live?-At No. 12 Coal Quay. maker. Have you known the prisoner?—I have. How long?-Eight or nine years. Are you acquainted with his general character?—I never heard any thing bad of him. Did you ever hear a bad political character of him?-No, not previous to the 23rd of July. Daniel Egan cross-examined by Mr. Attorney General. The evidence of these witnesses only establishes the allegation, that war was levied for the purpose of overthrowing the king's government. The rest of the case was most peculiarly fit for the consideration of the jury, to which you, gentlemen, will direct your attention, to see whether the prisoner took any part in that conspiracy, and committed any of those facts which are stated in the indictment. As to them, the first witness examined was Patrick Mac Cabe. [The learned judge here stated the remainder of the evidence.] Gentlemen, upon this evidence, you are to consider, whether any of these overt acts has been fully proved or not,--whether the pri soner did enter into the conspiracy, for the overthrow of the government-whether he caused pikes to be made, and concealed weapons for that purpose, for the evidence applies directly to these charges, if you believe it; and these are the important overt acts to which you will particularly direct your attention. The prisoner is expressly charged with having entered into this conspiracy, by the testimony of Mac Cabe; and if you believe what he has said, supported, as it is, by other evidence, it will go clearly to prove the fact of the conspiracy. Gentlemen, the exceptions which lie to the credit of Mac Cabe have been dwelt upon by the counsel for the prisoner, and it is a very great satisfaction to the judge presiding at a trial of this nature, that the accused is assisted by counsel, who urge every point that can be Did you ever converse with him upon poli- beneficial to the man upon his trial. There is tical subjects-Never. [Case closed on behalf of the Prisoner.] Mr. Attorney General said, he would not trouble the Court with any observations upon the evidence. SUMMING UP. Mr. Baron George.-Gentlemen of the Jury;-The prisoner, Denis Lambert Redmond, is indicted for two species of treason; first, for compassing and imagining the death of the king, and secondly, for levying war for the purpose of overthrowing the government of the country. Gentlemen, to maintain this charge against him, it is necessary that some of the overt acts laid in the indictment in support of one or other of these species of treason, should be fully proved to your satisfaction. I shall point your attention to the several overt acts, and it will be for you to consider, whether any of them have been proved to your satisfaction, by the evidence which you have heard. [The learned judge stated the overt acts in the indictment, and then summed up the evidence. After stating the testimony of Wilson, Coultman, Rice, and Douglas, he observed] no doubt, that a person who confesses, that he himself was guilty of taking a flagitious and treasonable oath in the year 1795, and confessing also, that he entered into a traitorthat he was armed with a blunderbuss against ous conspiracy upon this rebellion in 1803--his fellow subjects, to carry on that rebellion by bloodshed and murder; undoubtedly, all these facts must greatly impeach the credit of mine, whether he has told a falsehood or not, the man, and you, gentlemen, have to deterwhether his account appears supported and corroborated by collateral circumstances and other proofs in the case, so as to bind you to assent to the truth of his allegations. Because, though a jury might convict upon the testimony of Mac Cabe, even though there were no other witness, yet it would require would convict a man of a crime of this nature great caution and consideration, before they upon the uncorroborated testimony of an ap Prover, appearing in such a light as the present witness. But, if he be supported by other facts, showing that what he said was true, you are bound to find a verdict according to the truth. The facts in confirmation of his testimony, appear to be these: the witness states, that, after the conversation which was held in the morning, in the neighbourhood of Island Bridge, they went to that very place, where You will determine, whether these works were carried on with the privity and consent, or without the knowledge of the prisoner. The very best man is liable to have weapons concealed in his house, by servants, or other persons in his employment. But you will judge, whether all these things could have happened, and these works have been carried on without the knowledge, privity, or consent, of the proprietor of the house. -There is another circumstance tending greatly to corroborate the testimony of Mac Cabe, if you believe the evidence of Mr. Read; that is, the flight of the prisoner, after the rebellious attempt was defeated; because, if you believe, that he was flying, in order to get into another kingdom, without a passport, and that he told those falsehoods as they now appear by the testimony of a witness to whose credit no exception lies;-ask yourselves, why the prisoner said he breakfasted at his own house, and that he did not go out till after twelve, but afterwards, when Mac Cabe and Browne are produced to him, he immediately admits the statement of Mac Cabe, and by that very circumstance does confessedly bring himself into company with Mac Cabe. You, gentlemen, will consider, whether the prisoner joined with the conspirators, or procured pikes, for the purpose of rebellion, or kept them for that purpose. If, under all these circumstances, you have a reasonable doubt upon your minds, with regard to the guilt of the prisoner, such a doubt as men with safe consciences may entertain, you should acquit him. If you have no doubt, and are convinced that Mac Cabe's account is true, and that the prisoner acted in the manner which has appeared, you ought to convict him. The jury retired for five minutes, and returned a verdict of GUILTY. Mr. Attorney General prayed judgment of the court. The indictment was read, and the prisoner was asked, what he had to say, why judgment should not be passed. Prisoner. Judging from the awful situation in which I stand, I beg to address a few words to the court-merely as far as concerns the evidence against me.-First, as to that of Mac Cabe, and what passed at Island-bridge, I am convinced, he in some degree exaggerated. As to his going to my house, and seeing pikes there, I disavow it. There were no pikes there, nor had I any communication with him, prior to the morning of the 23rd of July. As to his testimony upon that part, I must confess it is constituted of perjury of the blackest dye. As to major Sirr's evidence, the conversation I had relative to my situation upon the morning of the 23rd, and the answer I made, I did not recollect where I breakfasted; on recollection afterwards, when I saw Mac Cabe, I stated, I did breakfast at Island-bridge, which actually was the case. I will not attempt to mention what transpired between us,-I believe all the answers read by major Sirr from the paper, were actually the case. As to the evidence of Mr. Read, as far as concerns the conversation between us, upon the subject relative to the character of Buonaparte, I confess he was the first person who introduced it,-he first drank the health of the king-I drank it-I then gave the health of general Buonaparté, and he censured it, and spoke hardly of the character of Buonaparte, which I defended alleging, I had a right to do so, as I had read in the public papers, that several respectable persons were taken into custody in London and punished for daring to impute any thing to the character of that great man. I do not now hesitate to tell the Court, though the halter is around my neck, and the axe ready to sever my head from my body, that I was placed in an official situation, acting under the Provisional Government. I acted with that energy which would promote its welfare, as I thought. I acted according to the dictates of my own mind and principles. I will acknowledge, that its completion and success was the full amount of my wishes. Had any of my proceedings relative to the 23rd, been brought forward, I should feel myself highly [Here the prisoner became so agitated, he could not speak for some time. After a pause of some minutes, he added] The situation of my mind will not permit me to say any thing more-I submit to the sentence. Mr. Baron George.---If you wish to say any thing more, that may ease your mind, we will wait as long as you please. Prisoner.---I have nothing more, but after I am sent to the cell, that no visitors shall be allowed to see me. Let no strangers be admitted from curiosity, I wish to have a chair. Mr. Attorney General.-I gave directions that the prisoners should be furnished with chairs and tables. Prisoner. I have been denied the use of pen, ink, and paper, I trust I may be permitted to write a few letters to my friends. Mr. Baron George.-We shall give directions as you desire. Prisoner. I will say this much, that I saw no pikes in my house, nor were any made there. Mr. Baron George.-Denis Lambert Redmond! The crime of high treason, for which you have been tried, has been established against you by evidence the most satisfactory. Indeed, your own declaration at this moment shows, that you were guilty of the offence of which you stand convicted. You have admitted, that you were in the employ of the Provisional Government, having thrown down the allegiance which you owed to your king and country. It is truly lamentable, that before you entered on an enterprize so destructive and so daring, you did not reflect a little on the consequence; that you did not take into consideration all the horrid crimes, which must have been committed, before your hopes could possibly be realized; crimes of all others the most odious in the sight of God, and of God's creatures. Nor think, that you can make any distinction favourable to yourself in the division of offence-for every crime committed on the dreadful night of the 23rd of July last, must be upon the heads of the Provisional Government, whoever they are, and upon the heads of those agents, who entered into their wicked service. And could any thing more clearly show the anger of Providence, than the circumstances attending your escape from justice, and your apprehension? You embarked in a vessel to leave the coun try, but he, whom the winds and seas obey, forbade your flight, and brought you back to those shores, where your crime was committed, and where atonement was due. Was there ever a case since the beginning of the world, wherein the interference of Divine Providence was more palpable?-What was the design of the Provisional Government? To declare Ireland an independent republic, and to sever it from Great Britain. If indeed they sincerely entertained such a notion, they must be fools, and entirely insensible to the difficulties and disadvantages of such a scheme. Surely there is no man of common understanding, and at all acquainted with the excellence know it far surpasses any republic, or any of the British constitution, who does not simple form of government in the world. Every man, who asserts the reverse, has been again and again refuted fifty times over; and any man with a knowledge of history, and who has had a liberal education, which appears not to have been your good fortune, would never compare the British constitution with that of any other country. But what monstrous ignorance and infatuation must possess the man who is able to read a newspaper and could believe, that Ireland, separated from England, could retain her independence? If once severed from that land of freedom, and that race of freemen, must she not of necessity become subjugated to the most abandoned and abject slavery that ever disgraced the human form? In Turkey, or in any of the eastern countries, where can be found slaves so degraded as in France? And could any but madmen for a single moment entertain the project of relinquishing British freedom and British connexion, for so vile and hard a destiny? Could the practicability of such a measure have seriously entered the heads of any set of men, how could they have abandoned themselves to the base election, or their country to the miserable fate, of separating from the freest and happiest people that ever illuminated the dignity of human nature, and to connect themselves with the slaves of a Corsican usurper? How could reason so err? But though you could have broken that proud and honourable connection which, I trust in God, will continue indissoluble until men, and nations, and time, shall be no more -see what dreadful means you must have used-what arrogance in design-what cruelty and horrid crime in the execution. No attempt is made by argument, to convince the reason and induce the co-operation of your countrymen, but a number of mortal weapons is secretly hoarded up,-blood is the first thing in the contemplation of your purpose; the rabble of the country are invited to take arms, and to fall with savage rage upon the civilized, informed, and virtuous part of society. Was ever such wickedness-such abandoned and sanguinary wickedness heard of? How could freedom, or any principle conducive to the happiness of man spring out of such means? Had your schemes been even dustry, and happiness, in the bosoms of their formed by wisdom, and calculated for the families. For God's sake, did you consider most salutary operation on the happiness and how erroneously you were aggravating the prosperity of your country, what right has any guilt which already pressed upon your soul? man to arin himself against the life of his fel- How could you reconcile to your conscience low-citizen, because the latter prefers to live to bring any man to that fate, which had so under an established and rational government, justly overtaken yourself? or how could you, dispersing blessings to him, and to his fellow- with any means of religious feeling, prepare subjects? What unaccountable arrogance, to meet your God under such circumstances? cruelty, and injustice in the individual; and -How could you hope ever to remain at rest what unspeakable calamity to the public, if in your grave, carrying with you into it, such every visionary in politics is to start up at deliberate and fiend-like enmity against the pleasure, and prescribe his form of govern- peace and happiness of your country ?-Oh! ment by force of arms? Was any thing ever it is lamentable, young man, to see the human heard so horridly revolting to the feelings of heart so depraved, and the motives of public humanity, and the dictates of reason? What- good so grievously perverted to the ends of ever your education may have been, your own social disorganization and misery. You apreason must have shown you, that the ven-pear to have been bred a mechanic, and it is geance of God must be particularly denounced against conspiracy, because of the magnitude of those crimes it necessarily embraces. You must have counted on thousands of murders, before you could have effected your purpose and the most dreadful massacres, the most indiscriminate havoc of their quiet and unoffending countrymen, must have been consequences familiar to the minds of those who could form a plan of this kind. Young man! You have now been a long time in gaol; you have had much time for reflection during the period you have been in the hands of the law; many unhappy victims have fallen beneath its justice. You have heard them going out to execution with the general consent of the public-not a popular regret attending their fate; but reason, virtue, and religion, deriving confidence and security from their punishment. You witnessed all those examples, passing under your eyes; the voice of justice vindicating the happiness of society, was every moment reaching your ears; yet only think, young man! how wrongly you have conducted yourself. The law allowed you pens, ink, and paper, to instruct your counsel, and that you might de-rive every fair assistance from their advice, and the suggestions of your own mind. The law allowed you this, for it is the pride of our laws to labour more for the acquittal than the conviction of the accused, however black the allegations of offence, and yet for God's sake, consider how you have used this indulgence. I have looked into parts of the pamphlet or paper you have written, and most unfortunate must it be for any man in your situation, to leave behind him such a hardened and unprincipled invitation to crime. You were not satisfied with bringing yourself to the end which awaits you, and having contributed to the fate of those who have gone before you; but at a time and under circumstances, where your thoughts should have taken another direction, you were labouring to perpetuate your errors and your crimes, and by the influence of your wicked advice, bring to shame and death, after you were in your grave, poor men, who otherwise might live in peace, inVOL. XXVIII. easy to see, that you have not had learning to fit you for any higher station under the provisional or any other government: the obvious defects in your spelling, with other gross errors in that shocking composition of yours, now before the court, sufficiently prove how little your education could have justified or supported your ambition. Believe me it is no easy thing to become a legislator and a ruler. It is no small thing to assume the cares, and the weighty and intricate duties, which devolve upon the statesman; and eminently must he be gifted in himself, who undertakes to govern others. He should not only have an highly cultivated understanding, but he should also have experience; and the learning which he derives from past times should be directed by a knowledge of his own; he should be able to trace the hidden springs of human action; and he should have that strength of mental vision, which could pursue human nature into those recesses, where it escapes the observation of common men. With all this, he should have virtue, and be influenced by a tender and religious regard for the happiness of those committed to his care; else miserable must be the lot of that people, whose interests are subjected to the will of vice and inhumanity, whether allied with ignorance or talents. How were your power, or your dispositions calculated for public authority? You have by one and the same act furnished record against both. Not satisfied with having brought yourself under the avenging hand of the law, you dedicate that time which should have been devoted to God, and during which you should have worn with your knees the very flags of your cell, entreating forgiveness of heaven; that precious time you mis-spent in composing, and endeavouring to get published, one of the most wicked, remorseless, mischievous, and ill-intended pamphlets, that could possibly have been conceived. It is really one of the most painful duties, which can devolve upon man, that of consigning to death one so unfitted for that awful event, as you are; and who instead of praying and repenting, has so recently been inflamed 4 P with bad passions-and which you are only solicitous to communicate to others. I therefore intreat, that you will not mis-spend another moment, or add, by other deeds, to the sins which you have to answer for already. Humble yourself before your offended God, and do every thing which yet remains to conciliate his mercy; and rely, young man, that nothing can so effectually assuage the divine anger, as a becoming sense of your own crimes, and a sincere and contrite endeavour to prevent the continuation of those crimes, and of their consequences to your country. The learned judge then pronounced the sentence in the usual form. The prisoner was executed upon the Coalquay. Note. This was the last person tried at the special commission. He was to have been tried upon the 5th of September, on the morning of which day the gaoler went into his apartment, and found him lying on the ground weltering in blood; a pistol was found near him, and it appeared, that he had shot himself in the head, but the piece of lead, (for it was not a ball) had taken an oblique direction, and had not entered the skull, and surgical assistance being immediately procured, the wound did not prove mortal, and he was completely recovered when he was tried. The above circumstance was not in any manner mentioned during his trial. 669. Trial of MICHAEL HEDGES and JOHN HEDGES for Conspiracy and Fraud, at Westminster-Hall, before the Right Honourable Edward Lord Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice of his Majesty's Court of King's-Bench, and a Special Jury, on the 7th day of December: 44 GEORGE III. A. D. 1803.* INFORMATION. Middlesex BE it remembered that the hoto wit. nourable Spencer Perceval attorney general of our sovereign lord the now king who for our said lord the king in this behalf prosecutes in his proper person cometh here into the court of our said lord the king before the king himself at Westminster on Wednesday next after fifteen days from the feast-day of Easter in this same term and for our said lord the king giveth the Court here to understand and be informed that at the several times hereinafter mentioned Michael Hedges late of Rotherhithe in the county of Surry cooper and John Hedges late of the same place cooper were jointly employed by the principal officers and commissioners of his majesty's navy to deliver into the stores of his majesty's Dock Yard and Rope Yard at Woolwich in the county of Kent certain coopers' wares and to perform certain coopers' work in the said Dock Yard and Rope Yard from time to time as occasion should be and require at and for certain prices to be therefore paid by the said principal officers and commissioners on account of his majesty to the said Michael Hedges and John Hedges to wit at Westminster in the county of Middlesex and the said attorney-general of our said lord the king for our said lord the ⚫ From the short-hand Report of y. Mr. king giveth the court here further to understand and be informed that at the several times herein in that behalf respectively mentioned of making and signing the several notes hereinafter mentioned one Benjamin Pidcock one John Smith Musgrove one William Constable one George Eden one John Bradnock one William Smith and one George Fensham were respectively storekeeper's clerks in his majesty's said Dock Yard at Woolwich aforesaid and that it was the duty of the said Benjamin Pidcock John Smith Musgrove William Constable George Eden John Bradnock William Smith and George Fensham so being respectively such storekeeper's clerks as aforesaid to examine survey and take an account of and to make just and true notes of the work and materials from time to time done and provided by the said Michael Hedges and John Hedges in the course of their said employment and that one John Jeffery at the several times herein in that behalf respectively mentioned of signing the several certificates by him signed as hereinafter is mentioned was clerk of the checque of the said Dock Yard and that one Richard Pering and one George Gainer at the several times herein in that behalf respectively mentioned of signing and subscribing the several certificates by them respectively signed and subscribed as hereinafter mentioned were respectively storekeepers in the said Dock Yard and that it was the duty of the said John Jeffery as such clerk of the checque and of the said Richard |