XX.

1794.

amined as

an evidence:

BOOK had frequently declared his attachment to the house of peers as an useful and necessary branch of the constítution; and he had uniformly reprobated the duke of Richmond's plan of universal suffrage. In a conversation with major Cartwright on the subject of reform, Mr. Tooke had made use of the following familiar but expressive illustration :-"You would go to Windsor, but I should choose to stop at Hounslow."The most extraordinary circumstance attending this trial was the examination of the duke of Mr. Pitt ex- Richmond and Mr. Pitt, who were subpoena'd as witnesses by Mr. Tooke. The former was interrogated merely as to the authenticity of his famous letter to colonel Sharman, in order to shew that, as to the matter of reform, the cor responding and constitutional societies did not extend their ideas farther than one of his majesty's cabinet-ministers; and the latter to prove that the mode of conducting the business was similar to that adopted by Mr. Pitt and the reformers of 1780. On this occasion the peculiar his incre- features of Mr. Pitt's disposition conspicuously of recol- displayed themselves. To a variety of very material questions relative to the Westminster convention in that and the following years, he was seized with a total want of recollection. With great difficulty, however, he at length was brought to recollect a meeting at the Thatched

dible want

lection.

XX.

House Tavern, in May, 1782. Mr. Tooke asked BOOK him what that meeting was but a convention of delegates from different great towns and coun- 1794. ties of England, sent by committees of those towns and counties? He said he did not recollect how that meeting was composed.-Mr. Tooke then asked whether he did not recollect that it had been objected in the house of commons, respecting the petition actually presented, that it came from persons in a delegated capacity? He said he had no recollection of any such thing. Mr. Sheridan, being immediately afterwards examined, gave a perfectly clear and accurate account of the proceedings of that æra. He had met Mr. Tooke in 1780 at a convention, or meeting of delegates from different parts, who were to consider the best means of procuring a parliamentary reform, and to act for those who deputed them. He was himself a delegate for Westminster. The matter, he said, was notorious. He acknowledged that they had hopes by their numbers to create a kind of awe in the house of commons, not from the remotest idea of violence, but such an awe as that assembly must always feel when made acquainted with the wishes of the people at large. Mr. S. enumerated the places where these meetings were held-mentioning, in particular, Guildhall, the ThatchedHouse Tavern, and the duke of Richmond's at

BOOK Privy-Garden. Here Mr. Pitt begged leave to XX. correct his evidence, and confessed that he was 1794. present at some meetings in Privy-Garden,

where there were delegates from different counties; i. e. he confessed that he was himself chargeable with the very same act for the commission of which, now he had abandoned the cause of parliamentary reform, he had resolved to exterminate those by the sword of justice who still adhered to it under all difficulties and discouragements.*-The jury retired for a few minutes only previous to their returning a verdict

* It appears by referring to the public prints of the times, that on the 18th May 1782, a meeting was held at the Thatched-House Tavern of divers members of parliament friendly to a constitutional reform, and of MEMBERS of several COMMITTEES of COUNTIES and CITIES, who passed the following resolutions, sir William Plomer lord mayor of London being in the Chair, and the DUKE OF RICHMOND and the hon. WILLIAM PITT, &c. &c. being present.

Resolved unanimously,

That the motion of the hon. William Pitt on the 7th instant, for the appointment of a committee of the house of commons to enquire into the state of the representation of the people of Great Britain in Parliament, and to report the same to the house, and also what steps it might be proper in their opinion to take thereupon, having been defeated by a motion made for the order of the day, it has become indispensably necessary that application should be made to parliament by petition from the COLLECTIVE BODY of the PEOPLE in their respective districts, requesting a substantial reformation of the commons house of parliament.

Resolved

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of NOT GUILTY. An involuntary burst of accla- BOOK mation filled the court, which was instantly reechoed by the populace without, who, as on 1794. the former occasion, escorted the counsel to their chambers.

A feeble attempt was made to prosecute the original charge by proceeding to the trial of

Resolved unanimously,

That this meeting considering that a general application by the COLLECTIVE BODY to the commons house of parliament cannot be made before the close of the present session, is of opinion that the sense of the people should be taken at such times as may be convenient during this summer, in order to lay their several petitions before parliament early in the next session, when their proposition for a parliamentary reformation, without which neither the liberty of the nation can be preserved, nor the permanence of a wise and virtuous administra tion can be secured, may receive that ample and mature discussion which so momentous a question demands.

As the most striking sequel to these Resolutions, may be subjoined the following Count, being the seventh of the indictment of the state prisoners.

"And farther to fulfil, perfect, and bring to effect, their most evil and wicked treason and treasonable compassings, and imaginations aforesaid, they maliciously and traitorously did meet, conspire, consult, and agree, among themselves and together with divers other false traitors whose names are to the said jurors unknown, unlawfully, wickedly, and traitorously, to subvert and alter, and cause to be subverted and altered, the LEGISLATURE, RULE, and GOVERNMENT, now duly and happily established in this kingdom, and to depose and cause to be deposed our said lord the king from the royal state, title, power, and government, of this kingdom.".

XX.

BOOK John Thelwall-a man whose general indiscre tion of character and conduct had been indeed 1794 sufficiently conspicuous, but against whom nothing was proved excepting some intemperate expressions at the famous popular meeting at Chalk-Farm, and in his lecture-room, which were supported only by the testimony of the spies, Lynam and Taylor, whose evidence was afterwards rendered nugatory, or worse, by that of two other witnesses. The jury, without hesitation, brought in a verdict of NOT GUILTY.

The conduct of the cabinet-ministers in this extraordinary business-their mode of investigating the transactions of the associations in question, and of securing the requisite evidence of the several witnesses for the crown in these successive trials—was such as fully to justify the memorable observation of Dr. Swift, who says, "that those diligent enquiries into remote and problematical guilt, with a new power of enforcing them by chains and dungeons to every person whose face a minister thinks fit to dis

In order to form some judgment of that reign of terror which would have followed the conviction of Hardy and his associates, it is sufficient to know on evidence which remains uncontradicted, that of eighty warrants which were filled up during the sitting of the grand jury, fifty-three were actually signed and ready to be issued on the evening of the acquittal on the confident presumption of an opposite verdict.