"stimulating high, and low, and endeavouring to "rally and encourage the friends of freedom. I have "been constantly sacrificing interest and security, "offending every personally advantageous connexion, "till Ministerialists, Oppositionists, and Moderees, "hate me with equal cordiality, and, if I may judge by their conduct, fear me as much as they hate.

દેદ

"For these four months, I have been giving po"litical lectures and printing, and appropriating the "whole receipts, till the last fortnight, to the support of our delegates to the British Convention; "for the history of which I must refer you to Citizen "Talbot, whom I have not seen, but whom I hope "to see before he leaves England."

He then gives an account of the meetings I have been stating to you, and of his lectures: then he

says,

"Adieu. I will collect together what political

papers I can, to send to you when I can find leisure. "Do write to me; let me know something about "the state of politics and society in America. I fear you are somewhat short of the true Sans Culotte "liberty; that you have too much veneration for property, too much religion, and too much law."

"I fear you are somewhat short of the true Sans "Culotte liberty." Now, that is, that you have too much veneration for property, too much religion, and too much law.

Gentlemen, having now gone through the written evidence, I am to state to you some other circum

stances. I have not indeed stated all the written evidence, because you will have written evidence laid before you of stimulations, under singular pretexts, to these societies, to arm themselves. You will find, for instance, that if a debate happened in that Parliament, where they meant hereafter to suffer no debate, about the Hessians and Hanoverians, they circulated among them papers, and it will be brought home to those with respect to whom it is stated, to this effect-" The Ins tell us we are in dan

ger of invasion from the French; the Outs tell us "that we are in danger from the Hessians and Ha"noverians: in either case, we should arm ourselves. "Get arms, and learn how to use them."

You will likewise find, upon this part of the case, that, after the dispersion of the British Convention in Edinburgh, after it was seen that the law of this country was strong enough to beat down a conspiracy of that kind, acting by their mere naked numbers, that it became then, in their opinion, necessary to the accomplishment of their purpose, to act with

arms.

Now, Gentlemen, where a general conspiracy of this sort, among affiliated societies, existed in Scotland, Sheffield, Norwich, Manchester, and various parts of the kingdom, all aiming at the same end, all acting upon the same principle, all involved in the same project of having a Convention from the different parts of the united kingdoms, it is natural that they should think of arms: but, if the conspiracy did

not exist, it would seem a very odd thing that it should happen in fact, that, in these different parts of the kingdom, in Scotland, in Sheffield, and in London, we should find persons preparing arms of a sort, and of a denomination, which of late years we have not heard of in this country, except as existing in France, and except as stated in a letter from France, which I have read to you.

But, Gentlemen, you will find, from the evidence. I have to offer, and indeed it is not surprising that you should so find-after I shall tell you, that in the pocket of one of the parties in this conspiracy, and distributed also in divisions in the London Corre, sponding Society, were papers, importing that upon the 1st of April 1794, was to be performed, ،، The "Guillotine, or George's Head in a Basket;" papers in which the sacred person of the King is so spoken of, and in which all orders of men, under ludicrous representations of them to their country, were doomed to lamp-irans, and to suspension; after I shall tell you, that I am instructed that Mr. Thelwall could, when retiring from Chalk Farm, take a pot of porter in his hand, with a knife take off the head, and say, ،، Thus "I would serve all Kings;" if you should find such language used, I am persuaded you will not be sur prised to find pikes in the hands of these men and their associates to find muskets in the hands of these men and their associates. Do not, Gentlemen, let us be misled by the great doctrine of the Bill of Rights, that every man has a right to arms for his

own protection-he has without question a right to convenient arms for his own defence; but the point before a Jury will be, for what purpose had he the arms? If he attempts to say, that he had them for his own defence-if he had them in fact for a worse purpose, the attempt to colour the fact makes the fact more criminal.

Gentlemen of the Jury, you will find that Mr. Yorke, in the month of November 1793, will be proved to have been at one of the divisions of the London Corresponding Society, stating, that he was going among the sons of liberty into Belgium, to bring into this country the true friends of liberty. You will find that he was a member of the London Corresponding Society, and constituted a delegate of the Constitutional Society to Scotland; that he has been propagating at Sheffield the same doctrine, as his brother associates were propagating in London; that he was there directing the form in which pikes should be made, to persons who were to make such instruments; that the persons at Sheffield enter into a correspondence with the Prisoner at the bar; that they inform him that these pikes are made; that he delivers the direction to persons of the Corresponding. Society, in order that they may furnish themselves with these instruments; and that they were to be furnished from Sheffield to a place here, I think, the Parrot, in Green Arbour Alley, or some other place in this town; and that, if the apprehension of these persons here, and at Sheffield, had not put an end

to the further execution of the project, there would have been a large importation of these pikes into this part of the kingdom.

Gentlemen, you will find that this idea of arms was carried further; you will find that, for the use of this Society, a plate with figures, showing the manner of learning the military exercise, was engraved by a Mr. Worship, a member of this Society. You will find that there was a military Society in Lambeth, and another in Turnstile, Holborn; they were small in their beginnings, I admit; but these things must be so in their beginnings; and you will find, that the Prisoner at the bar gave to a witness of the name of Edwards, a direction of whom to obtain pikes at Sheffield. Mr. Williams, another witness, who will be called to you, who is a gun-engraver in the Tower, made muskets for the use of these societies in Lambeth, and in Turnstile, with an express protest that he should not be employed, unless he himself became a member of the societies. You will find accordingly that he did become a member of them. You will find that they drilled at particular places. Gentlemen, I give you this outline of this part of the evidence, because I do not wish to enter more into the particulars, than to give you a general impression of the nature of the case which I have to Jay before yon.

You will likewise see, what is natural enough to happen, when you find in the book of the Society for Constitutional Information, that Mr. Horne Tooke