don, he the faid George Gordon afterwards (that is to fay) on the 2d day of June, in the twentieth year aforefaid, with force of arms, &c. at the faid parish of St. Margaret, within the liberty of Weftminfter, in the faid county of Middlefex, with a great multitude of perfons whofe names are at prefent unknown to the jurors aforefaid, to a great number, to wit, to the number of five hundred perfons and upwards, armed and arrayed in a warlike manner (that is to fay), with colours flying, and with fwords, clubs, bludgeons, ftaves, and other weapons, as well offenfive as defenfive, being then and there unlawfully, malicioufly, and traitorously affembled and gathered together againft our faid prefent fovereign lord the king, moft wickedly, malicioufly, and traitorously did ordain, prepare, and levy public war against our faid lord the king, his fupreme and undoubted lord, contrary to the duty of his allegiance, againft the peace of our faid lord the king, his crown, and dignity, and alfo against the form of the ftatute in fuch cafe made and provided. And the jurors aforefaid, upon their oath aforefaid, further prefent, that the faid George Gordon, being a fubject of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and feduced by the inftigation of the devil, and entirely withdrawing the love, and true and due obedience which every fubject of our faid fovereign lord the king fhould, and of right ought to bear towards our faid prefent fovereign lord the king,

and wickedly devifing and intending to disturb the peace and public tranquillity of this kingdom, afterwards, to wit, on the faid fecond day of June, in the twentieth year of the reign of our faid fovereign lord the now king, and on divers other days and times between that day and the tenth day of the faid month of June, at the faid parish of St. Margaret, within the liberty of Westminster, in the faid county of Middlesex, unlawfully, malicioutly, and traitoroufly, did compafs, imagine, and intend to raife and levy war, infurrection, and rebellion against our faid lord the king, within this kingdom of Great Britain; and to fulfil and bring to effect the faid laft mentioned traitorous compaffings, imaginations, and intentions of him the faid George Gordon, he the faid George Gordon, on the faid fecond day of June, in the twentieth year aforesaid, and on divers other days and times between that day and the tenth day of the fame month of June, with force and arms, &c. at the faid parifh of St. Margaret, within the liberty of Westminster, in the faid county of Middlesex, with a great multitude of perfons whofe names are at prefent unknown to the jurors aforefaid, to a great number, to wit, to the number of five hundred perfons and upwards, armed and arrayed in a warlike manner (that is to fay), with colours flying, and with fwords, clubs, bludgeons, ftaves, and other weapons, as well offenfive as defenfive, being then and there. unlawfully, malicioufly, and traitoroufly affembled and gathered together againft our faid prefent fovereign lord the king, moft wickedly, malicioufly, and traitorouf

ly

ly did ordain, prepare, and levy public war against our faid lord the king, his fupreme and undoubted lord, contrary to the duty of his allegiance, against the peace of our faid lord the king, his crown, and dignity, and alfo against the form of the ftatute in fuch case made and provided."

Mr.NORTON opened the indictment.

Mr. Attorney-general then ftated, that the particular fpecies of treason, with which the prifoner was charged, was levying war against the king within his realm: that this offence, within the ftatute 25 Edw. III. is of two forts, the one directly and immediately against the person of the king; that the other, constructive levying of war, is against the majefty of the king, as a great and numerous infurrection of the people to effect by force an alteration of the established law of the country, or the reformation of grievances, real or imaginary, in which the infurgents have no particular or fpecial interefi;' and that it was of the latter kind of levying war with which the prifoner ftood charged.

He then entered into a difcuffion of the act against the Roman Catholics of the 11th and 12th of King William, fhewing that the claufes it contained were equally cruel and fevere, and could only be justified by the neceffity of the cafe, for the falvation of the ftate and our religion: that the hiftory of the times afforded no proof of fuch neceffity, nor any apology for the hardships of fuch provifions; that the bill, on the contrary, according to Bifhop Burnet's account, originated in party faction,

.

6

He next juftified the A&t paffed in 1778, to relieve the Roman Catholics from the oppreffive clau◄ fes of the faid Act of the 11th 12th of King William. This Bill,' faid he, was brought in by a member of the House of Commons, diftinguished for his love of the civil rights of mankind, and for his firm and zealous attachment to the Proteftant religion, and who befides poffeffes every public and private virtue that can adorn the citizen and the 'man -I mean Sir George Saville. It paffed through the commons almoft unanimously, the oppofition made to it by fome not being to the principle of the Bill, but that it did not go far enough in the redrefs: for, at the time of paffing this Act of King William, the Roman Catholics were excluded from any fhare in government, from any office of truft civil or military, and the perfons of that religion performing any part of their functions, as priefts, or keeping of fchools, or educating youth,

were

were liable to many pecuniary penalties, and in fome inftances to temporary imprisonment.'

After mentioning that the repeal of the Act in queftion was conditional only, and reftrained to those who should take an oath of the strongest affurance of loyalty to the government, and an abjuration in the most explicit terms of every pretender to the crowń and government, with a pofitive renunciation of any authority of the fee of Rome, in civil or temporal cafes, within this kingdom; he took notice of the great difturbances at Edinburgh in February 1779, upon the fuppofition of a fimilar bill for the relief of the Roman Catholics in Scotland. This he noticed, as what would be found to be a very material circumftance when he came to ftate the conduct of the prisoner.

Paffing then to the Proteftant Affociation, he mentioned the pains that were taken to create a bélief that the repeal of the ftatute of King William would be attended with imminent danger to the state, and to the Proteftant religion. Upon this ground,' faid he, a petition was determined upon, and, if they apprehended danger, they did right to petition; it is the inherent right of the fubject to petition parliament; and, whenever they imagine a cafe proper for the confideration of parliament, they do right to bring it before them; and I believe this petition was at one time intended

to

have been presented in a legal, conftitutional, and orderly manner.'

Adverting to the circumftance of affembling, by public advertisement, in St. George's Fields, a vast multitude of people, which

Gentlemen, you have now before you, as will appear upon the evidence, the author of all these violent and difgraceful proceedings, to whom the whole is to be imputed. An offender of fuch a defcription has not often appeared in a court of juftice.' In further stating the conduct of the prisoner, he dwelt much upon the most minute circumftances that could tend to criminate him, particularly on his allufion to the firmness of the Scotch, and then concluded by calling for the

Evidence for the Crown.

William Hay, a printer in Fleet-ftreet, fwore, that he had feen the prifoner five or fix times at different places where the Proteftant Affociation met; partiticularly at St. Margaret's-hill, at Greenwood's rooms, at the Old

Crown

Crown and Rolls in Chancery lane, at the London-Tavern, and at Coachmakers-hall; that, at the meeting at Coachmakers-hall, on the 29th of May, previous to their going up to the House of Commons, he heard the prifoner announce to a numerous affembly, that the Affociated Proteftants amounted to upwards of 40,000; that, on Friday the 2d of June, it was refolved they fhould meet in St. George's Fields, in four feparate divifions or columns, arrayed or dreft in their beft clothes, with blue cockades in their hats, as he himself should wear one, to diftinguish them from Papifts or friends to Roman Catholics;' that fome evenings before, at the Crown and Rolls, the prifoner read over the preambles or certain parts of the penal laws of Charles II. Wil, liam and Mary, and George II.; that, after reading them, he obferved, That, by his majefty's giving his affent to the Quebec law, and the late Act tolerating the Roman Catholics in England, his counsellors had brought him to that pass or fituation in which James II. was after his abdication;' that he then read his majefty's coronation-oath, and faid, It was his opinion, that his majesty had broken that oath,' and that the people of this country did not mince the matter, they fpoke their minds freely, and avowed it to be true;' that, on Friday the 2d of June, he faw a vaft multitude collected in St. George's Fields, with cockades and banners, and the words Proteftant Affociation, no Popery! on them; and that he faw Lord George haranguing the mob; that afterwards he faw them march through Fleet-ftreet, in their way

to the Houfe of Commons; that the fame day he was in the lobby of the houfe, which was much crowded; that he heard Lord George exhort the mob to continue stedfaft in fo good and glorious a caufe. He would perfevere in it himself; and he hoped, although there was very little expectation from the House of Commons, that they would meet with redress from their mild or gracious fovereign.'

On his cross-examination he faid, that the first time of his attending the meetings of the Proteftant Affociation was on the roth of December. Being defired to recollect whether he certainly faw the prifoner at Greenwood's rooms, he defired to refer to his notes, and then faid he was mistaken. Being afked how he came to take notes of what paffed at these meetings, he answered, that he had an idea then of what would be their confequences; that he first forefaw these confequences on the 20th of February. Being reminded that he had taken notes fo early as the 21st of January (the day on which he had fworn that he faw Lord George in Greenwood's rooms), he antwered, that, without thofe notes, he could not come to that conclufion in his own mind about the confequences, and that he had taken notes on the 10th of December; that this was his conftant course in all occurrences of life. Being questioned what other meetings he had attended befides thofe of the Proteftant Affociation, where he had committed what paffed to writing, he appeared much embarraffed. He faid, however, that the firft notes he made in his life were in the General ffembly of the Church of Scotland. Hav