suns, his bearing defiant of death. The evidence
was dead against him. He had been seen taking
guns from Beckwith's counting–house; he had
been seen to seize Griffin, the perfumer; he
bad been seen in the waggon, carrying the
tricolor flag; lastly, he had been apprehended at
the Exchange carrying a loaded gun, and had
then said to his captor that he meant to kill
or be killed.

The evidence of one witness especially proved
the preparations for an outbreak made by
Hooper, the treasurer of the conspiracy.

Frederick Windermere, of the Horseferry–
road, Westminster, stated that on the 27th of
November a person called on him and hired a
waggon. On Sunday evening, December 1,
Hooper and the former person called on him
again, and he received directions from both
to be at half–past nine o'clock at the top of
Chancery–lane. He was there as near to that
time as possible. Hooper and another person
came to him. They put something into the waggon;
two or three poles wrapped in blankets,
which he afterwards found to be colours. They
also put in a small parcel, which he afterwards
found to contain bullets, a can of gunpowder,
and some bits of lead. He proceeded towards
Spafields, and Hooper rode in the waggon.
Hooper was in the waggon while the mob was
there, and held one of the colours. He then
promised witness more money for the hire. Cashman
was in front of the waggon with the other
colours. They went away with the mob, and
left witness with the waggon. He afterwards
gave the bullets and powder to a police–officer.

Cashman's defence was this: He was a
discharged seaman, who had just come up to
London from Deptford. On the morning of
the riot he had been to the London Hospital
to see a sick messmate: returning to Rosemary–
lane, Whitechapel, to get his breakfast.
He then went with a letter to Admiral Martin,
at the Admiralty. He gave it to a gentleman
there, who looked at it. As he was returning
by "a large church and castle" (St. Paul's), he
saw a mob running. A sailor accosted him,
gave him a musket, and asked him to take a
walk. He consented, and they joined a lot of
men marching. He had no idea what it meant,
and did not join in any of the excesses that were
committed.

This was not quite ingenuous, for at the
Mansion House examination, in the first flush of
excitement, Cashman had said, "It was my
intention to join the mob, for I was starving.
Self–preservation was my only object." And
when arrested, he had declared he wished to
kill or be killed. The simple fact was, Admiral
Martin had possibly that morning refused to
draught him into a ship, and the hot republican
unemployed sailor was savage, and ready for
plunder and riot.

The poor young fellow's only witness was
Geary: a common sailor, who simply came
forward to say that he had known Cashman for
eight or nine years, and considered him a very
honest man. A statement which did not much
affect the question of proved rioting.

All the prisoners seem to have been men
out of work, and it shows how closely starvation
and rebellion are always allied.

John Hooper admitted that he had worn a
tricolored cockade, but his motive was "to take
the colours from young Watson." He never
entered Mr. Beckwith's shop. His object in
going into the City was to beg the Lord Mayor
to keep the people quiet. Alexander Harding, a
carver and gilder in Westminster, and John
Bennet, shoemaker, in Grafton–street, Soho,
who had known him from five to eight years,
gave him a good character.

Richard Gamble said that on the 2nd of
December he met a crowd in Holborn as he
was going to look for work. They told him
they were going to Spafields, and he followed
them, thinking something good was going to be
proposed for mechanics, but he could not get
near enough to hear what was said. He picked
up a gun in Skinner–street. A friend saw him
pick up the gun.

William Gunnel said he did not break Mr.
Beckwith's windows, neither was he in the
shop.

John Carpenter stated that on the day in
question he was out of employment, and went
to the London Docks to look for work, but
could not get any. He then went to Spitalfields
to see a cousin, when he heard there was a riot
at the Mansion House. A man put a pistol
and some powder and shot in his hand, but he
said he had no use for it.

Judge Park summed up, and the jury, after
two hours' debate, found Cashman guilty, as
they were indeed bound to do. His companions
were acquitted.

In the mean time, young Watson, from his
hiding–place, had written a letter, referring, no
doubt, to the germ of the Cato–street Conspiracy,
which exploded some years later:

"My Lord. Seeing I cannot escape the
vigilance of the law, or any longer trust to my
friends, I presume to make this proposal to
your lordship. I will voluntarily come forward
if you will give me the reward offered for my
apprehension, I not being the person who
actually shot Mr. Platt. Money only in the
hands of counsel at present will avail me
anything in order to substantiate my innocence.
                                                           "J. WATSON
    "London, Dec. 10, 1816.
    "To Matthew Wood, Esq., Lord Mayor.

"P.S. On being offered a free pardon, I will
discover a plot now going on, more dangerous
than the Gunpowder one!"

The escape of young Watson was remarkable
and worth recording. When the rioters had
dispersed from the Minories, he went to his
father's lodgings in Dean–street, Fetter–lane,
and, meeting Thistlewood there, they all
determined to start in company to Lincolnshire,
where the Watsons had friends who
would shelter them. When the doctor, who was
lame, and had fallen behind, was seized at High–
gate, Watson and Thistlewood escaped, and after
sleeping in the fields, took refuge at daybreak at