Enemies of the State by M. J. Trow Read Free Book Online Page B

the conspiracy.
    The problem for any group of men bent on such a desperate enterprise was winning other men to their cause. Revolution could only succeed if sufficient numbers took part, but the more in the know, the greater the chance of someone talking, either maliciously to obtain a reward or carelessly in their cups. In an attempt to gauge the trustworthiness of men, JohnFrancis had insisted on ‘administering unlawful oaths’. Such oaths had only been illegal for five years and the relevant law had been rushed through at the time of the naval mutinies. One of the men approached was Thomas Windsor, who, according to the Newgate Calendar which reported the trial, ‘soon became dissatisfied’ and reported what he knew to a Mr Bonus. It is not clear who this man was, but he was certainly Establishment and shrewd enough to suggest to Windsor that he continued in Despard’s company and learn all he could. It was his tip-off that led to the rebels’ arrest.
    Windsor’s evidence was that an integral part of the plan was the assassination of the king on his way to the opening of parliament, which was, of course, an exact action replay of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in which James I would have been eviscerated in the parliament house along with his entire government. ‘I have weighed the matter well,’ Despard had told Windsor, ‘and my heart is callous.’
    Windsor had several meetings with Despard and the others, first meeting the ‘nice man’ as Despard was referred to at the Flying Horse in Newington. He also met him at the Tiger on Tower Hill and was supposed to bring four or five intelligent men (he settled for three soldiers) to discuss the best way to take the Tower. It was at this meeting that John Wood hit upon the idea of grabbing ‘the great gun in the Park’ (St James’s) and blasting the king’s carriage as it passed by. The prosecution trotted out a number of other witnesses – William Campbell, Charles Reed, Joseph Walker and Thomas Blades among them – who testified to other planning meetings that had been held.
    Mr Gurney, who would feature in the Cato Street trials eighteen years later, seconded for the defence under Mr Best. The evidence against Despard was overwhelming; in the twelve years since he had returned from Honduras, he had become a marked man, a known opponent of the government and had been in gaol twice, once as a suspected Jacobin. His habit of walking round London with an umbrella and a black wife merely served to draw yet more attention to himself. So Gurney went for the younger Despard, the virtuous, hard-working officer of his early years. Evan Nepean and Alured Clarke from the Admiralty testified to his zeal. But the star witness was undoubtedly Horatio Nelson, the diminutive Vice Admiral who was by now the nation’s hero, with the victories of Cape St Vincent, Aboukir Bay and Copenhagen to his credit.
    Nelson testified that he had known Despard well, having met him in Jamaica in 1779. ‘He was, at that time, a lieutenant in what were called the Liverpool Blues.’ The judge, Lord Ellenborough, was a staunch believer in the Bloody Code and interrupted Nelson to remind him that what was needed was a character reference, not a military CV. He did it politely – after all, Nelson was a lord too and a national treasure Ellenborough was not about to offend. The flat trial transcript gives no hint of the scorn with which the Admiral turned his good eye on the judge:
    We [Despard and Nelson] were on the Spanish Main together. We slept many nights together in our clothes upon the same ground . . . In all that time, no man could have shown more zealous attachment to his sovereign and his country than Colonel Despard did. I formed the highest opinion of him as a man and an officer. 3
    In cross-examination, the Attorney-General got Nelson to admit that it was nearly twenty years since he had seen Despard last. That