79 
-our beloved monarch, still lived 
and reigned in the hearts and affec- 
tions, of the great majority of his 
people. He then moved an ad- 
dress, similar to that which was 
passed in the lords, which was se- 
conded by lord Boyle, and carried 
unanimously. 
The conspiracy, which gave rise 
to this solemn testimony of the af- 
fection of both houses of the legis- 
lation, to the person of our excel- 
Jent monarch; and which was fol- 
lowed up by similar addresses irom 
every public body in the united 
kingdom ; was perhaps the most 
extraordinary, that has ever been 
recordedin the historic page. its 
objects, were incontestibly  esta- 
blished by the clearest evidence, to 
have been no less, than the ‘“ sei- 
zure of the person of the king, com- 
passing his death, and dethroning 
him.”’—For these purposes, combi- 
nations of small societies of disaf- 
fected persons, were established in 
different quarters of London and 
the adjoining country. Engage- 
ments were entered into, and oaths 
solemnly administered, to all who 
could be seduced to join the confe- 
deracy. ‘To effect this flagitious 
purpose, the seduction of the sol- 
diery was in various instances at- 
tempted, and in some few cases 
successfully. And to such a height 
and maturity had their treasonable 
projects advanced, that the mode, 
the time and the place, for the as- 
sasination of the king, was actually 
determined upon.—Vast as these 
plans were, comprehensive and 
mighty as were their designs, it 
does not appear, that more than 
* For a minute account of which, vide the Appendix. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
‘or abilities, could be 
1803. 
fifty or sixty individuals were ever | 
concerned ; and of those, but one~ 
person whose rank in tife, eaucation, 
supposed 
to render him, in the slightest de 
gree formidable. The residue of 
those infatuated wretches, consisted 
of some few of the guards, who 
had, subsequently to the return of 
the brigade ot that corps from 
Chatham, been seduced from their 
duty and allegiance, by the active 
agents of the meditated treason, in 
London; and of some of the lowest — 
order of artisans and iabourers ! 
Such were the numbers, and such 
the description of that combination, 
which meditated nothing less than~ 
the life of their sovereign, and the 
seizure of the bank, the tower, and 
the members of both houses of par~ 
liament! 
In our account of the domestie 
transactions of the last year, we no-_ 
ticed the arrestation of Colonel 
Despard, and many of his associates, — 
at an obscure public house in Lam-_ 
beth. Some days after, a few 
other persons, were apprehended on 
suspicion of treasonable practiees, 
but who were subsequently dischar-_ 
ged. On the7th day of February, in 
the present year, the principal con~— 
spirator, andon the 9th, twelve other — 
prisoners, were tried at the Surry 
sessions house, Horsemonger-lane. 
before a special commission, of © 
which the lord chief justice of Eng- 
land, was the principal, on anindict- 
ment for high treason. ' f 
In the course of the trial of the 
former,* it appeared, that in the | 
spring of 1800, a detachment of tha 
guards returned from Chatham, anid 
» 
that 
