Thou can'st not run to meet her, Baby dear! II. Thou art thy Father's soul, I do believe, By the dull flesh which makes it ache and grieve With the strange thought I have both wept and smiled-As one man suddenly from death-reprieve. O, speak to me of past and future things! Of whence thou camest into this warm clay, Almost I seem to see Cherubic wings Ope from about thee, for swift heavenward flight; III. O, sink not from us as a drop of dew From Life's fresh rose, to the obstructive sod, THOMAS WADE. 119 YOUNG WATSON; OR, THE RIOTS OF 1816. IN FOUR PARTS.-PART II. In our last paper, we traced Young Watson and his companion Thistlewood, from their perilous adventures at Highgate, on the night of the 2nd of December, to the house of Hunt in East-street, Manchester-square, where they found a temporary shelter and repose. We must now make a few inquiries respecting Doctor Watson, who it may also be remembered was conducted by the patrole to Somers Town watch-house, from whence he was removed next day to Bow-street, and after examination before Sir N. Conant, was committed to Cold-bath-fields Prison, on the charge of wounding the two men, Rhodes and Golding, at Highgate. During the term of Doctor Watson's imprisonment, several persons belonging to that "Bastille," as it was then called, pretended the greatest concern for him and for his son, assuring him, "That if he wished to make any communication to him, or to his friends, a letter should be conveyed with the greatest secresy and dispatch." They came with the professed view of comforting him with assurances of his son's safety and security, but in reality to gather such information as might lead them to suspect the place of his concealment. On these and other occasions the Doctor always assumed the utmost indifference, saying, "he was perfectly satisfied respecting the fate of his son, as he knew from arrangements previously made, that he was safe on shipboard, and far away from the reach of harm.' In spite, however, of this pretended indifference, the Doctor was a prey to constant anxiety, and many an hour he had fearfully speculated upon the fate of his son, of whom he had heard nothing since they parted at Highgate, and many a night with an aching heart, he had listened to the newsman's horn, expecting every breath to hear the sad tidings of his capture and destruction. On his re-examination at Bow-street, January 3rd, the Doctor complained of the unjust and horrible offences laid against him, and said, "knowing his principles were just, and that he was innocent of those heinous crimes with which his name had been branded, he should feel it a duty he owed not only to society, but to his own character to bear up against his enemies." A true bill being found against him, he was committed to Newgate to take his trial, charged, "with intent to kill, &c." Put in irons until such time as he should be tried, the weight of his fetters caused him much pain and inconvenience, and he wrote to the Lord Mayor, complaining "that he should be loaded with heavy irons like a felon," and requesting a lighter pair might be placed upon him. This communication had the desired effect, and at the Lord Mayor's solicitations he was altogether relieved from the incumbrance.-It may not be out of place to state here that Doctor Watson, after six weeks' imprisonment, was tried at the Old Bailey, January 22nd, on this pretended charge, and acquitted, without the evidence being entered upon; as the man Rhodes said, the wound-a scratch on the thigh-might have been accidental, as they all fell down. Doctor Watson was accordingly discharged. Immediately on his acquittal being announced, the people in the court loudly applauded. This outbreak was, however, instantly checked by Mr. Baron Parke, but on the news reaching the outside of the court, the people in the street shouted, and huzzaed; when Mr. Baron Parke with some temper exclaimed-"This comes of "--but looking towards the reporters' box, checked himself, and added-" never mind-I will not say anything." In the meantime the search for Young Watson spread far and wide. The City of London had published a reward of 2501. for his apprehension, while a Proclamation issued by Government, December 6th, was placarded in all directions, giving a description of his person, with the offer of a further reward of 500l. from the Secretary of State's Office. The hue and cry was up, and woe on the devoted head of Young Watson should he be taken; for there is no question he would have been hung, if only upon the plea of forcibly entering a dwelling-house, independently of high treason and shooting Mr. Platt. Ministerial domination was then at its height, and in this rash unthinking squabble of a shouting mob, saw matter fraught with danger to the kingdom and themselves. Every artifice, every plan was put in force to convince the world at large that a formidable conspiracy for the destruction of the king and the overthrow of the Government had been formed. The committee in the House of Lords stated, "they had collected such evidence as leaves no doubt that a traitorous conspiracy had been formed in the metropolis, by means of a general insurrection to effect a general plunder and division of property, and to destroy all reverence for religion!" In the House of Commons it was also stated in eommittee, that at the political societies, it had been discussed-" That Parliamentary Reform was only a half measure," and "That the landholder was a monster to be hunted down, and that a still greater evil was the fundholder: these were the rapacious wretches who took fifteen pence out of every quartern loaf!" It was also put forth, that the design of the conspiracy was a sudden rising in the dead of night, to surprise and overpower the soldiers in their different barracks, which were to be set on fire, to possess themselves of the artillery, to seize and destroy the bridges, and to take possession of the Tower and the Bank. That drawings of a machine for clearing the streets of cavalry, and also a plan of various important parts of the Tower have been laid before your committee, and that the news of that fortress being taken, was impatiently expected at Manchester and other places. That the roads were crowded during the night with a number of persons waiting the arrival of the mail coach, and their disappointment was not concealed when they heard that the riot had been suppressed. 66 Lord Castlereagh also stated in the House of Commons-"That although the conspirators had not been joined to the extent they had expected, yet the means they had provided were sufficient to enable them to make the attempt with a rational prospect of success, ," and "That it would be confining the peril within too narrow limits to consider it sprung from the riots of the 2nd of December alone." Such a mighty affair had it suited the convenience of Ministers to create out of the absurd squabble of the 2nd of December! That a treasonable conspiracy should be supposed to exist they were determined, and their spies were spread in all directions, to discover or create plots, as the case might be. "They made the giants first, and then, they killed them." They were in search of a monster, and they congratulated themselves on this happy discovery! Their game was started, and their bloodhounds scented at the heels of Young Watson: all eyes, all speculation was turned on him: the cry was up; and, Young Watson taken, they could deal their tender mercies to all those obnoxious to themselves, or involved with him in the like practices. The search was ceaseless and untiring. The outlets from London were strictly watched; nor was the continent exempt from the rigour of pursuit. Police-officers were despatched to Calais, to Boulogne, and to Holland, in quest of Young Watson; and every port in England, Scotland, or Ireland, had orders to be vigilant. Innumerable houses were searched both in town and country; no two persons could speak together in the streets, or in a house of entertainment, without being watched or questioned; and not a relative, friend, or acquaintance, however distant of their object of pursuit, but was subjected to the lynx-eyed inspec tion of mercenary spies or Bow-street officers. The situation of Doctor Watson in the mean time was most distressing. He was in ignorance of the real situation of his son, debarred from all communication which could afford him the satisfaction he so much desired, and involved in like danger with him, in consequence of his imprudence; although it appears the Doctor never joined the mob, and only followed in the hopes of persuading his son from his violent and imprudent course, well knowing "he had to contend with an impetuosity which excited at all times considerable alarm in his mind.". Apprehensive of some evil, he had followed to reclaim him. Thus the father, in the eye of the law, formed a part of the mob, and witnesses could doubtless have been formed to swear to his actual presence, and encouragement of the rioters. Thus, had Young Watson, "the head and front of the offending" been taken, he would, without question, have been placed at the same criminal bar, and been involved in the same doom of guilty. Young Watson's escape, as before stated, saved the lives of others than himself! The arrest of Doctor Watson, on the night of the 2nd of Dec., at Highgate, was at first considered by his companions a great evil, and a death-blow to their hopes. It was, on the contrary; the greatest good fortune that could possibly happen to them. Had Young Watson been seized by the patrole, instead of the Doctor, it would have been fatal to himself, his father, and his friends. Had Thistlewood been taken, no refuge could have been found either at Hunt's, or anywhere else in London, and the father and son would doubtless have proceeded on their journey, to their final destruction. We will here mention an instance or two in proof of this, and at |