prepared; consequently the meeting was easily dispersed after the sacking of a few gunsmiths' shops. The cabinet was, however, so impressed by the dangers of the situation that the suspension of the habeas corpus bill was moved in the lords on 24 Feb. 1817, and the same day a bill for the prevention of seditious meetings was brought forward in the commons. Warrants had already been taken out against Thistlewood and the younger James Watson on the charge of high treason on 10 Feb. 1817, and a substantial reward offered for their apprehension. Both went into hiding, and, although the government appears soon to have been informed of their movements, it was not thought fit to effect Thistlewood's capture until May, when he was apprehended with his (second) wife, Susan, daughter of J. Wilkinson, a well-to-do butcher of Horncastle, and an illegitimate son Julian, on board a ship on the Thames on which he had taken his passage for America. The younger Watson succeeded in sailing for America at an earlier date. Thistlewood and the elder Watson were imprisoned in the Tower. It was arranged that the prisoners charged with high treason should be tried separately. Watson was acquitted, and in the case against Thistlewood and others, on 17 June 1817, a verdict of not guilty was found by the direction of the judge on the determination of the attorney-general to call no evidence. This narrow escape had little effect on Thistlewood; the weekly meetings of the Spenceans were immediately renewed, and the violence of his language increased. A rising in Smithfield was projected for 6 Sept., the night of St. Bartholomew's fair; the bank was to be blown open, the post-office attacked, and artillery seized. This and a similar design for 12 Oct. were abandoned owing to the careful preparation of the authorities, in whose possession were minute accounts of every action of Thistlewood and his fellow-committeemen.
The want of success attending these revolutionary attempts seems to have driven Thistlewood towards the end of October 1817 to active opposition to Henry Hunt [q. v.] and the constitutional reformers, and to considerable differences with the Watsons and other old associates, who, though ready to benefit by violent action, were not prepared to undertake the responsibility of assassination. About this period he appears for the first time to have considered plans for the murder of the Prince of Wales and privy council at a cabinet or public dinner, if sufficient numbers for ‘a more noble and general enterprise’ could not be raised (Home Office Papers, R. O.). Though naturally opposed to all ministers in authority, Thistlewood entertained a particular dislike to the home secretary, Lord Sidmouth, to whom he wrote about this period a number of letters demanding in violent language the return of property taken from him on his arrest on board ship. Failing to secure either his property or the compensation in money (180l.) which he demanded, he published the correspondence between Lord Sidmouth and himself (London, 1817, 8vo), and sent a challenge to the minister. The result was his arrest on a charge of threatened breach of the peace. At his trial on this charge on 14 May 1818 he at first pleaded guilty but withdrew his plea, and was found guilty and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment, and at the expiration of the term to find two sureties for 150l. and himself for 300l., failing which to remain in custody. A new trial was moved for on 28 May, but refused. Thistlewood was confined in Horsham gaol. His sentence and treatment appear to have been exceptionally severe. On 29 June he applied to the home secretary for improved sleeping accommodation, and described his cell as only 9 feet by 7 feet, while two and sometimes three men slept in the one bed. During his period of imprisonment his animosity towards Hunt appears to have increased, though Hunt wrote to him in friendly fashion of his attempts ‘to overturn the horrid power of the Rump.’
The full term of Thistlewood's imprisonment expired on 28 May 1819, and after a little difficulty the sureties requisite for his liberation were secured. Directly after his release he commenced attending the weekly meetings of his old society at his friend Preston's lodgings; a secret directory of thirteen were sworn, and more violent counsels immediately prevailed. In July 1819 the state of the country, especially in the north, was critical; the lord lieutenants were ordered back to their counties, and the authorities in London were in a constant state of preparation against meetings which it was feared would develop into riots. For a short time Thistlewood worked once again in apparent harmony with the parliamentary reformers, spoke on the same platform with Hunt, 21 July, and as late as 5 Sept. organised the public reception of the same orator on his entry into London; but the new union society was formed, 1 Aug., with the intention of taking the country correspondence out of the hands of Thistlewood and Preston, whose violence caused alarm to their friends. Thistlewood and Watson organised public meetings at Kennington on 21 Aug. and
