JAMES O’COIGLEY, alias FAVEY. EXECUTED FOR HIGH TREASON.

JAMES O’COIGLEY was indicted at Maidstone, on the 21st of May 1798, for high treason. The indictment was read by Mr. Knapp, who afterwards stated the charges it contained in a summary manner. He said there were three distinct species of treason charged in the indictment and seven overt acts. The first treason was compassing and imagining the death of the king; the second, adhering to his enemies; the third, compassing and imagining, inventing, devising and intending, to move and stir certain foreigners and strangers, that is to say, the persons exercising the powers of government in France, to invade this kingdom. The first overt act was sending intelligence to the enemy; the other overt acts were attempts to hire vessels, and to leave the kingdom.

At the trial, which lasted during the whole of two days, an immense body of evidence was produced in support of the charges preferred against the prisoner. A pocket-book, however, which had been found in his great-coat, and in which was a letter addressed to the Executive Directory of France, afforded conclusive evidence of his guilt.

Upon his being called upon for his defence, he addressed the jury in the following terms:—

“It is impossible for me to prove a negative; but it is a duty I owe to you, and to myself, solemnly to declare that I never was the bearer of any message or paper of this kind to France in the course of my life. That paper is not mine: it never belonged to me. It states that it was to be carried by the bearer of the last: this is something which might have been proved, but it is impossible for me to prove a negative. There is also in this paper an allusion to secret committees and political societies. I declare that I never attended any political society whatever. With these considerations I consign my life to your justice; not doubting but that you will conduct yourselves as English jurymen ever do, and that your verdict will be such as shall receive the approbation of your own conscience, your country, and your God.”

The jury, after about half-an-hour’s consideration, found O’Coigley Guilty.

Mr. Justice Buller, in an address to the prisoner, which he read from a written paper previously to his passing the sentence, observed that he had been clearly convicted of the most atrocious crime which could be committed in any country—that of meditating the destruction of a sovereign, who was one of the best, the most just, upright, and amiable of princes that ever graced a throne; and he could not conceive what were the motives which could actuate any man even to wish for the death of one who had ever been the father of his people.

The prisoner was also found guilty of conspiring to overturn the constitution of these kingdoms—a constitution which, from the experiment of years, had been found to be the best calculated of any that ever existed in the world to ensure the liberty, security, and happiness of the people who lived under it.

These atrocious crimes became still greater from the manner in which they were intended to be perpetrated—that of inviting a foreign enemy to come and invade and conquer these countries.

Those people who had fancied such an event to be a desirable one ought to think seriously what the consequences of it would be, provided it was possible to be accomplished. Did they suppose that (desperate as their present situation might be) their condition would be bettered by having their country put into the possession of people who were holding out the delusive hopes of what they call liberty to other nations? Could such persons hope that they themselves should enjoy liberty, even supposing the conquerors to have enjoyed as free a constitution as any in the world? No; they would become suspected, be despised, and destroyed by them.

A celebrated writer (Montesquieu) very justly observed upon this subject, that a country conquered by a democratic nation always enjoyed less liberty, was more miserable, and more enslaved, than if that country happened to have been conquered by a nation whose government was monarchical. But if there was any illustration of this observation wanting, one had only to look to the conduct of the French at this moment towards Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and every other country they had conquered. His lordship believed that the prisoner might have been actuated by motives similar to those which used formerly to induce many people to think that the killing of men of a different religion would give them a claim to canonization. But, though the motives might be similar, the subjects connected with them were very different. In the present times he did not believe that any person entertained such sentiments about religion. On the contrary, he was sorry to find that religion was too much neglected, and that the peace and tranquillity of numbers of people were destroyed in consequence of their having lost all belief of the existence of a Divine Providence, and totally abandoned all hopes of a future state. He was afraid that the prisoner had been infected with this infidelity; and if he was, he (the judge) prayed that the Almighty God, in his infinite mercy and goodness, would change his heart, and cause him to repent of his sins.

His lordship then, in a solemn and awful manner, passed the following sentence:—

“That the prisoner be taken from the bar to prison, and from thence to the place of execution; there to be hanged, but not until he be dead, to be cut down while yet alive, and then to have his heart and bowels taken out and burnt before his face; his head to be severed from his body, and his body to be divided into four quarters.”

Mr. O’Coigley listened to this address and sentence with attention, but at the same time with the greatest coolness. He bowed his head when the judge concluded, his countenance expressing at once resignation and firmness.

Thursday, 7th June, being fixed upon for the execution, on the previous day, the unhappy prisoner received an intimation to that effect without emotion. He spent the evening very calmly. He had but one thing, he said, on his mind which created any anxiety; that was, an apprehension that he might be misrepresented after his death. He was anxious to be faithfully reported, and that was all he wanted. On Thursday, at a quarter past eleven o’clock, O’Coigley left the jail. He was dressed in black; his hair was cropped and powdered, his shirt-collar open, and he wore no neckcloth. His elbows were tied behind with ropes, and over his shoulders was the rope with which he was to be executed. He stepped into the hurdle; and on his sitting down, a chain was put round his waist to fasten him. The executioner sat opposite to him. The cavalcade was well guarded by a large body of the Kent Volunteers; and throughout the journey to Pennenden Heath, the prisoner was engaged in reading from a book of devotions.

Upon their arrival at the place of execution, the military formed a square. The prisoner being unchained, he rose up and stood in the hurdle, and read two prayers, one of them aloud in Latin. He then took out of his pocket an orange, and also a penknife; but being unable to cut the orange, from his hands being bound, he gave it to a friend, whom he beckoned to come near him, saying, “Open this orange with my penknife; it has been said they would not trust me with a penknife, lest I should cut my throat; but they little knew that I would not deprive myself of the glory of dying in this way.” He desired his friend to keep the penknife for his sake, and to hold the orange, several pieces of which he ate.

After finishing his devotions, the clergyman gave him absolution; and having ascended the platform, he bid farewell to the jailor, thanking him for the many civilities he had shown him. On his being tied up to the gallows, he made the following speech:—

“I shall only here solemnly declare, that I am innocent of the charge for which I suffer. I never was in my life the bearer of any letter, or other paper or message, printed, written, or verbal, to the Directory of France, nor to any person on their behalf; neither was I ever a member of the London Corresponding Society, or of any other political society in Great Britain; nor did I attend any of their meetings, public or private, so help me God! I know not whether I shall be believed here in what I say, but I am sure I shall be believed in the world to come. It can scarcely be supposed that one like me, in this situation, going to eternity, before the most awful tribunal, would die with a falsehood in his mouth; and I do declare, by the hopes I confidently feel of salvation and happiness in a future state, that my life is falsely and maliciously taken away by corrupt and base perjury, in some cases proceeding from mistake, no doubt, but in others from design. Almighty God, forgive all my enemies. I beg of you to pray that God will grant me grace—for I have many sins to answer for; but they are the sins of my private life, and not the charge for which I now die. (Raising his voice.) Lord have mercy on me, and receive my soul.”

A white nightcap was then drawn over his face, and he made a signal by dropping a handkerchief. The board was then let down, and he remained suspended for twelve or thirteen minutes. Upon his being taken down, his head was taken off by a surgeon, and the executioner held it up to the populace, saying “This is the head of a traitor.” Both head and body were then put into a shell, and buried at the foot of the gallows.