The Republican

No. 9, Vol. 4.] LONDON, FRIDAY, OCT. 27, 1820. [PRICE 6D.

PLACARD PLOT MANAGED BY THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE

QUEEN.

It is now past all doubt, that Castlereagh and his agents have been the sole fabricators of all the violent placards that have been disseminated throughout the country, to instigate the people to insurrection. This fellow longs for another such a scene as he produced in Ireland; he wants to be a hanging, shooting, flogging, and beheading, by wholesale; the occasional operations at the Old Bailey, and provincial gaols, are not sufficient to glut his insatiate thirst for human blood.

Mr. Hume's motion in the Common Necessary House, on the subject of these placards, and the conduct of Sir Robert Baker, in discharging a traitor without bail or examination, drew forth from Castlereagh, what I consider a complete confession of co-operation, although it was ironical. Castlereagh began by ridiculing the motion, and concluded by saying that he should feel himself disgraced to serve a government that could be guilty of such conduct, as to excite opposition to itself. His observation may be transposed a little to make it perfect truth, namely, that any other than such government, would be disgraced in the employment of such a man as Castlereagh. The connection of Fletcher and Castlereagh is as clear as the conspiracy against the Queen; and it is well known that there have been no societies among the Reformers that were foolish enough to throw away money for such a purpose. Where could the money come from, unless it was from the secret-service money. Those placards are very expensive Vol. IV. No. 9.

Printed by M. A. CARLILE, 55, Fleet Street.

things, both in printing and sticking up, and no individual would have been mad enough to waste his own property on such means. The question of Castlereagh, whether Hone, Wooler, and Carlile, could not supply a sufficiency of such commodity without the aid of the government, was but a paltry shift. Whatever Hone, Wooler, or Carlile, have printed, it has been openly sold at a fair profit. They don't print and pay for disseminating it after, as Castlereagh does with the public plunder: first rob the people of two thirds of their earnings, and then apply the proceeds of such robbery to set the same people to cut each others throats. It requires a villain as accomplished as Castlereagh to do this.

It is now pretty clear, that the immense mass of hand-bills which were circulated in Scotland, on the 1st of April last, were the product of Castlereagh and his agents. Wilson, Baird, and Hardie, have been murdered solely from this There is no doubt but that Castlereagh, Sidmouth, and Edwards, got up the Cato-street affair, which caused the murder of Thistlewood, Tidd, Ings, Brunt, and Davidson.

The object of Castlereagh has been two-fold-he has either hoped to instigate a premature insurrection, and crush it by the slaughter of a few thousands, or by such sham plots and conspiracies, to alarm the timid part of the community with illgrounded and misplaced fears, and get them to look another way whilst his hand is in their pockets! If any thing was wanting to convince us of the connection of Castlereagh and Sidmouth with this Fletcher, it would be that they have, after 10 or 12 days consideration, offered £200 for the apprehension of the latter. At the first application to that effect by Mr. Pearson, Sidmouth said, he did not see any occasion for the Governinent to interfere; but they had no sooner sent Mr. Pearson on a wrong scent, and secured Fletcher by some other means, than they come forward with an offer of £200 for his apprehension! They had proclamations ready printed for the Cato-street affair, because they themselves had made the whole arrangement. These proclamations were posted all over the town by day-light the next morning, and a Gazette printed, offering the reward of £1,000 for Thistlewood, when the pretended plot exploded but a few hours before. There is not a doubt but the sum of £1,000 was the bargain made with Edwards for the life of Thistlewood, for Castlereagh and

Sidmouth well knew that he was to be led into any scheme by the agency with which they had surrounded him."

Dennis O'Bryen, of Craven-street, a Sinecurist of £800 per annum, appears to have been the more immediate agent of Castlereagh; Fletcher has been but a subordinate in this Placard Plot. This Dennis O'Bryen, it appears, was a sprig of the Whig Administration, in 1806; but when the Whig thieves were kicked out of power, Mr. Dennis offered his services to the Tory thieves, and since that time, he has furnished most of the beauties of the Morning Post. This O'Bryen is probably the author of the placards, for it is not to be denied that they have been well drawn up to answer the purpose intended. Fletcher has had to find the printer and bill-sticker, and Castlereagh has paid the piper with the secret service money. This is a pretty secret service indeed; but it is vain to comment upon it-nothing short of a radical reform can set things right in this country. A change of Ministers would only increase the number of public and legal thieves, without lessening a jot of the burthens and miseries of the country.

It is this Dennis O'Bryen that has employed so many of the Billinsgate flowers to docorate the pages of the Morning Post, and to slander the Queen. It is this Dennis O'Bryen that has called her a hag-that has proposed to make a martyr of her, whether right or wrong. It is this Dennis O'Bryen, under the superintendance of Castlereagh, that has been trying to lay the plot for an accusation of Treason against her Majesty. We know that apartments in the Tower have been ready furnished and prepared for her, from the commencement of the Mock Trial. Castlereagh knows that it is necessary to destroy her Majesty, to save his place and his head, and he will stick at no scheme for that object.

It appears that Dennis O'Bryen, when at Bow Street, boasted of his thirty years acquaintance with Birnie, the Magistrate. There is no doubt of it. This Police Office has been the centre of espionage from its origin. It was established for that purpose, and for the manufacture of crime. It has been a nursery for thieves of every description :-its officers have never hesitated to share the booty with all the rogues of London, nor to send their accomplices to the gallows, when it was necessary to delude the public a little.

These men have been the accomplices of Vaughan, Brock, Pelham, Power, Edwards, Fletcher, and Dennis O'Bryen, not forgetting Oliver and Castles.

have no fear but that the diligence of Mr. Pearson will further unravel this plot. The business is in the right hand if any thing further be necessary to be done. It has been fairly and clearly traced to Castlereagh's office, and the moment we read his speech in answer to Mr. Hume's motion, we exclaimed this fellow pleads guilty. It was not a subject that an honest man would treat ironically. It is well known that a bold rogue or thief will attempt to laugh off the first accusation against him, and treat the accuser with a sneer of contempt; but this is not the way an honest man seeks to rebut a false charge. He takes up the business seriously, craves an investigation, throws himself open to every species of examination, and feels the wound if that investigation be neglected in the slightest instance. How different is the conduct of Castlereagh, he stops the avenue to the least enquiry and tells Mr. Hume to try what the Court of King's Bench will do. The Judges of the Court of King's Bench are as much the tools of Castlereagh, as are the Bow-street magistrates, or Dennis O'Bryen and Fletcher.

EDITOR.

Dorchester Gaol, Oct. 18, 1820.

In consequence of the verdict of Guilty given against Mrs. Carlile for selling Sherwin's Life of Paine, and No. 9, Vol. I. of the Republican. She is now liable to banishment by serving in the shop according to our glorious constitution. The business will therefore be managed by Mary Ann Carlile, the sister of R. Carlile, on the behalf of the infant children, or rather on the behalf of the whole family. In case the house Fleet-street, should again be exposed to the violence of the legal thieves, the business will be opened as near the spot as possible immediately, of which due notice will be given. As this kind of business might be said to be renewed every week, at least, it depends on the periodical publications, we can begin any where with half an hour's preparation, and laugh at the Vice Society, and all the influence they can use against it. If one web be destroyed, a few hours' work will spin another stronger and better than before, This is the only way of meeting the persecuting thieves, and I hope aud trust that Mrs. Davison will follow the steps of Mrs. Carlile. If half a dozen persons were resolved successively to oppose the Vice Society, their prosecutions would become of the greatest advantage to the propagation of good principles. I will expose every branch of my family, that will listen to my advice, to the venom of this society, with the confidence, that in a few months we shall triumph over them. I have to add, that Mrs. Carlile is quite as composed and unconcerned as I was last year, and I now call upon my sister to perform her part in the same manner. The thieves have the power to shut up 55, but they cannot prevent the opening of 56, so let them go on. Their prosecutions are my joy and comfort, particularly whilst I can see one of my family opposed to them. For my own part, I am resolved never to cease, in consequence of any laws that come short of putting to death, in the open avowal and promulgation of such opinions as I conceive to be founded in truth, and the practice of which appear to me to be conducive to the interest of society. It matters nothing to me what another man thinks. I claim the same right to think and speak, and to write what I think, and to publish what I write as he does. I will never truckle to