Page 36 of Highland Jewel
“Hush, all.” A member of the brewers’ guild, Ella—a woman with a powerful voice who showed no hesitation taking charge in Fiona’s and Maisie’s absence—spoke up now, demanding silence.
Fiona coughed and cleared her throat before speaking. “We have a newspaper article from London and aletter from our sisters in Manchester to share with you.” She motioned to Maisie.
“The article is long, so I have written out a summary of it,” Maisie began. “In the evening of February 23, in a barn loft on Cato Street near Edgeware Road in London, two dozen men were waiting for a signal to begin what they were calling their ‘West End job.’ This group called itself the Society of Spencean Philanthropists. They may or may not have been affiliated with other reform groups. The leader of this assembly, Arthur Thistlewood, believed that with this one event, they would change the course England was on. According to the article, he planned to create an entity he called the ‘Government of the People of Great Britain,’ which would take power out of the hands of Parliament and the landed elite and place it into the hands of the people.”
“What were they going to do?” one of the women asked.
“Spenceans are violent,” another answered. “Them are always up to no good.”
Everyone began to talk at the same time. Ella’s shout once again silenced them.
“Maisie is reading from a newspaper that was only reporting the government’s side of this,” Fiona explained. “Wait until you hear it all.”
Maisie continued. “According to the police authorities, these men planned to walk into the home of the Lord President of His Majesty’s Privy Council and murder the entire cabinet before taking to the streets of London and beginning the revolution.”
“Walk right in? Likethatwould be easy,” someone in the audience called out, drawing laughter.
“The article is filled with inflammatory statements supplied by the authorities,” Fiona stressed, assuring thateveryone was paying attention. “But we have informationnotreported in the newspapers.”
Maisie held up the letter. “This is from the secretary of the Female Reform Society of Manchester. I’ll share with you the major points of the letter.”
“Listen, sisters,” Ella called out. “This is vital for all of us to hear.”
“The Home Secretary, Lord Sidmouth, has been systematically planting spies in groups of radicals and reformers, including the ones they have arrested in London. For months, if not years.”
A woman in the back raised her voice. “You mean we might have spies among us right now, reporting on us?”
“Reporting on our activities,” Fiona answered hoarsely. “Or telling lies about us.”
“What else did the letter say?” someone asked.
“The so-called plan was the invention of one of Lord Sidmouth’s spies. Acting on information supplied to them, the Bow Street Runners and the Coldstream Guards rushed into the loft and arrested twelve of the men after a fight. Arthur Thistlewood managed to escape, but he was arrested later after one of the spies betrayed his hiding place.” Maisie folded the letter and handed it to Fiona.
The arrests had been made on Wednesday, exactly a week ago. Because of the new laws, many of the newspapers were hesitant to print anything but the government’s account of what they were calling the “Cato Street Conspiracy.” The letter had been sent to Fiona’s house.
“Where are they keeping them lads?” a woman toward the back asked.
“In the Tower of London,” Fiona replied. “They’ll keep them there until a hearing date is set.”
“Hearing or no hearing, they’ll hang them all,” someone asserted. There were nods and murmurs of agreement.
Maisie wished she could disagree, but she couldn’t. “We’re sharing all of this with you because we want you all to be aware of the dangers. We don’t know who’s a friend or who’s an enemy.”
“Those lads could’ve been saying the same blasted things in their meetings that we say here,” a woman suggested. “Might be they only wanted the same change as us, but a government spy can say anything.”
“They could saywe’reviolent,” Ella chimed in.
“It’d be their word against ours.”
Fiona held up the newspaper. “And they’ll make us out to be the liars, as sure as we’re standing here.”
“We don’t want no murders or violence,” a voice cried out. “We just want change. We want to be heard.”
“After Peterloo,” Fiona responded, “Parliament passed the Six Acts to silence us. Now they’re creating events like this to make us look like monsters. They want to frighten everyone into obeying.”
Before getting involved, Maisie had believed that the government did only what was best for its people. But its actions had taught her different. Repressive laws coming out of Parliament. Yeoman militias attacking and killing unarmed men, women, and children. Lord Sidmouth’s Home Office paying informers to infiltrate reform groups and create plots to entrap their friends, people who only wanted their rights as citizens.
“The government wants people to think these laws are needed to keep everyone safe,” she told the group. “Don’t believe the falsehoods.”
