Caricatures and cartoons -- Great Britain; English wit and humor; English wit and humor, Pictorial
Frank was quitting the Admiralty gates, when a government messenger
tapped him on the shoulder and an officer took him into custody. Ben and
the black would have resisted; but the youth desired them to desist,
and, conscious of innocence of any crime, cheerfully accompanied the
messenger, followed at a little distance by Sambo and the seaman. The
whole had been done so quietly that no bustle was excited, and they
were soon in the Home-office at Downing Street, and Frank was summoned
into the presence of Mr. Dundas, the Secretary of State, and questioned
relative to his having seen lawyer Brady at the house of Polverel, and
what transpired there.
The youth explicitly answered every interrogatory, and was requested
to accompany Mr. Dundas to the Privy Council, which was then about to
sit. The carriage was waiting; and when Ben saw the smiling face of his
young master as he nodded at him on ascending the steps of the vehicle,
he became assured that nothing was wrong, though he determined to watch
where he went to; and both the seaman and the black had a smart run
for it till they saw the equipage enter the archway of a prison-like
building, and Ben became fearful that the young officer was "going to be
clapped in limbo." He went up to the sentry and, offering him a bite of
pigtail, inquired "What place that was," His mind became more appeased,
though his wonder was not lessened, on being told that it was "the King's
Palace."
The Privy Council had met, and lawyer Brady was a prisoner before them
on a charge of treasonable practices. Several witnesses were examined,
who gave evidence against him; but as nothing very conclusive could be
drawn from it, he remained cool and firm till Frank was introduced, when
that peculiar rolling of the eye for which he was remarkable under sudden
excitement plainly indicated strong internal emotion.
[Illustration: _Richard Brothers the Prophet at Mrs. Heartwells._
London: Tilt & Bogue. 86. Fleet Street.]
Frank was at first somewhat confused, but he was encouraged by the tall
gentleman he had seen at the Admiralty, and who was, in fact, the Earl
of Chatham, at that time the head of the navy. The youth narrated every
particular that had transpired in connexion with Brady at Paris, and
at the close of his examination he was requested to withdraw. He was
shown into a room where the other witnesses were assembled, and here
Frank learned that Brady had been engaged by the government as a spy
amongst certain of the higher classes of society, whom he first betrayed,
and then, having obtained all the intelligence he could of national
affairs, it was supposed had secretly gone over to communicate his
information to the enemy. This last supposition Frank had confirmed; and
the lawyer was committed to prison on a charge of high treason.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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