[Illustration: 29. THE MOAT. _From an engraving after J. Maurer_, 1753. _Gardner Collection._] [Illustration: 30. THE TOWER AND MINT, FROM TOWER HILL. _From a drawing on stone by T. S. Boys_, 1842.] [Illustration: 31. THE TOWER, FROM THE THAMES. _From an engraving after E. Duncan._] [Illustration: 32. THE CITY BARGES AT THE TOWER STAIRS. _From a drawing on stone by W. Parrott. Gardner Collection._] Arthur O’Connor and three other “United Irishmen” were charged with high treason in 1798; they were accused of holding a traitorous correspondence with the French Directory. They were acquitted, but O’Connor lay in the Tower for some time; he was then discharged and went to France, where he received a commission from Napoleon. Sackville Tufton, Earl of Thanet, was also tried for attempting to release O’Connor, and was sentenced to be imprisoned for a year in the Tower and to pay £1000 fine. In April, 1810, Sir Francis Burdett, M.P. for Westminster, who had laboured unselfishly and conscientiously on behalf of liberty of speech and Parliamentary reform, made a speech in the House of Commons demanding the discharge from custody of a radical orator who had been imprisoned for objecting to the exclusion of strangers from the debates. He was defeated by a large majority, 153 against 14. Thereupon he printed and published his speech. This was declared a breach of privilege, and Speaker Abbot issued a warrant for his arrest. He shut himself up in his house, and there was great excitement on the question whether it might be forcibly entered. The soldiers were called out, and after four days’ excitement the house was entered and Burdett was conveyed to the Tower, with many thousands of soldiers guarding the town. He remained in prison till Parliament was prorogued, when he was released and went quietly home by water, much to the disgust of the mob, who wanted to have a great demontration. He pursued his steady course of promoting reforms, but still declared that he was not a party man, and his disapproval of the speeches of O’Connell drove him into union with the Tories in his later years. He was a generous and kindly man, a perfect type of a country gentleman. In March, 1820, Arthur Thistlewood, Richard Tidd, James Ings, John Harrison, William Davidson, James Brunt and John Monument entered into a plot to assassinate all the Ministry at a Cabinet dinner at Lord Harrowby’s, in Grosvenor Square. This is known as the Cato Street Conspiracy, from the place where the meetings were held. It was divulged in time, and the cut-throats were arrested and placed in the Tower, and tried at the Old Bailey. All the above, except Monument, were hanged outside Newgate. This is the last time that the Tower was ever used as a State prison. Thistlewood, who had held a commission in the Militia, was confined in the Bloody Tower, the others in the Middle, Byward and Salt Towers.