Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
existed; but that the whole proposal originated with Titley,
whom he had asked for employment in Denmark. Titley
had replied that the queen accepted his services if he
could gain and give some information about the Danish
party in Stockholm and furnish the names of persons
favourable to the Danes. As to a change in the succession
to the throne, he now admitted the possibility of having
said something concerning it. To this he added on the
following day that he had heard of an English spy at
Göteborg named Fitzgerald. In the course of other trials,
however, the prisoner said Denmark did as little think of
really changing the existing order of succession in Sweden
as he himself, and when threatened again with a renewal of
the torture, he called out in desperation that “ he would
confess anything they wished, even should it be the
poisoning of the king, the Royal Family, or his Excellency, the
President of the Court, himself.” 1 This rather startled
the judges, who were afraid Blackwell might say too much
about the machinations and plottings of the party. So
the trial was hurriedly concluded, and the formal and
final charge read on the 23rd of May. Blackwell wiote the
defence himself. In it he showed great clearness of
thought and a skill of expressing himself, which was the
more wonderful since he had only settled in Sweden a few
years before. He tried to explain that his.crime was a
“crimen ignorantiæ” rather than a “crimen
præmedita-tivum.” He pointed out the freedom of speech in England,
where the Hanoverian succession was frequently and
openly discussed, adding, “ I should not have thought
there was so little freedom of thought and so much torture
in a Protestant country.” His plan had been a closer
union between Denmark, Sweden, and England, and for
1 This cry of despair has given rise to the rumour that Blackwell had
attempted to poison the king and the Royal Family.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
