Arrr yes,The martyrs were a shameful event in English justice as follows. You have to admire Lord Russell for his stand in their defense. but they were not 'Red Shirts' of their day
The six were arrested for unlawful assembly and charged with 'administering unlawful oaths'. The Unlawful Oaths Act had been passed in 1797 to deal with a navy officers rebelling against authority. It was for breaking this law that they were brought to trial.
The jury found them all guilty as charged. The judge, under pressure from the Government, sentenced the six men to seven years transportation to the penal colony in New South Wales, Australia, 'not for anything they had done, but as an example to others'.
However the six men had became popular heroes with the public, and a large protest movement formed. One of their supporters, Lord John Russell, argued to the prime Minister for their release. In his statement he said ‘that if being members of a secret society and administering secret oaths was a crime, the reactionary Duke of Cumberland as head of the Orange Lodges was equally deserving of transportation.’