HE was Scotland's answer to Robespierre, who joined a shadowy organisation which planned to storm Edinburgh Castle, seize the judiciary and overthrow the government.

Robert Watt was executed for his part in the abortive coup d'etat and Britain was spared from the ravages of revolution that swept continental Europe.

However, newly discovered documents containing the wine merchant's scaffold speech and details of the "pike plot" have revealed how close the country came to an armed insurrection.

The National Library of Scotland recently unearthed the two broadsides, or early newsletters, documenting the last days of Watt, who was hanged for high treason in Edinburgh in October 1794.

Watt and his associate, David Downie, who was later reprieved, were tried for being members of a seditious organisation, the Friends of the People, which had links with the infamous Jacobins in France, who had helped purge the country's aristocracy.

The documents revealed the turmoil of the times and how some radicals were dedicated to forming "a distinct and deliberate plan to overturn the existing government of the country".

Eoin Shalloo, the curator of the rare books collection at the NLS, said: "The publishers would compete with each other to get the broadsides out on the streets. They weren't of great quality, so these documents are very rare.

"These are the only copies of these documents in existence as these things weren't meant to survive. They are fascinating as they give us Watt's life story and an exhortation for others not to follow his example.

"Watt was a maverick and was originally a government spy who joined the side of the collaborators after the government appeared to ignore the information he was giving them."

The documents show that Watt had links to the Friends of the People, which, inspired in part by the recent revolutionary events in France led by the likes of Maximilien Robespierre, had been formed in London in 1792 to campaign for parliamentary reform.

Watt, Downie and their fellow conspirators had put together plans to arm themselves with pikes and halberds, take over public offices, attack Edinburgh Castle and capture the judiciary.

The plotters also planned to send an address to King George III, commanding him to put an end to the warwith France. More than 40 pikes had been made, although none was distributed.

Mr Shalloo added: "These documents shed a fascinating light on society and politics at the time. This was a massive story at the time and it shows howWatt captured the public imagination.

"Following his execution, agitation and radicalism died down considerably.

"We can get a glimpse of the popular psyche through these broadsides which were also pasted in public areas. Obviously, Watt and his fate were very much in the public conscience."

Broadsides were a hugely popular form of street literature for nearly 300 years.

Sometimes pinned up on walls in houses and ale-houses, these single sheets carried public notices, news, speeches and songs that could be read (or sung) aloud.

In Watt's last speech, he describes himself as "uncommonly wicked as a boy", and said he continued on the road to ruin when he went to London to attend plays and "other places of voluptuous amusement".

Another document, of which no other copy has been traced, is an intriguing description of how James MacDonald, a plasterer, was coming back from Leith to Edinburgh when he encountered a ghostly figure with his head under his arm, accompanied by a black dog.

This apparition was supposedly Watt.

The dead man was also supposed to have appeared to his co-conspirator, Downie.

WARNING NOTES

Excerpt from the last words of Robert Watt, pictured:

"I, Robert Watt, aged 36 years, was born in the county of Kincardine but for prudent reasons I choose to conceal my parents that none may reproach them or other relations on my account.

"I was uncommonly wicked when I was a boy and would seldom go to church but run into every kind of wickedness, except that of swearing . . .

"About the age of 12 years, I began to be attracted to religion and was sober and continued to be so until some years ago when I went to London where I attended plays and other places of voluptuous amusement which destroy human virtue.

"I would now earnestly recommend to all young men not to attend these places of sinful amusement which have proved so fatal to me."