NITHSDALE’S APOLOGY.
Lord Widdrington having been taken out, the Earl of Nithsdale was ushered in, with the usual tedious formality. On being called on to answer to his impeachment, he made a reply that must have caused the audience to doubt their own accuracy of hearing. He stated, indeed, what his two predecessors had stated, and, like them, he reiterated the perfectly incredible assertion that till after he joined the Jacobite forces, he had never heard of any intended invasion, or of anyprojected insurrection! He acknowledged that the authorities at Edinburgh had previously summoned him to appear and give security for his loyalty, but then he suspected they wished to imprison him, for which he had the greatest distaste. Nothing is more astounding than this repeated declaration of original innocence and ignorance made by men of such birth and quality. Once in, however, Lord Nithsdale went on to the commission of the most abominable treason. He confessed it in the utmost confusion, and he trusted that he was not unworthy of the royal clemency.
CARNWATH AND KENMURE.
It was much more dignified on the parts of the Earl of Carnwath and Viscount Kenmure that they put in no apologetic reply, nor made any statement to show that they were less guilty than the co-accused. They did not even aver that they had surrendered on promise of mercy. They simply said they were guilty of bearing arms against King George, but that if he could find some reason to spare their lives and fortunes, he should have no more faithful subjects than themselves. After Widdrington’s puling excuses and his plea of gout in the stomach, the modest, manly remarks of these two lords must have fallen agreeably on the ears of all in the assembly who sympathised with truth and courage.
NAIRN’S EXPLANATION.
But, after all, the most extraordinary answer to the impeachment was that made by William, Lord Nairn. It is true, he at once pleaded guilty, and asked for mercy; but having done so, Lord Nairn presented a petition, which was intended as an apology, with somethingof a justification. Reduced to as few words as will convey its sense, it was to this effect: he was a Church of England Protestant, but he had unwarily imbibed mistaken principles in his tender years, which caused him to be in no conformity with the Revolution of 1688, ‘lying under the less necessity, for that he had married an heiress, in whom all Lord Nairn’s, or ratherherown, estate was invested.’ He had never taken the oaths, but he had lived as loyally as if he had, till he wasinadvertently involvedin this rebellion by Lord Mar and his forces surrounding his estate and occupying his house, which lay between Perth and Dunkeld, both of which cities they had fortified. Lord Nairn solemnly declared that, up to that moment, he was ignorant of any movement on behalf of the Pretender, and knew nothing of the passage of the Forth till he found himself of the party making it! He ventured his own person therein to avoid the imputation of cowardice, but he sent back all his dependents. As for the invasion of England, he gave a curious reason for being innocent of having share in it, ‘having been bred a seaman,’ he said, ‘he had no pretensions to knowledge in the land service! For the sake of his twelve children he asked for that mercy which at the time of his surrender he was made to believe he might reasonably expect.’
Lord Wintoun, on his request, was allowed to defer putting in his plea.—Six of the seven lords, however, having thus pleaded guilty,—each urging extenuating circumstances,—they were speedilybrought again to the Hall, to hear the pronouncing of doom.
THE LORD HIGH STEWARD.
When the condemned lords were brought to Westminster Hall to receive sentence, the Lord High Steward addressed them in a speech which, highly praised as it was, at the time, has a very dull and commonplace ring about it now. He spoke of King George, of course, as the lawful sovereign, to make war against whom, and to compass whose death, was a compound crime to be paid for by forfeiture of life. Yet, they, as individuals, had attempted to destroy a monarch who occupied the throne, by virtue of rights confirmed by the legislature of King William and Queen Anne. The rebel lords, he said, had been convicted of ‘an open attempt to destroy the best of kings, and to rase the foundations of a Government, the best suited of any in the world to perfect the happiness, and to support the dignity of human nature.’ Had the wicked attempt succeeded, King George would speedily,—so Lord Cowper inferred,—have passed from the throne to the grave; for, being of a valiant race (which was perfectly true), neither he nor any of his family would have condescended to save themselves by flight.
CONCLUSION.
Earl Cowper artfully turned the silly, almost base, plea of the lords,—that they had been drawn into rebellion without thinking of it,—into a charge of insane eagerness to commit treason. It was not so well to represent these rebels of quality as men more concerned to live on in this world than to prepare for the next. It was in worse taste to enjoin those whom hewas despatching to that farther realm, to cast off—if they were Roman Catholics—such comfort as their own Priests could bring them, and to commit themselves to the richer solace they might obtain from Protestant ministers! To the Protestant lords, he exclaimed, with a ‘good God!’ to give force to his sentiment, that they must surely be covered with confusion when they reflected that they had entered upon this treasonable enterprise, without even stipulating for a faint promise of toleration for the Protestant religion. At the conclusion, the Lord High Steward said, he must sentence them in the terms used towards the lowest-born traitors, but, that ‘the most ignominious and painful parts’ were usually remitted to persons of their quality! Thus, the more ignorant rank and file of the rebels would be disembowelled before they were half hanged; but the leaders, being ‘of quality,’ would enjoy a happy and honourable dispatch under the edge of the axe!
LORD COWPER’S SPEECH.
The principal actors in this tragic drama were quietly withdrawn, but not without formal courtesy passing between them and their judges. The audience broke up as from a popular spectacle, more or less moved. Lady Cowper was absent, as one of the condemned, Lord Widdrington, was her cousin. The Countess says, in her Diary, ‘that the Prince of Wales was there, and came home much touched with compassion for them. What pity it is that such cruelties should be necessary!’ Yet one thing gratified her. Shewas delighted beyond measure that her lord’s speech, on pronouncing sentence, was universally commended. ‘But,’ says the lady, ‘I esteem nobody’s commendation like Dr. Clarke’s, who says, “that it is superlatively good,” and that “it is impossible to add or diminish one letter, without hurting it.”’
[5]History of the late Rebellion.
[5]History of the late Rebellion.
Leaves